A 6-hour, fully accredited online CEU course presented by Kendra Betz, MSPT, ATP, and Ron Boninger, BSME, MBA, spotlights the importance of upper limb preservation in manual wheelchair users.
Titled Saving It for Later!, the course provides an in-depth review of the clinical guidelines, “Preservation of Upper Limb Function Following Spinal Cord Injury: A Clinical Practice Guideline for Healthcare Professionals.”
Emphasis will be placed on the practical implementation of the guidelines to foster an enhanced standard of care for all people who use manual wheelchairs. From low tech to high tech (eg, from tape measures and stopwatches to the SmartWheel), learn about objective measurement techniques for propulsion training, wheelchair comparison, and equipment configuration.
The course provides 6 contact hours of continuing education, which is the equivalent of .6 units.**
Course development was fostered by a grant from the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) Education Foundation.
To view the course registration page, click here.
To read a therapist’s review of the course, click here.
Because of the repetitive stress of daily wheelchair propulsion and transfers, there was a critical need to explore ways to prevent or delay upper limb pain and injury among people with spinal cord injury or disease (SCI/D) who use manual wheelchairs. In response to this need, the Consortium of Spinal Cord Medicine published a new set of clinical guidelines (“Preservation of Upper Limb Function Following Spinal Cord Injury: A Clinical Practice Guideline for Healthcare Professionals.”) that specify methods for the prevention and/or treatment of upper limb pain and injury.
The successful implementation of the guidelines requires effective education of SCI/D healthcare providers. This was the central focus of this grant, which included onsite education and training sessions with front-line clinical staff in the VA system of SCI/D regional centers and in leading rehabilitation clinics nationwide. The goal of the program was and remains the creation of a concrete, actionable feeling of empowerment among clinicians that will enable them to create an enhanced standard of care for their SCI/D clients, driven by their understanding of the SCI Clinical Practice Guidelines and their implementation. This online course was the direct outcome of this grant-funded project.
**The University of Pittsburgh is certifying the educational contact hours of this program, and by doing so is in no way endorsing any specific content, company, or product. The information presented in this program may represent only a sample of appropriate interventions.
