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a good way to utilize online CE websites. Print out the CE Record Sheet that we created for you. If your state requires both live and home study CE, you might want to print out a second copy to keep the two separate. Or if you are getting CE for more than one state, you may want to keep separate records, too. If your state has a 2 or 3 year license renewal cycle, you might need a second record sheet. Go to one or more of the websites we listed for you on our main CE page. Print out all the CE programs that you are interested in, including the tests, tables, illustrations, etc. I think it is easiest to just go ahead and print out enough different CE courses for your next license renewal all at once. It shouldn't take too long to do it. You'll need a lot of paper, though. As each course prints out, staple or paper clip together the sheets of that course, so that the courses are separated and won't get mixed up. After all the courses have all printed, organize them in order of expiration date, with the earliest expiration date coming first. Using our CE Record Sheet (or your own home-made variant,) list the names of all the courses in order of expiration date. It may also be helpful to list the website that you got it from, to remind you where to go to submit the answers when you come back to do that later, maybe a long time from now. It is good to list the sponsor/presenter, especially for those that you do not do on the Internet. Listing the number of hours helps you make a quick count of the hours to make sure you have enough, or to know where you stand. Whenever you submit the answers to a course on the Internet, or any other way, list the date in the appropriate column. Then you can note when you receive the certificate. Some providers may take months to send certificates. Get a file folder and label it something like "CE for (year) renewal." In it you will keep your CE record sheet and all certificates that you receive. Now regarding all of those CE courses that you printed out, they will probably be too bulky to just put in a file folder. But you will need to find some place for safe keeping of them. Be sure to have them arranged so that you will do them according to expiration date, unless you have a real need to do it otherwise. Then when you are ready to do some CE, you have your hard copies ready to use. (It's much easier than trying to read off of the computer monitor.) If you get a real lunch break at work, that's a great time to get in 20-30 minutes worth of CE two or three times a week. Just take a CE course with you to work, or even keep them all at work, if you have an appropriate place. When you start to actually do a course, use your printed copy just like a "take-home test." You might want to skim the test pages first. Then as you are reading through the actual subject matter, when you come to the part that gives you an answer to one of the questions on the test, just go ahead and mark the answer on the answer sheet. Many of the quiz's questions are listed in the order of the flow of the written lesson. So it's fairly easy to follow along and mark answers as you go usually. When you get through reading the subject matter you will have a good portion of the questions already answered. After you answer all the questions, you are ready to go back to the website that you got it from and submit your answers online. Unless you are needing to beat a course's upcoming expiration date, rather than going back to that website each time you finish a course, you can save up your finished courses for a while, then go to the website and submit the answers to several courses on the same day. Just be sure not to wait past a course's expiration date. Please note that on some websites, most notably PowerPak, you receive your certificate online immediately. So print out your certificate online yourself as soon as it displays. Remember to print one copy for yourself and one for each state which you'll be licensed in, and maybe an extra to have as a backup. I usually try to set my printer to print on high quality when printing out the PowerPak CE certificates. After you submit the answers to a test, get out your CE Record Sheet and write down the date when you submitted it. That way you'll have an exact record, in case your certificate fails to come. (For PowerPak use the certificate that you printed, so "date submitted" and "date received" are the same.) I've never had a certificate actually fail to come. But I have heard of it happening. So, don't throw away your answer sheet until your certificate comes. When you receive your certificate, put it in the "CE for (year) Renewal" file and record it on your CE Record Sheet as being received. That's the best way I've found. Hope that helps. CS Kirk, Doctor of Pharmacy To print this page, right-click on it, and then choose Print. |