The Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing (BCEN) has announced that Michael Dexter has been awarded a “Best Learning Leader” Gold Medal by the Brandon Hall Group as part of its 2024 HCM Excellence Awards in the Learning and Development area.

Dexter is the BCEN’s director of professional development. He is among 11 professional development pros awarded “Best Learning Leader” gold medals for being “an influential executive who has driven transformative change in how their organization approaches learning and development.” Other honorees include professional education leaders at Dell Technologies, KPMG India, L’Oréal USA, Salesforce and Tavant.

“Michael’s passion for excellent patient care, commitment to nurses’ lifelong learning and collaborative spirit have fueled tremendous innovation and success for the BCEN Learn continuing education platform,” said Janie Schumaker, MBA, BSN, RN, CEN, ICE-CCP, CENP, CPHQ, FABC, chief executive officer of BCEN.

“To be recognized as a leader in learning and development among global companies and innovators is a tremendous honor and very humbling,” said Michael Dexter, MSN, RN, CNL, CEN, CFRN, CPEN, CTRN, TCRN, CCRN, EMT.

“Board certification is nursing’s highest professional achievement and requires a great deal of study, preparation and continuing education,” he said. “We have worked hard to maintain high standards for our offerings and provide relevant educational material for nurses seeking to earn and maintain a BCEN credential.”

Dexter, who holds seven national nursing certifications, still works part-time in the emergency department clinical setting to ensure BCEN Learn offerings meet the needs of today’s emergency, trauma and critical care transport RNs.

Under Dexter’s leadership since joining BCEN in spring 2021, his team of BCEN staff, volunteer nurse subject matter experts, and technology vendors has expanded BCEN Learn offerings by 450%, earned exceptional learner experience ratings, and continuously upgraded the highly interactive, knowledge-reinforcing, learner-driven content on a wide range of adult and pediatric emergency, trauma, flight, critical care ground transport, and burn nursing clinical and leadership topics.

From the online platform’s initial 13 CE courses, BCEN Learn now hosts over 100 CE courses, five extensive practice exams, a highly interactive Certified Emergency Nurse review course, escape room and Jeopardy-style gamification, dozens of live and on-demand free CE webinars, conference content, and the BCEN & Friends podcast, whose 100th episode will air in late 2024.

This is the fourth Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Award for BCEN since launching its BCEN Learn continuing education platform in October 2020.

“Michael is future focused for himself and every member and volunteer on his team, ensuring they are seen and valued and tied to BCEN’s vision that every emergency patient is treated by a board certified nurse,” Schumaker said. “Together they are bringing innovative learning technologies to BCEN Learn and nurse learners across the U.S. and around the world.”