healthcare

The Top 5 Best Free CE Courses for Nurses in 2025

Goodwork author

06 May 2025 — 2 min read

The Importance of Continuing Education Courses

Continuing education units (CEUs) indicate the duration you've dedicated to enhancing your nursing skills and updating your knowledge. They enable nurses to stay informed on the latest evidence-based practice guidelines. Additionally, many state nursing boards require continuing education courses to maintain your licensure in a specific state and retain most specialty certifications. To learn your state's CEU requirements, visit your state board of nursing's website.

Top 5 Free Nursing CE Courses in 2025

Here are five premier free CE courses you shouldn't miss:

1. COVID-19: The Impact of a Pandemic on Mental Health

Offered by Wild Iris Medical Education, this course delves into the mental health ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare professionals and patients. It provides strategies to mitigate stress and anxiety during unprecedented crises. The course is ANCC-accredited and offers 1 contact hour.

2. The One-Hour Sepsis Bundle: Acting in 60 Minutes

Incredible Health provides a comprehensive course on sepsis management, emphasizing the importance of initiating interventions within one hour. It covers standard treatment strategies to reduce mortality rates among hospitalized patients.

3. Pediatric Patient Care: Age-Appropriate Interventions

Nurse.com offers courses focusing on pediatric care, highlighting the significance of tailoring interventions to a child's developmental stage, family dynamics, and cultural background. These courses provide expert advice on caring for children from infancy to adolescence.

4. Opiate Crisis: Nurses' Role in Mitigation

Nursing CE Central presents a course addressing the opioid epidemic in the United States. It educates nurses on their pivotal role in combating this public health crisis, offering strategies to alter the current trend and address the epidemic effectively.

5. Nursing Documentation Basics: Protecting Your License

Proper documentation is crucial in nursing practice. Incredible Health provides a course that covers effective nursing documentation, legal standards, and common mistakes, ensuring nurses can communicate efficiently with treatment teams and defend against malpractice claims.

Selecting Your CE Topics

While some states mandate specific classes, nurses generally have the freedom to choose CE topics that interest them or relate to their field or specialty.

Consider these factors when selecting CE courses:

Does the topic enhance your current specialty knowledge?
Might the topic assist in transitioning to a new specialty?
Will the topic improve your overall nursing practice (e.g., communication or documentation)?
Are you genuinely interested in the topic?

Evaluating a CE Course's Value

Whether CE courses are free or paid, several aspects should be considered when assessing their value:

Accreditation: Ensure the course is approved by an accrediting body, such as the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).
Certificate Availability: Verify how the program will document your contact hours. Ideally, obtain a printable certificate immediately upon completion. If your license renewal date is approaching, avoid waiting for a certificate via email or postal mail.