Dear Douglas and Barrett
Whilst I am enjoying the debate on Sahrman's recent pronouncements I find
myself in diametric opposition to you in one specific of your criticism of
her call for research, namely:
>>
> White:
Sharman seems to be advocating what many other PTs advocate. Lets
> design a study(s) that demonstrate that what I do works. As opposed to
> looking at specific conditions and attempting to find answers to etiology,
> and what interventions are the most efficacious, safest and cost
effective.
>
> Dorko-
It seems to me that this effort to come up with research to justify
> traditional practices is uncalled for, not that anybody has asked my
> opinion.
>
>
John replies:
Well, in the UK as in USA there has been a great demand from the people who
pay for our services for what we call Evidence Based Medicine (EBM). This is
really a response to all these Drs and therapists out there who seem to
argue (as you do) - "These practices are traditional therefore research to
justify them is uncalled for". This seems to betray the belief that if a
practice is traditional it is effective and therefore no research is needed
to show that it's use is justified.
Unfortunately a lot of EBM shows that this belief is unjustified, that
'traditional' techniques are not as effective as we think. I believe that
the general public have the right to insist that, as a profession, we
justify our 'traditional' techniques by producing research that indicates
their effectiveness. Remember that some techniques seen as 'traditional' 100
years ago have now been discarded because research has shown them to be
ineffective or possibly damaging.
As to Douglas's assertion that Sahrman is saying; - "Lets design a study(s)
that demonstrate that what I do works", This seems to reflect a
misunderstanding as to what good research is capable of. Research actually
sets a hypothesis and tries to disprove it. Research (and by this I mean
good research) doesn't set out to 'prove a point', it sets out to find the
truth in a situation.
If Ms Sahrman is saying that an area of our practice is unproven in it's
effectiveness and research would be useful to indicate its effectiveness or
lack of effectiveness I can't understand your dissaproval.
> <http://barrettdorko.com>
> *******************************************************
> Douglas M. White, PT, OCS
> 191 Blue Hills Parkway
> Milton, MA USA 02186
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