When shopping for continuing education, how do you choose the best online CEU courses?
As a healthcare professional, you already know that you are required to obtain continuing education prior to your licensure renewal. It gets tricky, however, based on your license type (PT, OT, SLP, etc.) as well as your state of practice as CEU requirements can greatly vary. If this is not confusing enough, each state board or national body has their own terminology (wording like “contact hours” and “credit units” do not necessarily mean the same thing) along with their own renewal date and their own specified requirements (i.e. total number of hours due each renewal period, live versus video online CEU courses, state laws and rules stipulation, etc.). If you have multiple licenses or are licensed in multiple states, completing your CEUs be even more difficult! The bottom line is that healthcare professionals just want to be able to renew their license and continue with their career without worrying about those pesky CEUs! Does this apply to you?
My CEUs are due when???
With busy lives and professional responsibilities, you may find it difficult just remembering it’s time to get your CEUs. The truth is – the majority of healthcare professionals start looking for CEU courses anywhere from 6 months to a few days prior to their renewal deadline. At this time, whatever is available, cost-effective, and can satisfy all the necessary credit requirements is the go-to CEU option. Sound familiar? So life happens, and here we are… needing to get those 36 (or however many) hours prior to the dreadful deadline! Regardless of the urgency, stress, and feelings of panic, you still have a great opportunity to look into a little detail about the courses you are paying for. After all, you need to get your money’s worth! Here are some quick tips on how to select the best CEUs:
1. Check your licensure renewal requirements.
Not sure how many CEUs you need to renew your license? This is the first step. Click on the link below for your profession to find your state or national requirements before searching for online CEU courses:
- PT/PTA CE Requirements
- OT/OTA CE Requirements
- SLP CE Requirements
- Massage Therapy CE Requirements
- Athletic Trainer CE Requirements
2. Make sure the CEU is approved for your state and license type.
It is very obvious, but is easy to overlook. Be sure that you are going to receive your credits for the time and money you are investing. Also, make sure the CEU company of your choosing is accredited. Last, if the company offers live, interactive webinars as part of their online CEU courses, make sure you will receive your live credits (see live webinar options for your state here).
- PT/PTA CE Approvals
- OT/OTA CE Approvals
- SLP CE Approvals
- Massage Therapy CE Approvals
- Athletic Trainer CE Approvals
- Nursing CE Approvals
3. Check the course outlines and objectives.
This is important! You should read the course objectives to decipher what you will be learning in the course. Are you going to learn something new? Is the topic of interest to you? Will this course help you with your current practice? If you have to get CEUs, you might as well get some benefit out of it. So, familiarize yourself with the course; then, decide to move forward or not.
4. Read about the instructor.
Make sure the instructor is qualified. How many years of relevant clinical experience does he or she have on the topic being presented? What is the instructor’s teaching experience? What type of license does he/she hold? You want to be sure you are learning from a skilled, competent teacher.
5. Make sure you will receive a certificate upon completion of your course(s).
You will need to maintain your certificate records for your CEUs. Each state board or licensing body can do a random audit at any time. So, you'll need your certificates to prove your course completions. With HomeCEU.com, you don’t have to worry about saving your certificates for your online CEU courses as your certificates are stored for life, and can be accessed easily at any time. In closing, take a little time to choose your next continuing education class wisely and easily. Get started here for fast, affordable, and convenient CEUs!