Assessment Report Template Physical Therapist Assistant Program A. Program/Discipline Mission Statement Part I-Assessment SUMMARY (2006-2007) Mission Statement The Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA) program provides physical therapist assistant education to a widely diverse student clientele. Since the educational needs of the program's constituency vary significantly, the program is committed to maintaining instructional flexibility to provide for these diverse needs; it encourages lifelong learning. The PTA program is also committed to improving student learning through continual assessment of student achievement. The Physical Therapist Assistant program fosters a sense of personal and professional integrity, ethics and responsibility, and understanding of the critical thinking and problem solving processes; it develops communication skills and promotes an awareness and acceptance of individuals and groups from various backgrounds. The physical therapist assistant program's commitment to this educational process will prepare students with the medical knowledge, clinical skills, and professional behaviors necessary to meet the challenges inherent within our complex, evolving systems of physical therapy and health care delivery. The Physical Therapist Assistant program responds to our physical therapy community including efforts to advance the recognition of the field of physical therapy and the role of PTAs within the field. We partner with area clinicians and facilities to determine and meet their needs for physical therapist assistants. Purpose: The purpose of the PTA program is to produce graduate PTAs prepared to competently perform the duties of a PTA in a variety of PT settings and to successfully complete the national license examination and obtain licensure in the state of their choice B. Intended Outcomes 1. Recall the medical knowledge necessary to perform the duties of a Physical Therapist Assistant in a variety of practice settings. 2. Demonstrate entry level clinical skills required to perform the duties of a Physical 3. Demonstrate the professional behaviors required to perform the duties of a Physical C. Benchmarks Outcome #1: Recall the medical knowledge necessary to perform the duties of a Physical 1
Method #1: Students' medical knowledge will be assessed through performance on the program s Mock Boards, a comprehensive examination of the program. Benchmark: Students in PTA 278 will achieve at least a 70% on this examination. Method #2: Students medical knowledge will be assessed through employer Benchmark: 95% of the employers will rate the students medical knowledge as acceptable or higher. Outcome #2: "Demonstrate entry level clinical skills required to perform the duties if a Physical " Method #1: Students' clinical skills will be assessed in their final clinical internships (PTA 282) by clinical instructors using the PTA Clinical Performance Instrument (version 98). Benchmark: Students in PTA 282 will achieve entry level competency in at least 13 of the 16 clinical skills included in the PTA Clinical Performance Instrument. Entry level competence is at the 100% mark on the scale of 0-100%. Method #2 Students clinical skills will be assessed through employer Benchmark: 95% of the employers will rate the students clinical skill performance as acceptable or higher. Outcome #3 Demonstrate the professional behaviors required to perform the duties of a Physical Method #1: Students' professional behaviors were assessed in their final clinical internships (PTA 282) by clinical instructors using the PTA Clinical Performance Instrument (version 98). Benchmark: Students in PTA 282 will achieve entry level competency in at least 6 of the 7 professional behavior skills included in the PTA Clinical Performance Instrument. Entry level competence is at the 100% mark on the scale of 0-100%. Method #2: Students professional behaviors will be assessed through employer Benchmark: 95% of the employers will rate the students professional behaviors as acceptable or higher. D. Assessment Results 1. Historical Context The PTA program has been assessing the ability of graduates to function at an entry level in a variety of setting for several years. Now that our curriculum has stabilized from the mandated changes of Common Numbering we can again look at a two cycle result period to consider cause and effect between curriculum and results. PTA students continue to perform well in 2
areas assessed and become successfully employed in the community. Despite positive results the program continues to consider improvements to our program. 2. Current Year Data Results Outcome #1: Recall the medical knowledge necessary to perform the duties of a Physical Method #1: Students' medical knowledge will be assessed through performance on the program s Mock Boards, a comprehensive examination of the program. Benchmark: Students in PTA 278 will achieve at least a 70% on this examination. Results: During the students final semester of the PTA program in 2007, 8 graduating students completed a comprehensive examination of information learned in the PTA program. This exam is designed to mimic the licensure examination designed by the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy. The benchmark of 70% was selected as it correlates with a passing score on the actual exam. In 2007, 100% of the graduating students completed their mock boards with at least 70% with the group average being 107 points of a possible 150 (71.33%). Method #2: Students medical knowledge will be assessed through employer Benchmark: 95% of the employers will rate the students medical knowledge as acceptable or higher. Results: Unfortunately, employer surveys of PTA graduates collected by ACC s institutional research does not include a high enough frequency of responses to provide any meaningful information. This is the second year in a row this has occurred. Outcome #2: "Demonstrate entry level clinical skills required to perform the duties if a Physical " Method #1: Students' clinical skills will be assessed in their final clinical internships (PTA 282) by clinical instructors using the PTA Clinical Performance Instrument (version 98). Benchmark: Students in PTA 282 will achieve entry level competency in at least 13 of the 16 clinical skills included in the PTA Clinical Performance Instrument. Entry level competence is at the 100% mark on the scale of 0-100%. The 16 clinical skills measured by this assessment included: 1. Performs in a safe manner that minimizes risk to patient, self, and others. 6. Communicates in ways that are congruent with situational needs. 3
7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Produces documentation to support the delivery of physical therapy services Delivers established patient care to reflect respect for and sensitivity to individual differences. Participates in patient status judgments within the clinical environment based on the plan of care established by the physical therapist Obtains accurate information by performing selected data collection consistent with the plan of care established by the physical therapist. Discusses the need for modifications to the plan of care by the physical therapist. Performs physical therapy interventions in a technically competent manner. Educates others (patients, family, caregivers, staff, students, other health care providers) using relevant and effective teaching methods. 14. Participates in activities addressing quality of service delivery. 15. 16. Participates in addressing patient needs for services other than physical therapy. Manages resources (e.g. time space and equipment) to achieve goals of the clinical setting. 17. Participates in fiscal management of the physical therapy setting. 18. 19. 20. Uses physical therapy aides and other support personnel according to legal standards and ethical guidelines. Implements a self directed plan for career development and lifelong leaning. Assists the physical therapist in addressing primary and secondary prevention needs of individuals and groups. Results Student Total Competencies Completed Competencies completed at 100% Competency number and competency level if less than 100% Competency not observed during internship 1 15 15 N/A 15 2 15 15 N/A 15 3 16 16 N/A N/A 4
4 16 16 N/A N/A 5 16 16 N/A N/A 6 16 16 N/A N/A 7 16 16 N/A N/A 8 14 14 N/A 15,16 Method #2 Students clinical skills will be assessed through employer Benchmark: 95% of the employers will rate the students clinical skill performance as acceptable or higher. Results: Unfortunately, employer surveys of PTA graduates collected by ACC s institutional research does not include a high enough frequency of responses to provide any meaningful information. This is the second year in a row this has occurred. Outcome #3 Demonstrate the professional behaviors required to perform the duties of a Physical Method #1: Students' professional behaviors were assessed in their final clinical internships (PTA 282) by clinical instructors using the PTA Clinical Performance Instrument (version 98). Benchmark: Students in PTA 282 will achieve entry level competency in at least 6 of the 7 professional behavior skills included in the PTA Clinical Performance Instrument. Entry level competence is at the 100% mark on the scale of 0-100%. The 7 professional behavior skills measured by this assessment included: 2. Conducts self in a responsible manner. 3. Interacts with others in a respectful manner. 4. Adheres to ethical standards. 5. Adheres to legal standards. 6. Communicates in ways that are congruent with situational needs. 8. Delivers established patient care to reflect respect for and sensitivity to individual differences. 19. Implements a self directed plan for career development and lifelong 5
leaning. Results Student Total Competencies Completed Competencies completed at 100% Competency number and competency level if less than 100% Competency not observed during internship 1 7 7 N/A N/A 2 7 7 N/A N/A 3 7 7 N/A N/A 4 7 7 N/A N/A 5 7 7 N/A N/A 6 7 7 N/A N/A 7 7 7 N/A N/A 8 7 7 N/A N/A Method #2: Students professional behaviors will be assessed through employer Benchmark: 95% of the employers will rate the students professional behaviors as acceptable or higher. Results: Unfortunately, employer surveys of PTA graduates collected by ACC s institutional research does not include a high enough frequency of responses to provide any meaningful information. This is the second year in a row this has occurred. 3. Analysis Outcome #1 Recall the medical knowledge necessary to perform the duties of a Physical 100% of the students met the benchmark in this assessment category. Because there are no pretest values, the PTA program cannot be assured that its curriculum is responsible for this learning, only that the outcome has been met. Outcome #2: "Demonstrate entry level clinical skills required to perform the duties if a Physical " 100% of the 8 students met the benchmark of achievement of entry level competency in at least 15 of 16 clinical skills included in the PTA Clinical Performance Instrument. 6
Competencies Number 15 may not be addressed at all facilities based on type of facility and services provided. The omission of these competencies does not cause concern. Competency Number 15 focuses on addressing patient needs for services other than physical therapy. This again, is a site specific skill, as many facilities do not refer patients to other practitioners on a regular basis. In comparing the results of this assessment cycle with the previous one an increase is noted in skills observed while the percentage of skills not reaching the 100% competency decreased and our benchmark for this outcome was met. Outcome #3: Demonstrate the professional behaviors required to perform the duties of a Physical 100% of the 8 students met the benchmark of achieving entry level competence on 7 of the 7 identified skills. This data is comparable to the results of the previous assessment cycle in that all of the students achieved 100% in the skills that were rated. The identification of professional behavior skills not observed did not occur this cycle nor the previous cycle fulfilling our 2 year trend requirement. E. Use of Results The consistency in the number of students included in the assessments provides the program with data that can more readily be correlated with program results than individual differences. The decrease in the number of unobserved skills suggests that the additional orientation, education and follow-up with new clinical instructors appears to be beneficial to improving the validity of the results. Additionally, the positive responses of employers confirm that ACC PTA graduates are indeed meeting program goals and objectives. For the past two assessment cycle s the PTA program has planned to utilize employer survey data collected by ACC s Institutional Research in its second method of assessment. For each of the past two years, the number of responses has been insufficient. Consequently, the PTA program will administer an employer survey itself in an effort to collect sufficient responses. These results will be shared with the program s advisory committee, students and faculty. Additionally, this data is annually reported to the Commission on Accreditation of Physical Therapy Education, albeit in a different format. A. Intended Outcomes Part II Assessment PLAN (2007-2008) 1. Demonstrate entry level clinical skills required to perform the duties of a Physical 7
2. Demonstrate the professional behaviors required to perform the duties of a Physical 3. Demonstrate math/algebra skills required for application of principles learned in Kinesiology and Modalities in PT. This is a general education outcome for quantitative reasoning. B. Identify Assessment Procedures/Methods C. Benchmarks Outcome #1: "Demonstrate entry level clinical skills required to perform the duties if a Physical " Method #1: Students' clinical skills will be assessed in their final clinical internships (PTA 282) by clinical instructors using the PTA Clinical Performance Instrument (version 98). Benchmark: Students in PTA 282 will achieve entry level competency in at least 13 of the 16 clinical skills included in the PTA Clinical Performance Instrument. Entry level competence is at the 100% mark on the scale of 0-100%. Method #2 Students clinical skills will be assessed through employer Benchmark: 95% of the employers will rate the students clinical skill performance as acceptable or higher. Outcome #2 Demonstrate the professional behaviors required to perform the duties of a Physical Method #1: Students' professional behaviors will be assessed in their final clinical internships (PTA 282) by clinical instructors using the PTA Clinical Performance Instrument (version 98). Benchmark: Students in PTA 282 will achieve entry level competency in at least 6 of the 7 professional behavior skills included in the PTA Clinical Performance Instrument. Entry level competence is at the 100% mark on the scale of 0-100%. Method #2: Students professional behaviors will be assessed through employer Benchmark: 95% of the employers will rate the students professional behaviors as acceptable or higher. Outcome #3 Demonstrate math/algebra skills required for application of principles learned in Kinesiology and Modalities in PT. Method #1: Students math/algebra skills will be assessed at the beginning of Spring semester using a quiz format. The quiz will reflect skills which should be mastered by 8
the student who has a) received a minimum of a 45 on the Algebra portion of the CPT or completed MAT090 with a C or better Benchmark: 90% of the students in PTA 140 will achieve a score of at least 85% on this algebra skills quiz. Method #2: Students math/algebra skills will be assessed through examination questions in PTA 120 and PTA 140 which require use of algebra skills to correctly administer PT modalities and exercise concepts. Benchmark: 90% of the PTA students tested in PTA120 and PTA 140 will receive no less than 85% of the points possible on these exam questions. HAVE YOU SUBMITTED A BUDGET WORKSHEET WITH THIS PLAN? YES NO Please submit this report (including both parts) in a word document to Tom DeMoulin: tom.demoulin@arapahoe.edu. Please do not submit additional attachments. All information to be posted to the website should be included within the report. 9