An investigation of the relationships among academic performance, clinical performance, critical thinking, and success on the physical therapy licensure examination.

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships among clinical education performance, academic performance, critical thinking (CT) skills, and success on the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE) of graduates from a post-baccalaureate professional physical therapy program. Results of previous research comparing clinical and academic performance measures have been mixed. Academic performance measures have been linked to CT skills and NPTE performance but identifying factors related to success on the NPTE is unclear. Subjects. Forty-two graduates of one professional physical therapy program participated. The average age at completion of the program was 28.77 years (SD 3.89) with a range of 24-40 years. The sample was primarily female (69%) and White/non-Hispanic (92.9%) with the remaining 7.1% representing Asian/Pacific Islander.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

Data for this study collected at the end of the academic program included scores for the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST), ratings on the Clinical Performance Instrument (CPI), and final Grade Point Average (GPA). The remaining data was self-reported after graduation with each participant providing individual NPTE scores to the researcher.

ANALYSIS

Analysis was performed using SPSS 12.0 to calculate a Pearson product moment correlation comparing the scores on the CCTST, CPI, GPA, and NPTE. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between the outcome variable of passing the NPTE on the first attempt and scores on the CCTST, CPI and GPA.

RESULTS

Two-tailed Pearson product moment correlation found significant relationships between CCTST scores and success on the NPTE (r=0.35; p=0.023) and between GPA and success on the NPTE (r=0.334; p=0.031). Logistic regression analysis results were not significant for any of the variables. CONCLUSION AND CONCLUSION: This research indicates a relationship exists between CCTST, GPA and the NPTE. Expanding the search for meaningful variables to include admission data or other program data might be helpful.