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Academic Innovation

New developments

Going virtual & other advances

The onset of the pandemic forced us to be nimble and go virtual quickly – with everything from online town halls, several webinars, and ACAPT’s Clinical Reasoning Curricula and Assessment (CRCAC) “Talk to the Author” events to our first-ever virtual Educational Leadership Conference (ELC).

Be sure to check out these other 2020 ACAPT areas of innovation:

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Changing landscape & COVID-19 response

ACAPT’s response to COVID-19 further established ACAPT as a go-to resource for not only PT education, but other health care education partners.

During the upheaval at the start of the pandemic and quick pivot to distance learning, ACAPT was able to work with and influence CAPTE to adjust requirements that were reasonable for PT education.

In light of student debt, shortage of PT faculty, clinical site competition and lower reimbursement rates, ACAPT also urged higher education institutions to consider this changing landscape before adding new physical therapist educational programs, expanding current class sizes, or increasing tuition.

Supporting DPT students

ACAPT recognizes you need to support and improve students’ health and well-being throughout their academic career and in preparation for clinical practice.  

This need for mental health support was magnified with coronavirus, so the ACAPT Leadership Academcy (ALA) developed a stress management webinar and ACAPT created a survey and task force about student-clinician mental health and wellness.

To help recent DPT graduates during the pandemic, ACAPT hosted virtual events to help navigate the job market. Over 2,000 participants benefitted from the valuable career advice from recruiters, outpatient clinics and others.

Check out more student resources here and let us know what you think at acapt@acapt.org.

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Based on member requests, the new ACAPT Career Center at jobs.acapt.org launched in late June 2020.

Student debt & ELP collaboration

In collaboration with the Educational Leadership Partnership (ELP) – including ACAPT, APTA and its Academy of Education – we developed a student debt report with financial FAQs for students and a DPT Program Financial Fact Sheet 2020-2021. 

In addition, we joined with the ELP to identify outcomes related to clinical education, outcomes/competencies and academic-clinical partnerships.

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ACAPT also updated its brand and marketing strategy with expanded and enhanced communications

To help our communications reach grow, we developed a new member database to track individual members working for ACAPT member institutions.  Our ongoing goal is to continually increase the number of PT faculty, academic administrators and clinical partner contacts so we can serve the PT academic community more broadly.
Simulation in Physical Therapy Education Consortium (SIPTEC)

Simulation

In 2020, we created a new Simulation in Physical Therapy Education Consortium (SIPTEC) and already have over 100 members.

In response to the 2014 Clinical Education Summit, ACAPT convened a strategic initiative panel on simulation in PT education in 2018.  Read the ACAPT Simulation Panel final report that was presented to the ACAPT Board of Directors in October 2020.

On the move

Another big change this year was ACAPT's departure from APTA management services and a move to new HR, accounting, IT and a new physical office.

See new ACAPT contact information
ACAPT Conference Room
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Thank you to the 800+ members who provided feedback to ACAPT

ACAPT represents the voice of academic PT - and the needs and interests of its members.

So we launched a membership survey in September 2020 to collect your feedback in preparation for a revised strategic plan.  ACAPT's board is digesting the feedback from the survey now, making adjustments to immediate priorities and using your input in upcoming 2021 strategic planning.