In order to more closely match current models of PT practice, the neuroPT exam and interventions courses at University of South Alabama, formerly organized around neurologic medical diagnoses, were redesigned around the themes of the International Classification of Function International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework, which is the way that we want students and clinicians to think and organize clinical decision-making. Specifically, students should be taught to make clinical decisions based on the functional limitations and underlying impairments that are specifically identified in the patient, not based on their medical diagnosis. This reorganization provides a unifying framework for clinical decision-making and encourages students to examine each patient as an individual instead of relying solely on medical diagnosis for determination of examination and intervention strategies.
Based on feedback from students and clinical instructors, and growing world-wide emphasis on ICF, the faculty redesigned units within the clinical neuroPT courses (formerly with units on Stroke, Brain Injury, Spinal Cord Injury, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson, etc) with units on examination of specific underlying ICF impairments and functional activity limitations, and interventions for those same problems.
After implementation of this redesigned curriculum the students are able to identify patient-specific problems in a particular patient, with a focus on the functional activity limitations that need to be addressed in the PT intervention plan. Graduates of the program perform above the national average for NeuroPT content on the National Physical Therapy Examination, and have strongest self-report outcomes on exit surveys.
Contemporary NeuroPT exam/intervention curriculum should be designed around the concepts of the ICF framework, and not medical diagnoses.
Utilizing a unifying framework, such as the ICF, may help students develop robust clinical decision-making skills while reducing redundancy and difficulty of a curriculum centered around medical diagnoses.
Education curriculum
ICF framework
