International Professional Practice Standards for Clinical Exercise Physiology: Consensus Statement

Professional standards are used to inform and measure educational programs and individual credentialling of many professions, including those in allied health. The objective of this project was to develop consensus on international professional standards for clinical exercise physiologists. The project employed an e-Delphi approach to build a consensus, being guided by a steering committee and an expert working group. The expert working group reviewed the elements and the steering committee overviewed the results of each round. The expert working group were invited to consider whether elements should be included or excluded and, if to be included, whether these should be core or non-core. The wording of the elements was also checked for accuracy. To be included in the end professional standards and as core, each element required 80% consensus from the expert working group. The e-Delphi process found consensus on four overarching professional standard domains for clinical exercise physiology: professional practice; foundational knowledge; assessment and client management; and case formulation and design and delivery of evidence-based interventions. Consensus was also achieved on individual elements. All bar two of the elements were accepted as core, with these two both being included in the professional standards since they were close to meeting the 80% consensus threshold and because they are reflected in the clinical exercise physiology professional standards where this profession is established. The international professional standards consensus has been achieved with the aim of supporting the development of a standardised approach to international education and practice in clinical exercise physiology.