|
TOP STORY
The Search for Continuing Education
Credits
Michael A. Bower
ACC
The
search for continuing education (CE) hours is unending and remains
one of the most frequently asked questions. Many people living
in rural areas have less access to seminars and training than
those living in cities. There are ways to get CE hours, though.
Most
communities have a local hospital. Check out their community
outreach classes. 20% of your CE’s can be health related
on subjects like diabetes, cardiac problems and care, CPR, etc.
But many will offer training on psychoactive medications, Alzheimer’s
Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and Depression—especially
if those subjects are requested.
If
there is a community college in the area, take adult education
courses or enroll for a class. For adult education, you will
need to provide a CE certificate for the instructor to sign
and it will count for actual hours. For college classes, the
credits convert to CEs at a rate of 1 credit = 10 hours for
quarter classes and 1 credit = 15 hours for semester classes.
(But remember: if a college class is used for CE’s, it
cannot later be used to meet the academic component. Once used
for the academic component, it cannot be used for CEs.) College
classes can also be taken online. Whether a college class is
used for CEs or the academic component of a track, it must be
verified with an OFFICIAL transcript, not a student transcript
and not a class report.
Look
for support groups in your area – Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s,
Hospice, MS, Stroke, Self Help for Hard of Hearing (SHHH) People,
and so forth. They often offer educational sessions both in
their local meetings and by their regional organization. In
some areas, you may be qualified to be a speaker, say, on Alzheimer
and related Dementia. Thus you could earn twice as many credits!
Seek out and offer to speak to service organizations, too, like
Kiwanas, Rotary, and Lions. Of course, there are local and state
activity professional groups, the state and national health
care associations, and the NAAP all putting on state and national
conferences. There again, seek out opportunities to be a presenter
as well as an attendee! In my state, our annual state conferences
must offer a minimum of 15 CEs. By going to one a year, enough
CEs are earned to maintain ADC certification.
Remember,
when you become certified at any level, that certification is
your responsibility. Having a facility that can afford to send
you to training is becoming less common. It is up to us as Professionals,
however, to maintain our own credentials. That sometimes means
we have to become creative. If any of you have ideas you’d
be willing to share, please drop me a line (1134 – 57th
Place SE, Auburn, WA 98092) or go to the bulletin board on the
NCCAP website (www.nccap.org). NN
|
