Therapeutic Reflexologists are professional healthcare therapists that work within a formal scope of practice as released by the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa (AHPCSA). In this post we shall have a look at what a scope of practice actually means.
Therapeutic Reflexologists are formally regulated by the AHPCSA in accordance with the Allied Health Professions Act, 1982 (Act 63 of 1982). This means that therapeutic reflexology is a recognised healthcare profession in South Africa and as such no therapeutic reflexologist is legally allowed to practice in this country if formal registration with the statutory council, the AHPCSA, is not current. This is similar to medical doctors that are regulated by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), a statutory council, and are not allowed to practice in this country without formal registration with the HPCSA. Practicing without this formal registration is not only illegal, but punishable by law.
From a general public perspective; you do not want to visit a healthcare professional that is not formally registered and regulated by a statutory council; formal registration and regulation means that the healthcare professional complied with the minimum training and practical experience requirements prior to being able to register which is the first step of protection for you as a patient. Furthermore, formal registration and regulation means that the healthcare professional is operating within specific boundaries to ensure you get the best possible healthcare services available without being exploited. Formal registration and regulation of the healthcare professional is for your protection!
With this in perspective, it is obvious that therapeutic reflexologists are professional therapists that need to function within legal, ethical, professional and profession-specific boundaries. These boundaries are determined by the AHPCSA and legislation. The profession-specific boundaries are determined by the AHPCSA and presented to all therapeutic reflexologists in the form of a scope of practice that clearly tells the therapist what is permissible to do within the profession and what is not permissible. It is important for therapeutic reflexologists to remain within their scope of practice, not only for their own protection and for the protection of the general public, but also to remain within their field of expertise and not to overstep on the terrain of other healthcare professionals.
All registered healthcare professionals function within a scope of practice that is unique to their professions and these scopes of practices are issued either by the AHPCSA, for professions regulated by the AHPCSA, or by the HPCSA, for professions regulated by the HPCSA. The scope of practices is necessary to ensure that healthcare professionals operate only within their field of expertise that is allowed within a specific profession and based on recognised qualifications and relevant experience.
The scope of practice for therapeutic reflexologists is very clear about the fact that therapeutic reflexology is a non-diagnostic profession or in other words a therapeutic profession which means that no therapeutic reflexologist is allowed to make any diagnosis whatsoever. Therapeutic reflexologists are allowed to offer therapy, but they are not allowed to diagnose. In order to offer the best possible therapy, it is necessary to do a proper assessment of the patient which may indicate imbalances in the body, but never is the therapeutic reflexologist allowed to make any diagnosis and to tell a patient that they are suffering for a specific condition. As a professional healthcare therapist, the therapeutic reflexologist may sometimes suspect something that needs attention, but they are not allowed to diagnose, so in an instance like that, the therapeutic reflexologist will refer the patient to a diagnostic practitioner like a homeopath, naturopath, medical doctor or so on for examination and possible diagnosis. When a formal referral to a diagnostic practitioner is done, the therapeutic reflexologist may inform the diagnostic practitioner of what observations were made during the therapeutic reflexology session that lead to the referral being made, but never is the therapeutic reflexologist allowed to make a diagnosis.
If you visit a therapeutic reflexologist that is registered and regulated by the AHPCSA, you are ensured of such professionalism where the patient’s best interest is always the therapist’s main concern.
The scope of practice is a professional boundary put in place for every healthcare profession to ensure that the practitioner or therapist remains within their area of expertise without performing any acts that are not part of their registered profession. This is an excellent way of protecting the public so patients can know exactly what healthcare professional to visit for a specific condition.
The scope of practice should not be seen as a limitation as it is rather a way to ensure the patient is protected. Can you just imagine if there were not scope of practices in place, how confusing and dangerous it could be? Just imagine you visit an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist, but he decides instead of working in his field of expertise, he would rather perform open heart surgery instead or maybe you visit a Cardiothoracic surgeon, but instead of performing heart surgery, she decides to rather perform brain surgery instead. This will be a very dangerous situation as the ENT specialist is not trained to perform heart surgery and the Cardiothoracic surgeon is not trained to do brain surgery.
This may be an extreme situation, but exactly what would happen if there were no scope of practices in place for each profession. It would not only cause chaos as healthcare workers will be able to do just what they felt like doing, but it would also be very dangerous for the patient.
Scope of practices are in place to ensure patients are protected, but at the same time healthcare professionals are also protected and they can openly tell a patient when something that is required is outside their scope of practice in order to make the necessary referral to the correct healthcare professional.
Stepping outside the scope of practice and performing any procedures, therapies or practices that are not allowed within a specific profession’s scope of practice will lead to disciplinary action being taken by the AHPCSA against the specific healthcare professional.
As a patient, never be afraid to speak to any healthcare professional about their scope of practice. Formally registered and regulated healthcare professionals are always willing to discuss their qualifications, their experience, their expertise, their limitations and their scope of practice with patients.
—
Christo A. Scheepers: Therapeutic Reflexologist
Dip.T.R.(Cum Laude) [IARAMT]
AHPCSA: A11945
Pr. No.: 1080000737453
Tel. 072-800 7243