The Influence Of Academic Achievement Prior Clinical Experience And A Collaborative Clinic Based Learning Experience On Critical Thinking Ability In Physical Therapist Assistant Students

Clinical reasoning is an essential non-negotiable element for all health professionals. The ability of the health professional to demonstrate professional competence, compassion, and accountability depend on a foundation of sound clinical reasoning. The clinical reasoning process needs to bring together knowledge, experience, and understanding of people, the environment, and organizations along with a strong moral compass in making sound decisions and taking necessary actions. While clinical reasoning and the role of mentors has been a focus of the continued growth and development of residency programs in physical therapy, there is a critical need to have a broader, in-depth look at how educators across academic and clinical settings intentionally facilitate the development of clinical reasoning skills across one’s career. Clinical Reasoning and Decision Making in Physical Therapy: Facilitation, Assessment, and Implementation fills this need by providing a comprehensive and in-depth focus on development of the patient-client management skills of clinical reasoning and clinical decision-making. It takes into account teaching and learning strategies, assessment, and technological applications across the continuum from novice to residents/fellows-in-training, along with academic and clinical faculty for both entry-level and specialist practice. Drs. Gina Maria Musolino and Gail Jensen have designed this comprehensive resource with contributions from professional colleagues. The text centers on life-long learning by encouraging the development of clinical reasoning abilities from professional education through residency education. The aim and scope of the text is directed for physical therapy education, to enhance clinical reasoning and clinical decision-making for developing professionals and post-professionals in both clinical and academic realms, and for the development of clinical and academic faculty. Clinical Reasoning and Decision Making in Physical Therapy uniquely offers both evidence-based approaches and pragmatic consultation from award-winning authors with direct practice experiences developing and implementing clinical reasoning/clinical decision-making in practice applications for teaching students, residents, patients, and clinical/academic faculty in classrooms, clinics, and through simulation and telehealth. Clinical Reasoning and Decision Making in Physical Therapy is the first of its kind to address this foundational element for practice that is key for real-world practice and continuing competence as a health care professional. Physical therapy and physical therapist assistant students, faculty, and clinicians will find this to be an invaluable resource to enhance their clinical reasoning and decision making abilities.

Written in adherence with the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education's (CAPTE) standards, Clinical Education in Physical Therapy explores the evolution from student to Clinical Instructor while serving as an essential educational resource for entry-level Physical Therapy students. This exciting new resource presents an overview on the rewards and challenges of becoming a Clinical Instructor, the legal issues involved for the academic institution and the clinical sites, clinical education models, student characteristics, establishing a clinical education program, and much more! Clinical Education in Physical Therapy includes a dedicated chapter on leadership and professionalism both of which have been stressed in recent years by both the APTA and CAPTE. Key Points at the beginning of each chapter establish the primary take-aways for readers, while case studies in select chapters reinforce practical application of the material.

Introduction: Developing clinical reasoning in entry-level physical therapy students is of increasing interest to physical therapist education programs in the United States. Despite this, many physical therapist education programs lack tools and pedagogical approaches for developing and assessing clinical reasoning across the continuum of didactic education. There is a need for evidence-based approaches to develop and assess clinical reasoning in entry-level physical therapy students. The primary aim of this study was to provide a comparison of the effects of two commonly used pedagogical approaches (paper-based case studies versus authentic patient experiences) on clinical reasoning and critical thinking of second year entry-level physical therapy students. It was hypothesized that students who received authentic patient experiences would demonstrate improved critical thinking and clinical reasoning when compared with students who received paper-based case studies or students assigned to a control group. The secondary aim of this study was to explore associations between characteristics of physical therapy students and their performance on (1) a standardized measure of critical thinking and (2) their self-reported reflection and clinical reasoning ability. Methods: A total of 23 students in their second year of a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree program at a small, rural university participated in this study. Participants were randomly assigned to a control group or to receive one of two supplemental learning activities (paper-based case studies or authentic patient experiences). Five one-hour sessions were completed over 5 weeks. Outcomes measured pre- and post- intervention included the Health Science Reasoning Test with Numeracy (HSRT-N) and the Self Assessment of Clinical Reasoning and Reflection (SACRR). Total time between pre- and post-testing was 7 weeks. Data analysis included a comparison of effect sizes of change scores between groups and correlational analysis of pre-test scores and student factors. Results: When compared with paper-based case studies, authentic patient experiences demonstrated a moderate to large effect size for improved HSRT-N scores on 5/8 subscales. The addition of 5 hours of authentic case instruction resulted in moderate to large effect size improvements to the HSRT-N scores for 2/8 subscales and improved SACRR scores when compared with the control group. A strong positive correlation existed between grade point average and pre-test HSRT-N scores. Discussion and Conclusion: When compared with paper-based case studies, the use of authentic patient experiences in an entry- level DPT curriculum may be more effective for improving critical thinking and clinical reasoning. Furthermore, the addition of five hours of paper-based case studies did not show benefits using the outcome tools utilized. The selection of pedagogical approaches to improve critical thinking and clinical reasoning based on sound evidence gained from randomized controlled trials is lacking in physical therapy education. The knowledge gained as a result of this study is significant because it provides a scientific premise for the selection of teaching methodologies as they relate to developing clinical reasoning in physical therapy students. Key Words: clinical reasoning, critical thinking, teaching methods, student outcomes, teaching and learning

Master the role and the skills of the physical therapist assistant! Fundamental Orthopedic Management for the Physical Therapist Assistant, 4th Edition helps you apply the principles of orthopedic science to physical therapy interventions. First you will learn how to assess flexibility, strength, endurance, and balance, and then you’ll become a more valuable PTA by learning the essentials of tissue healing, gait and manual therapy, biomechanics and kinesiology, and the management of orthopedic patients by region and condition. This edition includes a new full-color design and illustrations, and broadens its scope with new chapters on topics such as musculoskeletal imaging and women’s issues related to physical rehabilitation. Written by clinician and educator Robert Manske, along with a team of expert contributors, this text is your complete guide to success in physical therapist assisting! Comprehensive coverage addresses not only core concepts related to orthopedic care, but also includes biomechanics, pharmacology, in-depth reviews of the types of tissue healing, and the PTA's role in physical assessment and interventions. Over 600 illustrations and 75 summary tables reinforce orthopedic concepts and procedures. A focus on critical thinking and application prepares you for the treatment room and for the clinical practicum portions of the curriculum. Review questions at the end of each chapter prepare you for the kind of critical thinking you will be required to do in practice. Key terms and learning objectives begin each chapter, serving as checkpoints for understanding and helping you study effectively for examinations. Glossaries in each chapter make it easy to find definitions of key terminology. Useful appendices provide a quick reference to information such as commonly used medications, fracture eponyms, and reference ranges for lab tests. NEW Differential Diagnosis and Emergent Conditions chapter shows how similar symptoms can mask potentially dangerous pathologies and conditions, and may require re-evaluation by the supervising therapist. NEW Musculoskeletal Imaging chapter explains in basic terms the various types of musculoskeletal imaging used when examining musculoskeletal injuries. NEW Orthopedic Management Concepts Specific to Women chapter covers the issues, pathology, and progression of women’s health issues as they relate to physical rehabilitation. NEW! Full-color design and illustrations add clarity to anatomy and procedural drawings and make it easier to learn important concepts. NEW! Important Concepts highlight useful tips and tricks of patient practice. NEW student resources on the Evolve companion website include critical thinking applications, weblinks to related sites, and references with links to Medline® abstracts.

As human experience is complex and multifaceted, themes interconnect and weave inseparably. The descriptions given show, for this particular group of students, what they were going through. Through explication of the clinical experiences by the students who live it, faculty, clinical instructors, and students at all levels of physical therapist education may develop added insight and a deeper understanding of the lifeworld of the student to inform their teaching-learning practices.

The Future of Nursing explores how nurses' roles, responsibilities, and education should change significantly to meet the increased demand for care that will be created by health care reform and to advance improvements in America's increasingly complex health system. At more than 3 million in number, nurses make up the single largest segment of the health care work force. They also spend the greatest amount of time in delivering patient care as a profession. Nurses therefore have valuable insights and unique abilities to contribute as partners with other health care professionals in improving the quality and safety of care as envisioned in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enacted this year. Nurses should be fully engaged with other health professionals and assume leadership roles in redesigning care in the United States. To ensure its members are well-prepared, the profession should institute residency training for nurses, increase the percentage of nurses who attain a bachelor's degree to 80 percent by 2020, and double the number who pursue doctorates. Furthermore, regulatory and institutional obstacles-including limits on nurses' scope of practice-should be removed so that the health system can reap the full benefit of nurses' training, skills, and knowledge in patient care. In this book, the Institute of Medicine makes recommendations for an action-oriented blueprint for the future of nursing.

The Commission of Accreditation of Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) mandates the integration of critical thinking into physical therapy curriculum. However, it has been unclear what contributes to a physical therapist's critical thinking skills. The purpose of this study was to examine if years of experience and level of education affect critical thinking skills of physical therapists. Participants included 100 pre- and post-MPT graduates. Ages ranged from 20-60 years old with 40% of the participants holding a bachelor degree, 48% an entry-level masters degree in physical therapy (MPT), and 18% an advanced graduate degree in addition to the MPT. Years of experience ranged from 0-33 years. Participants were recruited through electronic mail. Accepted study participants completed both an online demographics questionnaire and the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA), a measure of critical thinking skills. The WGCTA has been shown to have both validity and reliability, in addition to being a widely used critical thinking appraisal tool. Two one-way ANOVA (analysis of variance) revealed a significant difference between critical thinking scores of those with less than one year experience compared to those with greater than 10 years of experience, and a significant difference between critical thinking scores of those with a bachelor degree compared to those with an MPT degree. A 3 x 3 ANOVA revealed no significant difference when looking at the interaction between participants with a bachelor degree and less than 10 years of experience compared to participants with a doctorate and greater than 10 years of experience. This suggests years of experience and level of education alone are not enough to affect critical thinking scores. Further, the WGCTA may not be an appropriate assessment tool when assessing critical thinking skills of persons with post graduate degrees.