Does continuing education in gerontology lead to changes in nursing practice?

Continuing education (CE) is intended to enable nurses to pursue their professional development, be lifelong learners, and function in their roles safely and proficiently. The challenge for those providing CE programs for practicing nurses has been to establish the importance of these programs for improving nursing practice and patient outcomes. It is difficult to determine whether nurses who attend these courses implement what they have learned because evaluation methods are varied, are limited to isolated programs, and have focused on teaching strategies. This article describes two models of CE programs in gerontological nursing for practicing RNs, both of which use interactive and collaborative teaching strategies to teach best practices in geriatric nursing, as well as changes in nursing practice resulting from education.