[Physiotherapy Education in Germany: Ready for Direct Access?]

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Physical Therapy
• Curriculum Development

Background:

• The World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) provides guidelines for professional entry-level physical therapist education.
• These guidelines aim to ensure physical therapists can practice independently without prior referral.
• Assessing national curricula against international standards is crucial for quality assurance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate German physiotherapy education curricula against the WCPT guideline for professional entry-level education.
• To determine if German curricula prepare physical therapists for autonomous practice as defined by the WCPT.
• To identify specific areas where German physiotherapy education may fall short of international standards.

Main Methods:

• Content analysis of the WCPT guideline to create assessment dimensions.
• Expert validation of assessment dimensions using Lawshe's method.
• Evaluation of German Training and Examination Regulations for Physiotherapists (PhysTh-AprV) and regional curricula by independent coders.

Main Results:

• High content validity (0.84) and intercoder reliability (0.71-0.97) were achieved in the assessment.
• German curricula demonstrated strong alignment with the WCPT guideline in theoretical foundational subjects.
• Significant heterogeneity was found in meeting requirements, with a notable lack of specialized competencies for autonomous practice.

Conclusions:

• No German educational standard fully aligns with WCPT expectations for direct-access autonomous practice.
• Existing German physiotherapy curricula require significant updates to address identified deficits.
• The findings necessitate a re-evaluation of physiotherapy education standards within the current health policy discourse.