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Vision 2020: Professionalism Element
Professionalism Measurement:
The ability to measure professionalism within any discipline is not an
easy endeavor given the breadth and depth of concepts associated with
professionalism, how professionalism may change over time with
experience and clinical mastery, and the ability to adequately define
valid and reliable measures that incorporate behaviors, values, and
attitudes. Other professions are confronted by the challenge of
assessing and measuring professionalism for the purpose of admissions,
student professional educational preparation, and clinical practice for
practitioners. The assessment of professionalism is one of the more
challenging areas that many professions are wrestling with at this time.
In March 2006, the APTA Board of Directors approved an exploration with
other doctoring professions (ie, Medicine, Pharmacy, Audiology,
Osteopathy, Dentistry, Nursing, Psychology, and the National Board of
Medical Examiners) of the measurement of interprofessional
professionalism facilitated by the Director of Academic/Clinical
Education Affairs. This group has compiled key resources and research
from the different professions, identified and defined terms associated
with professionalism applicable to all involved doctoring professions,
and identified a series of steps and initiatives that could lead to the
collaborative development of a mechanism to measure interprofessional
professionalism.
The Consultant Group on Interprofessional Professionalism in 2008-09
provided panel presentations to the various representative professions
at each of their national conferences. Members of this group shared
their work in-progress to stimulate participant thinking, facilitate
discussion about interprofessional professionalism across the varied
representative professions involved in this process, and provide
participants with an opportunity to provide direct feedback about a set
of interprofessional professionalism behaviors through an online survey.
The opportunities for engaging in and expanding discussion about
interprofessional professionalism and for continued collaboration with
other health professions are plentiful and will continue to drive the
process associated with this consultant group. Presentations were
provided at the 2008 Combined Sections Meeting, 13th Ottawa Conference
on Clinical Competence in Melbourne, Australia, American Dental
Education Association, and the American Association of Colleges of
Osteopathic Medicine, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy,
Association of American Medical Colleges, American Psychological
Association, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and the
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. In 2009, the Consultant
Group is planning submission of their first article of the work
in-progress and will be developing a second survey that refines the 43
interprofessional professionalism behaviors based on feedback from a
variety of stakeholders. This survey will be disseminated to a wider
group of health professions to obtain specific feedback on these 43
behaviors in terms of their observability and measurability.
So how can you become involved in the conversation?
You are invited to review and comment on the draft of observable
interprofessional professionalism behaviors and share your thoughts in
response to four questions posed for all of the involved professions to
discuss. To access this information as well as interprofessional
literature and evidence related to professionalism, please go to the
Interprofessional Professionalism WIKI page at http://ippmg.pbwiki.com. To access this site, you
will need to enter the password: ippmg.com. So take the
time to get involved in the conversation and to contribute to the
ongoing study about interprofessional professionalism behaviors!
NOW Available!
Professionalism Series:
The APTA Board of Directors appointed a Task Force on
Professionalism that has been working in conjunction with staff in the
Department of Academic/Clinical Education Affairs the past two years to
develop content for a web-based instructional course that will be
accessible to physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, and
students. The first three modules in the series are available through
the APTA Learning Center that can be accessed by clicking
here. This comprehensive series will consist of 12 Modules on topics
related to Professionalism (eg, introduction and terminology, history of
professionalism in physical therapy, ethical compass and ethical
decision-making, cultural competence, emotional intelligence,
communication, patient-therapist relationship, etc) along with
reflective questions, case situations, discussion board, and assessment
questions. This instructional course will provide a tool that can be
used by clinicians within clinical practice, students during their
educational preparation, faculty to supplement their teaching, and by
others utilizing a variety of learning approaches. The first 3 modules
that are available are also required as a prerequisite assignment for
completing the Advanced Clinical Instructor Education and Credentialing
Program for Credentialed Physical Therapist Clinical Instructors
launched January 2008. Four additional modules in the Professionalism
Series are planned for the APTA Learning Resource Center in 2009.
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