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November 9, 2011

Your Daily Posterous Spaces Update November 9th, 2011 Sound

Familiar?: Let's stop degree creep in health

care<http://ptmanagerblog.com/sound-familiar-lets-stop-degree-creep-in-heal>

Posted about 24 hours ago by [image: _portrait_thumb] Kovacek,

PT, DPT, MSA <http://posterous.com/users/1l1oCkDWEWjv> to

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Let’s stop degree creep in health care

by Sharon Bahrych, PA-C,

MPH<http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/sharon-bahrych>| in

Physician <http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/category/physician> |

http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/?p=60626 " >no responses

How long ago was it that we were all content with having the physician have

a MD or DO title after their name, the clinic or hospital floor nurse

having a RN after her name, the pharmacist having RPh after their name?

Now unless the pharmacist has PharmD after their name they can’t be a

pharmacist. And for the nurse, unless they have RN, BSN or RN, MSN after

their name they can’t be the floor nurse or work in a clinic. And for the

physician its becoming commonplace for them to have MPH, PhD, or ScD after

their name if they want to do academic research.

Let’s not forget the audiologist who nows has to have a AuD to practice as

well as the physical therapist profession who is now upping their degree

requirements for graduating students to being a DPT degree. There’s also

the NP profession which is going to require a DNP degree by 2015.

What’s with all of the degree creep in the health sciences all about? Does

everyone really need a doctorate degree after their name to prove their

worth? Or are we showing our insecurity? Do we believe that by having a

higher degree it will then make us qualified to practice in our chosen

health career?

Is there really a difference between a RPh degree and a PharmD degree?

Does this really make a better pharmacist who’s out there practicing? Is

there a difference in how a NP practices who has a MSN degree vs. a DNP

degree? How about the physical therapist? Do you see a difference between

a master’s degree credentialed PT vs the DPT credentialed when taking care

of the patient’s therapy demands?

What “bug” has bitten all of us? It seems that all of the health career

fields are no longer content with their previous education degree. Do they

now believe they have to acquire a higher degree? For what? To prove

what? Or is it possible that the higher degrees are just padding the

academic institutions pocket in regards to higher tuitions? Or are the

higher degrees actually training and teaching the students material they

need to know?

I’ve talked to many people in health care and in my conversations with them

I’ve come away with knowing that they all agree that in their various

fields (I have friends who are pharmacists, NPs, RNs, PTs, PAs) and they

all agree that the higher degrees being required by their professions is

not creating a better enabled clinician upon graduating. Yes, they have

some additional requirements in doing research, or writing a few more

papers, but when it comes down to taking care of patients, the additional

higher degree didn’t make any difference.

So let’s stop this train, it’s has gotten out of control. Let’s stop this

degree creep. We are all capable health care providers, no matter our

degree, or credentials. And we definitely don’t need ‘doctorate’ after our

name to prove it.

*Sharon Bahrych is a physician assistant who blogs at *A PA View on

Medicine<http://paviewonmedicine.blogspot.com/>

*.*

via

kevinmd.com<http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/11/stop-degree-creep-health-care.ht\

ml>

Institute Of Medicine Slams Sellers Of Electronic Health Records -

Forbes<http://ptmanagerblog.com/institute-of-medicine-slams-sellers-of-electr>

Posted about 17 hours ago by [image: _portrait_thumb] Kovacek,

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Institute Of Medicine Slams Sellers Of Electronic Health Records

0 comments, 0

called-out<http://www.forbes.com/sites/zinamoukheiber/2011/11/08/institute-of-me\

dicine-slams-sellers-of-electronic-health-records#comments_header>

+ Comment

now<http://www.forbes.com/sites/zinamoukheiber/2011/11/08/institute-of-medicine-\

slams-sellers-of-electronic-health-records#comment_reply>

+ Comment

now<http://www.forbes.com/sites/zinamoukheiber/2011/11/08/institute-of-medicine-\

slams-sellers-of-electronic-health-records#comment_reply>

[image: The seal of the United States Department of

He...]<http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US-DeptOfHHS-Seal.svg>

Image via Wikipedia

The government-mandated push to implement electronic health records is

supposed to centralize patient data, and reduce human medical errors in the

process. However, EHRs can introduce a different set of errors, namely

software glitches. Just last week,

Lifespan<http://www.lifespan.org/news/2011/11/02/limited-patient-discharge-presc\

ription-medication-correction/>which

runs five hospitals in Rhode Island disclosed that a prescription

mix-up may have affected 2,000 patients. It blamed it on software used to

generate medication instructions to discharged patients. How often these

kinds of incidents occur, no one knows.

Move up Move down

<http://www.forbes.com/sites/zinamoukheiber/2011/04/08/which-vcs-on-the-forbes-m\

idas-list-are-investing-in-health-it/>

Which

VCs On The Forbes Midas List Are Investing In Health

IT?<http://www.forbes.com/sites/zinamoukheiber/2011/04/08/which-vcs-on-the-forbe\

s-midas-list-are-investing-in-health-it/>

[image: Zina Moukheiber] <http://blogs.forbes.com/zinamoukheiber/> Zina

Moukheiber <http://blogs.forbes.com/zinamoukheiber/>Contributor

The Department of Health and Human Services asked the Institute of

Medicine<http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2011/Health-IT-and-Patient-Safety-Building-S\

afer-Systems-for-Better-Care.aspx>,

an independent organization, to look into safety concerns and make

recommendations. The IOM’s report, released today, states that “little

published evidence exists that quantifies the magnitude of the risk

associated with health IT problems.” Reason? EHR vendors are partly to

blame, because they “discourage the free exchange of safety-related

information in their contracts with health care providers. But serious

errors involving these technologies–including medication dosing errors,

failure to detect fatal illnesses, and treatment delays due to poor

human-computer interactions or loss of data–have led to several reported

patient deaths and injuries.”

The Institute of Medicine report calls for HHS to work with the private

sector to evaluate the impact of health IT on patient safety. However, if

there’s no progress within a year, the FDA should step in and regulate

health IT. Hopefully EHR vendors will step up before that happens.

via

forbes.com<http://www.forbes.com/sites/zinamoukheiber/2011/11/08/institute-of-me\

dicine-slams-sellers-of-electronic-health-records/>

Physical Therapy for Turf Toe: Casey bounces back after form dipped

during painful divorce -

Telegraph<http://ptmanagerblog.com/physical-therapy-for-turf-toe-casey-bounces-b\

>

Posted about 16 hours ago by [image: _portrait_thumb] Kovacek,

PT, DPT, MSA <http://posterous.com/users/1l1oCkDWEWjv> to

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Casey bounces back after form dipped during painful divorce Casey has

broken his silence on the marital problems that have tormented him

throughout a distressing season.

[image: Casey - Casey bounces back after form dipped during painful

divorce]

Comeback: Casey surged back to prominence with fourth place in the

HSBC Champions in Shanghai, but his year has been overshadowed by personal

crisis Photo: GETTY IMAGES

tag -->

[image: Oliver

Brown]<http://preview.telegraph.co.uk/sport/columnists/oliver-brown/>

By Oliver Brown<http://preview.telegraph.co.uk/sport/columnists/oliver-brown/>

8:27PM GMT 08 Nov 2011

Embedded media -- click here to see

it.<http://ptmanagerblog.com/physical-therapy-for-turf-toe-casey-bounces-b>

[image:

Comments]Comment<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/golf/uspga/8877770/Casey-bounc\

es-back-after-form-dipped-during-painful-divorce.html#disqus_thread>

The Englishman, who lost his American tour card after a wretched run of

results, spoke emotively of his difficulties with Jocelyn, his wife of

three years, claiming: “My career was costing Jocelyn her dreams.” The

couple finalised their divorce last week.

While Casey surged back to prominence with fourth place in the HSBC

Champions in Shanghai, his year has been overshadowed by personal crisis.

The former world No 3 had previously been reluctant to discuss the

breakdown of his marriage, instead ascribing the problems in his golf to a

foot injury. But he disclosed for the first time the toll that his split

from Jocelyn had taken.

Describing his struggle to be in a “better place both emotionally and

physically”, Casey admitted: “Our life on tour was fun at the start but,

little by little, it took its toll. My career was costing Jocelyn her

dreams.”

Casey and his former wife had tended to eschew the trappings of the elite

golf lifestyle, choosing to live on a remote ranch in rural Arizona.

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