Re: Qualifications
Sheredos, Carol (NIH/NICHD)
Description
Collection
Title:
Re: Qualifications
Creator:
Sheredos, Carol (NIH/NICHD)
Date:
12/15/2005
Text:
Hello, Dale -
Thanks for your response, and I understand what you're saying about the training in O&P that current and recent PT students receive. It's hard for me to realize that the formerly offered 2+-week courses in O&P for PTs are no longer a reality. I do have to agree that, without additional training, PTs should not be fabricating today's prostheses or more than very simple orthoses. I concede that point.
BUT - You are mistaken if you think that it's because of PTs that O&P cannot obtain state licensure. Not true - The problem is the multiple organizations, the many conflicting so-called credentialing bodies, special interests, and a general lack of unification within the field. The APTA and AOTA worked with state-level PT/OT advocates and lobbyists to obtain licensure, ultimately accomplished because of their unified effort. [PTs had clashes with other professionals, mostly chiropractors; however, that was overcome.] Your statement that now the PT and OT associations are blocking our
every move to create legislation to protect our industry and our patients is an egregious mistake - PTs are one of your biggest allies in the issue of O&P licensure. We have essentially the same goals - protecting the public from harm by incompetent practitioners and carving a unique, specific niche in the world of healthcare services. PTs have their scope of practice defined, and - whether O&P likes it or not - O&P is within that scope. When O&P does obtain licensure, your profession will have its own boundaries and defined standards. I also repeat what I've said in other postings - PTs do not want to become orthotists and prosthetists (unless the go to school for that!); PTs are not the enemy.
And, for your information, I am intimately involved in the world of O&P - not just as a PT, but also as a bilateral TT amputee. I've had (maybe) 2 well-fitted pairs of prostheses over a 35+ year period - That's 2 out of 15. Sad. And I've met my share of arrogant prosthetists who come on as I know what you need professionals who insist on fitting ME to the technology, versus the other way around. I could tell you stories that would knock your socks off. Anecdotal? I think not.
So, you see - My concern is both professional and personal. I repeat - Let's stop the insults and name-calling and finger-pointing. The O&P field needs to get its act together and move toward the respectable level of licensure. To do anything less will result in the continued threat of encroachment - Perhaps even by as-yet-unknown disciplines.
And please don't compare first aid to medicine. You're off base there.
Happy Holidays -
Carol
-----Original Message-----
From: <Email Address Redacted> [mailto:<Email Address Redacted>]
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2005 12:22 PM
To: Sheredos, Carol (NIH/NICHD)
Subject: Re: [OANDP-L] Qualifications
The challenge is that when our profession attempts legislation to secure
licensure, the PT association, a much larger and stronger association than
ours, steps in and states that PT's are qualified under scope of practice
and should be included in the list of those that can provide O&P services.
The reason we are not licensed today is because we started late as a
profession (our fault) and now the PT and OT associations are blocking our
every move to create legislation to protect our industry and our patients.
The challenge here is that everyone, including yourself, are using
antidotal situations...I knew someone once that did this and did that etc,
etc.
If we are being intellectually honest with one another, we both know that
there is no PT school in the nation that teaches any classes on the
design, fit and fabrication of a prosthetic device. If you are not
trained and qualified to fit a bilateral trans-femoral amputee, than you
should not be playing with the simple stuff either.
To provide a comparison, my son cut himself yesterday; I evaluated it and
determined that stitches were not necessary so I put a butterfly on the
laceration.... that does not make me a surgeon or an MD of any type. My
basic education taught me how to evaluate a cut and determine if it needs
medical attention...and for a PT, just because you can fit an AFO or a
cock-up-splint or a simple warm and form body jacket does not make you
qualified in O&P, it means you have a basic understanding of basic
principles, nothing more, nothing less.
So yes, the PT association is the enemy in a way, everytime we try to get
some legislation, the PT association is there suggesting that they should
be able to be included in the licensure. If PT's think that they are
equivalent, than PT's should write the O&P exams and prove their
competency. And yes, there are numerous PT's that are also CP's and CO's,
they will be the first to tell you, that PT training in no way shape or
form qualifies you to be a O&P practitioner...just as my CP training
provides me significant insight and knowledge regarding physical therapy,
it in no way qualifies me as physical therapist. I guess that is why they
are separate educational programs and separate certifications. Now if we
can just get the PT association to admit that O&P is outside their scope
of practice and allow the O&P profession to acheive licensure without PT
encrouchment and interference...
Dale Berry, CP, FAAOP
Thanks for your response, and I understand what you're saying about the training in O&P that current and recent PT students receive. It's hard for me to realize that the formerly offered 2+-week courses in O&P for PTs are no longer a reality. I do have to agree that, without additional training, PTs should not be fabricating today's prostheses or more than very simple orthoses. I concede that point.
BUT - You are mistaken if you think that it's because of PTs that O&P cannot obtain state licensure. Not true - The problem is the multiple organizations, the many conflicting so-called credentialing bodies, special interests, and a general lack of unification within the field. The APTA and AOTA worked with state-level PT/OT advocates and lobbyists to obtain licensure, ultimately accomplished because of their unified effort. [PTs had clashes with other professionals, mostly chiropractors; however, that was overcome.] Your statement that now the PT and OT associations are blocking our
every move to create legislation to protect our industry and our patients is an egregious mistake - PTs are one of your biggest allies in the issue of O&P licensure. We have essentially the same goals - protecting the public from harm by incompetent practitioners and carving a unique, specific niche in the world of healthcare services. PTs have their scope of practice defined, and - whether O&P likes it or not - O&P is within that scope. When O&P does obtain licensure, your profession will have its own boundaries and defined standards. I also repeat what I've said in other postings - PTs do not want to become orthotists and prosthetists (unless the go to school for that!); PTs are not the enemy.
And, for your information, I am intimately involved in the world of O&P - not just as a PT, but also as a bilateral TT amputee. I've had (maybe) 2 well-fitted pairs of prostheses over a 35+ year period - That's 2 out of 15. Sad. And I've met my share of arrogant prosthetists who come on as I know what you need professionals who insist on fitting ME to the technology, versus the other way around. I could tell you stories that would knock your socks off. Anecdotal? I think not.
So, you see - My concern is both professional and personal. I repeat - Let's stop the insults and name-calling and finger-pointing. The O&P field needs to get its act together and move toward the respectable level of licensure. To do anything less will result in the continued threat of encroachment - Perhaps even by as-yet-unknown disciplines.
And please don't compare first aid to medicine. You're off base there.
Happy Holidays -
Carol
-----Original Message-----
From: <Email Address Redacted> [mailto:<Email Address Redacted>]
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2005 12:22 PM
To: Sheredos, Carol (NIH/NICHD)
Subject: Re: [OANDP-L] Qualifications
The challenge is that when our profession attempts legislation to secure
licensure, the PT association, a much larger and stronger association than
ours, steps in and states that PT's are qualified under scope of practice
and should be included in the list of those that can provide O&P services.
The reason we are not licensed today is because we started late as a
profession (our fault) and now the PT and OT associations are blocking our
every move to create legislation to protect our industry and our patients.
The challenge here is that everyone, including yourself, are using
antidotal situations...I knew someone once that did this and did that etc,
etc.
If we are being intellectually honest with one another, we both know that
there is no PT school in the nation that teaches any classes on the
design, fit and fabrication of a prosthetic device. If you are not
trained and qualified to fit a bilateral trans-femoral amputee, than you
should not be playing with the simple stuff either.
To provide a comparison, my son cut himself yesterday; I evaluated it and
determined that stitches were not necessary so I put a butterfly on the
laceration.... that does not make me a surgeon or an MD of any type. My
basic education taught me how to evaluate a cut and determine if it needs
medical attention...and for a PT, just because you can fit an AFO or a
cock-up-splint or a simple warm and form body jacket does not make you
qualified in O&P, it means you have a basic understanding of basic
principles, nothing more, nothing less.
So yes, the PT association is the enemy in a way, everytime we try to get
some legislation, the PT association is there suggesting that they should
be able to be included in the licensure. If PT's think that they are
equivalent, than PT's should write the O&P exams and prove their
competency. And yes, there are numerous PT's that are also CP's and CO's,
they will be the first to tell you, that PT training in no way shape or
form qualifies you to be a O&P practitioner...just as my CP training
provides me significant insight and knowledge regarding physical therapy,
it in no way qualifies me as physical therapist. I guess that is why they
are separate educational programs and separate certifications. Now if we
can just get the PT association to admit that O&P is outside their scope
of practice and allow the O&P profession to acheive licensure without PT
encrouchment and interference...
Dale Berry, CP, FAAOP
Citation
Sheredos, Carol (NIH/NICHD), “Re: Qualifications,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 2, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/225892.
