Physical and Occupational therapists have been increasingly called upon to meet the challenges of an evolving health care environment. Whether you work in pediatrics, geriatrics, orthopedics, neurology, or another concentration, you will need to engage in lifelong learning in order to keep up with these changes.
A recent study pinpointed the desire to increase personal knowledge as the primary motivation for therapists seeking out continuing education classes. But what do you do if the environment you work in does not foster and encourage this? In an ideal world, your supervisor(s) would mentor you and want you to be the “best you can be”. Without this encouragement what can you do?
If you work in a state that mandates continuing education in order to renew your therapy license, you may not experience this dilemma, as there is no choice. However, for therapists who work in the rest of the country, it can be very problematic to not have the support of a supervisor to identify topics or learning objectives that would improve your skills, facilitate a day or two off, as well as offer funding a CE course.
We look forward to you sharing your ideas in this blog…if you have dealt with this work environment, what have you found successful? Do you engage in other forms of professional development such as research, attending or conducting in-services, etc?
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