CE Classes and Workshops

Nursing has been described as both a science and an art. What is the science of nursing? How do we express the art of nursing? Is the humanitarian nature of nursing in danger? How do these elements help us actualize the essence of nursing practice in the context of widespread societal, political, and health care delivery changes? 

This online course and associated home studies will examine these questions as we look at the central role of Registered Nurses during the current global pandemic. 

Course Objectives:

• Articulate the unique patient advocacy role RNs hold in the health care delivery system, both historically and during health care crises such as the current pandemic 
• Define the critical role RNs have in maintaining the science and defending the art of nursing to preserve holistic patient care 
• Recognize the potential of technology and restructuring to supplant RN critical thinking and independent clinical judgment with rigid clinical pathways or RN displacement 
• Discuss the historical and contemporary roles of RNs in the face of infectious disease and public health threats 

Instructors:

• Gerard Brogan, RN
• Patricia Gonzalez, RN

Notice!

Due to the social isolation edicts necessitated by the COVID-19 Pandemic, we will be holding upcoming CE classes online. We will be using Zoom as the online platform. Register as usual and we will send you an invite to the Zoom class.

This will be a hybrid style class with 3 hours online via Zoom followed by two 2-hour home studies that can be completed on the same day for a total of 7 hours of continuing education credits

We will be sending everyone who registered for the class an invitation to the zoom class via email. It is important that you respond to the invitation and register for the zoom class prior to the day of the class.

We realize this is yet another change in your stressful lives at the moment, please email Susie Gonzalez at sgonzalez@canurses.org if you need any clarification of these changes or have any questions.

This course will identify institutional factors that contribute to racial disparities in health care. It will analyze patterns and practices throughout the health care system that contribute to unequal resources, health opportunities, and power, which in turn cause harm to patients of color and their communities.  

The course will also examine how the Covid-19 pandemic threatens to further entrench racism in health care. Different health care industries are attempting to use the pandemic to increase profits to the detriment of racial justice. At the same time, there has been a dangerous revival of pharmaceutical and biotech research that substitutes race for other, as yet unidentified causal pathways. Even as Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people are contracting and dying of Covid-19 at alarming rates, insurance companies have made record profits as non-Covid related services have declined, and hospital systems remain unaccountable for facility closures in communities with the highest health needs.

The course will conclude with a discussion of the ways that Medicare for All would redress structural racial disparities in health care as well as how equality in health care is central to the broader fight for racial justice.  

Objectives:

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

• Define institutionalized racism
• Identify how racism has been historically institutionalized across the health care system and how this relates to structural racism in the wider economy
• Explain how the Covid-19 pandemic threatens to further entrench racism in specific health care industries
• Understand the role of nurse advocacy in advancing institutional solutions for redressing systemic racism
• Discuss how Medicare for All can help dismantle patterns of institutionalized racism and rectify racial health disparities

Instructor: Omid Mohamadi

Course Details:

This will be a hybrid course consisting of a 2-hour online class via Zoom followed by a 1-hour home study that can be completed on the same day for a total of 3 hours of continuing education credits. An additional, optional hour of home study will be available for California-based nurses. After registering at the link below, you will receive an invitation to the Zoom class via email. It is important that you respond to the invitation and register for the Zoom class prior to the day of the class. If you have any questions, please contact Valerie Gonzalez at vgonzalez@calnurses.org.

Note: This class is frequently scheduled back-to-back with the class Queering Care: Ensuring LGBTQI+ Equity in Delivery of Nursing Care. Nurses interested in registering for both classes can receive up to 7 credits if taken on the same day.

This course will examine the unmet health needs and unique healthcare disparities faced by LGBTQI+ people in the US by situating poor health outcomes within the social, political, and economic determinants of health. We will look at how cultural stigma, institutional discrimination, interpersonal and state violence, clinical pathologization, and legal attacks on civil rights converge to create the conditions of ill-health for queer and trans patients.  

Careful review of ongoing struggles for LGBTQI+ health justice reveals nurses’ roles as fierce advocates and public health allies. Nurses are instrumental in resisting systemic homophobia and transphobia as part of the larger collective fight for social justice and public health and safety.

Objectives: Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:

• Define basic terms and concepts of LGBTQI+ care
• Identify the health needs and healthcare disparities faced by LGBTQI+ people
• Broaden the understanding of the social and economic determinants of these disparities
• Recognize the unique professional role of nurses in providing and planning LGBTQI+ care 

Instructors: Kel Montalvo-Quiñones and Patricia Gonzalez, RN

Course Details:
This will be a 3-hour online class via Zoom for 3 hours of continuing education credits.

After registering at the link below, you will receive an invitation to the Zoom class via email. It is important that you respond to the invitation and register for the Zoom class prior to the day of the class. If you have any questions, please contact Valerie Gonzalez at vgonzalez@calnurses.org.

Note: This class is frequently scheduled back-to-back with the class Confronting Institutionalized Racism in Health Care. Nurses interested in registering for both classes can receive up to 7 credits if taken on the same day.

This class will detail the structure of the global pharmaceutical industry and the process of vaccine development. We will address such questions as: where does funding for vaccine research come from? Do patents and intellectual property laws encourage or inhibit innovation? What sort of regulations must be in place to reduce risk and protect the public health? For perspective, the class will look at some historical breakthroughs in vaccine development in the United States, explore what has changed in the intervening years, and examine whether our current system is suited to meet the demands of global need. Looking ahead, we will outline what steps we can take to ensure equitable access to any new vaccines that have proven safe and effective. Lastly and crucially, we will examine what about our current system of drug and vaccine development must change in order to meet the challenge of future pandemics.

Objectives: Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:

• Describe the current structure of the global pharmaceutical industry and whether it helps or hinders equitable access to life-saving medications and vaccines
• Discuss the difference between drug distribution models that treat vaccines as commodities versus public goods and the implications of each model for the public health

Instructor: KB Burnside-Oxendine

Course Details:

This will be a 2-hour online class via Zoom for 2 hours of continuing education credits.

After registering at the link below, you will receive an invitation to the Zoom class via email. It is important that you respond to the invitation and register for the Zoom class prior to the day of the class. If you have any questions, please contact Valerie Gonzalez at vgonzalez@calnurses.org.