2021 Annual Report
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Knowledge to Advance Healthcare

Educational research and scholarship

ACAPT seeks to develop the next generation of education researchers by:

  • Holding the Education Research Network event with APTA & the Academy of Education

  • Co-sponsoring the Grant-writing & Mentoring in Education Research (GAMER), mini-GAMER and Medical Education Research Certificate (MERC) workshops with APTA & the Academy of Education

  • Sponsoring the Training in Grantsmanship for Rehabilitation Research (TIGRR)

  • ACAPT's Education Research Committee builds the body of active and engaged education researchers within the academic physical therapy profession

Check out more PT education research resources.

RIPPT is growing in membership and activity! ACAPT’s Research-Intensive Programs in Physical Therapy (RIPPT) Consortium is specifically designed for PT education programs that also offer a PhD degree.  RIPPT also serves as a resource for those programs who want to expand or create their research-intensive programs.

Search a list of PhD programs

In mid 2020, RIPPT began offering monthly webinars.  In 2021, popular topics included:

ACAPT also partnered with APTA on a "Why pursue a PhD?" podcast featuring a PhD candidate & asst professor

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Deborah Givens, PT, DPT, PhD
Research-Intensive Programs in Physical Therapy (RIPPT) Consortium Chair

Professor and Director
Division of Physical Therapy 
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC

ACAPT’s Clinical Reasoning Curricula & Assessment Consortium (CRCAC) was busy in 2021:

  • The WIGs researchers are those researchers invited for a series of discussions from late 2020 through February 2021 on the Wildly Important Goals (WIGs) in clinical reasoning.  These WIGs were constructed in 2017 and were the foundation of the 2020 Clinical Reasoning Symposium II that was canceled due to the pandemic.

With a clear and concentrated investment of the mentors and researchers alike, there were several successful seminars through February 2021 emphasizing building collaborative educational research.  Congratulations to all the researchers who are presenting their scholarly work at the Education Leadership Conference 2021!

The WIGs of the CRCAC take a deeper dive into priority research areas for clinical reasoning.

  • What is clinical reasoning in physical therapy?
  • What should entry-level clinical reasoning look like?
  • What is the trajectory of learner development of clinical reasoning abilities?
  • What are best practices for teaching and assessment of clinical reasoning? 
  • What are the roles of clinical reasoning and shared decision making in the context of team-based care?
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  • The remainder of 2021 will emphasize education to CRCAC members through the launch of a new series called “Spaghetti Sessions” where members will share ideas on how the pandemic impacted their approach to teaching and assessing clinical reasoning. 

  • The CRCAC’s ongoing events of informal chats with published authors in the “Talk to the Author” series will continue with one session this fall and another in the spring.  View several past Talk to the Author events 
"Clinical reasoning spans all areas of practice and education, making it a wonderful vehicle of research and conversation for breaking down silos."

Chris Sebelski, PT, DPT, PhD, OCS
Clinical Reasoning Curricula & Assessment Consortium (CRCAC) Chair

Associate Professor of Physical Therapy & Athletic Training at Saint Louis University