Continuing competence in selected health care professions

Journal of Allied Health, Winter 2002 by Lundgren, Burden S, Houseman, Clare A

Examinations

Credentialing through a uniformed service of the Department of Veterans' Affairs

In-office audits

Case presentations

Standardized, simulated case evaluation

Continuing dental education programs with measura ble outcomes assessment

Dietitians

The American Dietetic Association's Commission on Dietetics Regulation offers certification for specialty areas and certification that reflects increasing levels of accomplishment: entry level, beyond entry level (eligibility after 3 years of practice), and advanced level practice (fellow credential). Specialists must have been registered dietitians for at least 3 years, meet experience requirements, and pass a certification examination. Specialty certification must be renewed every 5 years.17 It is intended that fellow applicants should show exceptional professional abilities, documented professional achievement, commitment to self-- growth, innovation, and service to others.18 Fellow designation applicants must submit a portfolio that includes information on the following:

Educatin (master's degree minimum)

Experience (at least 8 years of work experience)

Professional achievement

Professional roles

Professional contacts

Approach to practice

Fellow certificastion is granted for a 10-year period. Fellows who wish to recertify must submit as updated protfolio for evaluation.19

Occupational Therapists

The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) has performed entry-level certification for occupational therapy practitioners and related activities since the 1930s. In 1986, AOTA created the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) to perform entrylevel certification. AOTA and NBCOT have had serious disagreements concerning NBCOT's authority to require recertification examinations. Their differences occasioned a court case, and on March 2, 1999, an agreement was reached between them concerning the certification designation. It is the AOTA's position that the central question is "whether members of our profession, through the institutions and processes we have established, will continue to define standards of occupational therapy practice and determine critical issues of continued competency and quality of care, of whether those core responsibilities of the profession will be relinquished to a private corporation which has no accountability to occupational therapy practitioners." The AOTA executive board has recommended that AOTA not establish, at this time, an initial or renewed certification program that would compete with those of NBCOT. An AOTA/NBCOT task force was convened to establish an ongoing communication plan.2 In 1999, NBCOT issued a report on continuing competence in occupational therapy with the following recommendations21:

All occupational therapists should be required to maintain and verify continuing competence throughout their careers

National, uniform standards for continuing competence should be adopted

A national, uniform, system of measuring continuing competence should be adopted