HARRISBURG: All Pennsylvania registered nurses can receive continuing education hours required by law by reading Patient Safety Advisory articles that are posted on the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association (PSNA) web site, www.panurses.org. State law requires registered nurses to have 30 hours of continuing education every two years for license renewal. The first group of licensees must have 30 hours by October 31, 2010. For those whose license expires before October 31, 2010, add two years to your current expiration date. (e.g., if your license expires April 30, 2011, you will need to complete 30 hours of Pennsylvania board-approved education hours between May 1, 2009 and April 30, 2011.)
“The Authority is pleased the PSNA has worked with us to provide this opportunity for Pennsylvania nurses to continue their education through Patient Safety Advisories,” Fran Charney, director of educational programs for the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority said. “The Authority has a wealth of clinical information and improvement strategies based upon actual events occurring in Pennsylvania’s healthcare facilities to help healthcare providers improve patient safety.”
Charney added that currently the Advisory articles titled “Understanding Living Wills and DNR Orders” and “Medication Errors Associated with Documented Allergies,” are available for continuing education hours on the PSNA’s web site.
Registered nurses who are members of PSNA can obtain the hours for free through the web site; non-members pay a $10 fee to the nurses association. For more information about how registered nurses can obtain continuing education hours call Patti Gates Smith, director of professional development with the PSNA at 717-657-1222 ex. 209.
The Authority also has partnered with the Pennsylvania Medical Society to offer continuing education credits to physicians through the Pennsylvania Medical Society’s web site, www.pamedsoc.org. Currently, the Authority is working with the medical society to offer a catalog of issues for physicians to tailor their continuing education credits to their specialty or field of interest. For more information about the continuing education credits for physicians, contact Diane Siebert, patient advocacy project manager and health policy and regulatory affairs with the Pennsylvania Medical Society at 717-558-7750 ex. 1461.
For more information about the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority and Patient Safety Advisories, visit the Authority’s web site at www.patientsafetyauthority.org.
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