EMBEDDING CULTURAL SAFETY IN THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS OF OVERSEAS QUALIFIED PHYSIOTHERAPISTS

D. Lee¹, M. Te¹

¹Australian Physiotherapy Council, Melbourne, Australia

Background: Physiotherapists in Australia are required to practice in a culturally safe manner, particularly when working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This requirement is outlined by the national regulator and is a core competency identified in the “Physiotherapy Practice Thresholds in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand”.
The Australian Physiotherapy Council (the Council) is the assessment authority for overseas qualified physiotherapists (OQP) seeking to have their qualifications recognised to work in Australia. Ensuring that OQPs can work effectively and safely with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is paramount. However, OQPs are likely have limited understanding of cultural safety in the Australian context. Given the importance of cultural safety in Australia, an alternate approach would be to provide learning opportunities within the assessment process.

Purpose: To facilitate the development of culturally safe practices in OQPs, the Council aimed to develop and deliver a training package to provide a basic level of understanding of cultural safety in the Australian context and to foster lifelong learning in this area.

Methods: The Council partnered with the Physiotherapy Department, and the Mobile Learning Unit, at The University of Melbourne in developing the Council’s Cultural Safety Training package. Development of the training package involved collaboration with the First Nations Advisory group and physiotherapy academics with expertise in teaching cultural safety and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.
The Cultural Safety training package consists of 6 online learning modules with a total time commitment of five hours. The content included is mapped to the five key elements outlined in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Curriculum Framework to ensure full and effective coverage of these elements. The online learning modules focuses on applied cultural safety in physiotherapy practice and includes videos, readings, interactive quizzes, activities to facilitate self-reflection, and clinical patient scenarios. Participants are assessed at the end of each learning module and must complete a final multiple-choice exam. To successfully complete the training package, participants are required to receive a minimum of 80% in each of the module assessments and the final exam.
The training package is to be completed by all OQPs as a mandatory component of the assessment process.

Results: The training package was embedded into the assessment process on 15 January 2020. Since then, 526 OQPs have completed their assessments, of which 273 have completed the Cultural Safety Training package. As of 30 September 2022, a total of 2005 OQPs have commenced or completed the package. Current feedback on the training package by OQPs have been positive, and future evaluation on the training package on fostering the development of cultural safety is to be undertaken.

Conclusions: By 2025, all OQPs completing the assessment process are expected to be equipped with the foundational knowledge, skills, and attributes to practice in a culturally safe manner in the Australian context. Future work is being considered to incorporate assessment of cultural safety using situational judgement test format questions.

Implications: Other similar bodies may consider the Council’s approach in embedding training of cultural safety in their assessment process.

Funding acknowledgements: The development of the Cultural Safety Training package was funded by the Australian Physiotherapy Council.

Keywords:
cultural safety
assessment
overseas qualified practitioners

Topics:
Professional issues: diversity and inclusion
Education: continuing professional development
Globalisation: health systems, policies & strategies

Did this work require ethics approval? No

Reason: This was an adaptation of an existing method (training, rather than assessment) to meet the changing needs of practice (requirement for competency).