Nurse Practitioner Education
Continuing Medical Education Tips for the Busy NP
Once we graduate, the journey isn’t over, in fact it’s only beginning. As NPs, we need to stay on top of the latest guideline updates, practice changes, procedural skills, and more. This can feel overwhelming - but it doesn’t have to be! There is no one-size-fits-all. You need to learn at your own pace, with resources you find helpful.
Things to reflect on: Do you prefer written content? Audio? Video? Online or live work shops or conferences? Often a combination of these options keeps things fresh and interesting. The key is not to CRAM education, but to learn at a steady pace, and anchor learning onto patient cases so the information clicks AND sticks.
I'm here to share some of my favourite free and paid CME options (including podcasts) out there - and no, this is not a sponsored post. It can feel hard to know where to start, so I simply wanted to help with a starting point. There are SO many options out there, so it’s important to do your own research as well! Let’s get into it!
Nurse Practitioner CME - There’s Lots of Options!
NP Reasoning
NP Reasoning was born out of a simple realization: I believed NPs deserve sharper, more confident diagnostic reasoning skills — and personally, I didn’t getting enough of that in traditional education. When I graduated, I felt that gap firsthand, and I knew something had to change. What started as a small blog has grown into a community of thousands of NPs who are passionate about clinical reasoning and lifelong learning.
Today, NP Reasoning offers:
Several blog posts on a variety of topics - including diagnostic imaging, lab test interpretation, and practice tips
A free weekly Primary Care Update newsletter
A Masterclass Membership offers a weekly in-depth primary care update newsletter, live and on-demand webinars, member discounts on practical tools like primary care charting templates, and discounted access to future course content (stay tuned!).
My mission? To help NPs stay sharp, up to date, and confident with diagnostic reasoning — with curated education, the latest guideline updates, and real-world reasoning made practical.
Pri-Med
Pri-med has several continuing medical education options - in-person conferences, on-demand CME/CE, virtual conferences, clinical resources and bootcamps. The variety is nice because you can determine what might suit your needs best.
In-person conferences happen in the United States and in Canada
There are 100s of online CME/CE courses organized by format, credits, and topic
They offer a primary care bootcamp for NPs and PAs - a 1 year unlimited subscription, amongst other bootcamps (e.g. cardiology, mental health)
Hippo Education
Hippo Ed offers education tailored to physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, medical assistants, residents/trainees, and students
Education offerings include primary care, urgent care, pediatrics, and emergency medicine
There are a variety of educational formats: for examples an annual subscription to the primary care RAP podcast helps clinicians stay up to date on a variety of primary care topics; there are several “bootcamps” and other online courses e.g. on antibiotic stewardship
American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP)
The AANP offers annual memberships, including international memberships. What does this include?
AANP free course of the month
Other free CE courses
Clinical resources by therapeutic area
Access to AANP communities
Discounts on AANP conferences, etc.
Free Podcasts + Websites
The Curbsiders Internal Medicine: an internal medicine podcast that covers a variety of IM topics (very applicable to primary care too!)
The Cribsiders Pediatric Medicine: a pediatric medicine podcast
Curbsiders Addiction Medicine Podcast: an addiction medicine podcast
Harrison’s Podclass: provides short, succinct sessions on a variety of internal medicine topics
Canadian Medical Association Journal podcast: reviews scientific and social health advances in Canadian health care. Episodes include real stories of patients, clinicians, and others who are impacted by the Canadian health care system.
EM Basic: a free “boot camp” guide to emergency medicine - highlights several EM cases
Pediatric Emergency Playbook: highlights several pediatric EM cases
This is just a snapshot of CME options out there, and some of my favourites. If you want to share other CME opportunities you think NPs should know about, please reach out anytime!
Want curated education to make confident & informed decisions with your patients?
👉 Sign up for NP Reasoning Masterclass.
Disclaimer - The views expressed in this post are my own and do not represent the official position of any organization. This is not a sponsored post. Read the full disclaimer.