Continuing Education: Even in Tough Economic Times, It’s a Good Investment!

I would like to emphasize the importance and value of continuing education. Why should we consider continuing education, other than it being mandatory in some areas? As professionals, we must strive to be lifelong learners and to stay current in our field. The easiest way to accomplish this goal is to complete continuing education (CE) offerings throughout the year. Continuing education should be challenging and help us to maintain current information. Within the healthcare field, technology and treatment protocols can change daily. We all have demanding jobs and often find it difficult to travel to events. ACVP offers online education at www.cvceu.org, and new in 2010, regional meetings, tapping into sources eager to share their expertise. The information is well presented and includes objectives for guidance and the identification of the intended goals of participating in the online education or in-person courses. The tests used to measure success in understanding the information are well-crafted and allow for verification of material comprehension. Continuing education should be rejuvenating for everyone. Clinical professionals are charged with the requirement of understanding advances in technology and the benefits of research. Technology has become so complex that there are advances made regularly — almost daily, as it feels to many in the field. Without continuing education opportunities to support skill-building practice, graduates from programs from several years ago would have an obsolete understanding of practices and approaches used today. Managers also face educational challenges. Many are required to know several different disciplines: clinical healthcare matters, law, accounting, architecture, public relations, record keeping, computer technology, information management and more — and that knowledge increases exponentially with the evolution of technology. Managers have to keep current and master all those fields. It’s very important that practitioners feel themselves to be as well-qualified as possible. Continuing education helps support this goal. Many benefits can be derived from CEs offered online and through in-person formats. Online CEs offer immediate access, allowing users to study at their own pace and balance all of the other necessary tasks in their lives. For online CEs, no special software needs to be installed, and any Internet-connected computer can be used. And, the ACVP offers these CE options at an affordable price. Upon successful completion, a certificate will be sent. While you may not be working as a generalist in the lab, it is still important to remain aware of changing information in other specific areas of the lab. These courses allow users to stay familiar with the diverse, current, and relevant content of these changing areas. If lab staff change their areas of emphasis, CE opportunities can help them update more quickly. Chances are, your bosses are searching for ways to improve the bottom line. In theory, it’s hard to argue with the value of investing in knowledge. Everyone agrees that learning is better than not learning, that knowing is better than not knowing. But when finances are tight, it can be hard to make the case for putting more effort and expense into training and continuing education. Can you somehow demonstrate in concrete terms, ones that make sense to executive officers and annual budgets, the payoffs from education and training? Yes. Applying a versatile ROI formula Consider this model, a straightforward approach to figuring your return on investment for training. (Benefit accrued from training) – (Cost) _______________________________   x 100 = % ROI           (Cost) This basic cost-to-benefit ratio is structurally simple. The costs of training are easy to quantify: tuition or purchase price, incidental expenses and staff time. The tricky part lies in putting a legitimate, well-reasoned number in the “benefit” location — logical, specific, quantifiable — namely, greater revenue or reduced expense. To help you link benefits with numbers, here’s an example of how the ROI formula works. Some benefits that could be considered include: improved effectiveness, improved procedures and systems, better use of supplies and materials, and so forth. Each of these contributes to an improved bottom line. As one example, assume a 3 percent improvement in annual operations costs of $106,846 ($3,025, a number derived from the national averages cited in an industry survey on revenue and expenses jointly compiled by two industry organizations). The training program cost $500, took 54 hours, and was targeted at a manager making $14.36 an hour ($1,325, or $28,000 annually, via a different national salary survey), who would also need to spend $50 on gas, parking, and lunch. The computed rate of return: 141.9 percent, as shown below.    3,205-1,325 ____________    =141.9% ROI       1,325 An impressive return, but that’s not the only way that professional development can improve the bottom line. Here are two others. 1. Improved practical skills. Depending on what programs you attend, you may learn to better negotiate prices for services and equipment, improve technical skills, or network to overcome costly challenges. 2. Avoided expenses and “losses not suffered.” In our increasingly litigious society, lawsuits can put a substantial burden on the accused. Members invariably interact with the public, so we looked at the benefits gained by avoiding a discrimination suit, by learning what they can and cannot say, ask, and do. The real payoff, therefore, is the expense not incurred, including lawyers’ fees, lost time, and court rewards. A “loss not suffered” could also be an avoided worksite injury, worker’s compensation claim, damaged or destroyed equipment, or lost customers. Education is like insurance: When you need it, you’re very glad you have it. These examples show a positive return on investment, and we haven’t even factored in reduced staff turnover, enhanced recruiting results, improved morale, better networking among peers and experts, and broadened perspectives. Suppose you stood in front of your boss and said, “We can make an investment that’s almost certain to return at least 500 percent. It’s perfectly legal, and I can show you the numbers.” That’s an investment they would be eager to make. Of course, in today’s economic environment, the common refrain is ‘it costs too much’. ACVP has taken the sting out of this through online CEs that are free to members and regional meetings that are low-cost and accessible. If you want a regional meeting brought to you, please contact the ACVP office at (804) 632-0078…let the mountain come to you! We hope you will continue to enjoy CE access through ACVP at www.cvceu.org. We would like to hear from you, and should you have any problems, you can contact ACVP at peggymcelgunn@comcast.net or call (804) 632-0078. Thank you for your support! The Alliance of Cardiovascular Professionals is online at https://www.acp-online.org/. CEs are available from the ACVP at www.cvceu.org

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