Academy News: Project Quantum Leap
Tom Gorski, CAE
Description
Collection
Title:
Academy News: Project Quantum Leap
Creator:
Tom Gorski, CAE
Date:
1/11/2002
Text:
ACADEMY'S CONSORTIUM SECURES INITIAL FUNDING
TO START PROJECT QUANTUM LEAP
One million dollars has been earmarked in the Federal Government's FY
2002 budget to provide initial funding for important priorities of the
American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists' Project Quantum Leap to
address key issues acing O&P providers and the quality of care provided
to patients who require O&P services.
Project Quantum Leap (PQL), as the multi-phase effort is known, will
help O&P schools, initiate applied O&P research, and develop clinical
standards of practice for the profession. The project was announced at
the Academy's Annual Meeting in Dallas in March to an enthusiastic
crowd. Plans began even before the meeting with the formation of the
Consortium for Orthotic and Prosthetic Education and Research to advance
the education and research agenda in Washington.
Last year, O&P schools were notified that Rehabilitation Services
Administration's (RSA) Long Term Training program (within the Department
of Education) would be scaling back the support that it was providing to
two of the remaining O&P education programs. Though the majority of
these support awards must be passed on to students in the form of
tuition credits, similar cuts in the past contributed to the closing of
highly regarded programs at UCLA and New York University. The Academy
developed a coalition of O&P interests in the consortium, including the
eight university-based O&P educational programs, to address the proposed
cuts.
Academy President Gary A. Lamb, CO, FAAOP, expressed the Academy's
appreciation of the government grant. This funding is the important
first step in a long journey, he said. The results will benefit the
entire O&P profession and the people we care for.
The Academy's consortium, which included representatives from other
organizations in the field, was successful in securing a $1 million
provision in the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education
Conference Report, the legislation that establishes funding levels and
congressional priorities for these federal Departments. This
congressional earmark was included in the Rehabilitation Services
Administration's Research and Demonstration account and is intended to
address not only O&P workforce education and workforce issues, but also
topics in applied O&P research. The Academy, working through the
consortium, intends to address this aspect of the project through
aggressive expansion of its Consensus Conference program.
The first consensus conference to develop Clinical Standards of practice
(CSOP) is scheduled for February 1-2, and will examine Orthotic
Treatment of Idiopathic Scoliosis and Scheuermann's Kyphosis. The
intent of a CSOP consensus conference is to establish standards to help
guide patient care for individuals challenged by diagnoses which can be
considered difficult to treat or controversial in nature. It serves as
a mechanism to document our clinical belief systems in what we do and
why we do it a particular way, said conference organizer Donald E.
Katz, CO, FAAOP, Academy Vice President. Consensus conferences can also
tackle some of the biomechanical considerations of how practitioners
approach certain challenges, with a critical analysis of what is
understood to be the outcomes of a given approach.
The Academy also recognized the efforts of several Members of Congress,
and in particular, Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Labor, HHS
Appropriations Subcommittee who was principally responsible for
championing this initiative.
Posted by:
Tom Gorski, CAE
Executive Director
American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists
<Email Address Redacted>
(703) 836-0788
TO START PROJECT QUANTUM LEAP
One million dollars has been earmarked in the Federal Government's FY
2002 budget to provide initial funding for important priorities of the
American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists' Project Quantum Leap to
address key issues acing O&P providers and the quality of care provided
to patients who require O&P services.
Project Quantum Leap (PQL), as the multi-phase effort is known, will
help O&P schools, initiate applied O&P research, and develop clinical
standards of practice for the profession. The project was announced at
the Academy's Annual Meeting in Dallas in March to an enthusiastic
crowd. Plans began even before the meeting with the formation of the
Consortium for Orthotic and Prosthetic Education and Research to advance
the education and research agenda in Washington.
Last year, O&P schools were notified that Rehabilitation Services
Administration's (RSA) Long Term Training program (within the Department
of Education) would be scaling back the support that it was providing to
two of the remaining O&P education programs. Though the majority of
these support awards must be passed on to students in the form of
tuition credits, similar cuts in the past contributed to the closing of
highly regarded programs at UCLA and New York University. The Academy
developed a coalition of O&P interests in the consortium, including the
eight university-based O&P educational programs, to address the proposed
cuts.
Academy President Gary A. Lamb, CO, FAAOP, expressed the Academy's
appreciation of the government grant. This funding is the important
first step in a long journey, he said. The results will benefit the
entire O&P profession and the people we care for.
The Academy's consortium, which included representatives from other
organizations in the field, was successful in securing a $1 million
provision in the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education
Conference Report, the legislation that establishes funding levels and
congressional priorities for these federal Departments. This
congressional earmark was included in the Rehabilitation Services
Administration's Research and Demonstration account and is intended to
address not only O&P workforce education and workforce issues, but also
topics in applied O&P research. The Academy, working through the
consortium, intends to address this aspect of the project through
aggressive expansion of its Consensus Conference program.
The first consensus conference to develop Clinical Standards of practice
(CSOP) is scheduled for February 1-2, and will examine Orthotic
Treatment of Idiopathic Scoliosis and Scheuermann's Kyphosis. The
intent of a CSOP consensus conference is to establish standards to help
guide patient care for individuals challenged by diagnoses which can be
considered difficult to treat or controversial in nature. It serves as
a mechanism to document our clinical belief systems in what we do and
why we do it a particular way, said conference organizer Donald E.
Katz, CO, FAAOP, Academy Vice President. Consensus conferences can also
tackle some of the biomechanical considerations of how practitioners
approach certain challenges, with a critical analysis of what is
understood to be the outcomes of a given approach.
The Academy also recognized the efforts of several Members of Congress,
and in particular, Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Labor, HHS
Appropriations Subcommittee who was principally responsible for
championing this initiative.
Posted by:
Tom Gorski, CAE
Executive Director
American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists
<Email Address Redacted>
(703) 836-0788
Citation
Tom Gorski, CAE, “Academy News: Project Quantum Leap,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 1, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/218210.
