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Board examines continuing education database, audits and digital storage in strategic planning
Summary
The BRN discussed building a searchable continuing-education (CE) database, improving CE audits, enabling licensees to store certificates electronically and encouraging better quality metrics for CE providers.
Board members and staff reviewed continuing education objectives during the strategic planning session, including a proposal to create a centralized database of approved CE courses, improve CE provider audits, allow secure electronic storage of CE certificates and gather quality feedback on CE offerings.
Several board members suggested a provider-rating or short feedback mechanism to help licensees choose higher-quality courses, while staff noted legal and technical constraints — for example, whether BRN regulations allow requiring certificate uploads and storage in Breeze without a regulatory change.
Why it matters: continuing education is a licensure requirement for many California nurses. Better CE quality assurance and easier certificate management would ease renewal audits and reduce administrative friction for licensees.
Key discussion points: - CE database and provider quality: board members proposed a curated database that could surface provider ratings and course reviews; staff flagged legal limits on endorsements and possible rulemaking needs. - Document storage and audit streamlining: staff said revising communications and exploring options to allow providers to upload attendance/completion data could reduce manual audit burdens; technical and storage constraints for tens or hundreds of thousands of licensees were noted. - Provider audits: expansion of provider-approval audits was discussed to assure course quality and alignment with BRN requirements.
Staff will analyze whether document-upload requirements can be implemented under current regulations or whether a regulatory change is needed, and will study storage and technical options and the associated costs.
