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This is hardly the first time I\u2019ve had gripes about the state of continuing education for massage therapists in the US. I\u2019m not happy, and I haven\u2019t been happy for a long time. I\u2019m a CE provider myself, approved by the NCBTMB<\/a><\/strong><\/span>. That approval is accepted in many places, but there are some states that run their own CE approval processes. Sometimes, the cost and the amount of paperwork just can\u2019t be justified to teach one class that may or may not fill. The CE environment, at least in my state of NC, is also very competitive. It seems there\u2019s a provider on every corner here.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been distressed with the NCBTMB<\/a><\/strong><\/span> as an approval body for a long time, due to the total claptrap that they have approved. I also didn\u2019t care much for the MOCC<\/a><\/span><\/strong> plan proposal from the FSMTB<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, which would have made all CE voluntary, except those classes that are about public protection, put forth by them on their website. I feel that has the potential to put a lot of good CE providers out of business.<\/p>\n I think it\u2019s time to do away with two prevalent myths that have been used as the rationale for CE regulation: one, that the public is being seriously harmed by massage therapy, and two, that the current CE approval processes are able to provide quality assurance. It’s impossible to guarantee the competence of CE providers or the quality of their courses when it may not be there to begin with. Our field will never advance, and we will not be taken seriously by other health care professions if we continue to operate under these false pretenses.<\/p>\n I recently called for the other organizations to pool their resources to get the NCBTMB written out of the exam requirements in all states. North Carolina set an important precedent for that five years ago by choosing to accept only the MBLEx (except for a limited use by out-of-state applicants). This has simplified the testing process for schools, graduates and that board, and put the regulatory program on solid legal ground.<\/p>\n Rick Rosen has proposed a couple of alternative solutions for CE regulation, the first of which was a National Registry<\/a><\/span><\/strong>. He has now tweaked that into new template entitled Model Continuing Education Regulations: A Streamlined and Simplified Approach for State Boards<\/a>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t agree with Rosen on everything, but I think this is a good plan. Ultimately, I would like to see states refuse acceptance of CE that is not science-based (other than classes such as marketing, ethics, etc.) one of the points Rosen and I disagree on. However, I\u2019m being realistic when I say that probably is not going to happen in my lifetime. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n My main beef here is that \u00a0<\/span>state boards need oversight of what they accept for CE, and they need to have control over entry-level examinations<\/em>. As long as the NCBTMB is written into state statutes and rules, the regulatory boards are forced to blindly go along with whatever NCB does. As Rosen has pointed out many times in the past, that is an improper delegation of authority\u2014and I definitely agree with that. FSMTB is not even following the advice of its own legal counsel in getting state boards out of this troubled relationship with NCB. Instead of hanging on to so-called “licensure” exams and a failed CE approval program, I would prefer to see the NCBTMB developing specialty certifications, which IMHO is what they should be doing.<\/p>\n It all boils down to this: no approval is better than faux approval. For all that it currently means, we could just do away with CE approvals altogether let the market deal with the good, bad and everything in between. As long as Flower Faerie Healing is acceptable for CE credit, that\u2019s pretty much what we have anyway\u2014except we\u2019re paying for the privilege.<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is hardly the first time I\u2019ve had gripes about the state of continuing education for massage therapists in the US. I\u2019m not happy, and I haven\u2019t been happy for a long time. I\u2019m a CE provider myself, approved by the NCBTMB. That approval is accepted in many places, but there are some states that … <\/p>\n