T3. Nursing and Allied Health Continuing Education Courses

As the breadth and scope of stroke rehabilitation expand, the amounts of specialized knowledge and skills required for practice in the field of stroke rehabilitation increase accordingly. A diverse and comprehensive curriculum of education and training courses has been developed to provide rehabilitation professionals with the needed skills and information. Each year more than 30 education programs are offered and designed specifically to train professionals in current knowledge and management techniques that are applicable to people with a stroke. Some of these programs have been developed for professionals with backgrounds in specific disciplines, i.e., physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, social work, nursing, and vocational rehabilitation. Other programs are multidisciplinary in nature. Seminars to acquaint non-professionals with the field of rehabilitation also are held. These programs provide instructional and hands-on training, disseminate basic and clinical research to rehabilitation professionals, and ultimately help to promote improved quality of life for persons with disabilities.

The Education and Training Center also offers continuing education courses via the Internet. Live presentations allow participants to listen to the lecture, interact with the instructor, and collaborate with other participants in the chat room, at a specific date and time. The presentation is then archived and is available to be viewed on any day or time. The participant viewing the archived course has the benefit of the interactions that occurred between the instructor and participants during the live session.

The Education and Training Center at RIC is approved to grant continuing medical education through the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University and continuing education credit by the American Psychological Association, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Illinois Nurses Association, Department of Professional Regulation of the State of Illinois for Social Workers, and other approving agencies as needed for interested profes-sional disciplines.

This research is supported by the U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, Grant Number H133B980021

©2002 Rehabilitation Research and Training Center