An alarming trend is that the numbers of state board nursing actions against nurses has been steadily increasing since the 0.2-0.3 percent of all United States registered nurses who were annually disciplined at the turn of the twenty-first century. At the same time, the numbers of APRNs who have had increased responsibility and accountability in their scope of practice have also faced intensified scrutiny by these same boards of nursing. With the national trend of increased litigation, increased malpractice premiums, and increased civil, criminal, and board of nursing action, Continuing Legal Education Programming (CLEP) is vital. Yet, little of the literature reviewed for this project addressed the need for such intervention for APRNs, nor did the literature address testing of a model for continuing legal education. Purpose and Scope: The purpose of this project is to describe the need for and utilization of CLEP among APRNs in a selected state using the Green Continuing Education Process Model. The rationale for the project was that the design and implementation of CLEP would assist New Hampshire APRNs to increase their awareness of liability issues and knowledge of laws and risk management strategies relevant to practice. Goal: The goal of this project is to develop and implement relevant CLEP for APRNs leading to practice change in a selected state. Objectives: First, to construct and administer a CLEP needs assessment to a survey minimum of 50 and as many as 75 licensed APRNs in New Hampshire, that measures demographic information to include but not limited to length of experience as an APRN by December, 2006. Second, to develop and implement a one-day cost-effective CLEP Spring 2007 Seminar for APRNs incorporating the results of the CLEP needs assessment survey by March, 2007. Third, to evaluate CLEP Spring 2007 Seminar participant response regarding relevance to and change in practice as a results of attendance at the CLEP Spring 2007 Seminar by April, 2007. Fourth, to test a process for the ongoing planning and delivery of CLEP for APRNs, based on findings from the CLEP needs assessment and the outcomes measured in the CLEP Spring 2007 Seminar pst-evaluation survey. Plan: Phase One: Develop/Administer CLEP needs assessment survey; analyze data. Phase Two: Plan, develop and implement CLEP Spring 2007 Seminar. Phase Three: Collect and analyze data from post-seminar outcomes evaluation survey, and evaluate model and outcome measurements. Outcomes and Results: Green’s model and needs assessment/post-seminar evaluation surveys were adapted for use with continuing legal education programing for New Hampshire advanced practice nurses. Cronbach’s alpha measures for the pre-test and for the post-test were achieved in the samples. The CLEP model adapted from Green was found to be both valid and reliable. Key findings revealed that 80 percent of the CLEP participants believed CLEP to be relevant to their clinical practice while 88 percent made changes in their practice within 21-days following the CLEP intervention.
