Current Continuing Professional Education Practice among Malaysian Nurses

Nurses need to participate in CPE to update their knowledge and increase their competencies. This research was carried out to explore their current practice and the future general needs for CPE. This cross-sectional descriptive study involved registered nurses from government hospitals and health clinics from Peninsular Malaysia. Multistage cluster sampling was used to recruit 1000 nurses from four states of Malaysia. Self-explanatory questionnaires were used to collect the data, which were analyzed using SPSS version 16. Seven hundred and ninety-two nurses participated in this survey. Only 80% (562) of the nurses had engaged in CPE activities during the past 12 months. All attendance for the various activities was below 50%. Workshops were the most popular CPE activity (345, 43.6%) and tertiary education was the most unpopular activity (10, 1.3%). The respondents did perceive the importance of future CPE activities for career development. Mandatory continuing professional education (MCPE) is a key measure to ensure that nurses upgrade their knowledge and skills; however, it is recommended that policy makers and nurse leaders in the continuing professional development unit of health service facilities plan CPE activities to meet registered nurses’ (RNs) needs and not simply organizational requirements. 1. Introduction Globally, all professionals have recognized the phenomenon of continuing professional education (CPE) as a primary method to enhance basic professional education regularly [1]. Globalization, technological advances, consumerism and climate changes have challenged the health care environment to ensure practice and services are contemporary. As nurses are the largest group of health care professionals globally, therefore nurses are required to participate in CPE to develop skills and competencies, and remain current in their practice. The International Council of Nurses Code of Ethics for Nurses [2] advocated that “the nurses carry personal responsibility and accountability for nursing practice, and for maintaining competence by continual learning.” In view of the important role of CPE to nurses, many countries have implemented mandatory continuing professional education (MCPE), beginning with the State of California in 1971 [3]. Later in 1973, the American Nurses Association advocated MCPE for relicensure [4]. Currently 23 states in the United States have enforced legislation that requires nurses to participate in CPE in order to renew their license to practice [5]. Similarly, in the United Kingdom, legislation was passed and MCPE was