CE Classes & Workshops

Course Description:

This class examines the key elements of the Illinois Patient Protection legislation which includes:

1. Safe staffing by patient acuity and ratios;
2. RN rights as patient advocate;
3. RN/patient whistle-blower protection of this landmark legislation and its impact on patient protection and the RN right to advocate in the exclusive interest of the patient.

Course Objectives :

Upon completion of this class, participants will be able to:

1. Articulate two reasons why strong patient protection and RN patient advocacy rights are critical for the provision of safe, therapeutic, and competent patient care.
2. Describe the critical importance of three key provisions of the Illinois Patient Protection Act.
3. Demonstrate how collective grassroots patient advocacy strategies will have a positive impact on the adoption of these comprehensive uniform health care standards.

 Times and Credits: Vary by class section. See class listing below for details

What will the future of nursing look like? Will the quality of patient care improve along with the quality of nurses’ jobs? Or will emerging technologies and a changing health care environment degrade the nursing profession and undermine patient outcomes? This course will survey key health care trends and help nurses understand how they can shape a future in which they will have the time, resources, professional autonomy, and safe workplaces they need to provide the care their patients need.

The first part of the course will analyze how nurses are affected by a broader crisis in care work. The second part will focus on technological change in health care, the factors driving it, and its impact on nurses and patients. The final section will explore how Medicare for All and other crucial reforms would empower nurses to reclaim the future of their profession and ensure that care work is truly valued and given the respect it deserves.

Course Objectives:

• Articulate how gender stereotypes shape the way care work is perceived, defined, and valued in our economy, and how this in turn affects the American healthcare system.  
• Describe recent technological trends in health care, and explain why technologies ostensibly introduced to complement nurses’ skills, ease workloads, and improve patient outcomes often have the opposite effect.
• Describe how a Medicare for All (single-payer) system works and identify other concrete measures nurses can take to improve job quality and quality of care in their workplaces.
• Explain how nurses can work with patients and their communities to address the crisis of care, shape technological change, and achieve health justice in America

Nursing has been described as both a science and an art. What is the science of nursing? In what ways is nursing an art? How does one describe the multidimensional role of the RN? How do we express the art of nursing? Is the humanitarian nature of the art of nursing in danger? And, how do science and art help nurses to articulate the essence of their profession in the context of societal, political, and health care delivery changes?

This course will examine all these questions as we look at the impact of blind reliance on technology on the science and art of the nursing profession; how it will cause an erosion of skills for the next generation of RNs who (unless stopped) will be “trained” in tasks instead of “educated” in skills; and how it has the potential of destroying the professional practice of registered nurses.

Course Objectives:

• Articulate the unique patient advocacy role RNs hold in the health care delivery system.
• Explore the potential of technology replacing human interaction in the delivery of patient care.
• Recognize the potential of technology to supplant RN critical thinking and independent clinical judgment with rigid clinical pathways or RN displacement and/or override technologies.
• Discuss technology's role in the health care industry's restructuring of provider roles.
• Define the critical role all RNs have in maintaining the science and art of the nursing profession to preserve holistic care.

Current Issues in Nursing Scope and Practice in California
(3 CEH) 9:00 am - 12:00 pm

This class will be a dynamic investigation into current issues facing nurses’ scope and practice in California. The health care industry and some professional associations are attempting to restructure health care in ways that erode and fragment nursing practice, and in so doing undermine patient care. Using national and state-level data and peer-reviewed literature, we will examine the relationship between the structure and management of the health care industry and impacts on nurses’ health and safety, professional practice, and patient care. Understanding these relationships reveal powerful ways nurses can effectively advocate to protect their practice and to ensure safe environments for themselves, their colleagues, and their patients.

Course Objectives :

Upon completion of this class, participants will be able to:

1. Recognize and resist the tools of restructuring used by the health care industry.
2. Discuss how direct care nurses can take steps to protect nursing practice and advocate for safe patient care.

Staffing Standards by Scope, Ratio, and Acuity
(3 CEH) 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

This class will lead bedside nurses in an exploration of the ways that technology is changing their practice and the delivery of patient care. Our discussion will reinforce the fundamental importance of safe staffing to nurses’ ability to provide the highest level of care. We will review the CNA-sponsored mandatory, minimum nurse-to-patient ratios, the Nursing Practice Act, and Title 22. This class will end with a robust discussion of steps nurses can take to effectively advocate for safer staffing.

Course Objectives:

Upon completion of this class, participants will be able to:

1. Discuss collective patient advocacy strategies including use of Title 22 ratios and acuity mandates.
2. Initiate steps or actions necessary to promote safe assignments.

Note: The Bakersfield location will 9:00 am – 4:00 pm, for 6 CEH

Workplace violence is a growing epidemic in hospitals and other health care settings. Nurses and other health care workers encounter 5 to 12 times more workplace violence than workers overall in the United States. Simultaneously, nurses report extremely high rates of stress, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and burnout. Research has shown that as many as 86 percent of nurses report burnout syndrome and 22 percent of nurses have symptoms  of PTSD. 

This class will investigate the epidemics of workplace violence and burnout and what they mean for nurses today. Using national and state-level data and peer-reviewed literature, we will examine the relationship between the structure and management of the health care industry and risk factors for workplace violence and nurse burnout. Understanding this relationship reveals powerful structural solutions to workplace violence, stress, and burnout for nurses.

Course Objectives:

Upon completion of this class, participants will be able to: 

• Describe the epidemics of workplace violence and burnout among nurses.
• Explain the impact of workplace violence and nurse burnout on patient care.
• Discuss how direct care nurses can take steps to end the workplace violence and burnout epidemics.