Forum - Fall 2012
Table of Contents
Regular Columns:
Additional Articles:
Here’s a quick look at the FSBPT calendar for 2013.
The Next 25 Years
Well, I am not so bold as to predict the next 25 years! But I do want to share some of the projects and upgrades you will see in the near future.
FSBPT Resources
The Federation has a wealth of resources available to physical therapy board administrators to assist us in our job of protecting the public. Here are just some of those resources.
Licensure Portability and Military Spouses
There are many unique challenges faced by the US military’s men and women and their families. Families often spend long periods of time separated from each other, family, and friends. It is not unusual for a military family to move every two to three years, having to rebuild their professional and social support systems. Although fully aware of these challenges, the military spouses are often surprised by the difficulty in securing employment and maintaining professional licensure. This is not a problem unique to licensed physical therapists and physical therapist assistants, but for any of the estimated 34% of military spouses in the labor force required to hold a professional license in order to work in his/her field.
Candidate Fired Up For Exam
With the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1992 and the regulations promulgated thereafter, many examination entities like the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT) have addressed requests for accommodations by otherwise qualified examination candidates entitled to modifications in the examination experience. The ADA is intended to ensure that all examinees are provided with an equal opportunity to substantiate the knowledge, skills and abilities intended to be tested on the assessment instrument.
Three board members discuss their experiences with implementing continuing competence rules in their states, telling readers what worked well and what they might do differently in the future.
Beginning with the first testing date in January 2013, the NPTE-PT and NPTE-PTA examinations will be based on new content outlines. These changes are necessary to keep pace with the changing practice requirements for entry-level physical therapists and physical therapist assistants. This article briefly describes the changes to the content specifications for the NPTE examinations, the revision of the passing standard to match the new content outlines, and the changes to the NPTE scaled scores that will be introduced in 2013.
In January 2010, the Foreign Educated Standards Committee (FES) began creating tools for supervised clinical practice (SCP). The committee believes SCP is a very important component of ensuring competence of foreign-educated physical therapists (FEPT).
Periodically we hear stakeholders mention the need for a self-assessment resource for physical therapists to complete.
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A resource that serves as an objective measurement of the knowledge required to practice entry-level physical therapy.
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A resource that PTs can use as guidance in developing a customized and meaningful continuing competence development plan.
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And finally, a resource that meets many states’ continuing competence/continuing education requirements for renewal.
The good news is such a resource does exist. It is the Practice Review Tool (PRT).
The movement of services, people and ideas has been part of the world for hundreds of years. The “silk road” from China through Europe (500 to 800 CE) embodies a lot of the resulting good from moving across countries and sharing ideas. When it occurs, we obviously face many challenges, but it also adds value and richness to our profession.
Board meeting information may be disseminated electronically, by paper or by a combination of both. For the past year, the New Jersey State Board of Physical Therapy, which convenes for full-day meetings once a month, has been exclusively using an electronic service, Bright Star, instead of paper.
Alarming data on security breaches – item harvesting - has warranted a quick response. Last year, PT NPTE testing transitioned to fixed-date events and this year, PTA NPTE testing did the same. But while we could immediately get exams out there for fixed-date testing, there remain administrative items that need to be addressed.
Even though the physical therapist assistant has been around for more than 40 years, there are still areas of debate regarding the position. Two current issues are the transition to a bachelor degree model and the increasing number of PTA education programs.