ASEPNewsletter
Vol
2 No 6
June,
1998
ISSN
1097-9743
The ASEPNewsletter
is devoted to informative articles and news items about exercise physiology.
It is a monthly magazine of news, opinions, exercise physiology professionals,
and events that shape exercise physiology. While it contains views and
opinions of the Editor
who oversees the ASEP Internet Websites, visitors can have a voice as well.
We welcome interested practitioners, researchers, and academicians to e-mail
the Publisher their thoughts and ideas or to respond directly via the ASEP
Public Forum.
July,
1998
The
Diminishing Clinical and Health
Related
Employment Opportunities in Exercise Physiology
Robert
Robergs, PhD
Director:
Center For Exercise and Applied Human Physioogy
The
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque,
NM 87131
There
have been several recent developments in the clinical employment opportunities
for exercise physiologists in Albuquerque that all ASEP members and other
exercise physiologists need to be aware of. One of my Ph.D. students has
written a description of his recent experiences when applying for a part
time research position at a local hospital, and his account is very informative,
and at the same time, very disturbing. In addition to this, I have news
that one of the exercise testing laboratories at the Veterans Administration
Hospital, operated through Pulmonology, is under pressure from the Pulmonary
Function technicians to remove the Ph.D. trained exercise physiologists
(from our graduate program) we have working in the facility, and have them
replaced by Pulmonary Function technicians. Given the exercise-educated
background of the clinicians involved in the decision making process, I
do not believe this will happen. Nevertheless, it is another example of
how the medical community is being forced to downsize and diversify the
skills of their non-MD qualified employees. As there is still a perception
within the medical community that exercise physiology is a course rather
than a profession, it is clear that unless ASEP immediately begins to formalize
associations with the medical community, the already established professional
organizations that represent nurses, pulmonary function technicians, and
physical therapists will undoubtedly smother the current opportunities
that exists for exercise physiologists.
I will
be recommending to Tommy Boone that ASEP needs to immediately correspond
with as many medical/allied health organizations as possible, and as Vice-President
I have already begun to draft appropriate letters. It is disturbing to
see employment opportunities for exercise physiologists disappear when
we know that we are the most qualified people for conducting clinical exercise
testing and/or exercise-related research within the health care establishment.
The
account of one of my Ph.D. student’s recent job experience follows.
How
Employable Am I as an Exercise Physiologist?
Daryl
Parker, M.S.
Doctoral
Candidate
Exercise
Science Center for Exercise and Applied Human Physiology
University
of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM 87131
AS
A DISCIPLINE exercise physiology seems to be faring very well. It is a
recognized course by most in academia, and a required course for all exercise
science majors, as well as those who major in physical education, physical
therapy, and athletic training. However, the profession of exercise physiology
is not faring nearly as well. I was recently reminded of this as I was
turned down for a job as a research coordinator at a local Veterans Administration
(VA) Hospital. While I was not surprised to be turned down, as I have been
turned down for jobs before, the reasoning behind this rejection was a
little disturbing.
I was
sure I was qualified for the position because the person I would be replacing
had a Ph.D. in exercise physiology. The previous technician had interviewed
me and assured me that I had more than adequate skills for the position,
and all that was required was approval from the physician conducting the
research. Much to my surprise I was turned down because the hospital has
a new policy where only nursing personnel should be used for positions
involving patient contact. This is more than a little disturbing to me
because a completely non-research oriented person was going to be able
to take a position that as third year doctoral student I was more qualified
to handle. Further, the patient contact only required resting ECG, blood
draws, and the recording of vitals, skills which I and most exercise physiologist
have. Lastly, this was a research position, not a health care position,
and patient contact should not even have been an issue. However, because
the title and job status of an exercise physiologist are mostly unrecognized
by the medical community, yet another nurse will be taking a position that
would be better suited to an exercise physiologist. While I wish this is
an isolated incident, sadly it is not. While completing my Master’s work
in California I saw several similar incidences. First, the undergraduate
students we sent to a local hospital for internship hours in cardiac rehabilitation
had their responsibility of leading exercise classes removed, because they
felt the cardiac rehab nurses were better qualified. Little did they know
or care that the nurses were conducting outdated and contraindicated exercises.
Second, another local hospital transferred their non-invasive diagnostic
testing department that conducted graded exercise tests to the physical
therapy department, again feeling that physical therapists were better
qualified to conduct these tests. Finally, as I applied for a job conducting
exercise tests in a hospital, I was told that my education (a bachelors
in exercise science at the time) had little meaning. I was told that they
certified their technicians in-house for exercise testing.
These
are just a few examples of the cases I have seen or experienced where jobs
were being taken out of our hands. While I know that most of this sound
like a shot against the medical community, it isn’t. I just think that
everyone needs to practice what they were educated to do. Intuitively it
doesn’t make any sense that a nurse is better qualified to be involved
with exercise than a person that has obtained a degree dedicated to the
study of exercise. I just hope that something can be done before there
are no employment opportunities left for exercise physiologists in the
health/medical professions.