A continuing education platform for nursing home staff across North Carolina and Florida. Built in 2015 on WordPress, the system used invitation codes to control access, delivered graded exams, issued certificates, and reported completions for licensing compliance — all while meeting healthcare data security and exam integrity requirements.
Project Summary
I developed a CEU website for Guardian Pharmacy that streamlined registration, study access, testing, and certification. The platform centered on a custom invitation-code workflow—over 100,000 unique codes were distributed to staff—so only authorized users could register and view materials. After passing exams, users automatically received a certificate and their results were recorded for licensing purposes. Security and compliance were prioritized, with strict user authentication, encrypted data handling, and measures to ensure exam integrity.
The Problem
Guardian Pharmacy needed to deliver mandatory CE training at scale across two states and prove completion to licensing authorities. Manual processes (emailing materials, hand-tracking results) were slow, error-prone, difficult to audit, and lacked a secure, compliant method for handling sensitive user data.
The Solution
I built a WordPress-based system with a modified registration plugin to validate large batches of invitation codes and gate all study content until a valid code was used. A secure test engine handled question banks, timed exams, and automatic grading. On successful completion, the platform generated a branded certificate and stored/forwarded results for compliance reporting. All user data was stored in a protected database with server-level access restrictions and SSL encryption. Anti-cheating measures were implemented to maintain exam integrity.
- Invitation-code registration with large-batch import and validation.
- Content access restricted to verified users only.
- Timed, auto-graded exams with randomized question order.
- Instant certificate generation upon completion.
- Results logging for licensing board reporting.
- SSL encryption and server-level access controls for sensitive data.
Technical Breakdown
- Platform: WordPress, custom plugin modifications, PHP/MySQL.
- Registration: Unique invitation code model (100k+ issued) with server-side validation and rate limiting.
- Access Control: Materials gated behind authenticated sessions; role-based capabilities for admins/educators.
- Exams & Certificates: Randomized question order, auto-grading, score persistence, and on-demand PDF certificate generation.
- Compliance: Encrypted result records stored for audit; export/report workflows for licensing submission.
- Performance: Optimized queries and indexing to handle large cohorts without downtime.
Results
- Enabled statewide training at scale with minimal admin overhead.
- Reduced manual registration and tracking to near zero.
- Clean audit trail for licensing compliance and certificate issuance.
- Maintained high exam integrity and data security throughout the process.
- Sustained performance while processing 100k+ invitation codes.
