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Started November 1996 - survey is now closed to additional responses
Results: Survey on Future of Health Care and Recreation
Therapy
Number of Responses = 18
Do you believe that recreation
therapy has a bright future?
| Absolutely- 7 |
I Believe So- 7 |
Maybe - 2 |
Probably Not- 1 |
No Way- |
Share with us
the reasons for your response.....
Shorter length of
stays and cut backs in the hospital setting are affecting TR services.
(As well as other disciplines). Administrations are appointing only
one TR staff person to see 20-40 persons. Quality care can not be
delivered in a hospital setting. I feel pediatrics might survive.
I feel home health is the trend of health care. So many services are
being provided at that level to cut down costs. However, Recreation
services are not available for home health or outpatient. I feel the
transition is not being made from acute care to community because
acute care is being replaced by home health and shorter length of
stays. Also transitional care levels (hospital placed SNF's) are replacing
acute rehab. At these levels, activity directors can be staffed. Overall,
I feel Therapeutic Recreation will be community based with less qualified
staff. The light is dimming for recreation therapy's future.
People
do not realize what RT is capable of doing, our outcomes, goals, etc.
Until people start realizing that, until we can become recognized
as a valid therapy, until we prove our outcomes and benefits for clients-
once these things happen RTs future will be really bright. We need
to show how cost effective RT is compared to PT, OT, SLP and that
our outcomes and interventions are similar.
I
believe TR has a bright future IF we can look to the future of health
care instead of operating in the yesterday and today. The medical
model of treatment is going to become extinct very soon, because we
have found that it is not effective. TR could be a front runner in
the new movement toward total health care, or TRUE holistic treatment
if we start now. We must recognize the need for services post-discharge.
We must address issues in every area of our patients' lives by identifying
deficits in each of the 5 domains (cognitive, social, affective, physical,
and spiritual). Slowly, the need for this type of treatment is being
recognized for its long term effectiveness. We all know that people
are whole beings, not a machine with parts working independently of
one another. We must begin to treat our patients as human beings...as
whole beings. We must look past the primary diagnosis and treat the
whole patient. If we can start to do this we will be ahead of the
game, and will be providing quality services to our patients.
I
believe TR has a future because it is so diverse and so effective.
However, we do put our selves at risk when when don't advocate for
TR or don't apply ourselves to documentation. At times we are our
worst enemies.
I am a Therapeutic
Recreation student in my Senior year. The knowledge that I have gained
through my classes is so incredible. I worked this summer in a nursing
home in their recreation department. What I didn't realize is that
I wasn't learning therapeutic recreation. I was learning how to plan
activities. There is definitely a difference. I went back recently
to visit and met their new administrator. My former supervisor (not
a CTRS) introduced me and I told her I was studying TR. She was extremely
interested and told me to come back sometime because she would like
to discuss in further detail what I am earning my major in. The more
we as students, as well as professionals, make others aware that their
is more to TR than planning the weekly Bingo! the more we will be
taken seriously for what we are and what we know. Many employers do
not realize that there is Leisure Education, Treatment, as well as
the old recreation participation. For a class that I am taking right
now, one of our projects this semester is to out together a presentation
packet that tells people about TR. We can choose any audience we want.
I have chosen to use my old employer. This packet of information is
a tool that I can use now and in the future (of course with a few
updates)to make people aware that we are a profession. So, to answer
the question...Yes, we do have a bright future as long as we tell
people what we are all about.
I
have my degree in Recreation and am looking forward to working on
a master's that involves TR. I have worked since graduation in nursing
homes and adult day centers as an Activity Director and have seen
how well the therapy and recreation work hand in hand. Most older
adults fell set in their ways, but will respond to something that
is "fun". When that fun can be incorporated in to a program
that improves or sustains mobility and memory, then you have a good
program. The older population is the fastest growing group in America
and professionals are needed to cope with the changing face of the
population.
TRS's will be more
in demand as health care moves to the continuum of services and TRs
develop their niche in community reintegration. And of course the
opportunities are endless working with older adults.
As
far as having substantial information, TR MUST find a way to document
MEASURABLE goals, with assessments combining function: meaning that
if a patient is hospitalized, and during the initial eval, a therapist
asks what are your leisure interests. The patient responds "I
love water skiing". Hospitals do not provide water skiing therapy.
There must be a measurable way to adapt the skills needed to independently
"water ski" into functional, measurable, and reportable
data. We must learn to speak in "medicare" language.
There are health
care facilities in Michigan that have combined Therapeutic Recreation
and Occupational Therapy together. With increasing pressure on billing
and productivity, co-treatments are likely to be a more common practice.
With
the increase of managed health care and awareness of TR, I feel that
hospitals and clinics will be turning to our discipline more so in
the future.
Recreation Therapy
can survive this crisis of 3rd party payers and limited insight by
fellow professionals if and only if quantifiable and qualifiable data
can be produced to substantiate the claim of being beneficial to the
patient/client. Without this data all we have are vague generalatities
and supposition to try to persuade administrators, insurance companies,
other professionals, patients, etc... that what can offer something
of value. Thus we have a challenge infront of us, one that we should
have undertook about 10-15 years ago. That challenge is to build a
body of research that will enable us to survive this crisis. Can we
do it? I beleive so, however we all must learn how to do research
studies, outcome studies, and be innovative with new programs that
are function based and have measurable outcomes. With that done our
future is most certainly bright.
Medicaid
now pays $28 per hour for therapuetic recreation providing agencies
who serve eligible consumers the finacial ability to hire TR's as
well as an additional source of income. As a TR working with DD sdults
in the community my programing brings in approximately $1200 per week
in medicaid funds, this is far an above the cost of salary and benefits
for myself and an assistant. When working with agencies in the community
to help clients with developmental disabilities, mental illness, and
substance abuse TR plays an important part in keeping clients out
of jail and more independent, thus lessing the finacially impact on
the community for maintaining these individuals. Hopefully, public
opinion and political policy will continue to recognise this.
I beleive the future
is bright due to the aging of America. We are going to have to look
more into outpaitent programs and look more into combining with the
community recreation programs. Rather than what I see, a definite
split between the two areas. I believe we are looking into a more
integrated America than in the past.
A
bright future in Recreation Therapy depends on each and every CTRS
/ Therapeutic Rec. Practitioner becoming educated & trained in
the skills & techniques required to succeed in a Managed Care
Marketplace. There are programs that have successfully done this in
all types of facilities and populations. The secret is having at least
one TR Specialist move into a strategic management position whereby
he/she can insert the proper language and terminology within Managed
Care contracts....that require a CTRS to implement TR Services at
a marketable cost.... with the greatest "value" for the
dollar. TR Specialists must be able to measure the qualities and accomplishments
of our work....and relate these measures to the "value"
achieved per dollar spent. In this way, we can maintain an equal status
with other "more established" disciplines who currently
are recognized as Managed Care Service Providers.
With the changes
in health care and recreation therapy being a part of those changes,
I believe that recreation therapy has a pretty good chance for the
future. It also appears that the general public is becoming more aware
of what recreation therapy is, although we still have a LONG way to
go with educating the public. The ADA has also helped with strengthening
the recreation therapy profession.
The
occupational job index suggests this. The graying of America. More
community and home based care. WE may need to look at how we deliver
service once again, but we can hang in there.
As a student in the
field of recreational therapy, I feel that the future has great opportunities
for us. I feel there will be many challenges in the future for the
field but with team work the solutions can be solved. Im looking forward
to working in this field and I can not wait to work with the individuals
that need a caring professional to help with daily living.
I
have found that with budgets decreasing, therapeutic recreation services
are the first to be cut back. Health Care organizations such as HCFA
and JCAHO have not yet required CTRS to be a standard in their reqirements.
Until NCTRC works for us and gets this changed, all CTRS will be competeing
for fewer and fewer jobs with non certified people. Don't be fooled
that there are many Recreation Therapy job opprtunities. If you take
a closer look you will find that most of the job opportunities are
part time with little or no benefits.
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