We need to address a way to attract more members to AOTA.
I just checked figures for APTA, which seems to be encroaching on OT across the world. I just picked up an Australian PTA pediatric brochure and I was surprised that PT's are treating social skills!? APTA is also pushing for doctors of PT by 2020 - I didn't check if an MS would still ok. This encroachment is affecting us at all levels - governmental, national, and local as well as insurance companies, consumers, and employers. So I started looking and comparing APTA membership with AOTA membership.
US Labor Dept figures for 2006:
173,000 PT's 99,000 OT's (In 2008 now 112,000 ?)
Memberships: APTA 41% (71,000) AOTA 36% (36,000) - only 5% differential considering 57% more PT's but that is an additional 8650 members.
At APTA - you must join a local chapter at additional cost of 0 to $120 so the minimum membership cost is $280 plus 0 to $120 / year. Wouldn't this help local chapters viability and their input into APTA?
$ Figures: APTA members 71K@$280 = $19,880,000 (without the local chapter $) Those 5% more members added $2.4 million.
AOTA members 36K@$225 = $ 8,100,000 If AOTA members increased to 41%, funds would increase to $9,133,00. An additional million couldn't be bad.
APTA blows AOTA away in funding at more than double. This is funding that allows them to keep encroaching on OT thru federal and state legislation, lobbying, and consumer education.
If AOTA met 71,000 members, funds would increase to $15,975,000!
If ALL OT's became members, funds would become $22,275,000.
Think what the local chapter $ means - at 71,000 members it means (at an average of $60 per chapter) an additional $4,260,000.- That’s almost $90,000 per local/state chapter. Money equals more extensive support, education, and lobbying which is support for our jobs and our recognition among government agencies, insurance companies, employers, and more. It also means money to fight legislation or advertising that has a negative impact on our profession and jobs. I remember the huge impact of the Balanced Budget Act in 1998.
Why aren't OT's joining AOTA and local chapters? One reason is that it is not required by AOTA. I have to point out that I rarely join the local chapter - the meetings were difficult to attend and I didn't see a real value for joining (sorry) which is most likely the biggest reason. If the local chapters had this kind of money, think of what could and would be done. Local chapters should be grass root centers for AOTA. Grass roots can push through anything - even concrete!
Thoughts, comments, corrections are all welcome.
Linda
I would definately agree! --> We do need to attract more members!
Living in Michigan where so many people have lost thier jobs because of the Big 3, its almost like you can hear the Jaws theme song playing ever so quietly in the background... Not to mention that the country as a whole is carefully minding their P's and Q's so that they aren't the next to be booted from their position because of company downsizing.
My point: Right Now seems to be presenting itself as one of the most important times to be "cheering on" your own profession. (Please note that I am a Master's student and haven't had years out in the field to really compare) :P Either way, nobody wants to spend money on just anything.
If PT presents themselves as the can-do-all profession and starts/continues to claim 'functional' status out of their patients, then any insurance company in their right mind isn't going to see the point in occupational therapy, not to mention pay for it.
I don't think it would be to much to ask OTs/COTAs to join AOTA. Even if it were to be mandatory before taking the Exam. It supports your own career! Times like these? --> Seems like you can't loose.
I am an AOTA member, and as soon as I graduate I will join the local chapter in the area of my first job.
These are just my thoughts...
I would just add that I'm currently living in China. I thought I would just pick up AJOT and OT Practice during my trips home twice a year. Oh, No, AOTA mails both of these to me in China - at no extra cost. AOTA will follow you around the world!
I often just wonder what the China Post Office thinks when they see these coming - sometimes with colorful and interesting covers!
I am also a member of my state OT association (FOTA.) MY primary reason for membership is AOTA's and FOTA's advocacy efforts for our profession to make sure that other professions are kept at bay from encroaching into our scope of professional practice. Secondly but equally important, AOTA imposes sanctions and provides disciplinary actions to AOTA members that are endangering the public/consumers and consequently our profession. Every single OT, whether he/she is member or not, and whether he/she realizes it or not, benefits from the these active efforts of AOTA nationally, and the state OT association locally.
But I wouldn't go so far as mandating membership because that would be contrary to the very tenets that our profession is founded on. I would support more efforts to reach all OT professionals but the decision ultimately is up to us individually, whether to be a member or not.
Sincerely,
Rudy
Linda,
These are staggering stats. Thanks for sharing.
It is very important to examine the value of a professional membership. Everyday, as you pointed out, our profession is under threat from encroachment, diminished reimbursement, and even loss of social relevance. As members of the OT profession, we owe it to ourselves and to the profession that gave us our careers, to support our professional association.
We need to ask not what AOTA can give to us but rather what we can offer to AOTA and our profession? Because of the leaders in our profession, we are able to do what we love. We have resources (educational materials, documents, research evidence) to use so we may continue do what we love -- occupational therapy.
It angers me when OT practitioners take our profession for granted. "What has AOTA done for me lately?" they may ask. I say, "keep you working so you can do what you do best" (except b*tch).
Brent Braveman came up with this grreat idea using the concept of "pay it forward." He sponsors someone and that someone who gets sponsored will sponsor others. At ConnOTA, we're going to try a similar concept -- an AOTA scholarship. Instead of giving students $500 in cash to help their education, I think the same amount of money can be used to 4-5 student membership and 2 regular memberships.
Salvador Bondoc, OTD, OTR/L, BCPR, CHT
Associate Professor, Quinnipiac University
Linda, I find it ironic that APTA recognizes and values what we do to the point where they are encroaching on our scope. As the population ages, I forsee this to become a greater incursion.
I suggest that we begin in OT schooling. We learn the history, but the future is not stressed. We are OTs, we are 'nice' and all too often think that being doormats equates with being nice. We must begin with the education of OT students; HOW to become an advocate and/or politically active should be a part of the curriculum. We must then go to current members and give them tools to advocate not only to consumers but to peers. Reach out to the rehab managers and ask them to encourage involvement. Take advantage of OT month and educate. I recently stood in the hall by the 'doctor's entrance' at our hospital with a tri-board and examples of adaptive equipment and splints and photos of our OTs being creative in client care. It backfired---we were swamped with 'automatic' referrals to begin with, and experienced about a 5% increase in referrals after that. But they were appropriate referrals, which was another problem we had experienced. Two OTs in a 350-bed hospital, and we can now write a book on prioritizing!!! As an aside, there was no attendant increase in PT referrals. These docs and residents actually understood how valuable we are!!
The point is, it only takes a little effort to make a difference. If the two of us had been joined by two from a SNF or outpatient or......just imagine.
Hi,
Over the years I have watched our profession grow, and meet strong challenges both from other professions wishing to encroach on our areas of practice and from payer sources. I have appreciated the advocacy and lobbying done and sponsored by AOTA and our state organizations. This is in part why we continue to grow as a profession in spite of economic downturns.
Many times during the past few decades decisions have been made positively for our profession which impacted every one of us and let us continue our work. This was because we had AOTA monitoring bills and lobbying for us behind the scenes. Had they not had our membership dollars to do this, we wouldn't be where we are today-a strong, proud, growing profession.
On a daily basis, AOTA membership is less than some people pay for coffee. Especially in today's economy, it is money well spent. I personally don't have the time to follow the political swings that affect our profession, so I gladly pay my dues so someone else will be there for me.
Donna
I agree on it starting at the OT school level. I have seen 2 different OT programs and both are very different. One instilled a ton of practical education and the other only insitlled theory, frames of ref. and other info that is very important for setting the foundation but not very practical for new OT's going into the field. PT's have proven themselves to the people who need to see it ie. DR's who write the orders for therapy. New PT's are much more practically trained comming out of school vs OT's. working in an inpatient hospital setting, PT is getting twice as many referals as ot because they have shown the Dr.s there capibilities. My hospital has given any shoulder injury to PT-in the past it was given to OT. Debility patients get PT first and OT for d/c recomendation only because of insurance requirements. another hospital did not order OT for total knee replacement except when the PT felt they needed assist with ADL's through use of adaptive equip. I am constantly battling to get OT orders for patients that need it as well as letting the doctors know we are here for other things other than strokes and hips. Increasing pracitcal education to decrease the amount of time to become fully oriented to a facility in needed.
In some ways I see why PT gets the attention - what they do is practical - just get 'em moving without the focus on "What then?" Insurance companies are happy. Many people don't realize there is a "what now/then" until later. OT is the "what then" and "how". Not that PT isn't needed but let's be realistic.
A few years back, my husband broke his leg badly. When I came to the hospital, he said a PT had been in to show him how to walk up the stairs on crutches. I asked how about maneuvering around a tub/shower or even the toilet?, kitchen? NO was the answer. I was stunned.
Isn't maneuvering around the house as, if not more, important? If he were living alone, I could envision further injuries (esp since he had been living on a 5-floor walk-up prior).
Just a few thoughts on encroachment. As an Australian OT who worked in the US (in pediatrics) for almost 10 years, and supervised many students and new graduates, it really struck me how one of our major "points of difference" - our origin in psychiatry, had dwindled in the US. Most students I supervised had only cursory exposure to psychiatry and none had placements in it.
It disturbs me (and many others) that OT has moved away from this base, as it provides a breadth and depth to our practice that seems to be shrinking today. I agree with previous respondents that the answer lies in education and placement - practical experience linked with theory in all fields of occupational therapy practice with some standardization of experience across educational programs.
The current AOTA president, Penny Moyers-Cleveland, would like to hear your thoughts on that.
I totally agree. I remember treating a Parkinson's pt in a SNF several years ago. I helped her use a walker to get into the bathroom to brush her teeth... no problem. Then she could not turn around to get out. We must have taken another 30 minutes or so to turn around and get back to her bed. Later that day I asked her PT if she could work on turning around, as she had given glowing reports about how far this patient could walk down the hall. The PT laughed at me. The poor patient could walk all day in a straight line, but had no functional mobility whatsoever.
You have encountered the same problem I've seen. We have to make sure our ability to teach patients how to do functional tasks is maintained.
Joanne
I appreciate the information shared in this thread ... I am new graduate with 7 months experience with my first employer. Knowing a number of my fellow coworkers are not members of AOTA, I approached my supervisor and asked if I could do an informal presentation on the benefits of AOTA as there are a lot of new & exciting things happening. The response I received was that I could do the presentation, but my supervisor would not attend because she's not interested in being a member of AOTA. (She also shared the Rehab Director who is an OT is not a member either.)
I was surprised at her response, but recovered and introduced another idea of having a table set up in the cafeteria to reach a broader audience.
I would still like to subtlety educate my fellow OTs -- any one with thoughts or ideas from their own workplace experiences?
OHHH Joanne! I have had this experience so many times. I have just started saying, "the world is not a straight line!"
how about functional ambulation instead of just ambulation?!?!
K
Kristen Maisano, MS OTR/L