Development of Evaluation Items for Physical Therapy Clinical Practice

Objective: This study aimed to present practice guidelines regarding what physical therapy students must learn during clinical training and how to evaluate them. Design: Design and development research. Methods: A Delphi survey was conducted among 16 experts. Experts who participated in the study were asked to respond to 15 musculoskeletal, 14 nervous, and 12 physical factor therapy items through an online survey with a 5-point Likert score for each item regarding suitability and importance. Results: After defining the core basic physical therapy skills that students in the Department of Physical Therapy must learn through clinical practice and evaluating them, the experts were of a strong opinion that among the specific fields of physical therapy, evaluation items related to the musculoskeletal, nervous, and cardiorespiratory systems were critical. In contrast, physical factor therapy exhibitedpoor outcomes. Conclusions: In a previous study, opinions on the specialties of physical therapists were collected from current physical therapists and the field of physical factor therapy was found to be limited. This reflects the perception that electrical treatment has been commonly used in the field of physical therapy and does not require deep expertise among clinicians. Physical therapy clinical practice guidelines and efficient surgical plans for clinical practice were presented. We believe that these guidelines can be applied in hospitals where physical therapy students will undergo clinical training in the future.