Re: ABC/BOC /a possible solution !?

Re: ABC/BOC /a possible solution !?

John Gibson CP

*taking off the shoes and rolling up the pant legs to wade into this ....*

I have read with quiet amusement, some righteous disdain and a wide eyed
wonder that some of us can actually be perceived as adults.

The point I keep seeing is that we need to unify to prevent the encroachment
of other professionals into our field. I do not think that any unified
organization will slow the encroachment. The problem, as I see it, is to look into
our own Journal, look at the books being published regarding
orthotic/prosthetic management. I see an awful lot of PT, OT credentials listed as authors of
the articles. We keep trying to demand respect from the rest of the medical
field, yet I do not see us earning it.

Don't get me wrong, I am just as guilty as anyone else. I have not published
anything, nor have I reported outcomes of techniques that may help others. I
believe we do it more on an anecdotal level. I enjoy the Academy and the
AOPA meetings, more for the camaraderie and the informal workshops occurring in
the adult beverage location. I have long maintained, that if bar napkins were
to disappear, there would be no innovation.

What I would like to see, is where we treat each other with the professional
respect that we demand. We cannot attempt to clean our profession until our
own house is in professional order.

I think we need to ask ourselves a few questions,

Would you refer your patient to your competitor for a second opinion?

would you call a competitor to discus a difficult case that you may be
working on?

We do these things on this listserv, why can we not do this in person?

Whatever the answer to these questions are, we need to ask ourselves Why?

I am sure a few individuals out there will flame that they do, and if they
do, good for you. Can you please share with the rest of us how you do it?

I have been involved in this field since the mid 80's, and I am still amazed
at how few people really understand what it is that we do.

I think the problem is that we really don't understand what it is we do. I
have had PTs that have tried to compete into our scope of practice, not many
have succeeded why? it is too much trouble for them to do, they were always going
out great guns and doing very well, then they run into the one patient that
we all have had, the difficult one. The thing that I notice that the PT does
different, he calls me up and asks me for advice on how to get this patient
fit.

Imagine that? He has the audacity to call me up after trying to compete with
me. So what do I do? I help him out, pretty soon he understands that perhaps
I have value after all, and my job is not as easy as he thinks. Slowly, I
notice he quits fitting things, just not worth the trouble.

I think we need to quit trying to justify why this organization is better
than that, and start talking to each other and start behaving like a profession.
We need to publish more, for example why a custom ACL is better than a custom
fitted and we need to back it up with hard evidence. We need to support the
education institutions so that they may be able to actually do research into
our field. We need to support the Local and national academies and
associations and coordinate our efforts so we are all moving in the same direction.

But most important of all, we need to talk intelligently and rationally with
each other.

*wading out of this .....*

thank you for reading this,

John Gibson, CP, LPO