Selection of clinical education centers in physical therapy

With the growing importance placed on the clinical portion of the educational preparation of health care professionals, standards with which to evaluate potential clinical education centers are needed. The primary purpose of the two-year Project on Selection of Clinical Education Sites was to provide the physical therapy profession with a set of standards and relevant evaluation forms that are clear, practical, reliable, and valid. The standards and forms can be used in all types of centers and during all phases of clinical education. This article presents the results of the project: a set of 20 standards that have been tested in a nationwide multiphase study and three evaluation forms that can be used with the standards to evaluate a clinical education program. The evaluation process based on the use of these materials has been demonstrated to be reliable and valid. The standards and evaluation forms have applicability for other allied health disciplines that use a pattern of clinical education similar to that in physical therapy education.