Continuing Education: The Complete Guide to Mastery

75 That’s my number. No, not that number.   75 is the number of continuing education classes, conferences, home studies, etc that I’ve completed since physical therapy school. Though the courses are many, it was probably too much in a short period of time. When quantity is pursued, quality suffers. Sadly, I didn’t figure out how to get the most out of each class until the latter end of my career. Two classes in particular stand out: Mobilisation of the Nervous System by the NOI Group, and ART lower extremity. Yes, the content was great, but these classes stood out for a different reason. You see, instead of just doing a little bit of prep work, I kicked it up a notch. I extensively reviewed supportive material, took impeccable notes, and hit all the other essentials needed to effectively learn. I was prepared, and because I was prepared I got so much more out of these classes than my typical fair.  The lessons learned in those courses stick with me to this day. For the stuff you really want to learn, I’ll encourage you to do the same. Here is the way to get the most out of your continuing education. By the time you are done reading this post, you’ll understand why I now recommend a more focused learning approach and fewer courses. Let’s see how to do it.  

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Teaching Movement, Expanding PT, Embracing Failure: Movement Debrief Episodes 2 & 3

Here are this week’s Movement Debriefs. I’m hoping to get on a regular schedule once I get settled into my new gig as a PT Mercenary, but hope you enjoy. Anchoring Old Movements to New, Prioritizing PT’s Professional Needs In Episode 2,  we discuss the following concepts:  Visit 2 & 3 of our patient with the lumbar fusion Using familiar concepts from old exercises in new exercises Strategies to enhance learning. Prioritizing Problems in the Profession. Embracing Failure and The Dunning-Kruger Effect In Episode 3,  we discuss the following concepts: My Failure The Dunning Kruger Effect – and how to hack it Embracing Failure Learning from Failure Anchoring Old Movements to New Movements Expanding PT Embracing Failure

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How to Approach Learning

It’s Been Awhile Hasn’t it? I was in a place where I couldn’t get much writing done. I got out of the groove, out of taking one too many con ed courses. It’s times like this where you have to look somewhere for inspiration. For me, I looked toward Arnold Schwarzenegger. I was watching “The Terminator” the other day with my aunt; an incredibly good movie, as all Arnold movie are.   Picture the iconic scene where the T-800 is looking for Sarah Connor in the police station, but the officer refuses to let him in. It is then when he drops that iconic line:

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