Continuing Education Units (CEU’s) for Dummies

Professionals train throughout their careers to stay updated on industry standards and maintain various qualifications. Understanding the continuing education units definition and meaning can help you be more prepared when enrolling in classes and training sessions.

What Are Continuing Education Units?

Continuing education units exist across industries, supporting professionals with their specific needs. Because courses can be expensive and time-consuming, CEUs aim to make license and certificate management and knowledge expansion more accessible to professionals trying to advance their careers while maintaining their current workloads.

You can earn CEUs by taking approved courses. They can cover various topics relevant to your position or industry, from cybersecurity to skills unique to your job.

How Many Hours Is Equal to One CEU?

How many contact hours is a CEU? A CEU typically equals one-tenth of an hour. With this calculation, a single-hour course will equal 0.1 CEU. When taking a two-day class, you will earn around 1.2 or 1.4 CEUs because these courses are usually 12 to 14 hours long.

In states like New York and Florida, physical therapy boards and associations classify an hour as 50 minutes. In this case, the best way to calculate how many continuing education hours a course provides is to add up the hours and multiply by 60 to get the total minutes. Then, divide by 50. At Education Resources, Inc., we will do this for you, and this information will be on each brochure you download from our website.

Education Resources is also an ASHA-approved CEU provider, and ASHA considers an hour one CEU.

Why Do I Need CEUs?

CEUs have many purposes, helping professionals meet several specific and essential goals. Whether you want to continue practicing or learn new skills, CEUs are efficient ways to gain relevant and industry-specific knowledge. Here are some benefits of this method.

Maintaining your existing license and certifications: You can use CEUs to earn the credits you need to keep your license and certificates. When you have the licensure and other paperwork, you can continue to practice. CEUs allow you to renew your credentials and optimize your career management without taking additional time from your personal or work life.
Advancing your career: You can use CEUs to earn new and more specialized certifications. With the proper requirements, getting more documentation will allow you to expand your skills and services as a therapist.
Increasing job opportunities: Your career advancement might include looking for new positions or locations. You can apply for more jobs when you have additional credentials and a valid license. Career growth and development might qualify you for promotions or positions at your current location.
Keeping up with industry standards: Every industry evolves. New research comes out, causing professionals to update their methodology, technology and tools. CEUs allow you to explore new developments, so you can provide better and more accurate care to your clients. Continual education helps you stay competitive, ensuring you can keep up with other experts in the industry.

These functions benefit many therapists and professionals in this industry. With several types of CEUs available, you can continue your education and learn new skills on your schedule and by your preferences, making it perfect for those with busy work and personal lives.

Earn CEUs With Courses From Education Resources, Inc.

When you want to continue your education, you must find a course provider with approved classes to begin earning your CEUs. Education Resources designs courses specifically for physical and occupational therapists and speech language pathologists. Other therapists create these, ensuring the material is relevant to your industry and applications with your best interests in mind.

We offer many training methods. On-demand online courses are available anytime after registering, allowing you to work on your schedule. If you love connecting with other professionals, the live webinars will enable you to participate in Q&As and other activities. In-house courses can reach your entire staff for efficient, widespread training and education.

Contact Education Resources today to learn more about earning CEUs with our courses.

earn CEUs with courses from Education Resources Inc

Clinical Rotations? Specialization?

Rick Posts

DEAR ERI COMMUNITY: I am in an acute setting for a large university hospital in the midwest. Currently our management staff prefers we rotate on an average of 4 month schedule around the hospital, with all Level 1 Trauma areas such as Cardiac, Neuro, Ortho/trauma, Oncology, Renal, Transplant, Burn, and ICU. Are there any other hospitals out there that work in a similar function? I have been looking at other area hospitals and they seem to keep their therapists in areas of preference rather than a rotation that allows little room for specialization. Thanks for your input.

]]>

3 Tips to Keep Your Colleagues Interested and Engaged When Presenting an In-Service

There is nothing worse than speaking in front of a group of people and having them look bored to tears.

What keeps your interest when attending a presentation?

Here are just a few pointers I’ve learned over the years: Highlight only 2-4 key points that you hope to make in for each 90 minutes of presentation and for each point present research and/or, theoretical framework followed up with clinically relevant examples. Use case examples and anecdotes.
Put the audience in an active listening mode occasionally throughout your presentation. You can do this by posing some thought-provoking questions. While you won’t have time to entertain answers, it is often helpful to present some questions for them to mull over.

For example, as you begin to present a new technique, you might say, “Can you think of a patient that this technique would work for? Can you think of a case where it would be a challenge due to co-morbidity?”

Use audio-visuals if…….

They support what you will be discussing and offer further clarification.

Do not use AV’s if they complicate the material by presenting more material than you are planning to cover.

Remember to be prepared to go ahead without the AV’s should there be a glitch! The show must go on!

What are your tips to keep engaged when presenting an in-service?

Stay tuned; next time we’ll be talking about 10 words you can use in your in-service.

]]>

Seeking Input – Guillain-Barre

Theresa Posts:

DEAR ERI COMMUNITY:

Clinical Challenge: Home Care OT treating 60 y.o. male w/GBS (diagnosed 1 year ago), who has almost no sensory or motor function in bilat hands. Had restricted extension in wrists/hands/fingers premorbidly (i.e. couldn’t do push ups). Has IDDM, but no other restrictions. Trying to apply NDT concept of promoting return through weight bearing on BUE, but very difficult to position his hands appropriately. He is able to maintain stance with min A and has return in proximal BUE. What successful strategies has anyone tried with these patients that they’d care to share?

]]>

Torticollis: Surgery?

Fraida Posts:

DEAR ERI COMMUNITY: I am working with a baby that is 8 months old. She presents with orthopedic deformities of the left hand and foot. She also has a torticollis on the left side. She has some mild tightness throuought the left side. I am writing concerning the torticollis. I have been working with her since she is 3 months old. She is not responding to the standard therapies for torticollis including massage, stretch, positioning, and kinesio taping. (We also have an appointment with an eye DR. to rule out the possiblity of this coming from the visual system) We are currently using a Tott collar and I am hopeful that we will see success. I am interested in knowing if there are any practitioners that have had children that required surgical intervention for a torticollis and if so how did they make that determination and what was the procedure like.

]]>