ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT COMPETENCIES UTILIZING CAPSTONE CLINICAL CASE STUDIES

Background: Students in a 3-year physical therapy program are required to demonstrate clinical competency before graduation.  The students construct two capstone clinical case studies that provide an opportunity for self-reflection and serves as formative assessments of students’ ability to integrate knowledge from across the curriculum.  

Purpose: The purpose of this report is to present how capstone case studies allow students to demonstrate clinical competency while reflecting on their clinical experiences.  The capstone case studies are used to assess if students are achieving the following goals: (1) comprehensive physical therapy management of patients, (2) evidence-based clinical decision making, and (3) integration of course content across the curriculum.

Methods: Students participate in four full-time clinical experiences throughout the curriculum.  During their first and second clinical experiences, students construct a case study based on an actual patient.  This comprehensive patient case study includes the examination, evaluation, differential diagnosis, physical therapy diagnosis, prognosis, intervention, reassessment, and discharge.  A faculty mentor is assigned to the students to provide feedback on the case study.  After the completion of their clinical experiences, students return to campus and present an oral presentation of their case studies to peers and faculty.  

Results: In the past 4 years, 100% of students have met the benchmark score for the capstone case studies which serves as evidence of their ability to synthesize information across the curriculum and provide effective physical therapy services using evidence-based clinical decision-making.  Additionally, 100% of students report on their exit surveys that they feel competent in the physical therapy management of patients/clients and in making evidence-based clinical decisions.  

Conclusion(s): A capstone case study is an effective method for assessing clinical competency.  The integration of the case studies throughout the curriculum provides opportunities for student reflection of their clinical experiences and enhances self-efficacy in clinical decision making and clinical application of didactic content.  

Implications: The utilization of capstone clinical case studies throughout the curriculum are useful methods to assess students’ clinical performance before graduation.  According to the survey results, graduates enter their careers feeling competent to provide evidence-based physical therapy.  

Funding, acknowledgements: Unfunded.

Keywords: Education, Case study, Competency

Topic: Education

Did this work require ethics approval? No

Institution: Langston University

Committee: SOPT Research and Scholarship Committee

Reason: The report describes a method to assess competency in physical therapy education.