o&p almanac magazine

32 JANUARY 2015 | O&P ALMANAC

Need to Know:

• O&P leaders across the United States are watching closely to see how the Baylor College of Medicine first-of-its-kind 30-month O&P master’s degree program performs.

• The program delivers all of the standard academic coursework needed to support a master’s degree at a highly accelerated pace—just 12 months in the classroom, roughly half the usual time.

• Students also complete six three-month, full-time clinical rotations, which are organized by BCM educa-tors rather than the students themselves.

• Rather than be paid as employees during their resi-dencies, students continue to pay tuition. This could encourage providers who could not afford to hire on residents in the past to get involved in training.

• As a final project, students must engage in data collec-tion, conduct research through hands-on work with patients, or else work to define, design, and prototype a clinically relevant product or part related to O&P care.

• While BCM program organizers are optimistic, they concede that the model will not work for every school. Some may shy away from the logistical burden that comes with main-taining deep involvement with the residency program. Others may not have a suitable financial structure.

By ADAM STONE

Can an accelerated master’s degree program change the training model for educators, students, and residencies?

EDUCATIONFast TRACK

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Reprinted with publisher’s permission from the January 2015 issue of O&P Almanac magazine—Copyright © 2015—www.aopanet.org.

O&P ALMANAC | JANUARY 2015 33

IT CAN BE A LONG AND WINDING ROAD on the way to a career in O&P.

A typical student will spend two years working toward a master’s degree, followed by another 18 months to two years in residencies. While some will call this time a small price to pay for admission into a lifelong profession, others ask whether it’s possible to speed up the process and still graduate high-quality professionals.

Administrators at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston say they have hit on the answer—one that combines academic work with a rigor-ously controlled residency experience. Students complete the program in just 30 months, while gaining exposure to residencies in a range of clinical settings.

The program will graduate its first class of 18 in December 2015, and O&P leaders across the United States are watching closely to see how this first-of-its-kind education model performs. “We want to take a look at the outcomes, have some conversa-tions with the Baylor faculty, and see if it is plausible,” says Arlene Gillis, MEd, CP, LPO, FAAOP, chair of the National Commission on Orthotic and Prosthetic Education (NCOPE) and program director for the O&P program at St. Petersburg College.

If the model proves successful, it could mean dramatic change for stu-dents, educators, and those who offer residency opportunities throughout the O&P community.

How It WorksThe BCM Master of Science in Orthotics and Prosthetics (MSOP) delivers all of the standard academic coursework needed to support a mas-ter’s degree, but it does so at a highly accelerated pace—just 12 months in the classroom, roughly half the usual time. To get through, students must carry a heavy workload.

“A student can’t have a job during this program. It’s just not feasible,” says Jared Howell, BCM’s program director for O&P. To ensure pro-spective students understand the

obligation, applicants participate in multiple-day interviews, talking to three faculty members as well as to a student who can describe firsthand the rigors of the program. “We look for students who are dedicated and who understand what they are getting into.”

Not everyone shows the academic prowess, or single-mindedness of purpose, needed to make the grade. In its first two years, the program has accepted just 25 to 30 percent of applicants.

As with any O&P education, academics are only a starting point. BCM’s didactic, or classroom, learn-ing is followed by hands-on residency experience. But here, the similarities

end. In this tightly integrated model, students don’t simply graduate and go off to their residencies. Rather, the clinical experience is an integral part of the overall learning experience. This means faculty stay involved during the residency phase, which is structured so that students experience a broad range of O&P practice models.

It also means that the financial model changes. Rather than be paid as employees during their residencies, students continue to pay tuition during this time. (Tuition and fees run an estimated $24,500 per year.)

This could be a game changer for O&P, says Josh Utay, BCM assistant program director and instructor. Under this structure, providers who could not afford to hire on residents in the past might now be tempted to get involved in training, knowing there would be no out-of-pocket cost.

Students take a financial hit, at least in the short term, paying for rather than being paid for their residency work. But they get out of school and into the job market considerably faster, so the equation roughly balances, according to the organizers.

Baylor College of Medicine is located in the heart of the Texas Medical Center at One Baylor Plaza, Houston.

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34 JANUARY 2015 | O&P ALMANAC

Fanny Schultea

BCM’s program managers also take a direct hand in lining up residencies for their students, in contrast to a system that has typically left students to fend for themselves in search of clinical experi-ence. “In the past, the institutions have had little to do with getting someone a job. It is on the student’s shoulders to secure his or her own residency,” Utay says. “We see the residency as a really crucial part of the student’s education, and this allows us to manage that part, to create a completely new experience.”

Students complete six three-month, full-time clinical rotations, organized by BCM educators. Participating facilities include Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, Naval Medical Center San Diego, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, Shriners Hospitals for Children in Houston, as well as TIRR Memorial Hermann—The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research, and clin-ics throughout the community.

That broad range of facilities makes it possible to expose students to diverse settings as they move through their rotations. “In the traditional residency model, they might see a lot of one thing, whatever their mentor was good at. Students might see many adults, but they never saw pediatrics, or they saw pediatrics but never saw spinal cases. Now, they have the oppor-tunity to see a much broader spectrum of care,” says Howell.

I could learn more at a fast tempo: Throw it all in there and do it every day. I knew that a more intensive approach would be best for me, that I would ultimately learn more,” she says.

BCM’s condensed time frame seemed to offer that kind of environ-ment. Schultea also was attracted by the school’s willingness to stay engaged even as students moved into the residency portion of their educa-tion. “They don’t just stick you in this rotation and call it a day. Each resi-dency is carefully thought out by the faculty and the clinical coordinator—and also by the students,” she adds.

Ryan Butler, 25, came to BCM looking for a human experience. He had started down an engineering career track, but found it lacked the caring touch. By luck, he met up with a group building low-cost prosthetics for patients in the developing world. From there, he connected with a practitioner in Provo, Utah, and began his O&P journey.

“I really enjoyed the human inter-action, the opportunity to be work-ing with real people and seeing the impact of the work,” he says. Still, the educational situation in O&P made him nervous. “I met a recent graduate, and he was frantically trying to find a residency. That surprised me. I hadn’t known it would be that tough after you graduate. So when I saw what BCM was doing, that was obviously

MSOP faculty keep in close contact with each residency site, working with residency mentors, or “preceptors,” to track student training. Following each rotation, professors test the students and discuss clinical cases.

In addition to classroom and clinical work, students must meet a research requirement. As a final project they may engage in data collection, conduct research through hands-on work with patients, or else work to define, design, and prototype a clinically relevant product or part related to O&P care.

What Students SaySo far, program managers are confident that the 30-month model is working. Students may not be getting a lot of sleep, but they are turning in quality work and are set to graduate on time.

Fanny Schultea, MSEd, CSCS, 36, already had a master’s degree in exercise physiology when she decided to pursue a career in O&P. As an expe-rienced learner she

was able to evaluate the various O&P schools around the country, looking for just the right fit.

“I had been in school long enough to know my learning style. I knew my abilities, and I knew I prefer to be immersed in the material. I knew

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Students work in the fabrication lab


O&P ALMANAC | JANUARY 2015 35

NCOPE Educational Summit Meeting Reconvenes in 2015

This spring, the National Commission on Orthotic and Prosthetic Education will hold its first major educational gathering in a decade.

The 2015 NCOPE Educational Summit Meeting will convene April 10-11 at the Renaissance Hotel in Tampa, Florida, and is expected to draw roughly 50 participants drawn from the various O&P profes-sional organizations as well as others in the O&P community. Paul Gaston, PhD, an expert in health-care accreditation, will facilitate, says NCOPE Vice Chair Charles Kuffel, MSM, CPO, FAAOP.

“The profession is rapidly changing due to pressures from outside entities—DME, physician referrals, audits, etc.—as well as new educational standards necessary to practice within the profession,” Kuffel says. “These changes have necessitated the need for a global look at the educational requirements, professional capacities, and practice expectations for all levels of care in O&P.”

While the meeting will span a broad range of topics, participants will review the major developments in the profession since the last Summit Meeting in 2005, and they will re-evaluate the relevancy of six recommendations set forth in that meeting to determine which may require further attention.

Summit participants also will explore the issues currently fac-ing the different levels of practice: clinical, assistant, fitter, techni-cian. They will consider, in broad terms, recommendations that should guide the profession and its leadership through the next decade.

interesting,” he says.As part of BCM’s

first MSOP class, Butler is excited about the rigorous hands-on opportu-nities. “O&P is not a typical engineer-ing problem. Every

person is unique. You can read the textbook but then when you get out there in the clinic, everything has its own set of problems. There are a lot of skills you need to develop,” he says.

For David Patterson, 30, the BCM program means having an opportunity to get working that much sooner. “I was really drawn by the possibility of getting into the clinical piece quicker, the chance to get busy and get experi-ence handling patients,” he says. A member of the first MSOP class, he has already completed an orthotics rotation at Dynamic Orthotics and Prosthetics in Houston and is now in a prosthetics rotation there.

Patterson is especially pleased with having the opportunity to practice in multiple disciplines. “I like possibility of having that wider exposure—exposure to different tech-niques, exposure to different methods of handling challenging patients, and just the variety of devices that we get to see,” he says.

How did he and his classmates handle the accelerated course load? “Baylor became our home,” he says. “We were there every day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. doing coursework, and it made us rely on each other. We worked together. We were all as efficient as possible. And we all survived.”

The Bigger PictureLooking across the O&P landscape, some observers say the BCM model could drive interesting changes. For example, Gillis is intrigued at the pos-sibility that an unpaid residency might make it possible for small providers to get involved in the education process.

“There are practices who aren’t able to afford residents who could now have that option,” Gillis says. Those smaller providers in turn gain by having access

for the first time to students recently trained on the latest techniques and technologies. “Those students are going to come with all these new ideas, things those practices might not have been able to access before.”

All that being said, it’s also likely that the BCM model will not work for every school. Some may shy away from the logistical burden that comes with maintaining deep involvement with the residency program. Others may

Ryan Butler

not have a suitable financial structure. With BCM’s effort still in its infancy, it remains to be seen how these factors will play out in the long term.

In the meantime, leaders at BCM say they are optimistic that the combined emphasis on academic and clinical experience will help the school to give students the most thorough education possible. “We have the privilege of shepherding a student all the way through—from the very begin-ning, to the time when they are totally prepared to take their certifications exams,” Utay says.

Adam Stone is a contributing writer to O&P Almanac. Reach him at [email protected].

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