Priest A, Granier S, Lowe J, Nelson S, Smith R; Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX. andrew.priest@clarke.edu

PURPOSE: The American Physical Therapy Association first published the Guide to Physical Therapist Practice (Guide) in 1999 with a second edition in 2001. It was designed to serve as a resource for clinicians, educators, administrators, and third-party payers (2^nd edition, 2001). This 2002 study was designed to identify the awareness, opinions, and utilization of the Guide among physical therapists serving as clinical instructors (CIs) and supervisors of physical therapists. SUBJECTS: The subjects were recruited from the database of 235 clinical education affiliates who have clinical education contracts with Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Subjects included physical therapists serving as CIs and their respective supervisors. METHODS: Mailing and handling of the surveys followed established survey research standards. The survey instrument included demographic questions and questions using a Likert scale. ANALYSIS: Frequency distributions were calculated for the demographic section responses. A chi-square analysis, point biserial correlation coefficient, and Fisher’s exact tests were used to assess the correlation of CIs’ and supervisors’ awareness, opinions, and utilization of the Guide to their respective demographic data. A chi-square analysis was performed to compare the CI data and the supervisor data. RESULTS: Eighty-one supervisors and 82 CIs responded to the survey (34.7% response rate). Seventy-one (81%) CIs and 75 (93%) supervisors indicated they were aware of the Guide. At least 70% of respondents indicated that they "almost never" or "never" utilized the Guide under any given circumstances in the questionnaire. Fifty-four (76%) of the CIs and 44 (61%) of the supervisors reported they "agreed" or "strongly agreed" that continuing education on how to effectively use the Guide would be beneficial. Statistically significant correlations were found between CIs’ membership in APTA and their Guide awareness, between supervisors’ membership in APTA and their Guide awareness, as well as between supervisors’ years of experience and their Guide awareness. The responses of CIs and supervisors exhibited no differences in their opinions, or utilization of the Guide. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of respondents was aware of and has positive opinions of the Guide, yet reported "almost never" or "never" utilizing the Guide. If the Guide to Physical Therapist Practice is to become a more valuable resource for clinicians, then an important component of that effort must include a continued and deepened emphasis on the use the Guide and its language in the curriculum, especially in clinical education, by physical therapy education programs. FUNDING SOURCE: None.

Copyright 2004 by the American Physical Therapy Association

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