Documenting Continuing Education: Staying Compliant and Avoiding Pitfalls

Continuing education is mandatory for many licensed professionals in Maryland. Even for those for whom continuing education is not mandatory, staying up-to-date on the latest developments in their areas of professional practice can be essential for meeting their duty of competence and providing effective services to their clients or patients. In both scenarios, effectively documenting continuing education can be essential as well, and engaging an experienced Maryland employment attorney can be a necessary step toward avoiding allegations of non-compliance or defending against professional disciplinary proceedings.

If you are a licensed professional in Maryland, what do you need to know about meeting (and documenting) your continuing education requirements? Here are some key considerations:

Staying Compliant with Professional Continuing Education Requirements

A key first step toward effectively managing your continuing education obligations as a licensed professional in Maryland is to ensure that you have a clear understanding of what is required. If you have continuing education obligations and you fail to meet them, you could face a reprimand, probation, or more serious consequences. Each professional licensing association in Maryland is responsible for establishing its own continuing education requirements (if any), so you will need to review your licensing association’s specific requirements to make sure you know how many courses or hours you need to complete each year.

Also, keep in mind that if you are licensed to practice in multiple states, your continuing education obligations in each state might be different. For example, while Maryland does not require continuing education for lawyers, most states have continuing legal education (CLE) requirements. In other professions, continuing education requirements can vary widely from state to state as well.

Common Pitfalls with Documenting Continuing Education

When it comes to documenting continuing education, there are several important considerations for effectively managing compliance—and being prepared to demonstrate compliance when necessary. For example, here are some all-too-common pitfalls that licensed professionals in Maryland should be sure to avoid:

• Failing to Document All Required Continuing Education Courses and Hours – If you have mandatory continuing education requirements that you need to meet in order to maintain your professional license, you should be sure to document all required continuing education courses and hours. You want to make sure you get credit for all of your efforts—and you don’t want simple oversights to lead to unnecessary consequences.
• Failing to Document Non-Mandatory Continuing Education – Along with documenting all completed mandatory continuing education, licensed professionals in Maryland should be sure to document their non-mandatory continuing education as well. While this may not be required for licensing purposes, it could come into play if you find yourself facing accusations of providing incompetent professional or medical services.
• Relying on Continuing Education Providers to Document Your Courses or Hours – Today, many continuing education providers maintain documentation of the courses and hours that professionals have completed, and professionals can typically log into an account to view their continuing education history. While this can be helpful, professionals should not rely solely on third parties to maintain documentation of their continuing education. Consolidating all of your continuing education courses and hours in your own files will not only help ensure that you maintain a comprehensive record of the continuing education you have completed, but if a provider’s website goes down or the company goes out of business, you could lose access to your account as well.
• Failing to Report Continuing Education Courses or Hours – If you have an obligation to report your continuing education course or hours to your licensing association or your employer, you should be sure to do so on a timely basis. You should make sure you are aware of all applicable reporting deadlines, and, here too, you should record the deadlines yourself rather than relying on someone else to send you a reminder.  
• Focusing Solely on Documenting Your Courses or Hours – Finally, while documenting your completed courses and hours is important, this is not the primary purpose of completing continuing education as a licensed professional. When attending continuing education programs, you should seek to get as much out of these programs as possible. Not only will this make the experience more fulfilling, but it will also help ensure that you are able to continue meeting the duty of competence that you owe to your clients or patients.

Schedule a Consultation with a Maryland Employment Attorney Today

If you have questions or concerns about meeting your continuing education requirements or facing professional discipline related to non-compliance with these requirements, we invite you to get in touch. To schedule a confidential consultation with a Maryland employment attorney at The Law Firm of J.W. Stafford, please call 410-514-6099 or inquire online today.