ParrotNotes

Free CEU Tracker

Enter your renewal date and the hours your board requires, then log each course as you finish it: date, title, provider, hours or CEUs, topic and certificate number. The tracker adds up the cycle, shows what is still needed and how many days are left, and prints a record you can keep for an audit. It saves in this browser, with CSV export and import as your backup.

A personal log, not a record your board keeps. Check your licensing board for the hours, the cycle and any required topics.

What to log for each course

  • Date completed

    The date on the certificate. The tracker counts a course in the cycle its date falls in and marks any course dated outside it.

  • Title and provider

    The course name as it appears on the certificate and who offered it: an association, a college, an employer's education team or an online CE provider.

  • Hours or CEUs

    The amount on the certificate, in the unit it uses. The tracker converts between contact hours and CEUs, so a mix of both adds up in the unit your board counts.

  • Format

    Online course, live webinar, in person, conference or self-study, so the record shows how each course was taken if anyone asks.

  • Topic

    If your board asks for hours in set topics, add them as required topics and give each course its topic. Each topic shows its own progress.

  • Certificate number

    The number or code on the certificate, and a note on where the file is saved: what you need if you are asked for proof, and the hardest part to find later.

How to track a renewal cycle

Start with your board's numbers: the renewal date on your license, the hours required for the cycle, whether they count contact hours or CEUs, and any topics with hours of their own. Type them in; the tracker does not know any board's rules, so the numbers are yours. If your cycle has a start date, add it so older courses stop counting.

Log each course when you finish it, while the certificate is in your inbox. The summary shows hours earned in the cycle, hours still needed and days to the renewal date, and each required topic. Courses outside the cycle stay in the log and are marked as not counted.

Before you renew, print the record or save it as a PDF and keep it with your certificates. Download the calendar reminder so the renewal date, and reminders 90, 30 and 7 days before it, are in your calendar. Export the CSV now and then: it is your backup, and it imports back into the tracker on another browser.

Taking notes in a lecture or an in-service? The lecture summarizer turns a recording or notes into a summary to keep with the certificate.

Running the training instead of attending it? Keep the sign-in record with the attendance tracker.

CEU, contact hour, CE credit

CEU
Continuing Education Unit. IACET defines one CEU as ten contact hours of participation in an organized learning experience. So 1.5 CEUs is 15 contact hours.
Contact hour
An hour of participation in a course. Check how your board defines and counts one.
CE credit or credit hour
A general term providers and boards use in different ways. Log the amount and unit exactly as the certificate states it, and check your board for how it counts.

Tips for an audit-ready CE log

  • Log it the day you finish

    Certificates get buried in email. Logging the course with its certificate number while it is in front of you takes a minute; finding it two years later takes an afternoon.

  • Keep the certificates in one folder

    Save every certificate as a PDF in one place and write where in the course note. A total is easy to show; proof of each course is what takes time to find.

  • Check the cycle dates

    The tracker counts a course in the cycle its date falls in and marks the ones outside it. For courses close to the renewal date, check your board's rule.

  • Mind the required topics

    Reaching the total does not cover a required topic. Add each topic your board names and watch its line, not just the total.

More for nurses and other licensed professionals: where to find free nursing CEUs, nursing professional development, the nurse educator role.

Source

Sat through the webinar. Kept nothing but the certificate.

Record the webinar or lecture with ParrotNotes on your phone, where the presenter allows it, and get the transcript and a summary for your own notes, so what you learned is still there when you need it. Course content only, never patient details. Free for 100 minutes of recording a month.

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