I posted this in the General Nursing section; decided to post here also. Here goes:
I have a dear nurse friend who is totally burned out with nursing. She is older, with health problems, and has been through three or four disastrous hospital "reorganizations" during her career. These reorganizations were brutal and disastrous to the nursing staff in each instance. Now my friend can hardly stand the thought of nursing in a hospital anymore. Healing is still her passion, and she has taken courses on massage therapy and practices informally in her home. Only trouble with this, the State of North Carolina now has a Board of Licensed Massage Therapists which has instigated stiff practice and licensing requirements for massage therapists since 1998. (Just another instance of us nurses losing parts of our profession... we have lost physical therapy to our domain, as well as health education, nutrition and diet therapy, social work, what will be next????) Anyway, she wants to become a licensed massage therapist in North Carolina. Does anyone know if one can "place out" by taking an examination for massage therapy and thus achieve licensure without having to go through all the arduous classes, etc (it is a two-year program--yikes!!!!). Any thoughts or info would be most appreciated
Ohio does require a license, with 600 hours of training from an approved school and a $50 renewal fee every 2 years.
If anyone else would like to know the regulations for their state, let me know. You also need to check out the local requirements and ordinances thru your city of county.
nurseyperson
NCTMB, National Certification Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork
Ohio requires a licence to practice as a Massage Therapist. I do not call myself one, so am not bound by this rule. And I conduct my practice VERY professionally and am acting within all established rules and laws. I openly state that I am a nurse that gives relaxation massage and do not claim to treat anything and that is totally legal!!! Thanks for your input, though.
Are there any accredited MT schools that do distance education? Me and another nurse are very interested but living in the boonies and far from a massage therapy school it makes it pretty hard and working full time. I've found some and you do have to put in so many hours of hands on but can't find out anything about them being legit. The colleges around here don't offer it. Any help would be appreciated. We want to get the appropriate training with out quitting our jobs, leaving our families and going broke...hahahaha.
Yes, In fact, there is one out of Utah. It is the Myotherapy Institute of Massage in Salt Lake City, Utah. They do distance education for 420 hours of theory (books, tapes, etc.) at your own pace, and then you have a local trainer and do the rest of the hours (minimum of 100) for the hands on portion.
In fact, I am a local trainer for them for this area of Kansas, so I know all about them. The school is state approves in Utah and the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork, and the distance education portion is approved by whatever entity approves distance education. You do need to talk to them about whether their program is approved in your area/state.
For those of you that have some education but want the education that will let you take the National Exam, you can get credit for your documented hours.
You would need to find a certified/licensed massage therapist in your area to oversee your test taking and the massage classes.
I just wanted to speak up as being against any idea about requiring Registered Nurses to have separate MT training, in order to offer what are nursing services.
While I respect gaining further formal education which enhances your skill, I think we have enough regulation already. I fully intend to legally offer massage to clients on an independent/private duty basis. I have already confirmed with N.S.O. that they will cover me. Of course, if I wanted insurance covering my residence as a business, that would be separate. At least in Calif., thankfully, I can provide massage, legally.... as a nursing service.
One thing that should be mentioned...there is a difference between a relaxing massage that ANYONE can give,(nurse, massage therapist, CNA, or even anyone off the street) and a Medical Massage that I practice. A regular massage certainly is within a nurse's scope of practice, but not a massage that requires special education, for then we do step into a territory that is grey, especially in the states that do require a license, certification or regulation.
When I talked to my state board (Kansas)of nursing a few years ago (when I started massage) and asked about doing massage as a nurse, they said it was not specifically in our scope of practice, but because it was NOT in the scope of practice of any other board in Kansas, nurses could do it. (Actually, ANYONE can do it, even with NO training) But when it becomes regulated by a state board, then it would not be in the scope of practice as a nurse to do a professional massage.
So, in a nutshell, since anyone can practice massage in the states without a license, a nurse certainly can. But in the states that do regulate massage, I think it is a grey area (for nurses, that is) Of course nurses can give a nice, relaxing massage, and be professional. But as for being LEGAL, (in states that require a massage license or certification) that is a big question. I certainly wouldn't risk my nursing license on it.
Just something to think about for nurses who are going into this area. And it is a great area!!
nurses have given massages FOREVER in the hospital. WHen I was in school giving my patient a massage was expected. It would be great to learn different techniques, but as far as needing another license to give a backrub.............thats nuts.
I totally agree is it nuts for a nurse to obtain another license to do what we do everyday ( or should be doing, if we aren't short starffed, etc) which, as you said, is a BACKRUB. Thank good ness there are preofessional massage therapists that actually do the massages. As a Massage Therapist who specializes in Medical Massage, Neuromuscular/ Trigger Point therapy, I know what the differences are between a massage and a backrub. Do you?
Do you know that in up to 90% of the cases (Except where there is a trauma) neck pain is caused from muscle strain and the CAUSE of that strain is in the FRONT of the body (Neck, chest poor posture, etc.) NOT WHERE IT HURTS. So if you only give a BACKRUB where it hurts, (the back of the neck) you can actually aggravate the condition!!!!!!! Make sure you know the facts.
Did you know that trigger points can cause pain in remote areas of the body? And if you spend your time rubbing the painful areas, you might very well be wasting your time, because the CAUSE is somewhere else? Oh, it might feel good for a little while, but it will not REALLY help your patient. Sort of like giving Tylenol for a fever from an infection but no antibiotics. Covering the symptoms but not getting to the root of the problem.
Something for you to think about. Of course you can do give a backrub as a nurse!!!!!!!! PLEASE DO!!!
I am in MT school now, and have been a RN for 17 years. I have certainly learned that there is ALOT I didn't know about the benefits of massage..and it is certainly more involved than a "backrub" as we were taught in nursing school. NMT has been an amazing eye opener for me!! I love what I am learning. I am interested in your comment about "medical massage". Is that a seperate certification/classification, and if so what are the requirements for it? I am in Louisiana, and per a request for a decision on my ability to perform massage as a nurse, they say that it is covered, but can't be called "massage therapy".. I wonder if medical massage is what they are referring to. I am quite leary of how/what to advertise as to what I can legally do and how to charge. Any other info you can provide me is great.
nurseyperson
90 Posts
FYI to IntelliKat
Ohio does require a license, with 600 hours of training from an approved school and a $50 renewal fee every 2 years.
If anyone else would like to know the regulations for their state, let me know. You also need to check out the local requirements and ordinances thru your city of county.
nurseyperson
NCTMB, National Certification Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork
http://www.nctmb.com