NEW ICU and Acute Care Course Added for 2016 and 2017

We are excited to announce a new course added to our offerings:

ICU and Acute Care: From Early Mobilization to Discharge Decisions

[caption id="attachment_3751" align="alignright" width="129"]Chris Wells, PT, PhD, CCS, ATC Chris Wells, PT, PhD, CCS, ATC[/caption]

Presented by Chris L. Wells, PT, PhD, CCS, ATC, a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science.

In this course the speaker will first discuss the multisystem adverse effects of critical illness and the impact the sequelae have on the rehabilitation process. The current philosophy is for early mobilization to decrease the rate of functional deficits and disability. In this medical model the therapist needs to have a sharp set of skills in assessment and optimal interventions given the activity tolerance of the patient.  This discussion will establish the framework for the remainder of the course by addressing pertinent evaluation skills and intervention plans with the goal to restore function across the continuum of care. This course will discuss the interpretation of vital signs beyond the basics and system review as it relates to critical illness. The participants will gain a clinical decision framework to determine medical stability and exercise tolerance that will improve the exercise prescription of patients recovering from critical illness.

Another section of this course will focus on understanding dyspnea and fatigue which are two common barriers to activity tolerance.  The participants will learn how to examine chest wall mechanics, breathing pattern, cough effectiveness and incorporate interventions to improve function. This course will explore the evidence for advanced intervention for patients on advanced medical support devices and who are suffering from the common iatrogenic effects of hospitalization.

Finally the participants will be engaged in a case study to discuss integration of clinical information and problem solving for a successful patient encounter.

Please click here for full course details, a schedule, CEU information, venue details and to download a brochure

December 2-3, 2016 Indianapolis, IN  
January 28-29, 2017 Hollywood, FL
April 7-8, 2017 Burlington, WI
May 19-20, 2017 Washington, DC
July 22-23, 2017 West Columbia, SC
September 16-17, 2017 Freehold, NJ
October 21-22, 2017 Visalia, CA
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2017 CEU Courses Now Open for Registration

We are pleased to announce our 2017 schedule of continuing education courses.

We listened to your suggestions and requests and we are excited to offer many new speakers, with new titles and content.

Please click here to search for courses that are relevant and of interest to you

You will be able to search by field of interest,  by date and by location.

We will continue to post venues as they become confirmed, and new titles and speakers are in the works. So please check back regularly

Join our targeted email list to receive notifications of courses relevant to your field that are coming to your region

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

Carol Loria, President ERI:

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:

  1. Highlight only 2-4 key points that you hope to make in 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.
  2. 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?”
  3. 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.

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The Most Important Question to Ask Yourself When Planning your In-Service

 

Carol Loria, President ERI:

Education Resources CEUsOnce you have defined your audience (see Blog #2) and planned for your time-frame, it is critical to identify the 2-4 points you want to make. What are the 2-4 key issues, ideas or skills that you want the group to walk away with. It is far more effective to highlight a few key points well than to inundate them with more information than they can digest and apply in such a short time.

Remember:  Less is More

  • Start with an introductory statement telling the audience what the objectives or key points are that you will be covering
  • Tell them your plan for the 90 minutes and what you hope they will get out of the session
  • Engage them by letting them know that your information has relevance to them by acknowledging their challenges, their ideal outcomes and their interests. Perhaps give an example of how your new learning has helped you with a particular clinical issue.
  • Use humor, anecdotes or an interesting fact to gain attention and interest throughout your presentation.

Let us know what has worked for you when planning how to focus an effective in-service?

Stay tuned; next time we will be discussing hints on developing content that really grab your colleagues.

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What Matters Most – Evidence Based School Practice

GUEST BLOGGER: Kathryn Biel

I have a pet peeve. Okay, I have many, but one of my biggest ones is when people justify actions with the excuse of, “That’s what we’ve always done.” You know you’ve heard it. Maybe you’ve even said it. Next time those words leave your mouth, I want you to stop and think.

Just like with our students, we have to analyze task. We need to look at the overall end goal, as well as individual task components. If you’ve been doing something the same way for more than a decade, maybe it’s time to stop and perform some task analysis. This goes not only for our paperwork, but for our treatments as well.

This means we have homework.

As clinicians, it is our responsibility to stay abreast of research and breakthroughs. I don’t know about you, but my school days were a long time ago. Certainly not in this century. I would hope that in the past few decades, we’ve learned more. We’ve proven what works, or what doesn’t. Certainly the foundations of function remain the same—or do they? What have researchers proved? And then, how does it impact your treatment theories? How does new technology impact what you are doing? What new technology is even out there and how does it work?

Understanding the building blocks of the neurological and musculoskeletal systems is key in applying the new, evidenced-based techniques out there. One of the biggest problems in the motor therapy field is the lack of evidenced-based research out there (take Sensory Integration, for example). As clinicians, we must do our homework so that we can educate not only the teachers, but the parents and students as well. Explaining to a teacher why a child with a slumped posture will have difficulty with attending. Telling a parent that his or her child may not be defiant but in a heightened state of arousal and engaging the fight or flight reflex are examples of how as clinicians we need to understand current motor and learning theories.

In the schools, we’re looking to maximize our effectiveness in a minimal amount of time. This means truly understanding how to influence a child’s brain and system for longer than 30 minutes, twice a week. To learn more about how to effectively do this, check out Bobby Nabeyama’s presentation: Evidence Based School Practice: Therapeutic Implications of Current Knowledge on How the Brain Works, Motor Control, and Motor Learning at the Seventeenth Annual Therapies in the School Conference.

~Kathryn Biel, PT, DPT

 

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