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February
2009—Issue 1
Editor House of Delegates Officers: Thomas Lamphere, RRT, RPFT Dawn Rost, BS, RRT / Secretary Debra Skees Frank Salvatore, Jr., BS, RRT,
FAARC |
In This Issue... | |
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Greetings from the Buckeye State! Affiliates Best Practice There’s a New Credential in Town Results of the Winter 2008 HOD Effectiveness Survey |
Jerry Edens Camden McLaughlin Ken Thigpen Dawn Rost Craig Black
Barry Westling
Marie Fenske
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Welcome to 2009! Jerry Edens This may be a little belated at this point but at least wanted to extend the greeting to you. I am Jerry Edens, Ohio delegate, and the newly appointed communications chair for the AARC Record. I have some big shoes to fill from past chair, Bill Pruitt former delegate Alabama, but I will be in contact with him for any advice and wisdom that he acquired during his tenure in this position.
I appreciate all the hard work and effort all these individuals have and will be putting forth to make this publication newsworthy and interesting to you. I encourage you to make this YOUR communication tool. Remember this is read not only by the HOD but State Society Presidents as well. If something is happening/ being developed in your state you can utilize this venue bring recognition to that particular program. So first and foremost “Thanks for all you do!” not only for the AARC HOD but also your individual state societies. This job can be quite daunting and overwhelming at times (for delegates and presidents) and seldom do we take the opportunity to thank each other for taking the extra time and for making that commitment to go a little bit further for our profession. This year I would like you to make it part of your day to take that time to “celebrate” someone else. Everyone deserves (and yearns for) a “pat on the back”, make it part of your day to do just that! A simple thank you goes a long way. [Top] |
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Speaker’s Report Camden J. McLaughlin, BS, RRT, FAARC What a privilege it is to begin my term as Speaker of our House of Delegates. I am continually honored with your trust and look forward to this year and working with each of you. “One is too small a number to achieve greatness”! Working together as a team we can accomplish great things! I recently conferenced with AARC President Tim Myers to review my goals and enhance collaboration between the HOD and the AARC BOD. As I shared with you in the December HOD meeting, my goals are designed to support the goals developed by President Myers. Our discussion centered on The House serving as a better advisory body for the AARC BOD. I would appreciate your support and assistance as we, The House, work to accomplish these goals for 2009:
The HOD officers are planning for the March BOD meeting in Dallas along with reacting to current issues related to polysomnography. Watch for these updates on the HOD list serve. I will keep you updated on all current events and preparation for the summer meeting. It is imperative that we continually evaluate our very important role as an advisory body to the AARC BOD and how we best can work together. It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to work with each of you. Please always feel free to contact me at any time at 540-230-7023 or avthoke@comcast.net. Wishing everyone the best and God Bless! [Top] |
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Parliamentary Paradigms Ken Thigpen Do you remember the theme from the 1973 movie “JAWS”? “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.” Then you see the shark fin coming through the water… Some of you might feel that way after learning Cam had asked me to serve as his Parliamentarian! All kidding aside, I am both thrilled and honored to have the privilege of spending another year with this august body. I am grateful to the Righteous Reverend Mr. Speaker for his confidence in my selection and will do my best to serve you folks to the best of my ability. For those of you who may be new to the House of Delegates, I hope you experience the warm welcome and the awesome professional experience that House is known for - the House is an incredible bunch of folks! You’ll develop relationships within this family that you’ll remember and maintain for a lifetime. I’ve been involved in the House off and on over the past 19 years and truly believe you represent the true heartbeat of our membership. Please wrap your arms around that! I challenge you to come to our meetings prepared, be intentional about bringing your A-game and being that true conduit of communication for your affiliate. Together we can make a difference! I look forward to spending time with all of you soon. For you new folks, I look forward to meeting you in House Orientation where we’ll walk through Parliamentary Procedure and some of the House of Delegates approaches taken to get the work of the Association completed. Spending some time in your Delegate Handbook would be a great first step in better understanding what we’re about and how we get things and in preparing for this special session. Remember, you cannot be seated as a voting delegate without completing this process. For those returning Delegates, please know I’m looking forward to catching up with you, too! In the midst of crazy times, I am consistently amazed at how you always provide a soft place to land! You are an awesome bunch of folks! Peace. [Top] |
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What is in a Note? Dawn Rost BS, RRT-NPS Webster’s defines a note (n) as a “short personal letter” or a “brief written record.” As the Secretary for the HOD, it is my job to “take notes” and record that information so that members at the meeting can recall what was happening and report that information back to their respective state societies. Beginning in our early years, we came home from school with notes from our teachers about what was going on in the classroom, how we were performing grade wise, (teachers really like “satisfactory”) and they also let us know when we needed to send extra lunch money. Once we entered grade school, perhaps we even passed notes with requests such as: Do you want to be my friend? check yes or no. During high school we left notes for our parents to let them know where we were going, who we were going with, and approximately what time we would return. The purpose of this entire “note passing” thing was to keep everyone informed as to what was happening or what they could expect to have happen. Today, however, all of this has been made much simpler with the use of text messaging, instant messaging, email, and computers in general. Much information can be delivered in a short amount of time to a large number of people. As the secretary for the House of Delegates, is it my responsibility to make sure the notes taken during the proceedings of the HOD meeting are correctly and accurately recorded and then distributed to the Delegates, and thus on to the state societies. I must tell you that much of the work as the secretary is actually taken care of by the House Liaison, aka Pat Lee, now Tina Sawyer. There is a specific note template that is used for preparing each set of HOD meeting minutes. Most of the information that you as Delegates discern from the minutes to create your report for your BOD is generally found buried within the reports sent out prior to the meeting. All of us missed Pat Lee at our December 2008 meeting as we will in the upcoming months when we reconvene in July. As the secretary I now have the opportunity to work with Tina Sawyer, our newly appointed liaison to perhaps create something new in regards to the notes template, and it can and may look a little different than it has in the past. Due to schedule constraints, Tina was unable to attend the second day of the HOD meeting and I was able to record what I saw as pertinent information under the allotted categories within the template. I tend to be a little wordy so some of my information was edited out for the final version of the notes. Having to go back to state board meetings and discuss what happened during those two long days can be a difficult task when we leave the meeting and head back to our “real jobs” and then try to remember what went on while writing it out months later. Writing delegates reports should be easy to do by grabbing the notes from the meeting as a refresher. At this time I would like to solicit any and all comments about how you would like to see the notes reported. Should they be wordy, lengthy, detailed, not detailed, should the reports be summarized rather than simply referred to, are there things that you would like to see included that are not, etc. Any comments, concerns, or directives can be emailed directly to me at dawn_rrt@hotmail.com and I will work with Tina to make the HOD meeting minutes as effective as they can be. Thank you for the opportunity to “pass notes” along to you for yet another year as the Secretary for the House of Delegates. [Top] |
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Greetings from the Buckeye State! Craig Black, PhD, RRT-NPS, FAARC The Ohio Society for Respiratory Care has had an exceptionally busy and productive year. Several years ago, the AARC began a voucher program in an effort to bolster membership. With this program, Affiliates can buy AARC membership vouchers in bundles of 100 or more for $70 each and then sell them to individuals interested in joining AARC. The $70 fee represents a savings of more than 25% over regular membership costs. Ohio has sold more than 200 of these in the last year, both to new and renewing members. Our membership stands at about 2100 and has grown approximately 15% in the last year. Our plans are to market this option even more aggressively in the future. In addition to our voucher sales program, we are attempting to assemble an e-mail address list for all respiratory therapists in the state. Although it will require a significant expenditure, we believe it will pay handsome dividends in terms of our ability to get the message of the benefits of our professional organization out to all RT’s in the state. For the past several years we have held our annual two-day meeting at the Easton Town Center in Columbus. This has proven to be an absolutely incredible venue. The Easton Town Center combines wonderful shopping, a “village” ambiance, a good hotel, and a fantastic meeting site, and it has proven to be a winning combination. Under the watchful guidance of Joe Huff and the Program Committee we have seen attendance go from less than 200 three years ago, our first year at Easton to more than 500 in 2008, the 30th Anniversary Meeting for the OSRC. The meeting featured an exceptional program, more than 30 vendors, a student and therapist sputum bowl competition, and a gathering of more than 15 past presidents of the OSRC. Seeing all of those past presidents in one place made me realize that many of these men and women have continued to serve the OSRC over a span of many years. As a result, at this year’s annual meeting the OSRC we will inaugurate a Lifetime Achievement Award, modeled after the Jimmy Young Award given out by the AARC. After viewing that group of individuals in the past president ranks, it strikes me that we are rich indeed in their collective wisdom and that it will take many years of giving this award to even begin to properly acknowledge the life-long contributions of these and other extraordinary individuals. Our annual meeting will be held this year on September 28 and 29 at the Easton Town Center. The program appears to be just as exceptional and timely as in the past. Keep your eyes on the ORCS website http://www.osrc.org/ for further information. If you have comments or questions about the OSRC, please feel free to contact me at your convenience (craig.black@utoledo.edu). Ohio wishes all of the affiliates an productive year in 2009! [Top] |
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Affiliates Best Practice Committee Committed to Sharing Your Best Practices Karen Schell, MHSc, RRT-NPS, RPFT, RPSGT, AE-C, CTTS HOD Affiliates Best Practice Committee is working hard at providing information to benefit affiliates. Topics presented this year included:
You can access the 2008 presentations at http://www.aarc.org/state_society/aarc_hod/. In the fall of 2008 a survey was distributed via the list serve to solicit ideas for future presentations from affiliates. Eighteen surveys were returned with numerous suggestions in each category. The results from the survey were sent to the committee members in January choosing the top five subjects. The next step will be contacting affiliate delegates for volunteers to present. If you have suggestions on your affiliate best practices, please let us know by contacting the committee chair at ksschell@newmanrh.org. We are open for suggestions. On a personal note, we would like to hear from you. Have you have taken some of the presentation ideas back to your society? In Kansas, the board of directors met in January and began working on a policy and procedure manual including goals and timelines. We are also updating our web page and looking at featuring a Respiratory Department on it. Ideas from the leadership workshop are also being implemented in our board meetings and we are looking at reviving some form of a newsletter. There is a wealth of information in our affiliates to share! If you are you are interested in presenting or sharing, please feel free to contact our committee members. [Top] |
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House Guests Sandra McCleaster The Respiratory Therapy program at Kapi’olani Community College in Hawaii continues to take very seriously its responsibility to cultivate future leaders for our profession. For the second time, a Kapi’olani student has traveled across the Pacific to attend an AARC House of Delegates meeting—this time in Anaheim in December. Michelle Low, a third year student, made the decision to be a respiratory therapist when she attended a student orientation session. That’s where she met and spoke to the RT program director, Steve Wehrman. To Michelle, Steve’s passion for our profession was contagious and in her own words, she wanted to “be a part of that.” The need to nurture future professionals is not lost on the HOD. The 100+ members welcomed Michelle with open arms. For her part, Michelle’s eyes were opened wide. She was witness to the organizational aspects of the profession that a student could never otherwise know or appreciate. Michelle reports that she was so impressed by both the spirit of patient advocacy and by the collective strength of the House in moving the professional business forward. By the time the meetings were over, there was no doubt in Michelle’s mind that the AARC is paramount to the profession of respiratory care. She publicly addressed the House, speaking with stage presence and aplomb, thanking us all for the opportunity to be there. Both Steve and the program’s Director of Clinical Education, Ed Borza, recognize Michelle’s potential. They’re confident that Michelle will one day be taking a leadership role in serving the profession. So confident are they that Steve and the Hawaii State Society (HSRC) pledged funding for Michelle’s trip to Anaheim. Since her experience at the House of Delegates, Michelle herself aspires to serving on the HSRC Board of Directors and perhaps even being the delegate some day. Isn’t that exactly what we’re all striving for? In most colleges, the development of student leadership skills is not part of the academic curriculum. Observing the structure and dynamics of an organization such as the AARC is an important point in student learning. Attendance by an RT student at the AARC HOD serves as an outstanding and innovative complement to the classroom experience, one that may help ensure that students are as well-equipped as possible to step up to positions of leadership in respiratory care. [Top] |
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There’s a New Credential in Town Barry Westling, M.S., RRT-NPS, RPFT It’s not often that the opportunity to demonstrate a special skill set and competence in the form of an official credential comes our way in Respiratory Therapy. Not since 1991, when the NBRC administered the first Perinatal-Pediatric Specialist examination has a new competence examination been offered. Of course, the former PPS has now become a full fledged professional credential, designated the Neonatal-Pediatric Specialist (CRT-NPS or RRT-NPS). The new credential is the Sleep Disorders Specialist, and individuals passing the credentialing examination will be recognized as a CRT-SDS or RRT-SDS. Based on information from the NBRC’s web site, the Specialty Examination for Respiratory Therapists Performing Sleep Disorders Testing and Therapeutic Intervention is for respiratory therapists already having earned the CRT or RRT credentials. According to NBRC President Sherry Barnhart, “this is a unique specialty examination that goes above and beyond the general activities and focuses on tasks specific to sleep disorders and intervention, a growing sector of our industry”. Although there is a sleep credential available through the Board for Registered Polysomnograhic Technologists, many individuals who work in sleep diagnostic labs do not possess the RPSGT and/or are not eligible to sit for this credentialing examination. Therefore, there are many non-licensed and un-credentialed individuals providing sleep diagnostic and therapeutic treatment who may not possess the requisite knowledge or skill to safely perform the needed services many sleep centers provide. There may be legal challenges as well if an unlicensed or non-credentialed individual provides respiratory therapy to a patient. According to former AARC President Toni Rodriguez, EdD, RRT, “Whether directly involved in diagnostic testing through services provided by respiratory therapy departments and free standing sleep testing centers, or setting up CPAP and providing education to patients with obstructive sleep apnea at the bedside, we have traditionally served as the primary sleep practitioner." The AARC requested the NBRC determine the desirability and feasibility of developing a specialty examination for respiratory therapists performing sleep disorders testing and therapeutic intervention. After following a long established, five step process to determine if a new specialty examination for respiratory therapists in this area was warranted and feasible, the overwhelming response was positive, and the process for developing the examination was brought to fruition. According to Suzanne Bollig, RRT, RPSGT, R.EEG T., “the respiratory therapists background in pulmonary and cardiac physiology, general medical conditions, acute illness, pharmacologic actions and interactions,, and therapeutic interventions for both acute and chronic disorders goes far to prepare them for the field of sleep medicine”. She goes on to say “A suspected diagnosis of sleep apnea is often the indication for sleep testing, but it is important that expertise not be limited to sleep apnea only. Respiratory therapists specializing in sleep will continue to seek out knowledge and training on both normal sleep patterns and identified sleep pathologies”. Lori Tinkler, MBA, Associate Executive Director of the NBRC, stated that an initial group of attendee’s at the 2008 National Congress was given the opportunity to be among the first to attempt the SDS credentialing examination. Regular registration for the specialty examination began in Mid January 2009. The examination consists of 180 questions and applicants are given four hours to complete the examination. As for additional specialty credentialing examinations, an Adult Critical Care specialty credentialing examination is in the beginning stages with a job analysis that began in November 2008. Upon conclusion of this analysis, test development activities are anticipated to begin in mid 2009, and an examination is likely to be available in late 2010. Although an official credentialing name has not been approved, CRT-ACC and RRT-ACC are possible acronyms that may be adopted. Additional information may be obtained from the NBRC’s web-site or the latest edition of the NBRC Horizons. [Top] |
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Treasurers Report— Debra Skees BS, RRT, CPFT, RCP First of all I would like to say how excited I am to assume my new role as Treasurer for the House of Delegates. I expect to “hit the ground running” as evidenced by this, my first ever submission to the AARC record. I am excited and honored to serve under the direction of Speaker Cam, along side the rest of the dais and in support of the many experienced and committed delegates. Although this is a different angle from my short tenure as a delegate from MN (can you say “ya sure?”), I am excited to “feed the opportunity and starve the obstacles”. At this point I would like to share my charges for the coming year. Needless to say that the list is not written in stone and will morph as the need arises. I am sure you are all familiar with that verbiage that slips into our job descriptions…”And other duties as assigned.” Treasurer Charges 2009
My first official, working interaction with the House of Delegates officers and the Board of Directors is a little over month away at the time of this writing. I am confident that it will be an eye-opening experience to see first-hand the infrastructure of this organization from a different perspective. It is my goal to increase my knowledge of the financial aspect of the AARC and to communicate needed information back to the House in support of the work they do on behalf of their affiliate members. I look forward to your questions, sage council and friendship in the next year. Gentle(wo)men, start your engines!! [Top] |
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Results of the Winter 2008 HOD Effectiveness Survey Marie Fenske 4=strongly agree 3=somewhat agree 2=somewhat disagree 2=strongly disagree 1. The AARC HOD is an appropriate forum for comprehensive reporting of the AARC activities. SA=48 A=16 D=0 SD=0 N=0 2. The Leadership of the HOD consistently attempts to promote involvement of the chartered affiliates. SA=48 A=16 D=0 SD=0 N=0 3. Communication between the AARC HOD and the BOD is generally effective and continues to improve. SA=15 A=43 D=3 SD=0 N=3 4. The resolutions process is an effective means of promoting changes within the AARC and for input into AARC strategic planning. SA=22 A=39 D=3 SD=0 N=0 5. The “Open Mic” sessions provide an effective means of introducing new ideas and fostering cohesiveness. SA=27 A=35 D=1 SD=0 N=1 6. The format for the AARC HOD provides good opportunities for both formal and informal networking. SA=36 A=26 D=1 SD=0 N=1 7. The HOD committee system promotes affiliate involvement in planning and impacting the direction of the HOD and AARC. SA=18 A=41 D=2 SD=0 N=3 8. The HOD is an effective means of addressing key issues through the existing AARC structure. SA=26 A=35 D=2 SD=0 N=1 9. Sharing Best Practices is a good use of HOD meeting time. SA=46 A=15 D=0 SD=0 N=3 |
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Excerpts of the Winter HOD Effectiveness Survey—2008 Marie Fenske We really need to share Best Practices online so that we can all benefit from what others have already created. The PowerPoint presentations are great and if they can be shared—all the better. Thanks. I think this helps keep the lines of communication open and strong for our profession. Best Practices needs to do better/ We’ve all heard about “Sputum Bowls and Fairs”. Do we have guidelines for open mic time? i.e length of time to speak, etc. sometimes issues are brought up by delegates via open mic, and the issue needs to be discussed, but we just move on to the next “open mic” presenter. Don’t have a solution for this, but at times, perhaps we need to ask “Are there any delegates who wish to comment or discuss this issue?” This doesn’t apply to each “open mic” topic—some are merely comments – but if we could find some way to recognize which topics bear discussion, we might get more benefit from “open mic”. should be limited to topics of the professional not personal soapboxes. This is a waste of our time. Not sure how you want to handle this. Best Practices are again excellent! I thought discussions on topics that impact out patients and our membership were open and provided a good means of interacting and reflecting diverse ideas. Pleased to be a port! Motivated to make improvements. Stimulated to act. Progress is evident. I often find the membership talk to be a “shame on you” type of talk. I realize that there is work to be to gain membership and to retain the members that we have. The challenges that smaller states face compared to the larger states are different. What large states can do to try to increase members I not an easy task for a small state with little funds. It doesn’t mean that we aren’t trying and it certainly doesn’t mean that we don’t want our membership to increase. Seems like a majority of the talk was about how great the larger states are and all the things they are doing. How about realistic, constructive ideas to gain membership in smaller states rather than wagging the shame on your finger. I have brought so much of that info back to the state affiliate and find it very useful to help us improve our state society. As a new HOD member, I found the meeting very interesting and informative! As a staff therapist in critical care, I found the CoARC and NBRC information very interesting and learned several thing Not sure how topics are chosen for Best Practices. Are these actually the best of the proposed topics? If a speaker is unavailable why present a weak replacement topic? Committee assignments make it hard for new members in HOD to get involved. I appreciate the opportunity to participate. Could organize committees a little better with contact prior to summer/fall meeting. Overall a very positive experience. Thank you! Shuffling the agenda is appreciated in the interest of time. However at this meeting, I feel that our election of speaker-elect may have been effected. The winner in a run-off gave his presentation immediately prior to the vote. We need to be more careful about this in the future. The Speaker is not supposed to be a commentator! This is a business meeting and all the comments take up valuable time—we should go back to the George Gabler days! 1 – Continue Best Practices presentations |
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Membership Figures (as of 3/5/2009)
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For Your Information Please check out the following sites: http://www.aarc.org/state_society/ |
