COMPETENCY CERTIFICATES
What is happening?
The Medical Board has decided to enforce the Ohio rule that states if an applicant fails to pass the Board Exams in Massage Therapy three times, that applicant will have to obtain remedial training and a competency certificate before they can re-apply for another Board Exam. The Medical Board asked Harmony Path (and other schools) if we would like to offer the remedial training necessary for these individuals. We were told that the individuals needed 30 hours of training for each section of the exam that was not passed. We also believe that the Medical Board intends that once an applicant has completed the competency training, that applicant has only 2 more chances to pass the boards. After that, the applicant will have to retake ALL their school training - so do not be in a rush to return to the board exam! (UPDATE: at the March 2005 meeting of the Council of SChools, we were told by a Medical Board representative that: 1) after the competency certificate, the applicant has ONE chance to pass the boards; 2) if the applicant does not pass, he or she has to receive a SECOND competency certificate from a school; 3) the applicant then has only 2 remaining chances to pass the boards - failure to do so means ALL schooling must be retaken to have any further chances.)
What can the applicant do to help this process?
Make an appointment with the Medical Board to see your exam.
It is one of the best sources of information about what went
wrong during the exam, and it contains information that the
schools currently cannot access. Check that the answers that were
marked wrong are truly wrong - you can check the Medical Board's
answers in your text book(s). Now, before you turn the exam back
in, look at it from the standpoint of finding patterns to the
questions that you got wrong. For instance, do many of the missed
questions:
1) deal with a certain system of the body (muscular, nervous,
etc.)?
2) involve the use of directional terms (lateral, medial,
superior, etc.)?
3) involve the use of movement terms (flexion, extension,
abduction, etc.)?
4) contain negatives in the questions (e.g. "which of the
following DOES NOT...")?
5) deal with Kellogg techniques, physiological effects, and/or
terminology?
6) deal with legal questions (Ohio Law, scope of practice, etc.)?
7) deal with clinical decisions (e.g. "client presents these
signs and symptoms - what do you do")?
Also, look for logistical problems with taking the exam - for
example:
a) did you let your answer sheet get out of synchrony with the
exam questions?
b) did you leave any answers blank?
c) did you darken in 2 or more circles for any given question?
d) by looking for erasures, do you find you changed right answers
to wrong ones?
As soon as you leave the room where you checked your exam, write down or tape record your impression of any patterns that you observed - these will help you prepare better for a future exam.
What is Harmony Path doing? Harmony Path is no longer offering competency training.
We tried offering our comprehensive 32-hour review for the Medical Boards twice a year, during April-May, and also during October-November, thinking this might be a good solution. It reviews all the material, is relatively inexpensive, has had good success rates for general students in the past, and satisfied a 30 hour time requirement for those that passed half of the boards. It did not satisfy a 60 hour requirement, nor will it satisfy the upcoming 35-hour requirement. At the end of the review, the competency participants had to take and pass a special examination to obtain their competency certificate. None of them passed this exam the first time they took it, and we have seen no evidence that participants significantly improved their chances of passing the Medical Board examination. So we have elected to discontinue offering competency training. Anyone who feels that our review may help them better prepare for the boards is still welcome to register for it.
We have also asked Medical Board if it would be possible for them to provide a breakdown by category of the questions missed by a particular applicant. This might help all the schools better pinpoint the needs of that applicant. They stated they would consider checking if this was feasible.