The Importance of RN Refresher Courses
Higher Education Articles September 18, 2013There are many different reasons why a nurse would sign up for a registered nurse refresher course. Perhaps her current nursing license is inactive. If that is the case, the State Board of Nursing will require her to take a nursing refresher course in order to return to active duty. At the same time, maybe she is returning to the field after taking a short break and wants to be up to date on the latest technological and patient care changes. Depending on how long she has been out of the field, certain things may have changed. Finally, returning to a career after a hiatus of any length can be stressful. An RN refresher course will give her the confidence she needs to successfully return to work and resume her career.
Regaining Active Status
If a nurse’s license in currently inactive, then it is going to be mandatory that she take refresher courses if she wants to rejoin the medical field. First, she is going to have to contact the board of nursing in the state that she wants to practice. The Board of Nursing regulates the Nurse Practice Act, and the Nurse Practice Act determines what requirements and refresher courses are necessary to attain active status. If she is looking to regain active status, then it is important to know that the Nurse Practice Act varies from state to state; in other words, the requirements and hours of refresher courses might be different from one place to the next.
•For example, in North Carolina, a nurse refresher course consists of 240 hours of instruction, with 120 of those hours being devoted to clinical work. South Carolina, on the other hand, requires 160 hours of instruction, and that number includes the clinical.
Regaining Confidence
Perhaps the license is still active, but the nurse has just been out of the field for a while. This is another reason to sign up for a nursing refresher course. A nurse is going to want to feel confident, knowledgeable and prepared when she returns to work, and a refresher course will get her updated on the latest trends in patient care and technology. The medical field is continually changing and evolving, so even if a nurse has been away for only short period of time, chances are there has been changed. When a nurse signs up for a refresher course, she will have the opportunity to do the following:
•Familiarize herself with new information
•Ask questions
•Practice her skills
•Ease back into the career by doing clinical work
•Regain a level of comfort
The Course Fees
Nursing refresher courses vary in cost. Generally, the course fee will include CPR certification, HIPPA and OSHA training. However, the fee will not include things like immunizations and tuberculosis testing. Furthermore, many places also require that a nurse has some sort of malpractice insurance. Once all these numbers are tallied, the cost can be expensive, and this is something to keep in mind before signing up for the course. It is important to do a little research in order to know what to expect.
The situation and background are different for every nurse. Whether she is returning to a career she once loved after a long hiatus, or simply wants to brush up on new equipment and medications after a short break, the RN refresher course will enable her to regain active status and achieve the confidence she need to return to nursing.
