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Background and Purpose: Recent changes to the standards of accreditation implemented by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education require that a minimum 50% of all core faculty must hold an academic doctoral degree such as a PhD. Enforcement of these requirements will begin in 2020. Clearly, these changes will present challenges to the growing need for qualified faculty in physical therapist education programs. The purpose of this commentary is to provide a brief review of recent changes in the academic credentialing requirements for core faculty members and to offer our rationale for supporting these new standards. Reasons to Support the New Standards: The importance of maintaining the new requirements is supported by a recent decline in full-text scholarly products from core faculty across the profession, with faculty relying much more on presentation abstracts to meet accreditation requirements. The collective effect of decreased publication of full-length articles suggests that the generation of scholarly products in the field of physical therapy is at risk. In addition, a lack of scientific dissemination is likely to reduce the profession's ability to advance the profession through translational science. The minimum 50% core faculty with earned academic degrees standard also serves to aid in longevity and resultant stability of a core faculty through increased rates of successful promotion and tenure. Finally, recently published studies on methods of proposed excellence in physical therapist education suggest the need for continuing emphasis on physical therapist education in increased depth and breadth of foundation knowledge is needed to prepare graduates for a more complex health care environment. Faculty who possess terminal academic degrees in the field of physical therapy and foundational sciences are best prepared to take on this challenge. Summary: The practice of physical therapy is changing, and the education of entry- level students must adapt to keep current with those changes. We, as academic leaders in the profession, must insist on retaining, and possibly even strengthening, the requirement of a minimum 50% mix of terminally academic degreed faculty within our core faculty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which investigates controllable home health rehabilitation factors that aid in attaining positive outcome for patients following total knee arthroplasty (KA). It states that retrospective chart review and multiple regression analyses are used in the study. It notes that the total number of physical therapist (PT) visits is the only variable that has a significant role in changing the outcome.

Context: Students in health care often describe their feelings of self-inadequacy in clinical skills and report these feelings abate with experience. Objective: To determine whether early contextual learning experiences can improve entry-level student physical therapists' self-perceived level of clinical preparedness. Design: A pair-wise comparison of pre vs. post intervention. Survey of students self-perceived level of clinical preparedness before and after a series of three planned small group contextual learning experiences involving the assessment of actual hospital patients. Setting: Academic institution and associated medical center Participants: Thirty-nine first-year student cohort in the 10th month of a 36-month entry-level Doctor of Physical Therapy program who had not yet received clinical experience utilizing subjects other than classmates or program associated faculty. Results: Thirty-three (33) subjects completed the pre and post-survey (33/39) for a response rate of 84.6%. Subjects rated both their own personal abilities (p< .001) and the clinical abilities of their classmates (p<.001) as higher following the intervention, indicating that students in an entry-level DPT program have improved perception of their own and of their classmates' clinical preparedness when employing hospital patients prior to their first clinical affiliation. Conclusions: Early curriculum contextual learning in physical therapist education is valuable in improving student ratings of clinical self-preparedness and of fellow classmates' readiness to enter the clinic. Additionally, students recognize the benefits provided by contextual learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Morris GS, Gallagher GH, Baxter MF, Brueilly KE, Scheetz JS, Ahmed MM, Shannon VR. Pulmonary rehabilitation improves functional status in oncology patients. Objective: To determine if participation in a pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) program improved the functional and physiologic status of oncology patients with chronic symptoms of shortness of breath, fatigue, and/or exercise intolerance. Design: Retrospective chart review. Setting: Comprehensive cancer center. Patients: Oncology patients (N=30) (either a solid or a hematologic malignancy) with chronic dyspnea, exercise intolerance, and/or decreased functional status who had participated in an outpatient PR program. Interventions: The PR program used an individualized, progressive aerobic exercise program (2–3 sessions/wk for 8–12 weeks) that consisted of treadmill walking, riding on a bicycle ergometer and exercising on a sliding board. This program also included a didactic educational and psychosocial component. Main Outcome Measures: Functional status and exercise tolerance was assessed by the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) conducted at the beginning and end of the program. Self reports of perceived exertion and dyspnea were collected during and after these tests. Physiologic status was assessed by calculating 6-minute walk work (body mass × 6-minute walk distance). Results: Participation in the outpatient PR program significantly increased the 6-minute walk distance (21%, P<.05) and 6-minute walk work (17%, P<.05). Dyspnea and perceived exertion scores were similar at the pre- and postrehabilitation 6MWT despite the greater physiologic demand of the post-rehabilitation 6-minute walk. No adverse events occurred during the study. Conclusions: The current study, although limited in size, suggests that participation in a comprehensive outpatient PR program is safe and of benefit in a heterogeneous population of oncology patients with pulmonary symptoms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Two techniques of postoperative analgesia for primary total knee arthroplasty were compared retrospectively. Twenty-four patients received a femoral nerve catheter with continuous infusion of ropivacaine (FNC group), whereas 26 patients received intravenous (IV) opioids (IV opioid group). Pain and rehabilitation scores and hospital length of stay (LOS) were compared. On the first postoperative day, both groups reported similar pain scores. After 4 sessions of twice-daily rehabilitation, the FNC group used less IV patient-controlled opioids (29.1% vs 84.5%, P = .0001) and demonstrated better performance with knee flexion and mobility. Hospital LOS was significantly less in the FNC group (3.6 vs 4.2 days, P = .034). Femoral nerve catheters with continuous infusion of ropivacaine provide satisfactory analgesia, improve rehabilitation, and shorten hospital LOS. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the author discusses the rehabilitation of geriatric patients who have undergone total knee arthroplasty (TKA).