How is RT/TR Doing as a Profession?
I just completed a survey for NCTRC (as I'm sure many of you have). Perhaps the most interesting question to me was whether the RT/TR profession was better off today than it was 5 years ago.
I found this question to be very thought provoking -- and so I am passing it on to you via the RT Blog. What do you think? Is RT/TR better off than it was 5 years ago? All comments welcome!
I found this question to be very thought provoking -- and so I am passing it on to you via the RT Blog. What do you think? Is RT/TR better off than it was 5 years ago? All comments welcome!
posted by Hoosier RT | 10:08 AM
5 Comments:
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Hi there Dr. Austin,
I received your email request asking for people to comment at your blog. I am a regular reader of it. I don’t often post.
I passed along information about your blog to my friend list on myspace, which is about 1,500 friends (http://www.myspace.com/recreation_therapy).
I just took the NCTRC survey myself. I noticed they asked about licensure. I fully support licensure for the profession and am on a committee in West Virginia that is pursing this.
I think it is best for the public. We, as a public do not want unlicensed drivers on the road. We don’t even allow unlicensed beauticians and barbers to cut our hair. We, recreational therapists don’t just provide recreation activities for people. We provide services for people with illnesses and disabling conditions. Naturally, the public would want to make certain that therapist who use recreation as a treatment are prepared and qualified to work with this population. These are just my thoughts.
I’ll talk to you more next time.
And thanks for keeping your blog. I really appreciate it. I’ll continue to spread the word to get others to comment.
Your friend,
Danny Pettry
West Virginia
HI Dave,
I do remember the course we co-taught on line in 1999! It's really been interesting to have been involved in distance education at IU over the years. When I began in the program, all of our students were in Indiana, but not in Bloomington. Over the time I've been here we began to expand offerings outside of Indiana and I was glad to see Danny Pettry from WVA post as he is one of our graduates. It's been interesting to see the interest in TR education available at a distance outside of Indiana. We're currently serving students in Canada, but I've had requests from Poland, South Africa, the Virgin Islands and Taiwan, as well as a state department employee in the Baghdad embassy! It's always been interesting to see the increasing global interest. I think it speaks to increasingly international recognition of the value of recreation as a therapeutic tool. I enjoy the blog Dave, keep it up! Bryan
Hi all,
I'm still new to the blogging thing. My comments above were meant for the previous post on distance education.
I don't know if the profession is better off than it was 5 years ago, but I also don't think that 5 years ago is the right time window. Compare 5 years ago to perhaps 10 years ago or 20 years ago. I graduated as an undergraduate over 20 years ago, and compared to my preparation, our current students are dramatically better prepared than I was! We're also considerably better organized as a profession to engage in advocacy efforts in the area of public policy.
We had six students attend our state chapter meeting at the Indiana Legislature last month. These young women had an opportunity to meet with elected state officials to discuss our position and concerns related to recreation therapy in Indiana. That's dramatically different than my own experience as an undergraduate.
So are we better off than we were 5 years ago? I don't know; it's hard to say. Are we better off than when I entered the profession? I'd say yes, dramatically so. Bryan
I agree with Bryan regarding progress from 20 years ago but I will also respond to 5 years ago. Imagine that?
So, here goes:
Education:
As a profession we have refused to make the hard choices particularly with regard to professional preparation and accreditation in RT. We continue to attempt to put a round peg into a square hole and use the COA standards for "recreation, park resources, and leisure service industries" that address the professional preparation of "experiental industries" (e.g., tourism, visitors, etc.).
Public Policy:
While ATRA has continued its efforts in federal public policy, successes with regard to CMS regulatory language (HR 4248) and the 3 hour guidelines have not come to fruition. What can we expect when our profession can only generate approximately 50 co-sponsors to HR 4248 of the 435 Congressional Representatives. At the state level, why do we still only have 3 state licensure programs?
Professional Commitment and Membership:
The levels of our professional membership has sagged to a new low. I am uncertain how our profession and professionals can expect our discipline to compete if they are not engaged at the state and national level by simply being members in our professional organizations. In comparison, the American Occupational Therapy Association has 36,000 members that pay $225.00/year for membership generating over $8 million dollars in revenue. The American Physical Therapy Association has 72,000 members payint $295/year, generating over $21 million and members are required to join their stte chapters. RT/TR has approximately 2500 combined members of ATRA and NTRS paying $125.00/year for a whopping $325,000 in revenue to address our issues.
Summary:
Are we better off? Well, we are no less mired in our circular discussions of the mission of the profession (RT/TR), professional preparation, and professional apathy from the members of our profession. So, it would seem we have made little or no progress given the efforts of ATRA to make a difference. We are not however worse off.
So much for taking off the rose colored glasses. I hope the next 2 years offers more hope, commitment, and progress from all.
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