Osteopathy in practice

What is Osteopathy?

Two Streams - WHO Guidelines

Common Competencies

History

Osteopathy in Canada

SPMPO

Title Protection for Osteopathic Physicians and Osteopaths (Two Streams)

Fulfilling BC’s Health Department targets to provide more efficacious, cost-effective treatment for chronic, musculo-skeletal complaints

What is Osteopathy?

• A system of healthcare which emphasizes the role of the musculoskeletal system in health and disease. It stresses a holistic approach and the skilled use of palpation and manual and physical treatment.

Osteopathy - Two Stream Statement WHO Draft Guidelines on basic training and safety in osteopathy

“There are two principle models of osteopathic practice in the world today, described by the international osteopathic profession as ‘osteopathic physicians’ whose scope of practice includes pharmaceutical medicine and surgery and ’osteopaths’ whose scope of practice does not include pharmaceutical medicine and surgery.”

The osteopathic practitioners, (osteopath and osteopathic physician) share a set of core competencies that guide diagnosis, management and treatment of their patients and form the foundation for the osteopathic approach to health care. (See printed materials for this information.)

Common Competencies shared by osteopaths and osteopathic physicians

WHO Draft Guidelines

Osteopathic origins

Andrew Taylor Still 1828 ~ 1917

Dr. Still began training Osteopaths in the 1880’s, in Kirksville, Missouri

Osteopathy in the UK

• 1917 First school of Osteopathy (pharmaceuticals and surgery not included)

• 1936 First voluntary Register of Osteopaths

• 1993 The Osteopaths Act

• 1997 General Osteopathic Council established

• 1998 UK Statutory Register of Osteopaths replaces voluntary registers

• 2007 Over 3800 UK registered Osteopaths

Dr. John Martin Littlejohn, DO

Osteopathy - Brief History of 2 streams

• In USA - Osteopathic physicians trained only in US

• By 1960’s most American states recognized Doctors of Osteopathy as equivalent to MD - utilizing drugs & surgery as well as manual treatment

• British School of Osteopathy founded by Littlejohn - 1917

• Trained osteopaths without drugs or surgery being included

• This is the model that has spread to the rest of the world and includes the majority of osteopaths currently practising in Canada.

Osteopathy - Brief History of 2 streams (2)

• These 2 streams had a lot of informal contact with each other, but no official body represented both until the formation of the Osteopathic International Alliance (OIA) in 2003. There was a recent meeting in Milan which adopted the regulations on Safety and Training in Osteopathy which will be published by the WHO at the end of this year. The meeting had representatives from twenty different countries where osteopathy is practiced, as well as the US. These 2 streams are now formally recognized worldwide by all national and international osteopathic organizations.

Other professions with 2 streams - one including pharmaceutical medicine and/or surgery, and the other not

• Psychiatrist Psychologist• Ophthalmologist Optometrist• Physiatrist Physiotherapist

And, similarly,

• Osteopathic Physician Osteopath

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Osteopathic Training in Canada

• Until recently there was no teaching of either stream in Canada, but over the last 25 years or so there have been a gradually increasing number of Canadian schools of osteopathy. There are now several schools in Quebec and Ontario, one in Halifax and one in Vancouver. There are also increasing numbers of osteopaths who have trained elsewhere, particularly in the UK, Australia and New Zealand who have come to work here.

• There is no training for osteopathic physicians in Canada - all who practice here have been trained in the US.

The Society for the Promotion of

Manual Practice Osteopathy (SPMPO) • Formed in 2005 to represent Osteopaths practicing

in BC (see appended documents.)• While the numbers of osteopaths in Canada are still

relatively small at under 1000, and perhaps a dozen in BC, the number of teaching establishments has increased over the last few years and our Society would like to maintain the highest standards of training and public safety from the outset. We are currently looking at trainees and graduates from Canadian schools to determine whether they meet WHO standards, and we hope to offer membership in our society to all who do.

The SPMPO

• The SPMPO is a founder member of the Canadian Federation of Osteopaths, a new organisation which intends to bring together the osteopathic profession country wide. This is an historic coalition of osteopaths in this country, and will be the body under which Canadian osteopaths will have accreditation with the Osteopathic International Alliance (OIA).

The SPMPO Requests: 1. the government of BC to formally recognize the 2

internationally accepted designations of osteopath and osteopathic physician. It is perfectly satisfactory to us that the CPSBC should regulate and register osteopathic physicians but not that the use of the title osteopath and similar terms should be restricted to them.

2. If title protection is required - and we see some value in this - it needs to be for each of the two streams of osteopathy. That is, for Osteopaths whose training meets the international standards, and for Osteopathic Physicians, whose training is already clearly established. It is in the public interest to make this clear in BC, as it is in the rest of the world.

• Support for the SPMPO in creating a voluntary register of Osteopaths for BC. Our membership will be comprised of osteopaths whose training and professionalism meet WHO guidelines. This is in the best interest of the public, and will lay the groundwork for the eventual establishment of a government regulatory body for osteopaths in this province.

The SPMPO Requests:

- has identified musculoskeletal conditions such as osteoarthritis, fractures due to osteoporosis, and low back pain, as "chronic conditions for which the greatest opportunities exist to improve the quality of services delivered and the outcomes for patients." It also recommends the development of a “musculoskeletal service framework” as a collaborative way to approach providing this service. Osteopaths in BC can be of great help with this - as they are now in other countries, and as they have been to many patients in BC already, but the Ministry of Health has so far been unaware of this.

The new Primary Health Care Charter in BC

Osteopaths in BC are dedicated professionals who have a real contribution to make to healthcare in this province. The assertion that osteopathy is only practiced by osteopathic physicians is inaccurate and the November 21 2006 proposal to reserve the titles associated with osteopathy and the manual therapeutic techniques practiced by osteopaths only for osteopathic physicians is totally unacceptable.

The Proposed Title Protection MUST NOT Go Ahead

We ask that the Government of British Columbia please respect the international standards for osteopathy set by the WHO and endorsed by osteopaths and osteopathic physicians around the world.

The Proposed Title Protection MUST NOT Go Ahead