Reading activities of staff nurses from states with mandatory or voluntary continuing education.

Reading activities of staff nurses (N = 269) residing in six states with mandated educational requirements for relicensure were compared with a similar number (N = 275) of staff nurses from states that have no legislative continuing education (CE) requirements. Time spent reading both professional and general literature was obtained. Nurses spent twice as much time reading general literature as professional literature. Both groups stated that conferences were the preferred method of CE; reading was the second choice in mandatory states and the third in voluntary states. However, nurses in voluntary states spent slightly more time reading professional literature.