Purpose: This study aimed to determine entry-level characteristics of new Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) graduates from the perspective of physical therapist employers (PTE), academic faculty (PTF), and final affiliation clinical instructors (CI); determine consensus of those characteristics; and determine if new DPT graduates met entry-level expectations in the adult, acute rehabilitation practice setting or where they have fallen short of expectations. Subjects: Participants included 35 CIs, 40 PTEs, and 43 PTFs, recruited from CARF accredited adult, acute rehab facilities (PTEs and CIs) and PT education programs with DPT graduates (PTFs). Method: A 4-round classic Delphi study was conducted with 3 participant panels through SurveyMonkey TM . Participants rated suggested characteristics and definitions for agreement and ranked them for importance on 5-point Likert scales ranging from “strongly disagree ” to “strongly agree ” and “very unimportant ” to “very important ”, respectively. Controlled feedback to participants included median and interquartile range with a summary of rating rationale responses by round. Results: Percent response of Likert scale agreement ratings and importance rankings determined consensus for “strongly agree ” and “very important ”. Overall Delphi study participation was 60.2%. Agreement and importance opinions of 53 participant generated entry-level characteristics and definitions showed a lack of consensus amongst participants. Five characteristics met 80% consensus for importance: safe, ethical, integrity, communication, and recognition of red flags for PT; only safe achieved consensus for agreement. Seventy-nine percent of participants agreed that new DPT graduates are meeting expectations, 15% agreed with concerns and 6% disagreed. Conclusions: Results appear to indicate consensus of select entry-level characteristics and majority agreement that new DPT graduates are meeting expectations albeit with some concerns in the adult, acute rehab practice setting. Agreement ratings and importance rankings appear to indicate divergence in opinions of new graduate characteristics. Recommendations: Further investigation is needed to understand differences in participant group opinions of entry-level expectations and determine consensus in other practice settings.

A good professional-patient relationship is important to clinical practice, which may be compromised by deception. Deception research in physical therapy is scant. The current study investigated how the topic of patient deception is addressed in Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) educational curriculum, explore DPT students’ beliefs about deception and attitudes toward patient deception, and examine the effects of a pedagogical intervention on DPT students’ beliefs about deception and attitudes toward patient deception. The first objective was pursued by a descriptive survey sent to 217 DPT programs in the US. The second and third objectives were achieved by one-group pretest-posttest design provided to 17 DPT students before and after an educational workshop. Most DPT programs minimally include the topic of patient deception within their curriculum. DPT students held several inaccurate beliefs about the indicators of deception and negative attitudes toward patients who lied. After the educational intervention, students’ inaccurate beliefs were corrected and negative attitudes were reduced. Patient deception seems to be an under-addressed topic in current physical therapy education. An education workshop improved students’ beliefs about deception and attitudes toward to patient deception. Implications of deception research and theory in the applied practice of physical therapy are discussed.

ETSU implemented the first year of a 2-year longitudinal IPE experience within the five colleges of the ETSU Academic Health Sciences Center (AHSC). The four educational competencies of IPEC were used to create experience threads. Each semester two experience threads are covered; one consists of a simulation experience to practice the foundational principles in a safe environment, and the other a field experience to implement the foundational principle in a clinical setting.The majority of the content for experience threads and simulation experiences were implemented for three cohorts of students, however, field experiences continued to lack engagement and appropriate focus. This poster will show that redesigning the approach for identifying protected IPE time, restructuring the Community Engagement Working Group, providing tools to increase student engagement and improving communication of site expectations, led to a successful pilot program that assisted with integration of the clinical environment into the first year of the longitudinal experience.Early feedback led to increased and timelier communication between site leaders and faculty facilitators, and more curricular exposure for site leaders. When comparing fall (N=224) and spring (N=157) semesters, the student evaluation of the field experience showed an increase in student engagement and satisfaction. Spring (N=47) faculty evaluations rated the clinical sites more appropriate to meet the needs of the community engagement opportunity than they had in the fall Semester (N=44). The patient sharing their story and interacting with the team members were a key factor in faculty and student satisfaction.The clinical environment can be integrated into the core IPE curriculum with appropriate planning, communication and resources.

The researcher utilized the 2007 American College Personnel Association (ACPA) Steering Committee on Professional Competencies report, Professional Competencies, to determine the importance of a set of competencies for work in entry-level student affairs positions. The researcher also studied whether there were any differences in importance of these competencies based on functional area (e.g., residence life/housing, student activities) and institutional type (i.e., four-year public and four-year private). Via an online questionnaire, the researcher sent the list of competencies to a sample of 970 members of ACPA who were self-selected as entry-level members and received 224 usable responses. Of the 75 individual competency items studied, 66 were found to be, minimally, 'important' for entry-level positions overall, thus reinforcing the fact that entry-level practitioners need a wide array of competencies to perform the responsibilities within their positions. Competencies related to advising and helping others, including students and colleagues, were rated the highest, while those related to the legal foundations of the field were rated the lowest, yet still at least 'somewhat important.' Several significant differences were found between groups within the studied demographic variables and the degree of importance of the competencies. Specifically, there were very few significant differences in the degree of importance of competencies based on respondent institutional type. Compared to other demographic items, functional area by far indicated the most significant differences between groups.

No description available.

The medical laboratory science (MLS) profession is in need for published molecular diagnostics competency-based standards and curriculum. To assess their expectations of new MLS graduates, professionals performing and supervising performance of clinical molecular assays were surveyed to rate the importance of relevant cognitive and psychomotor learning objectives. A modified, asynchronous, iterative online Delphi process was utilized for assessment of consensus on the importance of the objectives. The survey was delivered through online REDCap application. Program directors of 221 MLS programs accredited by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Science (NAACLS) were asked to forward the first Delphi survey to target participants at their affiliated clinical sites. Ninety-four experts submitted complete surveys, including 88 who provided email addresses, indicating agreement to participate in future Delphi rounds. Most of the participants were certified by ASCP or NCA (81.9%), had over 10 years of laboratory experience (76.6%), and worked in a hospital setting (43.6%). The reliability of the surveys, assessed using Cronbach’s alpha, was 0.96 and 0.97. In the second survey, the objectives assigned low importance by the majority were removed; and others, assigned high importance were expanded. Respondents were given the opportunity to confirm or change their opinion on the objectives after reviewing quantitative results and narrative comments collected in the preceding survey. Upon completion of the Delphi process, 25 essential items were identified as necessary for inclusion in the entry-level MLS curriculum. These concepts and objectives focused on basic molecular biology principles and general molecular laboratory operations, including practical knowledge of techniques designed to maintain specimen integrity and intense theoretical background of the polymerase chain reaction, as well as comprehension of the principles of laboratory assays designed for pathogens most commonly tested for using molecular methods. In this study, the investigator also provided information on the preferred number of contact hours devoted to each group of the identified essential items. The goal of creating the list of essential concepts and objectives was to share it with MLS educators, the NAACLS and the provider of MLS certification exam, the American Society for Clinical Pathology Board of Certification (ASCP-BOC), to contribute to the existing exam content guidelines.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed June 30, 2010). Additional advisors: Loretta A. Cormier, James C. McCroskey, Larry Powell. Includes bibliographical references (p. 25-29).

No description available.

Graduate employability skills have become one of the most important topics on the higher education agenda in the first decade of the 21st century. In the United States, and throughout the world, global competition, growth of a knowledge-based economy, technological advances, and the multigenerational workforce have combined to substantially alter the contemporary workplace (Gedye & Chalkey, 2006). Whether by choice or circumstance, the expectation of a secure lifelong position with one employer and the opportunity for linear career progression are no longer typical nor practical in the contemporary workplace (Harvey, Locke, & Morey, 2002). Employability skills are those skills, attributes, and behaviors, e.g., communication skills, problem-solving, organization, and planning, that bridge most disciplines, industries, and employing organizations. They have the greatest impact on the sustained, productive, successful employment of graduates (Cranmer, 2006; Gedye, Fender, & Chalkey, 2004). The purpose of this study was to (a) identify the employability skills employers perceive to be important for entry-level management/management-in-training positions in the hospitality industry, (b) to establish employability skills competency levels employers expect for these positions, and (c) to garner employer perceptions of Rosen College of Hospitality Management (RCHM) interns’ and new graduates’ employability skills competence for entry-level management/management-in-training positions in the hospitality industry. The findings add to the body of literature and provide insight into the need for further employability skills development of students prior to graduation and entrance into iv the workforce. Additionally, the study provides information and insight for faculty, career services, and experiential learning professionals regarding the skills students currently possess, the need for further skills development, and those skills employers deem most important

No description available.