Letters After eight years in this field, I can't help but
wonder if it was a mistake to enter. It was a major career
change--a very expensive career change.
I was a custom home and interior builder before answering to
this calling&Today as I look back on my educational gains: a
two-year technical degree in O&P fabrication technology, then a
bachelor of science in industrial design; then becoming an ABC
[American Board for Certification in Orthotics &
Prosthetics]-registered RTO, RFO [registered technician-orthotics
and registered fitter-orthotics] and BOC [Board for
Orthotist/Prosthetist Certification] and COF [certified orthotic
fitter], I have a hard time convincing myself that I am a better
practitioner or a technician with the education than without.
The ABC still sends all correspondence to me as a tech, treats
me as a tech, and ignores my standing as a BOC prosthetist. I have
met many ABC practitioners who received ABC certification when all
that was required was a two-year degree.
Your article [September 2003] about PTs [physical therapists] is
fine if you only consider them to be competition. It looks to me
that PTs are more in control of O&P's future than orthotists
and prosthetists are. [I read] an article&that touted the two
curriculums as having at least 80 percent common ground. One can
only assume the other 20 percent, that PTs don't receive is the
fabrication and modification content, which isn't the emphasis in
the clinical education for orthotists and prosthetists.
I haven't seen a licensure bill yet that recognizes the
technician who has at minimum a two-year degree specific to the
field and/or the accompanying registrations of RTO, RTP, or RTPO.
The technicians are the backbone of this industry in the absence
of--or with the guidance of--a highly skilled practitioner.
Technicians outnumber practitioners in many clinics. Technicians
have only recently been extended membership opportunities in
various associations as nonvoting members. It is great that we have
a technical forum to improve our skills, share tech tips, etc.
[However,] enlightenment in no way is the same as the empowerment
of a vote.
PTs have a tremendous advantage over orthotists and prosthetists
in that APTA [American Physical Therapy Association] is a very
powerful association at the state and national level. I have heard
figures that give them a ten-to-one margin over our numbers. I was
told that PTs were extended the scope of practice in orthotics and
prosthetics within the [Ohio] licensure bill because they would
have shot the bill down if excluded. We do not have a common
association that ties us together and represents the profession as
a whole&
There have been statements made that suggest we won't be able to
meet the needs of future patients due to shortages of quality
providers. On the other hand, we have a hard time attracting new
professionals into the field. Our field would be flooded with
applicants if they were told about the reimbursements on some of
the items, especially with the choice of components used. Instead,
we raise the entry-level degree for the profession and the
prerequisite course work for those with degrees without requiring
those already in the field to pull themselves up to the same
level.
In my opinion, this does not benefit the patient or the
profession. It does, however, limit newcomers to the field through
the exclusionary tactics of licensure and effectively preserves
future revenues for long-standing interests. Sadly, licensure
leaves the patients to the same practitioners who provided services
both good and bad prior to implementation of licensure.
I do believe in continuing education, but my options are
geographically limited. It isn't practical to leave my employer and
move my family to another state for the sake of an O&P degree.
Instead, I have to examine what I can obtain locally. I am looking
into a master of science in physical therapy, not because I want to
be a PT, but because I want to continue to use my skills to help
patients and improve myself&.I welcome the opportunity to share
and learn expertise within a professional body that is cohesive and
more often than not, placed in higher regard. I do not fear or
believe that PTs are going to march on to the field of O&P and
push us aside. I have come to witness a well-orchestrated political
move on the part of APTA&that has insured a place for PTs in
the field.
In the end, patients' opinion matters the most. Patients will
come back and recommend my services if I serve them well and with
respect. Patients admire all the degrees and certificates, but
their primary concern is that I deliver a [well-fitting] brace or
limb. I don't look at success by degrees and I would ask the
profession to measure success by the degree to which we are willing
to help the patients to succeed.
Douglas M. Barlay, RTO, RFO, BOCP, COF
----------------------------------
I receive The O&P EDGE in the mail and online. Today I saw
that Ramona [Ramona Okumura, CP, October 2003 issue] was being
profiled and clicked on the article you wrote. Below her profile, I
saw your listing of other practitioners you've profiled. Why hadn't
I noticed this before?? I took time out of my busy day just to
learn about some of my colleagues.
How fun! Kudos to The EDGE for this little, innovative column.
What a great idea! Keep up the good work; I appreciate your
efforts.
Lisa Urso, CPO
Albuquerque O&P
Albuquerque, New Mexico 
Table Of Contents - December 2003
|
