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March
11, 2004 Test Meeting
Greetings List Members,
We had a good meeting this morning with DPH about creating a test for
a permit for massage practitioners that is required by the new massage
ordinance.
Attending were nine people representing the AMTA, private practitioners,
massage businesses, St. James Infirmary, which provides medical and
social services to sex workers and their families, and three representatives
from a UCSF group studying the conditions of immigrant women working
in massage parlors.
DPH staff brought in copies of the current Police Department exam and
asked the group to go through each question and indicate whether they
thought the questions would be appropriate for the new exam.
There was an clear agreement amongh the stakeholders regarding the inappropriateness
of most of the questions. The Police test, in general, was considered
a test for people with far more training than 100 or 200 hours. Most
of the questions dealt with detailed muscle/bone identification and
muscle function.
The group suggested some categories of questions that were more relevant
to 100 hours of traiing. They included:
-Practice management (including how to comply with the massage laws0
-Anatomical orientation (proximal, distal, anterior, posterior, etc)
-Gross anatomy for major muscles and bones (match the name with the
muscle/bone using diagrams)
-Hygiene for client and practitioner
-Screening for contraindications
-Appropriate technique (balancing Western and Eastern questions)
-Self-Care/Body Mechanics
-First Aid
-Modality identification and their uses/intentions for appropriate referrals
Areas that were not seen as particularly needed for inclusion:
-Kinesiology (actions of muscles, insertions/origins)
-Physiology
-Pathology
The purposes of the test that were discussed were to help define a core
knowledge base for new practitioners and a minimum screening mechanism
to assure that practitioners had actually attended a school, rather
than bought a diploma.
It turns out that the current Police test is rife with abuse, not surprising
because of its level of difficulty. Candidates sitting for the test
do not even have to verify their identity with a photo ID and grading
is sometimes done subjectively, according to some witnesses familiar
with the process.
The one gaping hole of attendence at the meeting was the lack of representation
from the massage schools, which will need to prepare their students
for the exam. I hope that the schools represented on this list will
make every effort to make certain that their voices are included in
subsequent meetings.
Finally, everyone agreed that practitioners who have already passed
a national exam recognized in the industry, such as the one used used
by the NCBTMB, should not have to take the local exam.
For homework, DPH asked that everyone bring to the next meeting some
sample questions in each of the categories. The final test will be confidential
and available only to DPH staff, but they would like to have two or
more versions of the test and a pool of questions to choose from.
The next meeting will be in two weeks. When there is a date set, I will
send it around. Tell your colleagues to keep informed by signing up
on this informational list at http://www.sfordinance.com.
In touch,
David Palmer
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