Continuing Education (CE) Class Catalog

Course Description

This course will examine the increasing influence of Wall Street in health care and the parallel trend of hospital systems prioritizing their own financial investments over the provision of patient care. We will investigate the causes of these trends and their consequences for patients and nurses.

We will also assess how the increasing influence of financial actors intersects with other key health care trends, including monopolization in the hospital industry, the nurse staffing crisis, increased barriers to care and worsening health outcomes. We will conclude by exploring how nurses can respond to these trends and advocate for their patients and professions.

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

Scientists estimate that the likelihood of another novel pathogen turning into a worldwide pandemic grows each year. Preparedness is essential to ensure the safety of nurses, other health care workers, and patients. The devastation and loss that has come from health care employers’ failures to prepare for the Covid-19 pandemic cannot be repeated. But the reality is that many health care employers are not only failing to prepare; they are neglecting essential measures to prevent transmission of pathogens seen in health care facilities every day — from TB to MRSA, influenza, C diff, and more. Each day, one in 31 U.S. patients contracts at least one infection associated with their health care. Health care-associated infections rose significantly early in the Covid-19 pandemic and rates continue to be high. Nurses and other health care workers are also at risk — nearly seven in ten nurses have sustained at least one infection at work.

This class will apply the scientific foundation for infection prevention to nurses’ workplaces. We will discuss the steps that need to be taken to ensure that health care facilities are prepared to protect nurses and patients from known pathogens and the next pandemic.

This is a two-part, in-person CE Class from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (6 hours of CE credits). If you’re a UC nurse, an extra hour will be available from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Participants must be in attendance all day to receive the full 6 CEU CE credits, even if they have taken one of the classes prior to the sign-up date.

Part 1: The Biology of Inequality: The Health Impacts of Social Environments 

Description

Nurses know firsthand that social conditions affect access to health care, exposure to health risks, and health outcomes for patients. But what exactly are the pathways and mechanisms by which “social determinants” like poverty, pollution, and discrimination manifest in the body and impact health? This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to investigate how social, economic, and political inequalities and injustices materialize in individual, population, and even generational health. The class will also consider what the implications are for union nurses as patient advocates and discuss how nurses can help remedy the pathogenic effects of inequality and injustice on human health and society.

Part 2: A.I. 101: What to know about A.I. in health care and its effects on patient advocacy 

What is A.I.? How does it work? How will it impact patient care and the nursing profession? This course will provide an overview of what artificial intelligence is and how it works, explore the types of technologies that employ A.I. in health care settings, and analyze the potential benefits and risks to patients and our communities. This course will also explore the ways nurses can ensure that A.I. and other data-driven technologies will not degrade the quality of the care they provide.

This is a two-part, in-person CE Class from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (6 hours of CE credits). If you’re a UC nurse, an extra hour will be available from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Participants must be in attendance all day to receive the full 6 CEU CE credits, even if they have taken one of the classes prior to the sign-up date.

Part 1: Foundations for the Future: Lessons from the History of Nursing Advocacy

Description

The nursing profession in the U.S. has a history of advocacy deeply intertwined with health and social justice movements. Nurses have leveraged their trusted voice to contribute to critical societal transformations, addressing systemic issues like racism, gender inequity, and economic disparities. This course explores nurse-led advocacy efforts that have influenced advancements in nursing, healthcare, and broader social progress.

Building on this legacy, the course will also equip participants with the historical context and lessons needed to address contemporary challenges in healthcare. Nurses have long understood that collective action is more powerful than individual efforts, and this course will provide practical tools to continue this tradition of collective patient advocacy. By honoring nursing's social justice legacy, participants will understand the transformative potential of the profession when nurses unite around a common cause to drive change in today’s healthcare environment.

Part 2: Safety in Numbers: Two Decades of California's Nurse-to-Patient Ratio Law

Description

This comprehensive continuing education course examines California's groundbreaking nurse-to-patient ratio law as we mark over twenty years since its historic implementation in 2004. This landmark legislation not only transformed patient care delivery in California but ignited a powerful national and international movement for safe staffing standards, inspiring nurses worldwide to advocate for similar protections. This California model has become the gold standard, inspiring campaigns from Maine to Australia, demonstrating how organized nurses can successfully advocate for their patients and win concrete improvements in patient care standards.

The course analyzes twenty years of research and lived experience demonstrating how mandated minimum staffing ratios have saved countless patient lives by promoting safe, competent, therapeutic, and effective nursing care. Participants will examine the political and economic forces that shaped the law's passage, including the pivotal role of organized nursing advocacy in overcoming healthcare industry opposition.

Drawing from two decades of implementation experience, the course highlights crucial lessons learned about the protective effect of the ratio throughout decades of corporate restructuring and technological developments. This course examines collective patient advocacy strategies central to the law's effectiveness.

Special emphasis will be placed on documented improvements in patient safety measures, how collective patient advocacy has amplified these outcomes, and the ways in which the California model has strengthened the global case for nurse-to-patient ratio laws.

This is a two-part, in-person CE Class from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (6 hours of CE credits). If you’re a UC nurse, an extra hour will be available from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Participants must be in attendance all day to receive the full 6 CEU CE credits, even if they have taken one of the classes prior to the sign-up date.

Part 1: Demystifying Artificial Intelligence: How A.I. works, how it fails, and what it means for nurses

Description

Nurses regularly embrace worker-centric technologies that complement bedside skills and improve quality of care for patients. Tech companies and health care employers say that new A.I. technologies will improve patient outcomes and decrease job strain for healthcare workers, but many of the claims about the safety, effectiveness, and fairness of A.I. are unsubstantiated. 

This class will help nurses separate hype from reality by shedding light on how A.I. works, what its inherent limitations are, and what the potential impacts are for patient health and safety. The course will examine the implications of artificial intelligence and automated technologies for the nursing profession, quality of patient care, and health equity.

This class is a follow-up to “A.I. 101” from 2024; however, A.I. 101 is not a prerequisite for this class.

Part 2: How Financialization is Reshaping the Hospital Industry: What Nurses Need to Know

Description

This course will examine the increasing influence of Wall Street in health care and the parallel trend of hospital systems prioritizing their own financial investments over the provision of patient care. We will investigate the causes of these trends and their consequences for patients and nurses.

We will also assess how the increasing influence of financial actors intersects with other key health care trends, including monopolization in the hospital industry, the nurse staffing crisis, increased barriers to care and worsening health outcomes. We will conclude by exploring how nurses can respond to these trends and advocate for their patients and professions.

This is a two-part, in-person CE Class from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (6 hours of CE credits). If you're a UC nurse, an extra hour will be available from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Participants must be in attendance all day to receive the full 6 CEU CE credits, even if they have taken one of the classes prior to the sign-up date.

Part 1: Planet Over Profits: The Health Impacts of Environmental Crisis & What Nurses Can Do

Description

This course examines the impacts of human-driven disruption of the natural environment on human health and health care, from devastating extreme weather events to the spread of novel infectious diseases and increased exposure to toxic pollutants.

The class will explore how climate change impacts the health of patients, the working conditions of nurses, and public health. We will consider how and why environmental health risks are increasing for everyone while disproportionately impacting under-resourced communities. We will also look at how nurses and other health justice advocates can and already are responding to environmental crisis and discuss strategies for building a just transition to a more sustainable and healthy future.

Part 2: Preparing for the Next Pandemic: Advocacy for Robust Infection Prevention Protections for Nurses and Patients

Description

Scientists estimate that the likelihood of another novel pathogen turning into a worldwide pandemic grows each year. Preparedness is essential to ensure the safety of nurses, other health care workers, and patients. The devastation and loss that has come from health care employers' failures to prepare for the Covid-19 pandemic cannot be repeated. But the reality is that many health care employers are not only failing to prepare; they are neglecting essential measures to prevent transmission of pathogens seen in health care facilities every day — from TB to MRSA, influenza, C diff, and more. Each day, one in 31 U.S. patients contracts at least one infection associated with their health care. Health care-associated infections rose significantly early in the Covid-19 pandemic and rates continue to be high. Nurses and other health care workers are also at risk — nearly seven in ten nurses have sustained at least one infection at work.

This class will apply the scientific foundation for infection prevention to nurses' workplaces. We will discuss the steps that need to be taken to ensure that health care facilities are prepared to protect nurses and patients from known pathogens and the next pandemic.