Skytron Blog

The Importance of Certification & Continuing Education
  • Written By
    Rebecca Kinney
  • Published
    May 18, 2022

The purpose of our blog is to provide you with new perspectives, arm you with tools to succeed in your clinical setting and provide education surrounding a plethora of topics. From UVC Disinfection, partnering with Infection Prevention, leveraging vendor partnerships, employee safety, overcoming fatigue, and so much more.

When working in a clinical setting (depending on your role) you may have state licensure requirements, and certification requirements to upkeep on an annual basis. The truth is it can feel like a lonely experience to maintain your certifications on top of your existing workload and burnout. It can become an afterthought. If certification is not a facility requirement, why should you consider getting certified? 

 

Why is certification so valuable?

According to AACN member Roberta Kaplow, Ph.D., APRN-CCNS, AOCNS, CCRN, FAAN Clinical Nurse Specialist at Emory University Hospital “You have validated your knowledge of a [nursing] specialty to your patients, peers, healthcare administration and, most importantly, yourself.

Certification will increase your competency and confidence simultaneously. It will keep you up to date on industry standards and changes as you maintain your certification. It will elevate not only your pay but also your future worth in career endeavors. Lastly, and most critical you will have enhanced your knowledge, elevating your level of patient care. One such example is “certified nurses develop fewer central line-associated bloodstream infections and ventilator-associated events. Care provided by certified nurses is also associated with lower mortality rates and decreased length of hospital stay.

If you are indeed certified you understand the importance, and know your certification must be maintained annually. How can you ensure that your continuing education (CE) not only stays interesting but that you do a year’s worth of CEs into a long weekend? 

 

Skytron provides superior equipment and products for our healthcare customers to improve ORs and other clinical environments

Keeping continuing education interesting 

When it comes to maintaining your CEs and keeping it interesting, we have a few considerations for you: 

  1. Set quarterly goals and calendar alerts for yourself. 
  2. Leverage free online webinars and social media platforms like LinkedIn. 
  3. Shake things up. Try a different learning modality and one that resonates with you.
  4. Visit topics you know little about, and that spark curiosity in you.
  5. Share what you learn with a coworker, or with your online audience.

These approaches not only keep you interested, but in teaching them you are becoming more of an expert yourself. 

The work you do is of the utmost importance, and we want to help equip you with new ideas, interesting topics, and high-quality education.  

Our Skytron family has a mission to provide clinically superior equipment for our healthcare customers. By listening carefully to our customers and working as one team with our sales representatives and manufacturing partners, we provide quality solutions with lower life-cycle costs. Our objective is long-term relationships with our customers, business partners, and employees. We focus on quality performance with integrity to reach that goal, from the products we sell, to every service we provide.

You are never alone on your journey to becoming your best professional self. 

Citations
“The Value of Certification” by Roberta Kaplow, PhD, APRN-CCNS, AOCNS, CCRN, FAAN