Orthopaedic Physical Therapy: Update to the Description of Specialty Practice

Descriptive, cross-sectional observational study.

In the physical therapist profession, the outcomes of specialty practice analyses are used to determine content areas for specialty board examinations and for American Physical Therapy Association (APTA)-accredited residency curricula. To maintain currency for specialty practices, the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties (ABPTS) requires any approved specialty area to revalidate its Description of Specialty Practice (DSP) a minimum of every 10 years.

The purpose of this article was to describe the most recent practice analysis process and to report revisions to the DSP for orthopaedic physical therapists.

A survey instrument was developed by a group of subject matter experts, following guidelines established by the ABPTS. The survey was sent electronically to a random sample of 800 orthopaedic certified specialists (OCSs). The survey contained 5 sections: (1) knowledge areas (eg, human anatomy and physiology); (2) professional roles, responsibilities, and values (eg, consultation); (3) patient/client management model (eg, examination); (4) percentage of body regions treated; and (5) demographic information.

A total of 224 completed surveys and 43 partially completed surveys were submitted, for a response rate of 33.4%. Based on a priori decision rules regarding survey data, consensus of the group of subject matter experts, and ABPTS suggestions, the DSP for orthopaedic physical therapy was revised.

The revised DSP will be used to reconstruct the blueprint for future OCS examinations, APTA-accredited orthopaedic residency program curricula, as well as professional development activities related to recertification in orthopaedic physical therapy.