In my opinion, OT is NOT competitive in rehab. It never has been and never will be IF we try competing with PT, which is what Motion 1 is trying to do. The skills required for UE rehab are not unique to OT and in my opinion is not something that we should even strive for.
In my opinion, OT's are stifling themselves by trying to be UE experts. First off, being an UE expert is 100% inconsistent with our Framework. secondly, our UNIQUE contribution to health care is OCCUPATION. Occupation is our bread and butter and has the potential to BREAK OPEN our inability to to be highly competitive in physical disabilities. The inconsistency between what OT says it does and what is actually does is killing us. Our feet are standing in quicksand and ever shifting. We do NOT have a solid base and NEVER will for as long as we are not consistent with our Framework. We should not go around training new therapists and acting like UE experts if such behavior is NOT supported by our theoretical foundations. Years ago when occupational science was formed, I saw it as a wonderful opportunity for OT to advance itself. Unfortunately, it is evident that many, many OT's are still resistant to such science. There are many sciences more important to OT than basic sciences. OT will never be respected as having advanced musculo-skeletal knowledge, that is PT; They are the musculo-skeletal experts. We are burning our bridges if we try pursuing that profession. We have an opportunity to forge a NEW road that MAKES PROFOUND DIFFERENCES in our patient's lives, and not just those patient's with UE deficits. Think about all the times you or other therapists have wasted patient's time and money by doing UE cones, pegs, balloons, etc. I am sure other professions laugh at us when they see us acting in such manner. Why do we do this? It's because we have segregated ourselves into UE "experts" and so that's all we know to do. We need to bust ourselves free from the shackles of our predecessors and advance ourselves forward towards the Centennial Vision. Continued specialization in UE rehab is not advancement, it's a hindrance to our profession and to our patients. <p.s. please disregard grammatical errors> Ron Carson MHS, OT www.otnow.com/motion1 -- Options? www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com Archive? www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
