O&P Awareness - Summative Report
Outreach Programs Boost Awareness
The American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists continues to build its ongoing grassroots outreach efforts. With the increased incidence of diabetes and obesity, coupled with the aging of the baby boomers, there is a growing need for qualified students to enter the profession. To encourage high-achieving students to consider O&P as a career choice, the Academy networks with students, teachers, counselors, disability organizations, and career development professionals to reach out to students interested in health careers. By introducing high school students to the possibility of pursuing an O&P career they can better tailor their choice of majors and course selection in college toward their future goals.
Project One (Awareness) incorporates a broad range of activities involving students, career counselors and related organizations, teachers, O&P professionals, residents, and the general public.
The grassroots outreach network of professionals helping to spread the word about O&P careers and education will continue to include approximately 200 new O&P residents who complete their entry-level training each year. The Academy has provided all current members and residents with complimentary career information packets and handouts, including a new career awareness video, "The Sky's the Limit!". Ongoing outreach at the grassroots level encourages mentoring and also enables new residents to fulfill their community service residency requirement. Practitioners and residents, who were involved in prior outreach activities, have expressed enthusiasm over career programs and it is expected that this grassroots outreach network will continue to grow in coming years.
During grant Year IV, the Academy's outreach efforts continue to make sure that everyone understands the critical role O&P professionals play in treating the growing patient population. We have heard positive reports of practitioners and residents putting the new awareness DVD to good use at school presentations, career fairs and healthcare events. The Academy also worked closely with the nine O&P practitioner programs to create versions of this DVD tagged specifically for each school to allow them to stream the video on their website and use it for local career and school fairs.
30 and 60 second public service announcements (30 second WMV and 60 second WMV) were also created from the video footage. They have recently been released to stations in areas in close proximity to the O&P practitioner programs as well as to a mixture of large and medium sized stations in areas around the country. You may see them airing over the next several months in your area.
The six-month PSA campaign reached more than 5M people in 66 cities. Within those cities, the TV PSAs ran 894 times. Radio PSAs were sent to 500 stations. There were 2,000+ confirmed PSA broadcasts on more than 560 Radio America affiliate stations, 280 premiere radio network stations and on XM and Sirius satellite radio. The PSA was also posted on radionewz.com. In total there were 1,640 radio broadcasts.
150 stations and networks accepted the Radio News Release telling how 1.9 million people living with limb loss are benefiting from breakthrough O&P technological advancements to help those soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. There were 15.25M gross impressions and 3,371 stations and network affiliate airings.
The informational career kits, in both print and electronic formats, continue to direct recipients to the O&P careers website at www.opcareers.org. This decision was a result of a survey initially conducted with students indicating the Internet was the preferred source for information. To effectively connect with this Internet-savvy generation, the Academy created a one-stop website featuring information on career and schooling options, frequently asked questions, how to enter the profession, practitioner profiles, O&P technology as well as a career PowerPoint and script that current O&P practitioners or healthcare instructors can use in the classroom.
Both the career website (www.opcareers.org/spanish) and career brochure (PDF) have been translated to Spanish. This allows these materials to appeal to a larger audience as Spanish is the second most common language within the United States.
During Grant Year IV, web tracking services were changed rendering comparison to previous years inappropriate. Current statistics indicate an average of 3,544 hits/month, with approximately 80% being new visitors.
Due to targeted outreach programming with high school students, teachers and counselors, approximately 75,000 individuals have visited our career information site at www.opcareers.org in the last year to learn more about the career and education requirements to become an orthotist/prosthetist.
The career kits contain a full-color booklet outlining the benefits of an O&P career, information on O&P programs, and the education paths available. There are also inserts on the Academy as well as general O&P trends and statistics. Students, teachers, counselors and career development professionals have received these through direct mailings, outreach conducted at national conferences or delivered in person when local practitioners or residents conduct a career program at a school in their area.
During Grant Year IV, there were 47 documented visits in 21 states. Local practitioner volunteers and residents conducted many of these programs. Volunteers make presentations to student groups on the power of O&P rehabilitation and how O&P professionals truly make a difference on the lives of individuals with disabilities. A demonstration and hands-on display of technology complements each program.
More than 1,200 student surveys were returned which enable us to track the dissemination and impact of our career materials. Before the programs, only 9.3% of students were "somewhat interested" in the O&P profession. This number jumped to 22.2% post-presentation. No students indicated they were "very interested" in O&P before these presentations, but 8.5% were after they learned more. Complete Student survey results are presented below.
The Academy's Annual Meeting outreach programming has been well received. New this year was the addition of a hands-on interactive session led by O&P student volunteers. After a brief career presentation and viewing of "The Sky's the Limit", the high school students were divided into small groups to interact with the O&P students at various interactive stations. Students and teachers used the handheld scanner, walked on prosthetic feet, picked up objects with an artificial hand and tried on orthopedic braces. Once this segment was completed, they had the opportunity to take a guided tour the Exhibit Hall together. This makes a winning combination as the high school students easily relate to their peers.
Academy Board representatives attend Chapter meetings to update members on the latest Academy and grant-related activities. Chapters are encouraged to host similar outreach programs on the regional level to further advance O&P awareness. These chapter awareness programs will also show Academy members how important it is to spread the word about the profession and boost the number of those within the field willing to be listed as a point of contact on the career website. With continued concerted efforts with Academy chapters, the grassroots network of practitioner volunteers will continue to grow, students will be mentored and have their most pressing questions answered by qualified professionals. The online network of O&P professionals willing to answer questions from interested students now includes more than 400 practitioners from all 50 states.
The Academy continues to collaborate with career and counseling organizations, disability groups and health occupations students and instructors. Concerted outreach efforts with these groups resulted in the following: Nearly 13,000 marketing pieces directing these groups to the website were distributed through direct mail and in-person at organizational national meetings; Academy Annual Meeting-related programming and ongoing outreach generated in conjunction with these organizations. The O&P careers website continues to serve as an excellent resource for teachers, counselors, parents and interested students. We currently have just over 400 professionals listed as point of contacts on the career website. This represents about 13.25 percent of our membership which also grew just under 13 percent.
Numerous other practitioner volunteers and O&P schools hosted students attending the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine (NYLF/Med). The NYLF is a unique 10-day program offering high-achieving secondary school students an outstanding experiential education. Working with some of the area's most prestigious schools, research facilities, hospitals, and professionals, NYLF/Med provides participants with an intensive exploration of the medical and health-related career fields and valuable insights on pursuing these careers.
Interaction with counseling and other related organizations include collaboration with the Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA). HOSA is a national student organization endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education. HOSA's two-fold mission is to promote career opportunities in the healthcare industry and to enhance the delivery of the quality of healthcare to all people.
The Academy will continue the analysis of enrollment and application data from the CAAHEP-accredited schools in order to assess the impact of ongoing awareness and outreach efforts. While enrollment numbers will not immediately reflect the results of the Academy's national outreach efforts, marked interest in O&P careers can be measured by requests for materials and programming as well as website hits.
*NOTE: These numbers are based solely on completed student surveys that were returned to the Academy. It is estimated that these numbers are significantly higher than reported based on the tracking of our career materials dissemination.
These projects have been funded by a grant from the United States Department of Education Special Demonstration Programs—Projects for Orthotic and Prosthetic Research. The purpose of this program is to provide funding in response to the Department of Education Appropriations Act for one or more projects designed to improve the quality of applied orthotic and prosthetic research and to help meet the increasing demand for provider services.
Grant Year One Award Details
Grant Year Two Award Details
Grant Year Three Award Details
Grant Year Four Award Details
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