Linda
Resnik, PT, PhD, OCS and Gail M. Jensen, PT, PhD, FAPTA received
the Dorothy Briggs Memorial Scientific Inquiry Award for their article, “Using
clinical outcomes to explore the theory of expert practice in physical therapy”,
which appeared in Physical Therapy 2003;83(12):1090-1106. The
Dorothy Briggs Memorial Scientific Inquiry Award from the American
Physical Therapy Association recognizes excellence in conceiving, designing, and
reporting research in the journal Physical Therapy.
Drs.
Resnik and Jensen used Focus On Therapeutic Outcome®’s national database to
identify clinical experts who treated patients with lumbar impairments.
A random sample of identified clinicians were interviewed to describe
characteristics of therapists who were classified as expert or average
therapists based on the outcomes of their patients.
The
FOTO® database was robust enough to permit analysis of 24,276 patients and 930
therapists from 354 outpatient rehabilitation clinics. The FOTO® measure of
health status, which had been shown to be reliable and valid, demonstrated
better responsiveness compared to other standard measures of health status and
was used to measure patient functional improvement. Expert therapists did not
have more years of experience, but tended to seek colleageal experience,
considered themselves motivators of patients, and delegated less clinical work
to support staff. The results provide a good initial “roadmap” for training
students, selecting therapist applicants and managing therapists if the goal is
to generate good clinical outcomes from physical therapists.
The
Dorothy Briggs Memorial Scientific Inquiry Award was established in 1969 to
reward student members who have demonstrated the ability to prepare a well
conceived, suitably designed, and clearly expressed article published in Physical
Therapy. The paper must also be
a useful contribution to the knowledge base of physical therapy.