Wheels are in motion for new certificate

LUBBOCK, Texas - NRRTS is in the beginning stages of developing a new certificate program specifically for complex rehab suppliers.

More than a dozen stakeholders recently had a conference call to start mapping out a blueprint for the certificate, says Weesie Walker, executive director of NRRTS.

“This will, hopefully, help to create a gateway for people to get into this field,” she said. “A lot of people don't even know this field exists, or if they know, they don't know how to get started in it. This will be a way for them to get the preliminary information that they need to work in the field.”

NRRTS has also contracted with an instructional designer to oversee the process.

The complex rehab industry isn't lacking credentials or certifications—there's the CRTS from NRRTS, and the ATP and SMS from RESNA—but they speak to advanced professionalism in the field, Walker says.

“This would be entry level training,” she said. “It wouldn't take the place of anything; it would fill a void.”

NRRTS also has a core curriculum that complex rehab professionals have to meet to become an RRTS, but this certificate would “take that another step,” Walker says.

“A number of companies have training programs that they then put their (RRTSs) through, but there's no standardized program,” she said.

The certificate will also address some of the specifics of being a complex rehab supplier—specifics that aren't addressed in “broader spectrum” certifications like the ATP, says Michele Gunn, rehab manager for Browning's Pharmacy and Health Care, who is involved in developing the program.

“There's nothing out there that addresses funding and ethics and business practices,” she said. “If you're a supplier, it's all about these things.”

Gunn say stakeholders have “started and stopped” developing such a certificate “a thousand times” over the years.

“But it has become more and more evident that this is a piece of the puzzle that is missing,” she said, “and there's no one better than NRRTS to do it.”