Distance Education -> Florida Massage Continuing Education Requirements -> Chapter: 02

Specific Florida CE Requirements

LO4: What (specifically) is a Florida LMT required to do in order to keep her/his Florida Massage License current?

LO5: What are the “from-to” dates of the current Florida LMT CE period?

LO6: What are the actual CE requirements for Florida LMTs?

The CE requirements for the Florida Board are simple. Each Florida LMT is required to complete 24 hours of CE (plus an approved HIV/AIDS course) during each CE period. This amounts to 1 hour of CE per month. Florida law also requires that, of the 24 CE hours:

*12 hours must be relevant to massage.  This means that the course must focus on massage therapy techniques, which may include the history of massage, human anatomy & physiology, kinesiology and/or pathology.

• A minimum of 2 hours must be an approved course on Ethics.
• A minimum of 2 hours must be an approved course on Medical Errors.
• A minimum of 2 hours must be an approved course on Florida Law and Rules.

Note: The exception to the rule happens when a new LMT receives her/his licensure during a CE period. In this case, the new LMT is required to complete 1 hour of CE for each remaining month in the CE period. In other words, it’s pro-rated. The new LMT is not required to take an Ethics course or a Law course, but, s/he is required to complete an AIDS course and 2 contact hours of Medical Errors.

Here’s how it works if you are a NEW LMT, who became licensed during this (2005-2007) CE period.

1. You need to take an approved AIDS course, above and beyond your CE requirement.
2. You need to take an approved Medical Errors course (minimum 2 contact hours).
3. You need to take one contact hour of approved CE for each month (or partial month) between your licensure date and September 1, 2007, as noted below:

You may be asking, “if I need less than 24 contact hours, how many of those need to be relevant to massage?”

Currently the Florida Law does not discuss how many contact hours have to be “relevant to massage” if a new therapist needs less than 24 CE. When I called to the Florida Board today, their representative said this:

To be safe, if I were a new LMT, and if I needed less than 24 contact hours, I’d make sure that I took at least 12 that were “relevant” to massage.   If I needed less than 12 contact hours,  I’d make sure that they were all relevant to massage. –Leonard P. Martineau

Remember that “relevant” means: “the course must focus on massage therapy techniques, which may include the history of massage, human anatomy & physiology, kinesiology and/or pathology.”

LO7: Regarding Florida CE requirements, what does “approved course” mean, and how do I know if a course is approved?

“Approved course” means “approved by the Florida Board of Massage.

Approved CE providers in the State of Florida should designate, on their workshop advertisements, that the course is approved. In addition, your certificate of completion will document the number of hours approved for training along with the provider number (see Figure 2-1, below): 

Below is an example of a certificate of attendance/completion:

Figure 2-1: Sample Certificate of Completion

Certificate of Completion
CORE Institute

School of Massage Therapy and Structural Bodywork

850-222-8673; 850-561-6160 (fax)

Name of participant: Susan Massage Therapist

License/registration/NCBTMB number: MA 0074xx

Workshop Title: Ethics - Professional Massage and Client Therapist Relationships

Workshop presenter: Leonard P. Martineau, PhD, LMT, NCTMB

Date of workshop: 3-17-06

Workshop location: 223 W. Carolina St., Tallahassee, FL 32303

Workshop type: Computer Based

Total contact hours: 2
Florida Board of Massage Therapy Provider Number: MCE-4-xx-xxxx
NCBTMB Provider Number: 009-xxx-xx

 

 

_____________________________ 

Leonard P. Martineau, PhD, LMT, NCTMB

                                   

 

 

_____________________________

Phil Arcuri, BS, LMT, NCTMB

Note the date, the number of contact hours approved, and the provider numbers on your certificate.

Note: On the web, you can find information relative to CE requirements at:

 http://www.doh.state.fl.us/mqa/massage/ma_ceu.html

Or, just get online, and search the keywords “Florida,” “Board,” and “Massage,” and you will get to a web page that will allow you search for Florida Board of Massage Therapy Continuing Education information.

____ Complete 24 hours of CE during the CE period

____ All 24 contact hours must be relevant to massage

____ A Medical Errors course is required

____ An AIDS course is required

____ An Ethics course is required

____ A Law course is required

____ An NCBTMB recertification course is required

        7. Regarding Florida CE requirements, what is true about an  “approved” course? Check all that apply:

_____ The course will not have a provider number

_____ The course must be less than 24 contact hours long

_____ The course must be “approved” by the Florida Board

_____ The course must be “approved” by the International Symposium for Massage