Professional Practice

Professional Practice
Assessment Task 1 – Blog 1
Victoria Walden
Due 8th of May 2009

Does the scope of practice as defined by massage New Zealand fit within the legal requirements under the act: Healthcare Professional Competency Assurance Act 2003.

Yes, the scope of practice defined by Massage New Zealand does fit within the legal requirements under the Healthcare Professional Competency Assurance Act 2003. The reasoning why this scope of practice does fit is because of the way that Massage New Zealand has arranged their wording in their scope and also the professional way they approached this task.
With regards to Massage New Zealand they have incorporated the clinic competence and also the educational competence. As through learning the scope of practice will increase in each massage therapist as they continue with their study. From the clinic side of things the scope of practice in detail shows what the massage therapist is able to do and to achieve the best results from each client, as each client is not the same.

Example from the Certified massage therapy scope of practice:
· Delivery of relaxation massage according to the treatment plan which
could include the following massage strokes - effleurage, petrissage, deep
longitudinal, broad cross fibre, compression, vibration, tapotement.

Example from the Remedial massage therapist scope of practice:
· Clinical reasoning of the client condition presenting where information
gathered from history taking and physical assessment is assimilated to
produce an effective and relevant treatment plan.

I feel that the Healthcare Professional Competency Assurance Act (HPCA) is very strict as to what the massage therapist scope of practice is. Yet I feel in some way if Massage New Zealand does go under the HPCA that the flexibility of adapting to each client will be lost, there will be more restrictions to our practice and less freedom. Then again it could give more structure and credibility to the profession of massage therapists if Massage New Zealand did go under the act. Also massage would be under a government recognition giving massage therapists a more high profile name, as David quoted in the elluminate session of what a professional is:

“Professional – work ...requires the application of theories, principles and methods typically acquired through completion of a baccalaureate degree or higher or comparable experience; requires the consistent exercise of discretion and judgement in the research, analysis, interpretation and application of acquired theories, principles and methods to work product (West Virginia Interactive, 2008).”
(Elluminate, 2009).

From this quote it states that we do, do all of these things and more. The next step in the massage industry I feel is to get the positive go ahead from the government and HPCA can help with that.
Does our scope of practice as defined by MNZ accurately reflect our scope of practice?

I believe that Massage New Zealand’s scope of practice does accurately reflect our scope of practice because like the scope of practice we are striving to be professionals within massage therapy.
I believe that we all have our own approach to the scope of the massage industry but we all have to follow by the guild lines that Massage New Zealand has produced. Through these guild lines (scope of practice) we as massage therapists can apply any treatment within the scope and effectively produce a professional healthcare relationship with each client.


References:
Elluminate April 8, 2009.
Massage New Zealand. (2009). Retrieved May 7th 2009 from www.massagenewzealand.org.nz