COLLABORATION BETWEEN PHYSICAL THERAPISTS AND PHYSICAL THERAPIST ASSISTANTS: FOSTERING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PREFERRED RELATIONSHIP WITHIN A CLASSROOM SETTING. Margaret Plack*2,1; Susan Williams1; Donna Miller1; Fareen Malik1; Janice Sniffen1; Brian Davis1; Grace Gilner3,1 1. Physical Therapy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY; 2. Physical Therapy, The George Washington University, Washington, DC; 3. Physical Therapist Assistant Program, Nassau Community College, Uniondale, NY PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate an instructional model designed to educate 1st year PT students about the educational training and appropriate clinical utilization of the PTA as well as begin to foster the development of the preferred practitioner relationship within the classroom setting. BACKGROUNDS/SIGNIFICANCE: In healthcare today more than ever physical therapists (PT) must be educated about the role of the physical therapist assistant (PTA). Although the position of the PTA was created over 35 years ago issues of delegation, supervision, and the preferred relationship between PTs and PTAs remains controversial, and for some ill-defined. SUBJECTS: Thirty-four 1st year students from the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program at Stony Brook University (SBU-DPT), and 22 - 2nd year PTA students from Nassau Community College (NCC-PTA) participated in this collaborative educational experience. In addition, 24-2nd year and 22-3rd year PT students from SBU, who had not participated in this educational experience, completed a content-related questionnaire. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The SBU-DPT and NCC-PTA students participated in a joint classroom experience designed to educate the PT students about the clinical utilization of PTAs. A 17-item pre-test / post-test questionnaire was designed to capture the 1st year SBU-DPT students' baseline and post education knowledge regarding the role and clinical utilization of the PTA. For comparison, the same questionnaire, with the addition of one question, was administered to 2nd and 3rd year PT students who had not participated in this educational experience. Two focus groups, one consisting of 5 PT student participants and the other 6 PTA student participants, were formed to obtain the participants' perceptions of the process and outcome of this teaching methodology. ANALYSES: Paired t-tests were used to determine if a difference existed between the pre-test and post-test scores of the 1st year DPT students. A one-way ANOVA was used to determine if differences existed among the post-test scores of the 1st year students and test scores of the 2nd and 3rd year students. A post-hoc Scheffe Comparison of Means was utilized to identify specific pair wise differences between the three groups. An alpha level of 0.05 was established for this study. RESULTS: The mean increase in pre-test / post-test scores for 1st year DPT students was 15.3, demonstrating a significant difference between test scores, using t- test analysis (p<0.0000). An ANOVA performed on post test data of all three years of PT students, demonstrated a significant difference between groups (p=0.0265). A post- hoc Scheffe Comparison of Means demonstrated a significant difference between the post-test scores between 1st and 2nd year students; but no significant difference between 1st and 3rd year and between 2nd and 3rd year students. In the focus groups, PT and PTA students confirmed the existence of the misconceptions evident in the literature; they discussed the importance of the material presented and shared their reactions to the collaborative processes; finally they discussed the process and outcomes of this instructional design, as well as recommendations for future courses. PT and PTA students both commented positively on the collaborative experiential process. PTA students found the experience particularly satisfying since they were able to educate future colleagues about their role. Given that this experience was so early in their curriculum, PT students felt at a disadvantage with respect to their level of knowledge. Both groups suggested this collaborative model be continued since they felt they had developed a greater appreciation for the preferred relationship. CONCLUSIONS: Both quantitative and qualitative data suggest that this model is an effective method of teaching PT students about the role of the PTA in the clinical setting and provides a mechanism to begin to foster the development of the preferred relationship within the classroom setting. FUNDING SOURCE: None KEYWORDS: Supervision, Delegation, Physical Therapist Assistant, Preferred Relationship, Role Copyright 2009 by the American Physical Therapy Association. 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