Online Medical Certification and Social Distancing

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed just about every industry, but something that is acutely impacted is the medical industry. There’s obviously the stress placed on healthcare workers and facilities, but there’s a ripple effect going far beyond those who are immediately affected.

All healthcare workers need to have the most current training possible, both to keep pace with their recertification and ensure everyone is adhering to the same guidelines. However, as educators worldwide will tell you, the need to socially distance for safety puts some unique limitations on teaching.

For some, going into a classroom for a few hours to get your recertification may have been the preferred method, but times have changed. For the medical community, that’s a risk simply not worth taking. The silver lining here is that there’s an alternative already in place: online medical certification. Here’s a rundown of how this alternative benefits existing plans for social distancing.

How Online Medical Certification Helps With Social Distancing

Perhaps the obvious fact here is that you can do your entire coursework, exam, and any discussions with your instructors virtually. While this eliminates the immediate threat of any face-to-face transmission, we can’t neglect how useful this is for medical professionals in other ways. For example, now more than ever, medical professionals are finding themselves strapped for time and trying to juggle their job duties with other parts of their lives.

This can be doubly difficult for people with children who may be going into a combination of in-person and virtual instruction in the months ahead. Put all these factors together, and in-person certification was suboptimal even in the best of circumstances.

Now, though, people can get the certifications and recertifications they need at their own pace. That means, you can fit your coursework/examinations into when you have free time, rather than trying to have to alter your entire schedule to get into the classroom.

We should also mention the lower amount of logistical headaches that come with virtual instructions. Weather, delays, traffic, all of these are non-factors when you learn virtually.

Going online with your certification is a future-proof idea in this uncertain time as well. The truth is that different areas have different requirements for social distancing, and that may shift as the pandemic ebbs and flows. The last thing you want to do is be in an area where things are going well, schedule in-person instruction, then have to change everything at the last minute because of a new lockdown or potential outbreak near you. Going online means you can always work at the pace you want.

Something else that should be mentioned here is open enrollment. If you were to look into medical certification or recertification through a conventional classroom program, you’re generally limited to a set enrollment period by the provider. This means that a person who has an expired certificate may be stuck unable to apply for jobs until the period opens again. Going online means that you can always enroll whenever you want. For example, if you accidentally let a certification lapse, online recertification is always the best way to keep you compliant and get you back to work.

Other Benefits

Keeping people safe and separated, as well as working with the wild schedule of a healthcare professional, are the main reasons that people are looking into online medical certification right now. However, there are a variety of other benefits also worth mentioning.

For one thing, online courses have the ability to update their regulations in real-time. As COVID-19 changes the practices for medical facilities worldwide, buying conventional materials may mean investing in something that will be obsolete down the line. Online coursework always adapts to new norms so you are referencing current information.

You can also generally save money if you go online versus opting to take a class in person. There are obvious savings like transportation costs, but you also get savings passed onto you due to the cheaper operations. You don’t have to cover things like overhead, lab fees, or other added costs that come with in-person instruction.

Finally, to be blunt, learning in person is a stressful prospect right now. Being able to work in the safety of your home allows you to concentrate more on your learning. This means not only better scores, but a better understanding of the new materials you need to learn. Statistics also show that online instruction, when implemented correctly, can be every bit as effective, if not more effective, than in-person learning.

With online medical certification being more appealing than ever in terms of helping professionals get the qualifications they need while staying safe, the next important step is finding a website that you trust to get your training done with. This is particularly important because:

• Not all medical settings accept certifications from all providers. The most established courses comply with industry regulations.

• You want to make sure you have someone you can work with in the long-term. Remember, most certifications need to be regularly renewed. Make sure that you have someone that you can trust to go to repeatedly rather than restarting the search every cycle.

• Regulations can change. Depending on your field and certification, the information you need to know may change from one certification cycle to the next. The last thing you want to do is pay for a course based on outdated info. This is a waste of both your money and time, and may even hurt your employment prospects.

The need for social distancing hasn’t changed some of the common issues with looking into online medical certification sources, but ProMed is a website you can trust in any scenario. We have certification courses designed by top healthcare professionals, which run in full compliance with the AHA and ILCOR compliant. This includes courses in PALS, BLS, CPR, and ACLS. Highly reviewed from the medical community, we also offer a 100% money-back guarantee to show that we stand behind our product. Get started with us today!