Needed 100 Years Ago and Still Needed Now: Leadership Through Crisis and Recovery

Leadership and physiotherapy: A scoping review

Questions

The challenges faced by healthcare organizations require effective leaders. Leadership has been extensively studied in medicine and nursing, but it is limited in physiotherapy. The objective of this study is to know and analyze the published research on the characteristics of leadership in physiotherapy.

Design

A scoping review was conducted following the PRISMA extension guidelines. MEDLINE, The Cochrane Library, PEDro, Embase, CINAHL, Web Of Science and Scopus databases were reviewed between 01/01/2000 and 30/06/2022.All quantitative studies addressing the characteristics of leadership in physiotherapy were selected. Data extraction was performed using a table including author, year of publication, country of origin, title, objective, measurement instrument, sample and main findings.

Data synthesis

The results obtained were framed within the framework for the study of leadership designed by Bolman and Deal.

Results

Eight studies were selected. The characteristics most valued or used by physiotherapists are communication, desire for continuous learning and improvement, credibility and professionalism.

Conclusion

Leadership is very important for physiotherapists, and for physiotherapy, as profession they consider it very important to have vision and to lead change. Communication skills are the most highly regarded characteristic.

Excellence in Pediatric Physical Therapy Education: Recommendations and Action Items

PURPOSE

This special communication identifies evidence-based recommendations and offers action items to facilitate the uptake of new knowledge from the National Study of Excellence in Pediatric Physical Therapy Education (NSE-Peds).

SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS

The NSE-Peds identified a conceptual framework consisting of 4 key dimensions and associated elements that dynamically interact to prepare future physical therapists to meet the needs of society. The conceptual framework serves as the Knowledge Creation component of the knowledge to action (KTA) framework, but translation into practice requires the Action Cycle, the second component of the KTA framework. Recommendations and action items provide tangible products derived from the NSE-Peds conceptual framework for application in the Action Cycle.

CONCLUSIONS

Using the KTA framework, implementation of the recommendations at the level of the individual, program, and organization should enhance pediatric physical therapy education and ultimately physical therapy care provided to children and families.

The Relationship Between Professionalism and Leadership: Parent-Child or Sibling?

Professionalism has been the foundation of physical therapy's contract with society, with the American Physical Therapy Association's (APTA) Core Values and Code of Ethics serving as its building blocks. Professional formation has focused on professionalism and has been taught in a manner that is more implicit than explicit in doctor of physical therapy (DPT) curricula. As a domain of competence, professionalism alone has not been broad enough to meet societal needs. In reaching our centennial year, many have reflected on what competencies are needed to move forward. The need for leadership competencies is not new and has been espoused by our leaders over the past 100 years. Some advocate for the adoption of leadership as a unique domain of competence, separate from the domain of professionalism, whereas others propose that either professionalism or leadership is one domain of competence that subsumes the other. The purpose of this Perspective is twofold: to compare and contrast the concepts of professionalism and leadership, and to make recommendations regarding what constitutes domains of competence within the professional formation of physical therapists. This Perspective offers recommendations addressing professional formation and the adoption of leadership and professionalism as 2 distinct domains of competence and discusses educational and clinical implications of the recommendations. This Perspective asserts that these recommendations must be adopted to move the profession forward into the next century so that physical therapists are recognized as adding value to the health care system and the evolving needs of society.

Self-Leadership Is Critical for All Physical Therapists

Evidence that supports the explicit need to develop leadership skills at all levels of clinical practice is prevalent,1-8 yet intentional development of "self-leadership" within health care, and particularly within physical therapy, remains slow, fragmented, and inconsistent. Delineation and standardization of the definition of leadership, and the approach to developing leadership skills in individuals practicing within health care continues to be debated, producing several key dilemmas. Moreover, there is a lingering misperception that developing leadership capacity is reserved for physical therapists who assume positional or formal roles as "leaders" within communities, health care organizations, practices, or teams. This misperception focuses leadership development on "leading others" rather than "leading self." Similarly, challenges exist between balancing the leadership development needs of the leader as a positional role and the act of "leading" as physical therapists practice and engage within all levels of care and within different communities-as individuals and within teams. This tension further complicates when and how best to prepare physical therapists to meet this essential skill set in clinical practice. The purpose of this perspective is to describe nonpositional self-leadership and its importance to physical therapy practice, to propose common or contemporary leadership-related terminology, and to suggest a framework for leadership development. Through accomplishing these purposes, readers may be encouraged to change and adopt recommendations.

Volunteer Leadership in the American Physical Therapy Association: A Phenomenological Study of Early Career Physical Therapists

OBJECTIVE

Professional associations rely on the work of volunteer leaders to serve their members. Little is known about the experiences of individuals who choose to seek and participate in these volunteer roles in the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the lived experience of early career professionals engaged in volunteer leadership in APTA.

METHODS

The study used a phenomenological design to explore the experience of volunteer leadership by novice physical therapists. Physical therapists holding a volunteer leadership position in APTA and in the first 7 years of clinical practice were recruited using purposeful sampling. One-on-one semistructured interviews were conducted. Following transcription, interviews were analyzed and coded using the constant comparison method.

RESULTS

Thirteen physical therapists participated. Eleven themes emerged: (1) internal factors that facilitated volunteerism-Passion, Internal drive, Always involved, Protect and advance the profession; (2) external forces that facilitated and sustained volunteer leadership-Professional role models, Meeting the leaders, Someone asked, Support of others; and (3) behaviors that sustained their involvement-Learning while doing, Future plans, and Encouraging others' involvement.

CONCLUSIONS

Novice physical therapists who volunteer for leadership roles within APTA have a passion for protecting and advancing the profession that leads to their decision to volunteer. Other members including faculty and experienced leaders in the association facilitate their initial volunteerism and help to sustain their engagement. Support from employers, including time off and flexible schedules, and making plans for future involvement were crucial to their continued volunteer activity.

IMPACT STATEMENT

Changing demographics and a limited understanding of volunteer leadership could leave APTA with a limited pool of leaders into the future. Understanding the reasons early career professionals volunteer in APTA can help develop more effective strategies to recruit and retain these leaders.