Page 10 - Mobility Management, March 2019

CRT Pro Sponsored Content by Merits Health Products
Building Your Personal CRT Library
Imagine you are creating the ideal Assistive Technology Professional (ATP) — not just one who will be successful today, but one who will be a leader and
a mentor tomorrow. What would you want that ATP to know? What skills and knowledge would that ATP need to keep pace with a Complex Rehab Technology (CRT) industry that seems to be evolving every day?
Not so long ago, when CRT was “re/hab” and K0111 was the power wheelchair code, the landscape was admittedly simpler. There was a time, early in CRT’s history but well within the tenures of many current CRT professionals, when the number of power wheelchairs could be counted on just a few fingers. There were even fewer powered seating options.
Fast forward not so many years, and the CRT land- scape has become much more complicated. There is the Assistive Technology Professional (ATP) certification, and a Seating & Mobility Specialist (SMS) certification within that. CRT itself has expanded as technology has advanced and as our understanding of neuromuscular and skeletal diseases and conditions has grown. Other technologies, such as robotics and “smart” electronics, are intersecting with CRT.
What will tomorrow’s ATP need
to know to succeed? How do we pass along decades of hard-won knowledge?
These advances have made it possible to create more successful seating and wheeled mobility interventions for adults and children with permanent, often progres- sive conditions that impact their independence. But the complexity of the industry has also made keeping up with best practices, technological improvements, and medical advances more difficult.
Sharing Industry Knowledge
You’ve probably heard this question repeatedly: Where is the next generation of ATP going to come from? How can this industry pass its hard-won knowledge on to this next generation? Maybe you’ve asked that question yourself.
CRT Pro, powered by a sponsorship from Merits Health Products, is a new educational column designed to
8 MARCH 2019 | MOBILITY MANAGEMENT
support CRT professionals and other industry stakeholders.
This is a column
you can read
and pass along
to colleagues.
But beyond that,
these stories are
resources you can
share with other members of the seating and mobility team, as well as with payors, referral sources, clients and their families/caregivers.
From Drivewheels to Outcomes Measures
Think of CRT Pro as a collection of single-page resources that you can vet and add to your own professional library. Stories are written to be easily passed along. Topics that will be discussed here include...
• Power chair drivewheel configurations: Their strengths and weaknesses for various environments
• Updates on CRT research and position papers
• Tilt and recline: Best practices and degree ranges
needed for therapeutic/weight-shifting benefits
• Evolving information on mobility-related conditions,
such as multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury and trau-
matic brain injury.
• How to talk to clients and families about trying
powered mobility
• Power wheelchair training tips for new users or those
with evolving needs and abilities
• Alternative access: Diving into today’s switch and
proportional options to find the best match between
driving control and client
• Evidence-based outcomes and their importance to
the future growth of CRT
• CRT funding trouble spots and justification/documenta-
tion best practices.
Along the way, you’ll hear from experts on these topics,
from researchers and fellow CRT professionals to rehab engineers and reimbursement specialists.
Whether you are a member of CRT’s “old guard” or someone newer to the industry’s ranks, CRT Pro will offer resources you can use or pass along every day. Welcome. m
MobilityMgmt.com