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Cannabis Nursing Resources & Education

Recommendations for establishing and expanding your medical cannabis expertise

Reading, Education & Network Partners

Resources & Recommendations

from Experienced Cannabis Nurses

We’ve assembled some of the most valuable resources that we can to help nurses get the best guidance and education, above and beyond the education and benefits we offer our annual members.

Get serious about your cannabis nursing journey by diving into our list of most valuable resources. Below you will find free resources to help get new-to-cannabis nurses get started. For advancing learners and invested professionals, we also have some game changing tools that you can benefit from.

New to Cannabis Nursing?

Here’s our answers to some helpful, frequently asked questions to get you started.

 

Does Cannabis Nursing have an official specialty or certificate?

The short answer to that question is, no. Right now, cannabis nursing (while having standards of care recommendations established with National Council of State Boards of Nursing) does not have official certification.

That means cannabis nursing expertise is reliant upon getting the essential, top-quality education, and more importantly, personal access to experts and professional mentorship. With this powerful combination, we find nurses and nurse entrepreneurs are able to confidently practice as medical cannabis nurses.

 

How do I get started with cannabis nursing?

1. Understand the Endocannabinoid System (ECS)

Learn about the 12th body system (you probably weren’t educated on during your time at nursing school), your Endocannabinoid System.

Understanding how this system works and affects body processes will help you get a rapid understanding of why cannabis, THC, CBD and so many other compounds in the plant have such a profound and sweeping affect.

2. Find out about your local and state legislation

Because of varying laws across the nation and around the world, it’s important to know what is legal where you live and work. Find out what laws might be changing soon, and see where you can help advocate for safe access and patient protections.

3. Read the NCSBN Guidelines for Medical Cannabis Patient Care

As a professional, you have an expected standard of care, whether or not cannabis is legal where you are. Patients are often self-medicating, and having a basic understanding of the important ethics, standards and practices is essential for all nurses.

NCSBN guidelines expect that all nurses meet a standard of care for medical cannabis patients. Are you ready?

Many of the recommendations require you spend time educating yourself on these topics. One of the major priorities for our Network is to ensure any nurse has the expertise to meet these standards of care.

4. Join local advocacy efforts

After realizing the profound benefits of cannabis medicine, contrasted against the local laws, nurses often find the next step in their journey involves becoming active in local advocacy efforts to ensure that patient access to quality medications, essential education, and fair treatment.

There are lots of local advocacy groups with specific goals around medical cannabis advocacy. Patients Out of Time (POT) is a great place to start as it is focused specifically on patient care. Cannabis Nurses of Color (CNOC) is another organization we highly recommend, catering specifically to the needs and advocacy around BIPOC nurses & patients. (Spoiler Alert: the founders of both of these organizations are CNN members! You can get to know them in our private online community.)

Recommended Reading:

NCSBN Guidelines are the first place to start. Here, you’ll learn the care requirements for medical marijuana patients. Cannabis Nurses Network education programs are designed to equip nurses to meet (and exceed) these requirements.

There are a lot of books out there on the topic of medical cannabis for nursing. If you only bought 3 books for your library, we’d recommend these:

Recommended Books
Recommended Books
Recommended Books
Recommended Books

FCC Affiliate Notice: We only recommend what we love & use. If you decide to sign-up using these links, in some cases, we make some money as an affiliate. Thank you.

The Cannabis Nurses Network Conference 2017

Considering cannabis nursing?

Your Step-by-Step Guide to Becoming a Cannabis Nurse
Join CNN Founder Heather Manus for this free session!

Your patients are self medicating - are you equipped to support them? Join this free masterclass, a step-by-step guide to becoming a Cannabis Nurse, with the founder of Cannabis Nurses Network.

Introductory Education:

Introduction to Medical Cannabis for Nurses: Endocannabinoid System Essentials 

Brought to you in partnership with Integrated Holistic Care – this course covers cannabis medicine and endocannabinoid system fundamentals for new cannabis nurses.

Access to this education program is INCLUDED in Annual Membership, and/or in combination other course purchases

 

Advanced Education:

Adding a degree or graduate certificate to your education? Cannabis Nurses Network is partnered with John Patrick University of Health & Applied Sciences as our official advanced education partner. 

Master of Science in Integrative and Functional Medicine: Cannabinoid Medical Sciences Concentration

Brought to you in partnership with JPU, Cannabis Nurses Network offers our verified Annual Members 20% off of this Masters Degree Program. 

The Cannabis Nurses Network Conference 2017

Compassionate Access to Medical Cannabis Act

Legal & Medical Considerations for Cannabis Use in the Clinical Setting
Free Education Session with Ryan’s Law Experts

Everything a health care professional needs to know about Ryan’s Law SB 311 aka Compassionate Care Act, brought to you by the authors & advocates involved.

CNN’s Favorite Comprehensive Cannabis Nurse Certificate Program

CannyNurse™ Certificate Program

The CannyNurse™ Certificate Program is the first comprehensive cannabis nurse training program available. Designed exclusively for working nurses from LPNs to Advanced Practice Nurses, the CannyNurse™ Certificate Program is an evidence-based, holistic journey into the realm of the Endocannabinoid System (ECS). The program consists of 12 modules, each taking approximately 4-6 hours per week.
Graduates receive 50 hours of continuing nursing education units (CEUs) through the Integrative Nurse Coach Academy as approved by the American Holistic Nurses Association. All the lectures are pre-recorded so you can study when it’s convenient for you, but with assignments due at the end of each week, you’ll have plenty of interaction with your peers and your instructors to make sure you’re learning what you need at each stage of the process.
Not only will you learn about cannabinoids (such as THC & CBD), cannabis, its many routes of administration, and dosing strategies, you will also learn ways to support the body’s master regulatory system using holistic modalities and lifestyle medicine.

You’ll learn about the ECS, medical conditions for which cannabis has shown to be effective, adverse reactions to cannabis, the ugly history of prohibition, why social justice issues are especially important in this field, and how to remain up-to-date on the ever-growing body of evidence. And while most of our students have said reading research articles is not their favorite pastime, they have consistently commented on how well-prepared they are to read and evaluate the evidence after taking this course.

If you want to deeply understand the Endocannabinoid System and empower your patients using medical cannabis, this course will give you all the tools you need. Through evidence-based study, personal reflection, interesting case studies, and class discussions, you will gain the knowledge and skills to safely guide and empower medical cannabis patients.

Research & Learning Tool

FCC Affiliate Notice: We only recommend what we love & use. If you decide to sign-up using these links, in some cases, we make some money as an affiliate. Thank you.

CannaKeys 360° puts the science of the ECS at your fingertips to build your knowledge and improve outcomes. Whether you are looking for information you can share with a patient, or in-depth studies on a specific disease process, or just want to know how the Endocannabinoid System affects a specific organ in the body… CannaKeys is the tool to use.

Brought to you in partnership with CannaKeys, CNN is making it possible for our nurses to have access to an incredible research and data tool, while staying on the leading edge of new data and expertise.

Discounted access to this tool is available. Anyone using the links to CannaKeys on our site will save 10% on their CannaKeys Subscription. Annual Members save 30% on their CannaKeys subscription! If you are an annual member, access your special benefits by visiting this link for the 30% savings. 

 

Recommended Advocacy Organizations