By Lyons, Kevin J
This issue will be my last as Editor of the Journal of Allied Health. When my term ends this month, I will have served as Editor for 10 years, which will be the longest tenure of any editor of the Journal. It has been a great ride. When I first assumed the job, my greatest concern was whether I would be able to maintain the work of previous Editors in building our Journal. I hope I have succeeded. It has been an interesting time and one that has been very fulfilling to me, both professionally as well as personally. I have watched the Journal grow over the years as we have moved from a publication with national visibility to one with international scope, as now an average of 20% of our submission come from outside the United States. The number of submissions continues to increase and today averages close to 80 per year, and this number continues to grow. Along with that, our acceptance rate of approximately 60% for Original Articles makes us comparable to other quality journals. We have been able to do this while still maintaining opportunities through Research Notes and Potential Patterns for novice researchers to gain exposure to scholarship and experience in publishing.
None of this growth would have been possible without the strong contributions of a number of people who rarely get the acknowledgments that they deserve. My heartfelt thanks go out to Mary Mullison, who was my first Editorial Assistant; Lisa Marzucco, my right-hand person for more years than she will admit, who stepped in when Mary left; Jessica Kaplowitz, who became Managing Editor when we moved our operations to an electronic format and made the transition seamless; Tom Elwood, who contributed many ideas that kept the Journal up with the times; and Mike Bokulich, who stepped in as our publisher when our original publisher, Hanley & Belfus, was sold. A special thank you also goes out to the many Editorial Board members and peer reviewers who have done a superb job, not only in reviewing manuscripts but also in working to make them better.
My very best wishes go out to Tom Elwood, as he becomes the seventh editor of the Journal in July. I cannot think of a better person to uphold the standards that the Journal has maintained over the years. I look forward to watching our Journal continue to grow and prosper.
As we move forward, the terms of many on the Editorial Board are expiring. If you would like to recommend anyone, please let Tom know.
This summer issue contains six Original Articles and three Commentaries. The online e-supplement contains three Research Notes, a Potential Pattern, and another of our International Features. In keeping with policy, the article from this issue available for a free download is “Training for Interdisciplinary Health Research: Defining the Required Competencies,” by Kristine Gebbie, Benjamin Mason Meier, Suzanne Bakken, Olveen Carrasquillo, Allan Formicola, Sally Aboelela, Sherry Glied, and Elaine Larson.
Interdisciplinary approaches to health care are fast becoming recognized as an important way to address many health conditions. It is generally accepted that effective interdisciplinary approaches require collaborative teamwork from those participating. However, little is known about the competencies required to be successful when working in teams. Kristine Gebbie and her research group report the results of their Delphi study that was designed to identify these competencies. The Delphi panel, comprised of interdisciplinary researchers, was able to identify and reach consensus on 17 competencies believed to be necessary for interdisciplinary collaboration.
In another study exploring interdisciplinary or interprofessional approaches, Jennifer Furze and her colleagues assessed the impact of an interprofessional, community-based project with older adults on the attitudes of students from four health professions. Using the Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale and Survey of Attitudes on Aging Scale, they investigated whether participation in the project produced changes in the attitudes of students from nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and pharmacy. Statistically significant improvements were found in some of the professions in their attitudes on aging and in an increased respect toward other health care professions
Issues related to caring for older adults also formed the topic of another study, this time in dietetics. Lordly and Taper conducted a mixed method study of dieticians’ perceptions concerning the acquisition of entry-level competence if they received training exclusively in a long-term care setting as compared to an active care setting. They used survey data and in-depth interviews of internship graduates and supervisors from both settings. They found that while there were both positive and negatives associated with training exclusively in one of the settings, thematic analysis revealed that more negative attitudes were associated with training in a long-term care setting in terms of skill acquisition.
The implementation of best practice guidelines can be problematic if these guidelines are not accepted by those who are most closely involved in their implementation. Dana Lawrence and his colleagues reference a case in the chiropractic profession where disagreement regarding the value of a set of clinical guidelines resulted in enough opposition to render the guidelines useless. To understand how better to approach implementation, they conducted a focus group of leaders in the profession, for the purpose of identifying, from these leaders, the variables that must be considered in implementing best practice guidelines. The authors found that implementation needs to be accepted system-wide and that multifaceted strategies must be used to disseminated them.
The question of why students attend college and continue to pursue their education is one that has not been studied extensively. Determining the type of motivation of allied health students may have an influence on the way that these students practice and the type of motivating environment they create for their clients. Ballmann and Mueller studied a convenience sample of over 220 upper- class and graduate allied health students, using the Academic Motivation Scale to identify the reasons that these students are attending college. The results allowed them to identify several key reasons why students continue in their academic program. The authors suggest that if allied health programs provide their students with an educational environment that supports self-determination, this may result in those students’ providing the same type of environment for their clients upon graduation.
Identifying the variables that are the best predictors of success in academic programs is an ongoing process. Multiple preadmission variables, including personal interviews, are often used to decide which students to admit into allied health programs. However, the evidence for the success of any of these variables, particularly personal interviews, is conflicting. Hollman and his research team conducted a retrospective study to determine inter-rater reliability on the behavioral interview in physical therapy for assessing future performance and to calculate the ability of commonly used admissions variables to predict success on the physical therapy licensing examination (NPTE). They found evidence to support the utility of the behavioral interview and verbal subscale of the GRE to predict performance on the NPTE.
Abundant evidence suggests that quality health care can be severely compromised by workforce shortages. As a result, workforce planning requires that attention be paid to a number of variables, such as ways to improve retention, in addition to strategies for recruitment. Betty Rambur and her team conducted a statewide study to investigate job satisfaction, intention to leave current position, intention to leave ones’ profession, and the reason for such intentions, in four professions-medical laboratorians, respiratory therapists, radiographers, and registered nurses. They found that while members of these professions had a relatively high level of satisfaction, over 20% in each profession were somewhat or very likely to leave their positions in the next 12 months. These seemingly contradictory findings are discussed, as are implications for future workforce policy.
Students with disabilities are enrolling in health care education programs in increasing numbers. These students pose potential issues for educators and administrators, such as academic adjustment, required services, and the need for auxiliary aids. With the exception of the medical and nursing literature, there is limited information addressing these issues. It is important to understand the impact of the law on education programs and on the rights of these students. In the first Commentary, Katherine Newsham reviews the case law and legislation as it applies to students with disability.
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising by pharmaceutical companies has become more prevalent in recent years, a trend that presents both positive and negative consequences for consumers’ health. In the second Commentary, Isaac Montoya and his colleagues present an overview of DTC advertising and discuss the implications for physicians, pharmacists, consumers, and insurers.
Finally, there appears to be an upsurge in behaviors antithetical to academic integrity by students in many colleges and universities. Ken Randall and his team describe how students and faculty in one occupational therapy and physical therapy program went about formulating and refining an honor statement and a process for addressing issues related to academic integrity. The online e- supplement contains three Research Notes and one Potential Pattern. In the first Research Note, Diane Wyatt and her team present the results of their work investigating the development of process for criminal background checks, which are now required at most universities. In the second, Debbie MacLellan and Daphne Lordly discuss the influence of preceptors on the socialization of dietetic students. In the third, Gary Blau and his research team present the results of their research on professionally related differences among a group of laboratory professions. Interdisciplinary teamwork is the topic of the Potential Pattern in this issue: Janet Buelow and her colleagues present the results of a study that was designed to build interdisciplinary teamwork among students using live clinical case simulations. Finally, the International Perspective, by lain Graham, describes the development of higher education for health care professionals in Europe.
Have a relaxing and enjoyable summer. see you in Baltimore.
KEVIN J. LYONS, PHD, FASAHP
Philadelphia
Copyright Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions Summer 2008
(c) 2008 Journal of Allied Health. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
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