Copyright © 2003-2009  The Center for Exercise Physiology.   All Rights Reserved.

 

 

               Journal of Professional Exercise Physiology        

Vol 7 No 3 March 2009    ISSN 1550-963X

 



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 




 
Editor-in-Chief:  Larry Birnbaum, PhD, FASEP, EPC
An Internet Electronic Journal Dedicated to
 Exercise Physiology as a Healthcare Profession

A Look to the Future
Tommy Boone, PhD, MPH, FASEP, EPC
Professor and Chair
Department of Exercise Physiology
The College of St. Scholastica
Duluth, MN 55811

The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different.
-- Peter Drucker

STUDENTS REPRESENT a significant driving force behind the economic survival of colleges and universities throughout the United States.  These academic entities employ an important number of faculty and staff from the community.  As employees, they make a respectable income that is spent on products and goods throughout the business sector.  Academic institutions also account for new jobs and opportunities that contribute to the economy.

Future economic success depends on attracting students to the institutions.  One factor found to predict business success has been the quality of the students’ education and hands-on laboratory training.  Much of that training comes from existing academic departments with one or more academic degrees.  As an example, at St. Scholastica, the Department of Exercise Physiology offers an academic degree in exercise physiology and nothing else. 

More traditional departments are more likely to offer several degree programs, such as the University of Minnesota Duluth.  The department offers a degree in athletic training, exercise science, physical education, health education, and recreation/outdoor education).  Whether more than one degree program benefits the Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation or the students remains an open question. 

I did a little calculation. I looked at the average cost in the mid-'70s of going to college.  It was less than $3,000 for a typical public university, including books and everything. If you multiply that times four, the cost of a degree is $12,000.  Whereas now, multiply the cost of a year at a public university -- $16,000 -- by six and, if tuition keeps rising at its current rate, it's about $115,000.  A college degree could cost almost 10 times as much as it did 30 years ago.
-- Marc Silver
How to Earn a Degree without Going Broke
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6376343

 
Today, the cost of a college education isn’t cheap.  Many students spend decades paying back their tuition loans.  The problem is that not all degree programs set the stage for career opportunities with good paying salaries.  Some, such as the exercise science degree, are simply meaningless degree programs.  More often than not, graduates of these problems must return to school to get additional academic course work to apply to another academic major in hopes of landing a job after their second graduation.  

It is reasonable to conclude that the physical therapy major and the nursing major fulfill the career needs of the students.  Exercise physiology is a similar degree, although there remains work to be done.  Board certified exercise physiologists are credible healthcare professionals.  However, it is anticipated that EPCs will need entrepreneurship courses to operate their own healthcare businesses.  The incentive comes from several concerns. 

One such concern is the idea of being your own boss.  After all, that is the American dream of many students.  A second concern is that starting one's own business is an extremely important measure of success. A third concern is the disillusionment with “Bob’s Gym” or even cardiac rehabilitation.  In many cases, neither job pays a salary comparable to more established professions.  Also, many exercise science jobs in the public sector do not offer meaningful healthcare benefits.

There are other benefits to being your own boss.  Working for your self helps to correct for the occasional hiring freeze, downsizing by the employer, and other considerations that make it difficult to keep from being dismissed.  There is the added benefit of personal flexibility and a particular way of thinking and working that are not usually available when employed by another person or business entity.  Also, it is more than reasonable to conclude that when women start their own business, they are on a more equal footing with men.

One way to increase success in starting a business is through demonstrating to others the exercise physiologist’s credibility.  To move in this direction though, department chairs will be expected to create and offer entrepreneurial and business courses along with exercise physiology courses in the very near future.  Academic exercise physiologists, in particular, will need to work with the department chair to create the courses. 

This raises several questions: Do exercise physiology students see themselves as future healthcare entrepreneurs?  If not, are the academic exercise physiologists expected to create the courses to get the students on the right career track?  Also, do women see themselves as becoming healthcare entrepreneurs?  If not, then, are they more likely to work for another person or company? 

There are more questions, but consider for now a vision of the future.  Every vision, whether it is an organization or a business helps the members and employees, respectively, to get excited about and to act on behalf of the future.  Courage is everything, but not everyone is courageous.  A good vision helps with the passion to succeed, to make things better, and to believe that things can be better.

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
-- Eleanor Roosevelt

Part of every vision is a new way to think about change.  That is why the ASEP leaders put in place a new and credible infrastructure; one design to support the professionalism of exercise physiology.  It will take a lot of work and imagination to rethink exercise physiology, to get past the politics of sports medicine, and to view the profession in healthcare terms and not in specialist or technician terms. 

Exercise physiologists can begin by restoring their sense of individuality they had decades ago when they split with physical education.  Imagine a way of thinking that is supported entirely by an exercise physiology-specific education.  Imagine professors who are driven by their passion to teach rather than one more research paper at the expense of the students’ needs.  Imagine exercise physiologists as healthcare professionals to get the importance and the power of understanding the mind-body interconnectedness.  Imagine the expansion of exercise beyond the trainer’s mentality to exercise as medicine to increase the consumer’s control over life’s issues and challenges.

The soul never thinks without a mental image
 -Aristotle

All of these things and more represent the mental image, hope, and expectation of the ASEP leadership.  Remember the words of Oliver Wendell Homes, “…the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: to reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it -- but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor."  It is just a matter of time, but that is exactly what constitutes the future.

Time is on the side of exercise physiologists to improve the education of students, to raise educational standards, and to articulate the ASEP revolutionary ideas of healthcare.  A key issue is to understand that change is not easy or simplistic, and it cannot be underestimated.  There are enormous difficulties involved in bringing about systemic change in those who embrace sports medicine.   However, it is the desire of the ASEP leadership to do whatever is necessary to hasten the change process to avoid further student hardship. 

Hence, it is imperative that exercise physiologists look unflinchingly and honestly at the realities of failing to change and what it means for the profession of exercise physiology.  There are big differences between exercise physiology and sports medicine (including exercise science) that have become apparent since the 1997 founding of the American Society of Exercise Physiologists (ASEP).  These differences must be resolved if students of exercise physiology are to thrive and collaborate on the same level with other healthcare professionals. 

What is needed is a new way of thinking and feeling about the profession, if not an emotional rebirth to separate from the inertia of yesterday’s thinking. With this in mind, the ASEP organization represents the 21st century educational change that which is transformational.  The leaders are committed, which will help only those who develop and share new ideas, new images, and new possibilities.  Look to the future.