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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