Title of Journal

Article__The Doctorate of Physical Therapy: Clinical and Academic Physical Therapists’’ perception of appropriate curricular changes_____

Title of Journal: Journal of Physical Therapy Education

Volume_____________21(1)_________ Date _Spring_/__2007____ Page Number(s) ___3-13_______

·          What organization is responsible for publishing the journal you chose?

American Physical Therapy Association Education Section

·          What is your overall evaluation of this article?

_____Poor          ______Fair            ______Good        _______Very Good       __X___Excellent

·          Why did you choose to review this particular article?

This article is part of the literature review for my thesis.  It discusses what areas of content need to be added to current PT education and the differing degrees to which academic and clinical PTs feel these areas should be considered in light of the move to the DPT.  This would parallel some of my research for the PTA’s education.

·          How would you rate this article as a tool for teaching a student about cardiopulmonary physiology, radiography, or another allied health specialty? 

Students:               ____Poor       ____Fair       _____Good     _____Very Good      __X__Excellent

Teachers:               ____Poor       ____Fair       _____Good     _____Very Good      __X__Excellent

Patients:                ____Poor       __X__Fair       _____Good     _____Very Good      ____Excellent

·          Comment on the readability of this article. 

This article is clearly written for the field of physical therapy and its intended readers are clinical and academic PTs.  It is not an article written for a layperson.  PT and PTA educators can use this information to help form and change their current curriculum.

·          Course Topics covered:

Survey, questionnaires, return rate of mailed surveys, statistical significance, Chi square test, cross tabulations, Likert scale, limitations (APTA members), random selection , sample size, IRB approval

·          Brief Summary:

This article purposes were to (1)"examine what clinical and academic physical therapists think should be added to physical therapist  education curricula in order produce autonomous professional entry level physical therapist graduates as PT programs make the transition from the entry level master of physical therapy degree to the entry level doctor of physical therapy degree, (2)identify the changes physical therapist educators are making to the curriucla...and (3) to analyze similarities and discrepancies between the clinical and academic PTs thinking.”

The article states that both academic and clinical PTs feel that all 12 practice areas listed are important to add to DPT curriculum.  They however somewhat disagree about which areas were of most importance in that clinical PTs identified all areas as important and academic PTs identified less importance on some of the areas.

The article does go on to state that this discrepancy my be at least in part to the fact that academic PTs would be the ones making the changes in the curriculum which would essentially more work load, versus a possible perception that the items mentioned my be perceived as better taught in the clinical setting.

Nonetheless, there were definite feelings that all areas of specialty be added or expanded in the curriculum.

·          Identify and attempt to explain three (3) terms, procedures or concepts that were unfamiliar to you when reviewing this article.

I am least familiar with the process of statistical analysis.  In that there are Chi squares.  With a quick internet search I have found that “The purpose of Chi square testing is to determine whether the observed frequencies (counts) markedly differ from the frequencies that we would expect by chance.” (http://www.statpac.com/statistics-calculator/counts.htm).  Honestly beyond this, I am clueless when it comes to statistical analysis.

I have never heard of cross tabulations.  But, with a quick trip to Wikipedia, I have learned that “a cross tabulation (often abbreviated as cross tab) displays the joint distribution of two or more variables.”  When I looked at their example, it basically seems like a way to present information with several variables.

All of the other terms and items I was at least basically knowledgeable about.  I will soon be seeing how involved the IRB process is.

·          Detail the strengths/weaknesses of this article.

I did not see a weakness in this article.  They stated their purpose clearly.  They appeared to have sufficient sampling size with sufficient return rates.  They used statistical analysis to evaluate their findings.  They plainly stated their limitations.  They offered comment to future research.  This article was current and of true relevance to my profession and my thesis topic.

·          How might this article be useful to you in your further studies and career?

I will no doubt use the findings from this article to develop my thesis around the gap between the DPT and the associates level educated PTA.  I can use this information about the 12 areas of interest to help guide the direction of proposed hypothesis for the PTA’s education.

·          Does the article include a list of references/citations that can be used to find more information on the topics they cover? 

This article had a total of 24 references.  Of these, most were from this decade.  Some showed parallels from other health care arenas and their pursuit of postbaccalaureate level education such as nursing.  This seems to be a very well written scholarly journal article.