Below are details about continuing education and license renewal in Alaska. You can skip to your profession by selecting it from the drop down list above.
In 2018, the State of Alaska’s Department of Health & Social Services set out to take control over the state’s most wide-spread epidemic – the opioid crisis – by issuing a five-year action plan that affected most day-to-day operations in hospitals throughout the state.
Although this is a nation-wide epidemic, from 2010 to 2017, Alaska alone saw over 600 deaths attributed to opioid overdose, and felt the need to combat this crisis in one way or another. Hospitals began changing the way they treat patients with opioid addiction, as they found that a trip to the emergency room could be a crucial window of time to help people on their way to recovery. One of the overarching goals identified by the state’s campaign included, “Preventing opioid overdose deaths through widespread availability and the appropriate use of naloxone and improved health provider and drug prescriber education.”
Medical professionals, including nurses, have made a great, overall impact on the state’s chance to combat the opioid crisis by providing patients with medicine that eases the transition to seeking the additional care, as well as making sure the patient is connected to a network of providers who can ensure this continuation of a medication-assisted treatment.
20 contact hours of continuing education approved by the board during the concluding license period. The 20 contact hours must include the following:
at least four hours of the required continuing education contact hours must be in pharmacology; no more than two hours of the continuing education hours required under this paragraph may be in alternative medications, including herbology and homeopathy
at least two hours of the required continuing education contact hours must be for the completion of the self-study program described in 12 AAC 14.430(e)
No more than 10 of the required continuing education contact hours may be completed in a self-study program.