Becoming an O & P Certified Professional - Replies

Becoming an O & P Certified Professional - Replies

Bob Dwyer

10/5/2010

Thanks so much to everyone who replied! I wasn't expecting such an
awesome response! Lots of replies mentioned contacting ABC or NCOPE
and I had, but never heard back from them so I decided to contact you
folks. Outside of that advice here are the responses:

The replies: #1 is from NCOPE.

1. Happy to answer your questions.

a. Our current programs are transitioning their curriculum to a
master’s and most will do so by enrollment of 2012.
b. This is not a problem for you if you are apply and are accepted
into a certificate program in 2011. You can pursue a residency and
then you may even extend to next credential as long as you apply and
complete a certificate by 2014.
c. No they both do not need to be complete by 2012. You need to be
enrolled in a certificate program for your first discipline by 2011 –
although some certificate programs will run master’s and certificate
in 2012. You are best to contact each program you are interested in
applying and find out when they plan to transition.
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2. I would suggest doing the Masters degree as I think you will learn
more
and increase your long term career options. Just an opinion.
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3. Glad to hear you're excited about the O&P field. You are correct
about the practioner programs going to the Master's level by 2012. I
believe the schools are making this transition, but it should not
change that other than adding some additional credit hours to the non
Master's programs. There are currenlty several pathways into the
field, certificate, Bachelor and Master's programs. Typically the
certificate programs are geared towards individuals who have some
experience in the field and hold already hold a degree such as yours.
They are quick programs that assume you have some knowlege before you
start. If you are completely new to the field I would recommend one
of the existing Bachelor and Master's programs. These are more entry
level and take a little longer to educate students new to the field.

Check out the National Commision on Orthotic and Prosthetic Education
(NCOPE) website. They will have the most up to date information on
all the education programs. www.ncope.org

To answer your question about the Master's transistion, I believe you
just need to start a practitioner program before the end of 2012 if
you want avoid the Master's route. It should have no bearing on your
residency requirement.
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4. You should try and speak directly to someone at NCOPE, they set
all the
standards for education in O&P and should be up to date on what you'd
need to do. I imagine if you're starting a program prior to 2014 you'd
be grandfathered in. www.ncope.org

Good luck!
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5. Look into Northwestern. I recently finished my O residency and am
still wanting to go back for P. T talked to Northwestern and they
said they might run the certificate program with the Masters. If they
get rid of the certificate program all together, then those of us who
had previous bachelors degrees or have one letter will not be able to
go to school. They would be loosing MANY possible practitioners that
may want to get into the industry later in life and don't need another
4 year degree. Our industry is hurting for good people right now.
What will it be like in 2-4 years.

Call Northwestern and tell them what your plans are. If enough people
call, maybe they will continue the certificate program and offer the
Masters.
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6. In my biased opinion,(I'm an alum) Northwestern has perhaps the
preeminent
certification program in the country. Go to Northwestern University
Orthotics
and Prosthetics Center web page for further info. I know they have a
distant
learning program but not sure what prereqs you need to get in. Good
luck.
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7. This is probably a better question for the O&P school you are
looking at applying for. Currently you can get certified through a
certificate program and those who have done so will be grandfathered
in when ABC changes requirements to Master's degree for
certification. If you wait until 2012 to start the O&P program,
however, the only programs available will be Masters programs. Each
and every O&P school is having to transition to a Masters degree to
stay CAAHEP accredited.

With that said, you may be able to get accepted and start a
certificate program before 2012. If you only need one class, for
example a chemistry class, you may be able to take that class
concurrently while attending the certificate program. The schools
really do everything possible to help the students succeed and
complete the program in a timely manner. Contact the schools you are
considering applying to and see if they can work with you. Also, they
will be better able to tell you exactly when you will need to apply in
order to get a certificate in O&P. You do not need to complete the
residency (1 year per discipline, so 2 years if doing O and P), you
just have to be enrolled in school and have started before 2012.

For a list of the current programs and their contact information, see
the NCOPE website.
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8. One thing to consider is that certificate programs are typically
for one discipline (orthotics or prosthetics) whereas in master's
programs you are school'ed in both. If you only want to do one
discipline you could just do the certificate and do your 12 month
residency as you stated. If you want to do both, you are looking at 2
residencies (2 years total after schooling is done). There a couple
of ways to do this, you could go to school for 2 years and get a
masters. Then you are done with school and set to do both residencies
consecutively (if desired). Or, you could get a certificate in one
discipline and complete that residency. Now while you are working in
that discipline you could possibly do some evening classses and part-
time school in the other discipline. Then you would complete the
second residency after school is done. There are pros and cons to
either approach.
Things to consider:
- Because programs are going in the master's direction, when you
apply for jobs you'll be competing against individuals with the same
amount of experience and a masters degree. Employers do take that into
consideration in getting a job and salary expections.
- Because of the direction that healthcare is going, being certified
in both disciplines is extremely valuable.
- Look at ncope.com if you haven't yet for more information
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The Question:

Good morning everyone,

I'm gathering information on how I can become a certified O & P
Practitioner and came across this great resource! I already have a
bachelor's degree and was told the best route for me to go would be to
get enrolled into a certificate program and then do the 12 month
residency. Through my research I've also learned that O & P is on
it's way to being a master's only degree come 2012, which could pose a
problem for me due to what I need to do to get there.

I come from a business background so before enrolling into a
certificate program, I would need to take some pre-reqs courses. My
question is: does the educational requirements AND residency need to
be completed by 2012? I would need to take all my pre-req's this up
coming spring semester 2011, apply to a fall certificate program
(unless there is one in the summer), and then apply for a residency
somewhere? This obviously puts me well into 2012 if everything
proceeds perfectly. Not sure it can be done?

Thanks for any input!

Bob Dwyer
<Email Address Redacted>