|
April 2005 • Vol. 1, No. 1
|
Advancing Orthotic and Prosthetic
Care Through Knowledge
|
There are some challenges facing the O&P profession—or any profession—that are simply too big and too costly for a professional society to work into its operating budget.
"These are the areas that often get put off from one year to the next," explains Tom Gorski, CAE, the Academy's executive director. This is especially true for highly focused professions where the number of professionals is small. "Activities such as setting standards, establishing protocols based on proven science, growing the universe of qualified practitioners, sparking new research, and defining the future of the profession all require long-term solutions," says Gorski.
The Academy embarked on its most ambitious endeavor ever when it created Project Quantum Leap (PQL) as the conduit to address these and subsequent challenges. The costs are substantial—well beyond the ability of the association to include within its $2 million operating budget. Thus, following a strategic planning meeting, the Academy's leadership assembled a team to go after a grant from the federal government to jumpstart the initial projects. Individual contributions from practitioners, chapters, and suppliers funded a concentrated effort to obtain initial funding. A $1 million grant from the US Department of Education was awarded, and the Academy immediately began its first six activities under PQL. These were successfully executed in 2004.
With real accomplishment to show for their efforts, the grant team petitioned the U.S. Department of Education for a second $1 million grant, awarded in October 2004. Most of the activities promised in the second grant are continuations of those started with money from the first grant; however, one
new activity is focused on primary education. Recognizing that NCOPE's primary mission is to promote and raise the standards of education and its association with subject matter experts, the Academy asked NCOPE to spearhead this important project.
 The "O&P Education Summit" will be held in 2005 to examine primary O&P education and its relationship to the skill sets needed in today's practice. The conference will identify core competencies required to deliver high-quality O&P care in coming decades and define the educational models that would best teach those skills.
The findings of the conference are expected to lead to a systematic updating of the curriculum for entry-level O&P education. Any changes to the curriculum would include new skill sets permitting the graduate to critically review pertinent research and to use this information to implement evidence-based clinical practices.
Two State-of-the-Science Conferences will be held in 2005 on the topics of Ankle-Foot Mechanisms
and a second topic currently under review. Each conference will produce a summary report that will be printed as a supplement to the JPO and later developed into an electronic course worth PCE credits. These and previously developed courses are housed in the Academy's Paul E. Leimkuehler Online Learning Center.
An effective combination of activities tested during 2004 will raise the level of student awareness about O&P as a career choice. These include cooperative efforts with several career and counseling associations, as well as direct demonstrations and talks at 50–60 high schools and allied health programs in states where O&P schools are located. Exhibits, articles spotlighting O&P, career kits, and several other tools will be coordinated with the American School Counselors Association, the Association for Career and Technical Education, the Health Occupations Student Association, the National Association of Allied Health Professionals, and the National Career Development Association.
The team directing the activities funded by the grant includes Principal Investigator (PI) Douglas Smith, MD, Co-PI John Michael, MEd, CPO, FISPO, FAAOP, Sharon Hubbard, Prosthetics Research Study, and Julie G. Hayes, the Academy's director of Development & Communications.
|
