As a healthcare provider, most of us know the requirements to maintain our license in each state. This varies state to state and profession to profession but for the most part it is a given you will need to keep up with some form of continuing education or another.
So it makes it very important to stay up to date on your education credits so you don’t risk putting your professional license in jeopardy.
It can be a hassle at times, but it is also very important as it keeps our health professionals up to date with the most current education and research.
Most companies/hospitals (although this too is fading), offer some form of continuing education opportunities. Usually through reimbursement of a class that they feel will help their current business plan. But it could also be through an online portal, teaching opportunity, or guest lecturer.
This is great, but as traveling healthcare providers, we often assume that we won’t have access to these types of continuing education opportunities. This is often a major perceived barrier to traveling healthcare especially to the new practitioners just starting out looking to build their skillset.
However, what I have found, is that traveling healthcare has not been nearly as difficult to keep up with continuing education as I originally anticipated.
Paying for Continuing Education as Traveler
As I mentioned here and in previous posts, most traveling companies don’t have a large budget for continuing education for their healthcare providers. It is possible to be built into your contract but normally this means they are pulling this money from somewhere else. Most likely your wages.
At times this can make it easier because it forces you to use that money for continuing education. It’s often more difficult to shell out $1,000 for a continuing education class once that money hits your checking account. But at the end of the day, that money is still coming from the same contract pie. IT’s just how you are choosing to divide it up.
Otherwise, most independent continuing education classes are paid for out of pocket, but I have ran into a few exceptions to this.
Meeting Con Ed Requirements as a Traveler
1: MedBridge
The number one way and probably the easiest way to stay up to date on my continuing education while traveling has been through MedBridge.com. Many have heard about MedBridge, but if you haven’t, MedBridge is a website with 1000’s of available classes for PT’s, OT’s, SLP’s, Nurses, and ATC’s.
As a PT, MedBridge offers me online courses which meet continuing education requirements for most states that are taught by some of the brightest and most popular minds of the profession.
The website also offers preparation courses to prepare for certified specialist exams, live webinars, and reference tools to quickly look up that special test or measure you haven’t used in forever. I have friends who swear by these courses as they have used their prep course as their primary study tool and have passed their certification exams.
The information is always updating and is offered to all specialties within my profession. Meaning there are courses in hospital settings, home health, outpatient, sport, geriatric, business/practice management and documentation.
It’s a great tool for a traveler, especially if you will be working in a setting that you are less confident in. For me, I recently took an assignment that was 90% outpatient ortho and 10% acute hospital setting. I didn’t need an expensive in person class as this isn’t my primary field but having access to some refresher material was very beneficial to my success on this contract.
The online format also makes it easy as a traveler because it allows me to start a class, pause it, then finish it when I have time again. This gives me the increased flexibility that is often needed as traveler while you are changing jobs and moving around the country
I also find it nice because it’s easy to log on to MedBridge and watch some lectures during lunch or between patients. The best continuing education is the one that you get paid to take.
If you are new to MedBridge or are curious to get started the price is $375 per year which in the big picture is very cheap when you consider the price of a weekend course these days.
However, I have paired with MedBridge and am able to offer a year subscription from your date of purchase for $200 when you enter the code “fiscal” at checkout.
To explore the website yourself, follow the link below.
Try MedBridge now for a $175 discount!!
*Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. The author may gain small commission through the purchase of products through link which helps maintain this website. All products recommended are products I use regularly and find benefit with.
2: In Person Courses
As mentioned above, there are con ed classes for any given profession all over the world. Sometimes, these classes are only offered in certain areas of the country. So if you have a must attend class, traveling healthcare can often bring you closer to the area that the class is being offered in if you are strategic with your planning.
This makes accommodations for getting to the class that much easier. So with the right planning, you can travel to some of these must attend classes. I’m still waiting to find the right opportunity to get my Adam Meakins Course in!
In person classes continue to rise in price, many over $1,000 dollars now. So being able to save on flights, hotels, and food costs makes an already expensive weekend, that much more manageable.
So I suggest mapping out your must attend classes for your own personal and career development. Then plan your contracts accordingly. Don’t settle for an in person class just for the credits, find the ones that fit what you want.
3: Continuing Education Through Your Traveling Company
Some companies offer access to online continuing education websites other than MedBridge. These websites are free to you as a traveler and are one of the small perks offered.
I’ve found that some of these sites don’t offer the same level of education or options as Medbridge does, but it is still a good option if you ever get caught in a pinch being behind on course credits with the deadline approaching.
4: Continuing Education Through Your Contracted Employer
I’ve been very fortunate to find assignments at locations who offer continuing education for free to their providers. Many healthcare systems/hospitals will bring in continuing education courses/presenters that provide in house continuing education to their staff.
Employers want to keep consistency in their staff’s knowledge as well as keeping them up to date with the best practices. This then turns out to be a major bonus if you are the traveling provider who happens to be there at that time.
It’s hard to strategically plan on, but I would guess that I have been able to take a free continuing education weekend course at roughly 50% of my contracts. Most recently, I was able to take a free weekend Parkinson’s course which I have found to be very useful with some of my populations and makes me that much more marketable when contract hunting.
This doesn’t always work out, but when it does, it’s just an added perk to traveling healthcare.
5: Advanced Certificates/Education For Your Contract
I’ve mentioned this one before too, but often times many contracts are desperate for coverage. So they may take a traveler who isn’t certified in the position they need coverage in and pay for them to get certified to cover the position.
I see this happen in all fields, but it is most common in nursing. For example, I have had nursing friends who were submitted for jobs on the cardiac floors but weren’t telemetry certified. But being that the hospital was desperate for coverage, they paid for the class for the traveling nurse to get telemetry certified, while paying their salary to get the certification on the clock.
When this happens, the traveler gets an advanced certificate, the continuing education credits that comes with the course, the experience in a new setting, and a high paying travelers position. This all benefits the traveler and makes them that much more experienced and that much more marketable in the future.
As mentioned, this is most common in nursing but it does happen in all professions. As a PT, there are few jobs that need certain certifications but they do need the proper education and training. This has happened to me once before where the hospital I was working at offered to send me to a weekend continuing education course to work with pediatric patients in the school setting as they had a dire need for coverage here.
This again is a $1,000 job perk that makes my income potential that much higher in future contracts or possible permanent jobs some day.
It NEVER hurts to ask. You may not be qualified for a position but it doesn’t hurt to ask to see if they are willing to train you. The worst thing they can say is no. You never know what the company’s situation is at the time. Likely, they need you more than you need them.
Conclusion
There are many ways to stay up to date on your continuing education while traveling despite what others claim. Yes, sometimes it can be a little more difficult to complete traditional in person continuing education classes but it is still possible with a little planning.
However, with technology and the right questions, you can usually stay up to date with your CEUs very easily and cost effectively as you likely won’t have access to a large continuing education fund.
I recommend that every traveler gets MedBridge due to its price, convenience, and quality. But after that, I think it’s important to use your flexibility as a traveler to utilize some of the above options listed to further complete your requirements, improve your education, and advance your skill set.
So don’t let continuing education become a barrier for you to not explore the amazing financial and life opportunities that traveling therapy has to offer.
How do you stay up to date?
If you have any questions about staying up to date with continuing education, comment below or feel free to email me directly at fiscaltherapist1@gmail.com
Remember, to sign up for MedBridge for almost a 50% discount use the word “fiscal” at checkout!
