Learning Never Ends in Nursing

Well, folks, I have some bad news. I don’t usually like to start out with bad news, but the truth must be told.

When you are done with nursing school, the learning never ends.

Yup, its true. No lies. You spent all this time in school. Moving toward the finish line. Hope and freedom insight. Only to find out, the learning never ends!

Now on to the good news – you likely will be more engaged in what you are learning and will likely find much more enjoyment! Crazy as it sounds – its true! As you enter your career after graduation, or even change jobs, there is always new information to be learned.

After graduation, when you start your first job, the learning curve tends to be steep! You quickly learn that although you felt completely overwhelmed in with information in nursing school, it really has just scratched the surface of what you need to learn to safely care for patients. This is especially true if you go right into a specialty area. (Yes, there is a place for new grads in specialty areas! Here’s my thoughts on that!) When entering specialty areas, such as the ICU or labor and delivery, the learning curve is steep and you will likely study more than you did in school. However, a strange thing happens – you like it! You find it interesting and you realize you HAVE to learn this stuff if you are going to make it through orientation and give good care to your patients.

As your career continues, depending on the state you live in, you may need to obtain a certain amount of continuing education hours. For instance, in the state I live in, I need to have 24 hours of continuing education every two years. The learning never ends! But, as I mentioned before, the learning is now useful and helpful to my career. I try to take classes along the way that keep me current. But, in all honesty, I get a lot of continuing education hours through in-services and other educational events at the hospital. To make it even easier, many hospital offer access to  continuing education services to aid in completing your required hours and assist in keeping current. Bonus!

But my favorite venue for continuing education is to attend conferences! If you need a lot of continuing education hours, this is a great way to rack up some hours. However, there is nothing more invigorating than being a group of like minded people learning how to be better at caring for their patients. The energy is usually palpable! I feel passionate that all nurses should attend conferences and could go on and on, but you can read more about it HERE. Make the time and invest in yourself. It doesn’t have to be some big, huge national conference, many local professional organizations hold one day conferences that are reasonable and often bring in great speakers. In fact, you could enjoy the benefits of a conference, including speakers, hands outs and networking from the comfort of your own home via the web. The Art of Nursing 2.0 – Navigating the Shifts in Healthcare will be happening this May during Nurses’ Week! (More info here Click here to visit Living Sublime Wellness.) Doesn’t get any easier than that!!

So, even though the learning never ends in nursing, it hopefully won’t be as painful as before. Sure there will be some mandatory in-services that would cure any bout of insomnia, but for the most part, your continuing education will be beneficial to your career. Heck, you might even learn something!

What was or is your favorite way to get continuing education? Let’s start the conversation by leaving your comments below – would love to hear from you!

Take care, be safe & wash your hands!…and keep on learning!

This post was written as part of the Nurse Blog Carnival. More posts on this topic can be found at The Days When I’m Not A Nurse. Find out how to participate.