FACTORS INFLUENCING PERFORMANCE OF FOREIGN TRAINED PHYSIOTHERAPISTS ON UNITED STATES NATIONAL PHYSICAL THERAPY LICENSE EXAMINATION

N.R. Tankaria¹, R. Singh², D. Friedberg, PT, DPT³, R. Shah⁴, A. Sharma⁵, D.S. Rosenzweig, PT, DPT⁶, V. Kapadia⁷, B. Singh⁸

Background: The National Physical Therapy Exam (NPTE) is the national licensure board exam for physical therapist candidates to practice in the United States. The NPTE is a five-hour exam, consisting of 250 multiple choice questions, and candidates are required to score 600 out of 800 to pass the exam. While the NPTE pass rates are more than 90% for Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) programs, the pass rates for foreign trained physical therapists is less than 30%.

Purpose: This ongoing study looked at factors influencing performance and pass rates for foreign trained physical therapists on the National Physical Therapy Exam.

Methods: The University's Institutional Review Board approved the study. A four section survey was filled by students who met the inclusion criteria. The first section collected demographic data of entry-level education completed. The second section asked for previous NPTE attempts and scores out of 600. The third section constituted questions on student current study approaches, textbooks used, and other study support for preparation. The last section asked the subjects to list their weaknesses in the content areas. The data was divided into students who passed on the first attempt and students who passed on a repeat attempt. The survey was sent to foreign trained physical therapists licensed in all states of United States. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data, and ttests were performed to determine differences between the two groups. The level of significance was set at p< 0.05 and SPSS was used for statistical analysis.

Results: 1000 subjects responded to all the survey questions. 960 subjects correctly filled the form and identified as graduates who have passed NPTE. 29.1% (280) subjects reported having a master's degree in kinesiology, or a related field. 64.8% (623) subjects reported having taken the NPTE two or more times and 35.1% (337) subjects reported passing on their first attempt. 71% (240/337) subjects who passed on the first attempt reported passing the Practice examination assessment tool (PEAT) on the first attempt, whereas 39% (134/337) subjects who passed on a repeat attempt reported passing the retired PEAT on the first attempt. The First attempt students studied more (4.8+/- 1.1) hours every day than the repeat attempt students (3.5+/-1.3 hours). Content-wise, first attempts students picked 'Other Systems' as the most challenging area for their preparation whereas repeat attempt students picked ‘Non-Systems’ as their weakest content area.

Conclusion(s): Taking the PEAT exam offered by FSBPT seems to be a key differentiating factor between first attempt and repeat attempt NPTE pass rates. Students passing the NPTE on their first attempt tend to pass the retired PEAT on their first attempt, and also report studying more hours per day as compared to students who don’t pass the exam on their first attempt.

Implications: Thousands of candidates take the NPTE every year to get licensed in the United States. Understanding the factors that negatively or positively affect a student's ability to successfully pass the NPTE on the first attempt will provide important insights for both the educational and licensure processes.

Funding, acknowledgements: College of Health and Human Services, California State University

Keywords: Education

Topic: Education: methods of teaching & learning

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: University ethics Committee

Committee: IRB

Ethics number: 1167