It has been 25 years since AANA members voted to adopt a bylaw stating that continuing education for nurse anesthetists is vital to maintaining and augmenting the professional competence and promoting high quality healthcare service for which the public and healthcare consumers hold them accountable.

Today’s rapidly changing and increasingly competitive healthcare environment underscores the importance of that commitment to the continuous updating of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, that enables nurse anesthetists to deliver anesthesia safely and cost effectively.

This eighth edition of the AANA Continuing Education Booklet updates the continuing education guidelines for those who provide and those who attend continuing education activities for nurse anesthetists.

While the standards, philosophy, and criteria for continuing education remain essentially the same, some of the wording used to describe the components of a successful continuing education program has been revised to reflect current terminology and clarify the intent of each standard and criterion.