California Board of Nursing Credits Humanitas Courses

Humanitas Designated as Approved Provider by California Board of Registered Nursing for Continuing Education Course Credit and Units

Newest Course Focuses on Violence Prevention for Nurses

(Silver Spring, MD—July 23, 2009)  Today Humanitas, Inc., a woman-owned small business, announced that it met the stringent criteria to be designated as an Approved Provider by the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN).

Humanitas offers a variety of educational programs, technical assistance and products to support health professionals, instructors and counselors and now many of these will satisfy continuing education credit for nurses. The BRN offers courses in various formats to assist registered nurses maintain licensure and to enhance their knowledge of the registered nurse to provide direct and indirect patient care. To maintain licensure nurses must successfully complete 30 hours of continuing education approved by the Board. 

“Our goal is to offer nurses with continuing education courses that are current, practical and available to serve nurses in the most flexible formats. The demands of nursing today are great and we are committed to providing our training through distance learning, webinars and interactive Web-based products,” said Lura Myers, Humanitas president.

The first course offered to nurses by Humanitas on its YouthCentric Web site (www.youthcentric.net) is entitled Safety on the Ward: Violence Prevention for Nurses. The health care sector continues to lead all other industries in incidence of nonfatal workplace assaults. In 2000, 48 percent of all nonfatal injuries from violent acts against workers occurred in the health care sector, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Nurses, nurse’s aides and orderlies suffer the highest proportion of these injuries.

According to Julie Luht, Humanitas’ director of education and training, the need for this course grew out of the trends in today’s workplace. “Our research showed that healthcare providers, with nurses on the front lines, experience violence in the workplace on the same level as law enforcement officers.  The average person has slightly a one in 100 chance of being victim of a violent crime while nurses face nearly double the risk. We worked with nurses to design this course so it addresses today’s realities and a key element is communication techniques, which are presented through engaging simulation scenarios,” said Luht.

Cheryl Walker, RN, ANP, who collaborated on the course, stressed the gap that exists currently in educational courses that focuses on preventing incidents of violence.  “Most nursing programs provide restraint and seclusion techniques.  The current clinic or hospital workplace setting is dynamic and nurses are searching for more training on methods to identify potential violent outbursts and strategies to diffuse them,” said Walker.

Attaining the continuing education credit hours is the result of a yearlong strategy at Humanitas to leverage the firm’s expertise in education, public health and training. Humanitas plans to add continuing education credit hours for nurses, addiction professionals and psychologists.

Since 1992 Humanitas, Inc. has provided expert management, education, and technology consulting services inspired by the principle of balancing action and contemplation. The firm designs and implements technology solutions to help health and human services and a growing number of public and private sector clients accomplish program goals and support business operations with a commitment to sustainable environmental practices.  Humanitas is listed on the GSA schedule (GS-00F-0024M) www.humanitas.com   

The California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) regulates the practice of registered nursing and certified advanced practice nurses in order to protect the public. The Board exists to protect the health and safety of consumers and promote quality registered nursing care in California. www.rn.ca.gov

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