Competencies in physical therapy: a resource for written self-assessment and clinical performance evaluation and a component of a department's quality assurance program.

This article was written to demonstrate how clinical competence in ultrasound administration can be reviewed. A team of two members of the Minnesota Competency Consortium developed two tests: 1) a written examination that could be used as a tool to assess the knowledge of physical therapists in physical therapy departments and 2) a skills-mastery check list to assess ultrasound treatment skills. Both tests followed the competency hierarchy of Competencies in Physical Therapy: An Analysis of Practice. As one component of a physical therapy department's quality assurance program, the tests also were used to identify educational needs in order to develop programs to meet those needs.