Monday, June 21, 2010

Spinal Manipulation - Student Survey

If you aren't already aware, current legislation prohibits physical therapists from practicing spinal manipulation in WA state, even though it is a requirement of CAPTE for our DPT programs to teach us this skill. PTs in Washington State are working hard with PTWA, legislators, and lobbyists to turn this around. Input from current students will give us more fuel for the fight, since public tax dollars go into a lot of our educations!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PQN9NB8

Please take 2 minutes to complete this survey about spinal manipulation legislation in WA state. The survey will close on SUNDAY, JULY 18. Email students.ptwa@gmail.com if you have any questions!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

2010 APTA House of Delegates

The APTA's 66th session of the House of Delegates took place June 14th - 16th at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Massachusetts.

What is HOD?
HOD is the highest policy-making body of the APTA. It is comprised of 401 chapter voting delegates and many other section, assembly, and caucus non-voting delegates. The number of voting chapter delegates is determined each year based on membership numbers. Our very own Student Assembly delegate, Efosa Guobadia (University of Scranton, DPT 2010) sits in the delegation and is able to provide a voice to the students of the nation. The Washington State delegation consists of 14 delegates and two alternate delegates.

What happens at HOD?
APTA HOD functions a lot like a meeting of the United States Congress. The delegates spend countless hours prior to HOD preparing for and discussing motions brought forward by APTA members or components (state chapters, etc). Each component may decide to stand in support of a particular motion, called an "RC", or offer the pro/con viewpoint of the APTA members they represent. After discussion a vote takes place among the 401 voting delegates. Motions that involve an APTA by-laws change require a two-thirds majority, other motions require a simple majority.

There are also elections held prior to the HOD for APTA Board of Directors positions. This year, Roger Herr, a Seattle PT and delegate from Washington State, succeeded in his campaign to run for APTA Board of Directors. Congratulations Roger!!

Saturday, June 5, 2010

APTA Members Mentoring Members

Many of us probably have academic advisers through our DPT programs. Do you have a professional adviser? Well, did you know APTA provides a mentoring service to members?

This mentoring service is available to all APTA members, whether they are students, new professionals, and even to experienced PTs. You can do a handy little search by PT name, by state, by specialty and/or a whole mess 'o different keywords.
This can be greatly beneficial if you are interested in a specialty area of PT and need some advice on how to get there. Perhaps you're browsing different specialty areas, or even just trying to peruse the different primary areas of PT.

Click below for more information and to find yourself an APTA mentor!

http://www.apta.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Mentoring