Within the field of continuing education, these terms are often used interchangeably. The most accurate term for a singular certified educational event is an “activity.” “Activity” encompasses all types of educational formats, including workshops, seminars, programs, courses, and conferences.

It’s best to avoid using the term “meeting” because it does not indicate an educational event. In addition, avoid using the terms “training” and “in-servicing,” because those terms do not indicate the meaning of continuing professional education.

Each of these abbreviations has a specific meaning but some are commonly interchanged.

Continuing education (CE) may be used to indicate the general field of continuing education in many different healthcare-related professions. It is also sometimes used to refer to specific continuing education for nurses or pharmacists.

Continuing medical education (CME) is for used to indicate certified education developed for physicians.

The use of the term “continuing nursing education (CNE)” makes it clear that an activity is both certified continuing education and specific to nursing. If delivered by an approved provider, the CNE activity could be used by a nurse to meet continuing competency requirements.

The use of the term “continuing pharmacy education (CPE)” makes it clear that an activity is both continuing education and specific to pharmacy. If delivered by an approved provider, the CPE activity could be used by a pharmacist to meet continuing competency requirements.

Contact hours are the specific unit of measurement applied to CE. A contact hour is most often defined as "60 consecutive minutes of participation in a learning activity.”

A continuing education unit (CEU) is a measurement of contact hours and credit assigned to an approved certified educational activity. For example, 1 contact hour of learning activity is equal to 0.1 CEU and 10 contact hours equals 1.0 CEU. Activities certified by AXIS are awarded contact hours, not CEUs. Contact hours are often referred to as credits of CEUs.

Continuing education (CE) involves the systematic professional learning experiences designed to augment the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of professionals, and therefore enrich them and their contributions to quality healthcare. The knowledge, skills, and attitudes gained from CE activities can be applied regardless of the participant’s employer.

In contrast, in-servicing and/or staff development activities are typically designed to enhance performance in a learner’s current job role and are based on a specific facility’s/organization’s policies and procedures, equipment, and resources. For example, orientation programs are typically facility-specific or organization-specific. Contact hours may not be awarded for employer-specific content.

A universal activity number (UAN) is an identification number assigned to each new continuing pharmacy education activity developed by an Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE)–accredited provider.

The UAN is developed by adding to the ACPE provider identification number for an accredited provider (eg, 0592), with the joint sponsor designation number (eg, 0000 for no cosponsor, 9999 for all joint sponsors), the last 2 digits of the year of program development (eg, 16), the sequential number of the program from among the new programs developed during that year (eg, 001), the format (eg, L, live offerings; H, home study), and topic designators (eg, 01, drug therapy related; 02, AIDS therapy related; 03, law topics; 04, general pharmacy topics; 05, patient safety).

A “P” at the end of the UAN indicates the activity is developed for pharmacists. A “T” at the end of the UAN indicates the activity is developed for pharmacy technicians.