Vendrely A; Governors State University, University Park, IL. a-vendrely@govst.edu.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between Critical Thinking (CT) skills, clinical education performance, academic performance and success on the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE) of graduates from a post-baccalaureate entry-level physical therapy program. Previous studies comparing clinical and academic performance measures have been mixed. Academic performance measures have been linked to CT skills and NPTE performance but predicting success on the NPTE is unclear. SUBJECTS: Forty-two graduates of one entry-level physical therapy program participated. The average age at completion of the program was 28.77 years (SD 3.89) with a range of 24-40 years. The sample was primarily female (69%) and White/non-Hispanic (92.9%) with the remaining 7.1% representing Asian/Pacific Islander. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Data for this study collected at the end of the academic program included scores for the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST), ratings on the Clinical Performance Instrument (CPI), and final Grade Point Average (GPA). The remaining data for the study was self-reported after graduation with each participant providing individual NPTE scores to the researcher. ANALYSES: Analysis was performed using SPSS 10.0 by creating two groups of graduates, one group who passed the NPTE on the first attempt and a second group that did not pass the NPTE on the first attempt. A Pearson product moment correlation compared the scores on the CCTST, CPI and GPA between the two groups. Analysis of variance was used to define the strength of the relationships between the variables and determine the usefulness of a regression analysis. RESULTS: Two-tailed Pearson product moment correlation of the two groups found significant relationships between CCTST scores and success on the NPTE (r = 0.35; p = .023) and between GPA and success on the NPTE (r = .334; p = .031). ANOVA results were not significant for any of the variables. CONCLUSIONS: This research indicates a relationship exists between CCTST and GPA when compared to success on the NPTE, which was not strong enough to predict success on the NPTE. Expanding the search for meaningful variables to include admission data or other program data might be helpful. FUNDING SOURCE: None.

FUNDING SOURCE: none.

Copyright 2004 by the American Physical Therapy Association

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