Physiotherapy Students' Performance in Clinical Education: An Analysis of 1 Year of Canadian Cross-Sectional Data

The Development of the Canadian Physiotherapy Assessment of Clinical Performance (ACP) 2.0 - Alignment with the 2017 Competency Profile

Purpose

Clinical education and assessment of students' performance during clinical placements are key components of Canadian entry-to-practice physiotherapy curriculum and important in developing entry-level physiotherapy practitioners. The Canadian Physiotherapy Assessment of Clinical Performance (ACP) is the measure currently used to assess physiotherapy student performance on clinical placements in most of the entry-to-practice physiotherapy programmes across Canada. The release of the 2017 Competency Profile by the National Physiotherapy Advisory Group resulted in a revision of the existing ACP. The purpose of this study is to report the process used to develop a revised version of the ACP based on the 2017 Competency Profile, henceforth called the ACP 2.0.

Method

Using a multistage process, we sought input from Canadian clinical education academics, an expert consultant panel, as well as physiotherapists across Canada using a questionnaire, meetings, and an online survey, respectively.

Results

Twelve of 15 clinical education academics responded to a questionnaire. The expert consultant panel (n = 12) met three times. There were 144 physiotherapists who initiated the national, online, survey and met the inclusion criteria; 84 completed the survey. In the ACP 2.0, rating scales and comments boxes were grouped, and additional text was added to 12 items for further clarification. The ACP 2.0 came to have 18 items and 9 comment boxes in addition to summative comments, in contrast to the original ACP's 21 items and 9 comment boxes.

Conclusions

In November 2020, Canadian clinical education academics reviewed the proposed draft ACP 2.0 and unanimously accepted it for implementation in Canadian physiotherapy university programmes.