How Registered Nurses Report CE
This article will explain how Registered Nurses (RNs) complete and report continuing education (CE).
It will also help CE Providers, Boards, and Hospital Education Departments understand the needs of RNs. By better understanding the needs and trends of RNs, you can simplify the renewal process, maximize compliance, and improve patient outcomes.
Part 1: When RNs Take CE
Part 2: When RNs become Compliant
Part 3: How Long RNs Take to Complete CE
Part 4: What to Do with This Information
Article Goals
- Provide stakeholders, including CE providers, one action item that can help increase compliance.
- Help stakeholders understand renewal trends so they can apply their knowledge to the insights.
About the Data, Research, and Disclaimers
The data is based on a sample set of CE Broker’s historical data across the multiple states the company tracks for with a margin of error of 4%. To improve readability, I have rounded all data to the nearest whole percentage.
The data in this document should only be used as a guide to make broad comparisons, not as a scientific study.
Competency Type
We specifically looked at licensees who take CE to fulfill their renewal requirements. In a number of states, many RNs use other methods to demonstrate competency, such as in-service hours.
Reported Date
Research was based on the date CE was reported to CE Broker. Most CE is reported upon completion using CE Broker’s API. However, approved providers have 30 days to report a course completion.
License Renewal Open Date
The majority of licensees become compliant within four months of their license expiration date. Because of this, I focused on that 4-month window.
Section 1: When RNs Take CE
Registered nurses fall into three clear learning groups: Proactive; Consolidated; and Continuous.
Proactive: Complete all CE before their license renewal opened. This group is made up of both consolidated learners and proactive learners.
Consolidated: Take all CE in a short period after their renewal opens (within two weeks).
Continuous: Take CE in small chunks throughout their license cycle.
Types of Learning
Each type of learner requires different communication strategies.
This is not to say one type of learning is better than the other; I’m not qualified to make that claim. My specialty is understanding people’s motivations and triggering an action. This information should only be used in that context.
Key Insight
- High-Risk Licensees: Consolidated learners are at the most risk of not renewing in time. An unforeseen personal crisis like a sick child or an external event like a hurricane can have a significant impact on this group’s renewal rates.
- Communication: In general, we have found that the proactive group responds best to positive reinforcement. The consolidated group responds best to communication that leverages loss aversion.
Part 2: When RNs Complete CE
CE Broker’s regulatory partners all have a common goal. They want to maximize CE compliance and simplify the renewal process for licensees.
To do this, you need to understand the natural trend of when licensees complete their CE.
Changing a Habit
The reason this matters is that it’s tough to change one’s habits. However, it is easy to build on a current habit with clear communication.
This means that it is difficult to change when an RN chooses to start working toward CE compliance. However, once an RN starts taking CE, it is simple to reduce the time it takes for them to reach compliance.
Timely Communication Boosts Compliance Speed
The chart below shows how timely communication increases compliance speed. Interestingly, it shows that communication does not change the overall trend. It merely follows the natural habit of how licensees complete CE.
CE is Required
Communication increases compliance by Four percent. At the state level this can translate into thousands of nurses. In addition, the sooner a licensee obtains compliance, the sooner non-compliance risks caused by outside events (such as hurricanes) are reduced.
Because licensees are required to complete CE, the compliance rates usually converge the month after their license has expired, through late renewals.
Key Insights
- 14 weeks before a licensee’s expiration date, CE compliance becomes a focus for most RNs (typically when a board opens license renewals).
- Align your renewal communication with RNs’ natural renewal habits.
- Emailing or mailing regular renal reminders will increase compliance rates.
Section 3: How Long Do RNs Take to Complete CE?
To start, we need to separate two items from each other.
Time Required: The number of hours an RN is required to complete. This is a fixed amount of time.
Time Taken: The amount of time a licensee takes to complete their required CE. This time varies based on the RN’s personal preferences.
The following content reflects the amount of time RNs choose to take.
Key Insight
- RNs fall into two clear groups: 1) Licensees who choose to complete CE in less than two weeks; and 2) People who spread out CE over time.
- Except for the final two weeks of a renewal window, the time an RN takes to complete their CE remains the same. This means “time taken” is a personal preference not strongly tied to a renewal window.
Section 4: What to Do with This Information
As promised at the start of this article, I will now give each stakeholder a clear takeaway.
Boards
Near the expiration date, consolidated learners are at a higher risk of non-compliance due to external events like a natural disaster. It would help to develop a communication strategy similar to the Florida Department of Health (link) to manage these disruptive events if they occur near license expiration dates.
To identify local issues, it is helpful to segment licenses by region. Then, compare current renewal rates to historical rates. This will help you spot local issues that may not be affecting your location, making them difficult to spot early.
Additionally, consider scheduling a CE Broker demo to see how the platform can help you identify these licensees and how our platform can automate this communication.
CE Providers
Use this information to segment your current customers (this should be based on the learning groups outlined earlier) and develop a personalized communication strategy for them. When designing the communication, you should take into account the type of language people will respond to.
If you deliver personalized and timely communication, you should increase the number of CE hours RNs take from your company. This is how I increased compliance speed as shown in Chart 2.2.
Hospital Education Managers
I would suggest using a similar strategy as boards by leveraging a daily license verification tool like EverCheck (Learn more). Use data from a daily verification tool to compare your RNs’ renewal rates to the industry baseline or your hospital’s historic renewal trends.
This will help you to identify at-risk licensees and ensure your renewal trends are on track.
About the Authors
Adam Stack | More Articles
Adam Stack is a Critical Path Consultant. He helps companies achieve time-sensitive goals using the stacked project model. The model shows with the right People, Tools, and Materials, any goal can be achieved.
For CE Broker, Adam is focused on building smart communication systems using CE experts (People), Machine Learning (Tools), and Data (Materials) to help state boards increase CE compliance.
Shane Hall | Linkedin
Shane Hall is a business development and strategy professional. He specializes in SaaS sales, partner networks, and bringing strategy to life.
He works to devise, develop, and deliver client-focused solutions to regulatory agencies and their stakeholders, which help to streamline and automate the burden of CE. This strategic initiative has helped CE Broker to expand to over 100 professions and nearly 1.7 million licensed professionals.
Please contact Shane@cebroker.com to learn more about how CE Broker can help your agency.
About CE Broker
CE Broker is used by 1.7 million licensees to track and report their CE/CME to boards. These licensees span more than 100 professions, 13 states, and 2 countries.
Through partnerships with Regulatory Agencies, CE Broker helps them increase compliance rates and reduce their operational costs. CE Broker simplifies and streamlines CE management for Boards, Providers, and Licensees using excellent design and clear communication.
