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N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – RMC rehabilitation physical therapist, Lucas Morken, has received certification of an orthopedic certified specialist.
The specialist certification program was established to provide formal recognition for physical therapists with advanced clinical knowledge, experience, and skills in a special area of practice and to assist consumers and the healthcare community in identifying these physical therapists. Having a DPT, OCS on staff helps consumers identify experts in the field of orthopedic physical therapy, to help them in their healthcare decisions.
“Being an Orthopedic clinical specialist recognizes Lucas for the experience and expertise he has in Orthopedics that exceeds that of a PT upon entry to the PT profession. Lucas’ commitment to this process has led to a greater depth of knowledge and skills related to orthopedics and he has demonstrated advanced clinical knowledge, experience, and skills in orthopedics, meaning any type of musculoskeletal injury/surgery, in order to meet his patient’s needs. JRMC is lucky to have an orthopedic clinical specialist on staff to compliment the JRMC orthopedic team,” said Tracy Anderson, manager of JRMC Rehabilitation.
The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), a national professional organization representing more than 80,000 members throughout the United States, established the specialist certification program in 1978. Specialization is the process by which a physical therapist builds on a broad base of professional education and practice to develop a greater depth of knowledge and skills related to a particular area of practice. Clinical specialization in physical therapy responds to a specific area of patient need and requires knowledge, skill, and experience exceeding that of the physical therapist at entry to the profession and unique to the specialized area of practice.
In 1981 the APTA House of Delegates approved board certification in the area of orthopaedics. The first orthopaedics specialist certification examination was administered in 1989. As of June 2015, North Dakota currently has 23 current OCS physical therapists ABPTS has certified 10,566 orthopaedics specialists.
To schedule an appointment with someone from JRMC’s professional therapist team call the JRMC Rehab department at (701) 952-4800.