BooneThink

Did you ever wonder how healthcare professions got to where they are today? Was the transformation easy or hard? Who were the leaders? How did they achieve their goals? How did they deal with the apathy and indifference? These are important questions, and the range of answers is large. Just ask an exercise physiologist. Why are the experts in academia and research so willing to consult with for-profit businesses? What does this mean to the professional development of exercise physiology?

In the years that follow the 1997 founding of the American Society of Exercise Physiologists (ASEP), most ASEP members accepted that the transition from a discipline to a profession would not be easy. Never at any moment did anyone believe that a large number of exercise physiologists would immediately join ASEP.  Obviously, building any organization takes time, determination, and enthusiasm.

Exercise physiology is no different from other healthcare professions. This is a significant point to remember. Because change takes time, it should not reflect on the work of the ASEP organization. Everything from a code of ethics to board certification, from a definition of exercise physiology to standards of practice, and from specialist to professional thinking has been accomplished in less than six years.

Characterized by behavior driven from desire to have professional freedoms of other healthcare professionals, ASEP exercise physiologists understand the importance of belonging to their own professional organization. This understanding occurred when they stopped thinking like sports medicine personalities, which in turn allowed for a general atmosphere of hope and excitement. The power of an organization lies in its power to think differently, its vision, and in its belief that it can make a difference in the lives of its members.

This is also critical to our self-discovery. Members of every organization that are successful must come to an agreed upon objective that guides them in their work. The ASEP vision is that guide. Identity and purpose are therefore critical to the success of ASEP. This is why the ASEP leadership defined “exercise physiology” and an “exercise physiologist”.

As a result, our identity is a synthesis of our past views of exercise physiology as an exercise specialist and our contemporary views of exercise physiologist as healthcare professionals. Now, with the ASEP board certification that yields the professional title, the foundation is set for building our collective self-esteem. We now have the conviction that to move forward with solutions to our problems, like accreditation through the ASEP Board of Accreditation. Just this week, the ASEP National Office received the documents and application fee from another university seeking ASEP accreditation.

The process of growth and recognition is slow, but it is full of life. Just as the exercise physiologist needs his/her own professional organization, exercise physiology as an emerging profession is inseparable from accreditation. This is why vision, title, identity, and credibility are all important. The relationship is such that you cannot think clear-headedly about one without the others.

What I’ve learned is that professionalization is not a point in time. The fact is it seldom that everything comes together all at once. Similarly, ASEP is not defined by something that was done three years ago or during the recent National Meeting in Indianapolis. It is also not defined by something that will happen 10 years from time. Professionalization is a process that is always ongoing. This is true of all professions. None is exempt from constant evaluation and change.

So, why some exercise physiologists are so hard headed about ASEP’s “smallness” is more of a reflection on their thinking than it is the ASEP organization. Every organization is learning, changing, and adapting. All ASEP members are winners. They have decided what qualities are expected of their work, and they have come to believe ASEP is their road to success.

Advancing the common good of all exercise physiologists is a matter of identifying our inner strengths and using them creatively to stand tall in our collective right to work towards realizing the ASEP vision. This inner-directive is a powerful motivating force. Everyone wins when they give their time, energy, and talent for a good cause. Everyone loses when the wrong objectives are accomplished.

Those who embrace sports medicine over exercise physiology devalue themselves while those who support sports medicine laugh. Their participation is welcome but not required to break the conformity to the 20th century stereotype of exercise physiologists as specialists or fitness instructors. Physical educators are both. However, physical educators (and kinesiologists as well as graduates from any major other than exercise physiology) are not exercise physiologists.

Interestingly, the question I am asked most frequently is: “What sport do you coach?” The answer to this question is always the same. “I’m not a physical education teacher. I’m an exercise physiologist.” My response produces confusion. No one seems to know that exercise physiology is a healthcare profession. Of course I know why they don’t understand, but I persist as though they should. What is obvious is that no one ever believed that it was until the founding of ASEP.

Even after six years of ASEP influence, some professors still prefer the notion that everyone without a doctorate degree is not an exercise physiologist. This thinking is so outdated that it is laughable. One of life’s greatest achievements is in the identification of work by academic majors that yield professional titles. Unfortunately, for many academic exercise physiologists, they cannot accept that students with an undergraduate degree in “exercise physiology” can refer to themselves as exercise physiologists. This will change, however.