Does RCI excercise any control over Rehabilitation Programmes being offered jointly by Indian Organisations & Overseas Universities online like – Fellowship in Neurological Rehabilitation (FNR) at Apollos

Dear Friends,

 

This came to us through a query from one of the members and also in response to earlier post on “Who should treat the children with disability”.

 

 The course outlines seems to be very fine and even I feel tempted to approach the Apollo Hospital to include Developmental Therapists in the list of eligible participants, however, there is a conflict with what we said in our earlier post.

 

 Does RCI exercise any control over such courses which may be very good to enhance the professional skills though and may not be sometimes? After all these are the rehabilitaiton courses aimed at equipping medical and para-medical professionals to treat the children with disabilities with various conditions as set out below.

 

 May be a clarification from RCI as to how it want to respond to it is needed. Accordingly we can decide our future course of action.

 

Below the text posted on their website and here is the link to the site : http://www.medvarsity.com/vmu1.2/dmr/dmrdata/courses/fsp/fnr.html#

 

Looking at your comments and reactions!

 

Subhash Chandra Vashishth, Developmental Therapist, For ADITI

 

Text from the above site about the course:

 

 Neurological Rehabilitation is the whole process of managing disability due to neurological problems. Its profile has increased rapidly in recent years, and it is now being recognized as an important aspect of health care settings. This programme aims to provide a unique training in the basic principles of neurological rehabilitation, the management of physical and psychological disabilities, and factors affecting handicap in neurological disability.We have designed this course to accommodate your needs as a health care professional to enable you to meet the challenges of neurological disorders and rehabilitation in your own area of speciality. The focus of the programme is on interprofessional working and practice.

 

 LEARNING OUTCOMES

   

On completion of this course, students are expected to be able to

•  Discuss the common clinical features, which may arise from delayed development, or deficit of the central nervous system.
•  Identify and perform appropriate techniques for assessment and treatment used in neurological rehabilitation.
•  Critically evaluate the key approaches used in neurological rehabilitation.
•  Analyse the impact of neurological dysfunction of the patients and their caretakers, taking into account the importance of    socio-economic and cultural issues.

COURSE DETAILS

Eligibility Criteria

Physiotherapy Graduates / BOT.

MBBS Graduates & General Practitioners (Including BHMS,BAMS, BUMS).

 Duration & Contact Program
•  Six months correspondence / online study.
•  One week contact program conducted at Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad*. by experienced faculty in the field.

Course Content

 This course is divided into fourteen modules:

1. Introduction to Rehabilitation Medicine
2. Delivery of Rehabilitation Care: Rehabilitation Team
3. Rehabilitation of Patient with Neurologic Disorders
4. Rehabilitation of the Patient with Paraplegia or Quadriplegia
5. Rehabilitation of Patient with Cerebral Palsy
6. Rehabilitation of Poliomyelitis
7. Rehabilitation of Patient with Stroke
8. Rehabilitation of Brain Injury
9. Rehabilitation of the Patient with Diseases of Muscular and Neuromuscular Systems
10. Principles in Gait Training and Prescription of Walking Aids
11. Principles in Management and Communication Impairment
12. Geriatric Rehabilitation
13. Principles in Management of Psychologic and Psychiatric Problems
14. Aspects of Counseling

 Course Fee

 Rs. 20, 000 payable one time or two equal installments of Rs. 11,000 each in favour of “Medvarsity Online Limited” Payable at Hyderabad

 

About Medvarsity

 Medvarsity, India‘s first virtual medical educational portal was established in April 2000 as a joint venture by Apollo Hospitals & NIIT. Medvarsity in association with Apollo Hospitals conducts online courses for medical & paramedical community. Medvarsity offers its courses in collaboration with reputed bodies like Royal College of General Practitioners and Apollo Hospitals Educational and Research Foundation, IRDA Etc.

 About AHERF

 Apollo Hospital Educational and Research Foundation conducts other educational and training programs including Nursing, Physiotherapy, Emergency Medicine, Surgery, Anesthesiology and Masters Degree in Hospital Administration.

 CAREER PROSPECTS

These programmes help to equip professionals with the right approach and knowledge to apply in the specific work areas. Worldwide, the emphasis has shifted towards rehabilitative techniques and hence these are the apt courses to train the people aiming at a career in these areas. Additionally, rehabilitation counselors enjoy increasing opportunities for employment in a wide variety of settings, including hospitals, health clubs, treatment centers, correctional facilities, rehabilitation centers, and geriatric centers and facilities.

 COURSE BENEFITS

•  Course material developed by experienced specialists from Apollo hospitals.
•  Course material containing animations, tables, graphs and images which are useful for    ready reference and to explain various concepts and conditions are provided in a CD.
•  Flexible learning for professionals with limited time.
•  No need to dislocate yourself from existing practice and place of work, as the course is    available both online and offline–anytime, anywhere learning
•  Contact program by various subject experts from Apollo Hospitals

 COURSE DELIVERY AND CERTIFICATION

   

All fellowship course material is available both in print and online. An ID and Password will be provided to access the course content and online assessments. A CD with multimedia rich content is also provided along with the printed study material. Additional value added services like e-mail articles and journal articles will be provided periodically. Periodical assessments are a part of the course. Doubt Clarification Support is available. The registrants shall complete all the internal assessments online before the contact program. The final examination will be held after completion of the online study and contact program. Certification will be by AHERF (Apollo Hospital Education and Research Foundation) & Medvarsity.

 COURSE FEE

Rs. 20,000 payable in single installment or Rs. 22,000 in two equal installments of Rs. 11,000 each in favour of “Medvarsity Online Limited” Payable at Hyderabad

Certification will be by AHERF (Apollo Hospital Education and Research Foundation) & Medvarsity.

 

Physiotherapists on a par with Doctors- Why can’t Developmental Therapists also be?

Dear friends,

Now there is a heated debate and to great extent agreement too that the Physios should be equated with Doctors and not work under the direction and supervision of doctors for variety of reasons.

I strongly agree that the Physiotherapy should be given status of an independent system of medicine as the PTs have the competence to provide diagnosis and prognosis of medical problems.

On the same node, I strongly feel that the Developmental Therapists too have competence to provide diagnosis and prognosis of various neurological disabilities that we work with and thus we surely make out a good case for grant of such a status to Developmental Therapists.

For now I am leaving the discussion here for your further consideration and comments. Appended below are to two articles on the subject that got prominence on Time of India front page today i.e. 09th June 2008.

The Articles:

Can Physios be put on a par with doctors? House Panel Explores Option 

Manoj Mitta | TNN

New Delhi: Intensifying a turf war between physiotherapists and medical doctors, a parliamentary standing committee is exploring the possibility of upgrading physiotherapy from a paramedical discipline to an independent system of medicine.

If physiotherapists’ claim to have the competence to provide diagnosis and prognosis for medical problems is accepted by Parliament, physiotherapy will attain the status of an independent system of medicine.

Doctors fear that the disruption of the existing hierarchy of healthcare may compromise the interests of patients.

One of the common causes for low backache, for instance, is the spread of cancer to the spine. Says S L Yadav, associate professor at the AIIMS department of physical medicine and rehabilitation: ‘‘Since he is not equipped to detect cancer, the physiotherapist may routinely administer traction or a heat modality, which could aggravate the problem and cause paralysis.’’

Ali Irani, president of the Indian Association of Physiotherapists (IAP), refutes the suggestion that greater autonomy to physiotherapists would undermine the health care system.

‘‘Given our own expertise, we are as capable as general physicians in noticing the pathology of a patient and referring him to an oncologist for cancer treatment,’’ says Irani, who was the Indian cricket team’s physiotherapist for 10 years from 1987.

‘‘It is just that doctors are unable to come to terms with the fact that our science has developed to an extent where we too could refer patients to them and they can’t demand cuts from us any longer.’’

Irani adds that since IAP is not asking for any power to prescribe medicines or to perform surgery, ‘‘nobody can accuse us of encroaching into their domain’’.

What has caused alarm in the health ministry is a note prepared by the director general of health services, R K Srivastava, on February 12 after representing the health ministry at a closed-door hearing of the standing committee dealing with the Paramedical and Physiotherapy Central Council Bill.

The note, a copy of which is with TOI, begins by expressing surprise at the fact that the questions put to Srivastava were ‘‘focused only’’ on the proposed central council for physiotherapy, although it is just one of the three councils envisaged in the bill, which had been introduced in Parliament in December 2007.

A FRESH LOOK

• A standing committee of Parliament considering raising the status of physiotherapy from a paramedical discipline to an independent system of medicine
• A 2007 bill defines physiotherapy as a  ‘medically directed therapy’, putting it under doctors’ supervision 
• Key question for panel: Do physiotherapists have the competence to provide diagnosis and prognosis for medical problems? 
• Doctors fear disruption of the existing hierarchy of healthcare may compromise the interests of patients

 

Physiotherapists want panel to redefine their discipline

 

New Delhi:

If physiotherapists’ claim to have the competence to provide diagnosis and prognosis for medical problems is accepted by Parliament, physiotherapy will attain the status of an independent system of medicine. The ‘‘salient points’’ of the discussion before the standing committee headed by Samajwadi Party’s Amar Singh included, according to director general of health services, R K Srivastava’s note, a review of the very ‘‘definition’’ of the profession in order to pave the way for ‘‘equivalence to the medical doctor’’ and ‘‘recognition of physiotherapy as a system of medicine’’.
  
In his note, written within a day of the standing committee’s hearing, Srivastava told other ‘‘concerned officers’’ of the health ministry that before the minutes of the meeting were sent by the Parliament secretariat, they should keep their responses ready so that the issues could be ‘‘disposed of quickly’’.
  
Health ministry officials are exercised over the issues raised by the standing committee as they see the hand of the physiotherapist lobby, which has been at work since the early 1990s to counter the proposal of setting up an omnibus council to regulate over a dozen different allied health professionals including radiographers, medical lab technicians and operation theatre technicians. But thanks to the pressure mounted by IAP, the bill that was eventually drafted had accommodated their demand for separating them from other paramedical personnel.

The proposed omnibus regulator was accordingly renamed as the Paramedical and Physiotherapy Central Council Bill with a provision to constitute sub-councils for various disciplines.

In September 2004, the cabinet of the UPA government cleared the bill in that form. But the bill was diluted further when it was introduced in Parliament after a lapse of more than three years. Instead of an omnibus body, the 2007 bill provided for three separate councils, including one for physiotherapists and occupational therapists. Equally significant, the 2007 bill also gave up the idea of allowing medical specialities to have a say in the regulation of their paramedical disciplines.
  
Despite the concessions extracted in 2004 and 2007, IAP discloses in its latest website update that it is trying to get more changes in the bill by being ‘‘in contact with all top politicians and parliamentarians’’. Drawing support from a couple of state legislations, IAP’s most ambitious demand is that the standing committee should recommend a radical change in the definition of physiotherapy. This is because the bill defines it as a ‘‘medically directed therapy’’, thereby implying that physiotherapists will continue to work under the supervision of doctors such as orthopaedicians, physiatrists and neurologists. In a bid to gain more autonomy, IAP proposed that their subject should instead be defined as a ‘‘physiotherapeutic system of medicine’’ involving ‘‘treatment modalities which have a diagnostic, prognostic, preventive and rehabilitative dimension’’.