Clinical Education Terminology Updates
In response to the call for increased consistency in physical therapy clinical education following the 2014 Clinical Education Summit, the American Council of Academic Physical Therapy (ACAPT) tasked a panel of clinical educators to produce a glossary of terms for physical therapy education. The adopted glossary was published in Physical Therapy https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/pzy075 and is posted publicly on the ACAPT website. Many of the 34 terms remained the same, but highlighted below are a few important updates that we wanted to bring to your attention.
1. Site Coordinator of Clinical Education (SCCE)
2. Clinical Education Experience
3. Internship
4. Full-time clinical experience (first, intermediate, terminal)
5. Integrated Clinical Experience (ICE)
6. Preceptor
7. Clinical Instructor
As we enter into another physical therapy clinical education cycle, we first want to thank all of you for your amazing contributions to educating future physical therapists and physical therapist assistants. In response to the call for increased consistency in physical therapy clinical education following the 2014 Clinical Education Summit, the American Council of Academic Physical Therapy (ACAPT) tasked a panel of clinical educators to produce a glossary of terms for physical therapy clinical education. The resulting glossary developed through a consensus-based process is published in Physical Therapy https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/pzy075 and is available publicly on the American Council of Academic Physical Therapy (ACAPT) website (https://acapt.org/docs/default-source/pdfs/common-terminology-glossary-for-physicaltherapist-clinical-education.pdf?sfvrsn=25978bd8_2). The glossary is divided into 4 categories and includes a total of 34 terms. Many terms stayed the same, but listed below are some terms that we feel are important to review. Hopefully, the adoption and use of these terms will enhance communication among all stakeholders.
1. Site Coordinator of Clinical Education (SCCE)
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SCCE replaces the previous term Center Coordinator of Clinical Education (CCCE) reflect that clinical education occurs within varied environments
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ACAPT Glossary definition: “A professional who administers, manages, and coordinates clinical assignments and learning activities for students during their clinical education experience. In addition, this person determines the readiness of supervises for students persons to serve as preceptors and clinical instructor preceptors and clinical instructors in the delivery of clinical education experiences, communicates with the academic program regarding student performance and provides essential information to academic programs.”
2. Clinical Education Experience
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The single term clinical experience, used with clarifiers as needed (full-time, first intermediate, terminal—see additional definitions below) is preferred instead of the
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ACAPT Glossary definition: “Experiences that allow students to apply and attain professional knowledge, skills, and behaviors within a variety of environments. Experiences include those of short and long duration (e.g., part-time,full-time), provide a variety of learning opportunities, and include physical therapy services for patients/clients across the lifespan and practice settings. While the emphasis is on the development of patient/client physical therapy skills, experiences may also include inter-professional experiences and non-patient/client service delivery such as research, teaching, supervision, and administration. Clinical education experiences are a part of the professional curriculum and include formal student assessment.”
3. Internship
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The term internship should be limited to those terminal clinical experiences that include student compensation as specified by the ACAPT glossary.e
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While specific timing for full-time clinical experiences varies across curricula, the following definitions provide a consistent descriptive framework.
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ACAPT Glossary definition: “A clinical education experience in which a student is engaged for a minimum of 35 hours per week. Full-time clinical education experiences designated to achieve the minimum number of weeks set forth by CAPTE are directed by a physical therapist clinical instructor. An integrated clinical education experience may be a full-time clinical education experience.”
o First full-time clinical education experience: “The first clinical education experience designated to achieve the minimum number of weeks set forth by CAPTE in which a student engages for a minimum of 35 hours per week.”
o Intermediate full-time clinical education experience: “A clinical education experience designated to achieve the minimum number of weeks set forth by
CAPTE in which a student engages for a minimum of 35 hours per week and returns to the academic program for further completion of the didactic
curriculum.”
o Terminal full-time clinical education experience: “A single, or set of, full-time clinical education experience(s) designated to achieve the minimum number of weeks set forth by CAPTE that occurs after the student has completed the didactic curriculum of a physical therapist professional education program. Students may return to the academic program for didactic instruction that does not require additional clinical education experiences. The expected outcome of the final, or last terminal experience is entry-level performance.” -
ACAPT Glossary definition: “A terminal full-time clinical education experience that provides recompense to participants in accordance with federal labor laws under the Fair Labor Standards Act.”
4. Full-time Clinical Education Experience
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While specific timing for full-time clinical experiences varies across curricula, the following definitions provide a consistent descriptive framework.
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ACAPT Glossary definition: “A clinical education experience in which a student is engaged for a minimum of 35 hours per week. Full-time clinical education experiences designated to achieve the minimum number of weeks set forth by CAPTE are directed by a physical therapist clinical instructor. An integrated clinical education experience may be a full-time clinical education experience.”
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First full-time clinical education experience: “The first clinical education experience designated to achieve the minimum number of weeks set forth by
CAPTE in which a student engages for a minimum of 35 hours per week.” -
Intermediate full-time clinical education experience: “A clinical education experience designated to achieve the minimum number of weeks set forth by
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CAPTE in which a student engages for a minimum of 35 hours per week and returns to the academic program for further completion of the didactic
curriculum.”
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Terminal full-time clinical education experience: “A single, or set of, full-time clinical education experience(s) designated to achieve the minimum number of
weeks set forth by CAPTE that occurs after the student has completed the didactic curriculum of a physical therapist professional education program.
Students may return to the academic program for didactic instruction that does not require additional clinical education experiences. The expected outcome ofthe final, or last terminal experience is entry-level performance.”
5. Integrated Clinical Experience (ICE)
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DPT programs are required to provide both integrated and full-time clinical education experiences within the curriculum. Clinical sites providing full-time clinical occur prior to the terminal full-time clinical education experiences. Integrated experiences are coordinated by the academic program and are driven by learning objectives that are aligned with didactic content delivery across the curricular continuum. These experiences allow students to attain professional behaviors, knowledge and/or skills within a variety of environments. The supervised experiences also allow for exposure and acquisition across all domains of learning and include student performance assessment. For integrated clinical education experiences to qualify towards the minimum number of full-time clinical education weeks required by accreditation (CAPTE) standards, it must be full time and supervised by a physical therapist within a physical therapy workplace environment or practice setting.”
6. Preceptor
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This term was added to allow designation of individuals who may be providing specific, focused learning experiences for students, but who are not a clinical
instructor (see clinical instructor definition).
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ACAPT Glossary definition: “An individual who provides short-term specialized instruction, guidance, and supervision for the physical therapist student during a
clinical education experience. This individual may or may not be a physical therapist as permitted by law.”
7. Clinical Instructor
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ACAPT Glossary definition: “The physical therapist responsible for the physical therapist student and for directly instructing, guiding, supervising, and formally
assessing the student during the clinical education experience. When engaged full-time clinical education designated to meet the minimum number of weeks
required by CAPTE, the clinical instructor must be a licensed physical therapist with a minimum of one year of full time (or equivalent) post-licensure clinical experience."
clinical education summit
Members of the New York New Jersey Consortium were well represented in the over 400 participants in the American Council on Academic Physical Therapy (ACAPT) Clinical Education Summit in Kansas City on October 12-13, 2014.
Members participated in 2 intense days of collaboration with leaders in academia, CCCEs, CIs, department directors and other stakeholders and helped to shape a shared vision of clinical education. This vision emphasizes that clinical education in physical therapy will have a common culture of teaching and learning based in strong partnerships with shared responsibility for preparing all students to enter and progress through their clinical education experiences prepared for practice.
The ACAPT will be meeting to prioritize and determine appropriate follow-up. The NYNJ clinical education consortium will also be reviewing this document, proceeding and following up with this vision as a group.
CONTINUING EDUCATION UNITS(CEUS) FOR CLINICAL INSTRUCTORS
New York CIs can now claim 0.5 CEUs for every 2 weeks of an affiliation. The cap on how many hours they can use from clinical education in a registration period is increased to 10 instead of just 6 (every 3 years).
http://www.op.nysed.gov/prof/pt/ptceapplicantinfo.htm
New Jersey continues to be at 1 credit for every 40 hours with a maximum of 4 CEs for every biennial registration period.
UNIFORM MAILING DATES FOR REQUESTING CLINICAL SLOTS
Members of the NYNJ Clinical Education Consortium support and subscribe to the March 1-15 national mailing date for clinical affiliation requests for the upcoming calendar year as per the below legislation reviewed in a October 2012 update from the Clinical Education Special Interest Group.
The Clinical Education Special Interest Group (CESIG) of the Education Section of the APTA serves the interests of individuals from academic programs and clinical facilities. The CESIG conducts meetings at the APTA national conferences in February and June.
The voluntary uniform mail-out date was implemented in 1999.
Background
At the February 1998 CESIG meeting, both the Department of Education and the CESIG presented data from surveys of ACCEs and CCCEs. There was a discussion regarding the condition of clinical education and ways of easing the load for the CCCE. A motion was made to consider the concept of a voluntary uniform mailing date for requesting clinical slots. The motion included mailing dates of January 1 through January 15, the preferred dates noted in a poll conducted by the APTA Division of Education. Discussion indicated some schools might have difficulty with those dates, as many schools are not in session during that time and a window of dates could not be agreed to. The motion containing the January dates was defeated. A second motion was made "that we voluntarily agree to a date for a national mailing request for sites by PT and PTA programs". That motion was deferred until the Scientific Meeting and Exposition in June 1998. Clinical educators in the room were encouraged to return to their consortia, clinical facilities and academic program and discuss the motion. The group recognized the impact of establishing a set of voluntary mailing dates and understood that significant compromises would be necessary in order for all programs to eventually accept the dates.
During the June 1998 CESIG business meeting in Orlando, clinical education representatives from across the country reported widespread acceptance of the concept of a uniform mailing date. The motion deferred from the February meeting "that we voluntarily agree to a date for a national mailing request for sites by PT and PTA programs" was passed unanimously.
In 2009, results of a similar survey of clinical educators indicated a strong preference to continue with the March Uniform Mailing Date between March 1 and 15 with a requested return date of April 30. The requests for slots should be for the following calendar year only.
Recent discussions among CESIG members indicate CCCEs are receiving requests and awarding placements when a clinical education course extends into the subsequent year. This is associated with longer terminal internship periods during the academic calendar that typically spans two calendar years.