PREDICTORS ASSOCIATED WITH SUCCESS OF FOREIGN TRAINED PHYSICAL THERAPISTS ON THE NATIONAL PHYSICAL THERAPY EXAMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

B. Singh¹, P. Sanghvi², R. Shah³, K. Noor^4,5, R. Singh⁶, A. Kaur⁶, L. Holguin Mellizo⁷, H. Suthar⁸

¹Manchester University, Physical Therapy, Fort Wayne, United States, ²Touro University, Physical Therapy, New York, United States, ³Andrews University, Physical Therapy, Michigan, United States, ⁴Ortho NY, Physical Therapy, Albany, United States, ⁵Sargodha Medical College, Physiotherapy, Sargodha, Pakistan, ⁶Loma Linda University, Physical Therapy, Los Angeles, United States, ⁷Universidad del Valle, Physical Therapy, Cali, Colombia, ⁸Udaipur Institute of Physical Therapy, Physical Therapy, Udaipur, India

Background: The National Physical Therapy Exam (NPTE) is the national licensure board exam to test entry level competency for physical therapy candidates for clinical practice in the United States. NPTE pass rate is a crucial outcome for Doctor of Physical Therapy programs to quantify learning success and quality of PT educational programs. While the pass rates for DPT students is more than 90% on the first attempt, the pass rates for foreign-trained therapists is less than 35%. Understanding the factors that affect a student's ability to successfully pass the NPTE on the first attempt will provide important insights for both educational and licensure process.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the factors responsible for success on the United States National Physical Therapy Examination, as measured by pass rates in foreign trained physical therapists.

Methods: A survey was developed to examine contributing factors for success on the NPTE. Included students filled the four-section survey that collected demographic data of entry-level education completion (section 1), information regarding NPTE attempts and scores out of 800 (section 2), questions on textbooks and study approaches used for preparation (section 3) and lastly students were asked to list their weaknesses in the content areas covered at school (section 4). The data was divided into students who passed on the first attempt and students who passed on a repeat attempt. A two-way ANOVA was performed to determine differences in survey outcomes between the two groups.

Results: 1203 students responded to all the survey questions. 921 subjects correctly filled the form and were included in the final analysis. For textbooks, 74% of students picked reading Physical Rehabilitation (O’Sullivan) followed by 66% for Therapeutic Exercise (Kisner) and 62% Orthopedic Assessment (Magee). Our results are similar to the recent textbook survey conducted by Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT) with 73% schools reporting using both O’Sullivan and Kisner in their DPT programs. The students who eventually passed on the first attempt reported studying more hours per week for last 3 months (30.5±5.9) than the repeat attempt students (21.2±4.2 hours). 75.6% of students who passed NPTE on the first attempt also reported passing the Practice Exam Assessment Tool (PEAT) on the first attempt whereas only 31.9% of students passed the PEAT. The PEAT is offered by the FSBPT and has a 99.1% correlation with the NPTE scores. Content wise, first attempt students reported 'Non-Systems section' as the most challenging area for their preparation whereas repeat attempt students reported ‘Musculoskeletal’ as their weakest content area.

Conclusions: Students passing the NPTE on their first attempt tend to pass the retired PEAT on their first attempt, and report studying more hours per day as compared to students who don’t pass the exam on their first attempt.

Implications: Understanding the factors that significantly impact foreign trained physical therapists ability to successfully pass the NPTE on the first attempt will help validate the current educational program and improve identification of those at risk of failing.

Funding acknowledgements: California State University Chancellor Grant

Keywords:
NPTE
License Exam
Passing

Topics:
Education: methods of teaching & learning
Education
Professional issues: diversity and inclusion

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: California State University

Committee: Fresno IRB

Ethics number: 82920