Competency-Based Education and Collaboration Within a Professional Association: Navigating Uncharted Territory for the Public Good

• In Event: Competency-Based Education in the Health Professions: Using Applied Research to Improve Learner and Societal Outcomes

Abstract

Introduction/purpose: Competency-based education (CBE) is more than an educational process or method of assessing learning progression and tracking outcomes--it is a philosophical approach to facilitating learning that capitalizes on situated experiences.1 Health professionals education has embraced various components of CBE for decades, but often with too much emphasis on technical aspects of learning rather than ensuring that societal needs are met. Physical therapist education in the United States has always valued workplace learning; however, the approach has not been grounded in a CBE framework.2-4 The purpose of this paper is to describe how three related organizations that address physical therapist education partnered to collaborate on priorities, including investigation of CBE approaches with education research infused throughout the process.

Case Information: Three organizational stakeholders, the American Council of Academic Physical Therapy (ACAPT), the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), and the Academy of Physical Therapy Education (APTE), have significant roles related to physical therapist education. The APTA serves more than 100,000 members of the profession. APTE, a subgroup of APTA, serves the more than 3,100 individual members who selectively belong to this organization that supports educational interests. ACAPT, an independent component of APTA, is comprised of physical therapist educational institutions and works to advance physical therapist education. In 2016, these organizations created the Education Leadership Partnership with the belief that collectively the “group would have a more global perspective than that of any one of the participating organizations” in order to better meet the needs of society.

Action: The work of the partnership focuses on recommendations from two national task forces, both of which included the need to address learner outcomes and use education research to guide decision making. The partners prioritized five areas of work from these recommendations: Education research, clinical education, outcomes, essential resources, and academic-clinical partnerships. The partners also agreed to develop a long-term strategic plan for the future of physical therapist education, adopting a phased process, which included a series of strategy meetings to investigate each component of the work identified. Competency-based education was a major discussion point at the meetings held to date: education research, clinical education, and outcomes.

Outcomes: Work from the Education Research Strategy Meeting resulted in the publication of one article, and 5 national presentations specific to CBE opportunities, and included findings and experts from education, medicine, and pharmacy. Work from the Clinical Education Strategy Meeting identified the need to develop consensus on outcomes and to develop CBE assessment tools. The Outcomes Strategy Meeting focused on identifying what competency-based framework(s) would best meet the needs of the profession, and to determine the expected competencies of physical therapists at entry into practice (discussed further in Paper 4).

Discussion: Based on years of history, it is unlikely that the physical therapist education community would have adopted such a unified investigation of CBE opportunities without connecting organizational stakeholders and external collaborators. These organizations have collaborated to leverage the interest of the broader physical therapy education community to improve learner outcomes in interest of the public good.

Author

• Steven Chesbro, American Physical Therapy Association