Douglas
I could be wrong about some of what I've put below, as I've been out of
education and back into clinical for 7 years now.
In the UK we've had portfolio assessment contributing to Masters level entry
for some time now. I'm fairly sure a portfolio and a Masters degree would be
pre-requisites for a phD, but how much the portfolio could count towards it,
I am doubtful of.
Specifically physiotherapy clinical areas at M level still seem to be done
by traditional intermittent attendence at a Further Education institution.
More generic subjects are increasingly done by distance learning eg Exeter
|University do a M level module in Evidence Based Practice.
phD provision from an institution is more about specialist supervision than
a whopping great teaching programme, and in theorey and practice this is
often done from a distance, especially now electronic transfer of info is so
elegant - but I'm not at all sure that the Education providers flag these up
as distance learning packages as such. As I got off the "hamster wheel"
before this stage I'm not best placed to comment - perhaps others on the
list could do so.
Nikki Adams [log in to unmask]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Douglas White" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2001 3:11 PM
Subject: Re: DPT
> Nikki:
>
> Many Universities in the USA are/will be offering the tDPT after
evaluating
> a portfolio. What additional credits are required after evaluating the
> portfolio can mostly be taken through distance learning. Has the PT
> educational community in the UK considered such an approach?
>
> I understand that the University of Edinburgh is a leader in the distance
> education and technology in teaching areas.
>
> Douglas M. White, PT, OCS
>
> I've been following this one with great interest ! As a clinician, and
> ex-senior lecturer in Physiotherapy.
>
> I have several points:
>
> Here in the UK we already have professional autonomy from the point of
> qualification. Anyone training before the early 1980s gained a diploma as
> their professional qualification. Anyone training after this may have
gained
> a degree as courses gradually gained degree status. Now all Physiotherapy
> training courses are at honours degree level.
>
> This has caused rather a hamster-in-a-wheel effect for those qualifying
> several years ago. To keep up with the qualifications of new graduates,
> there's been considerable pressure to do a top up degree of some sort. The
> wise ones opt for a Masters degree, but this takes a leap of confidence if
> you've not written an assignment for a while. Many have gone for an
Honours
> degree, only to discover that they then need to go on an get a Masters.
The
> effort of combining a further degree with work and maybe family
commitments
> is substantial. Most of it inevitably gets done on the kitchen table and
> home PC after a long day. Getting paid time off from work is not easy, the
> culture is changing slowly but pressures are huge - even if some time off
is
> granted, it is rare to have your clinical hours covered in your absence.
As
> a profession there seems to be wide acknowledgement that academic
> development is important - but we are such a caring lot that the immediate
> pressures of the current case load and waiting list tend to take
precidence
> over the longer-term & wider benefits of researching. Anyone who succeeds
in
> jumping these hurdles to the point of Doctorate level has exceptional
> stamina & determination -this simply is not an option for the majority of
> Physiotherapists.
>
> I feel very strongly that there is a great need for properly funded,
> research therapists, who can do their very valuable stuff in work-time,
> collaborating with, and thereby educating and inspiring, other clinicians.
> This type of post is very rare, and usually connected with an educational
> institutution rather than the Health Service. Some Extended Scope
> Practitioner, or Consultant Therapy posts where active research is part of
> the job description are cropping up with increased frequency, but again I
> suspect the clincal workload will be what gets done in work time.
>
> The other big problem in the UK is that the grading structure in the NHS
> simply does not encourage development. It is quite possible to reach the
top
> increment of the top clinicial grade about 8 years after qualifying,
without
> doing any research at all. We need a "SuperClinical" grade so that people
> can develop their clinical specialties to include research, and a culture
to
> match ! What happens at the moment is that good clinicians leave the shop
> floor to teach or to go into management or private practice. Where is the
> research option ????
>
> Thanks for the soap box opportunity, I feel better for that!
>
> Nikki Adams [log in to unmask]
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Frank Conijn" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2001 5:40 PM
> Subject: Re: DPT
>
>
> > That's indeed a good point, Jason, "should we put that in the hands of
> > students who have never treated a patient by themselves?". It could
indeed
> > well be that students do not yet have the clinical insight to be able to
> > determine what would be a useful research topic.
> >
> > But then: would that differ from the other medical educations? It seems
to
> > me that medical educations that are universitarian, and that require
> and/or
> > facilitate medical research, deal with the same problem. Still, I have
> never
> > seen a government or insurance company question classical surgical
> treatment
> > for chronic spinal problems, with respect to the cost-effectiveness
ratio.
> > At the same time however, PT is constantly criticised for being
> non-evidence
> > based, and/or being non-cost-effective.
> >
> > This discrepancy is starting to **** me off, when I look at the equally
> poor
> > scientific foundation of surgery. I'm a (professional) literature
> > researcher, and when I look at the number of RCTs that compare surgical
to
> > non-surgical treatments, the number in itself is devastatingly low, and
> the
> > number that prove surgery to be more cost-effective is even lower. In
> fact,
> > zero!
> >
> > That's why I would like to see much more research being done by PTs, and
> > would love to do research myself, for that matter. The thing however is:
> > means and coaching....
> >
> > R.,
> > Frank
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Jason Steffe" <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: <[log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: dinsdag 7 augustus 2001 1:02
> > Subject: DPT
> >
> >
> > Frank,
> >
> > Many of the professional programs in the United States do grant the
Master
> > of Science in Physical Therapy degree which all have research
components.
> > The program that I graduated from awarded a MS in PT and had a
> full-fledged
> > thesis requirement from beginning to end (public and private defense).
> Most
> > if not all of the projects were hampered by lack of funds, lack of time
> and
> > lack of experience by the investigators. I can only think of one or two
> > students from my school that have gone on to a PhD. I believe that my
> time
> > would have been better spent learning more about how to treat a patient
> than
> > learning about research. It would've made me a better clinician coming
> out
> > of school.
> >
> > I don't see how a few more PhD's in peripheral fields is more important
to
> > our profession than clinical doctorate's in Physical Therapy. I agree
> that
> > our profession needs more research, but should we put that in the hands
of
> > students who have never treated a patient by themselves?
> > --------------------------------------------
> > Jason Steffe, PT, MS, MTC
> > Physiotherapy Associates
> > 1901 Phoenix Blvd, Suite 205
> > College Park, GA. 30349
> > Ph: 770-907-1023
> > Fax:770-907-5608
> >
>
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