Core Competencies for Entry-Level Practice in Acute Care Physical Therapy

Acute care practice encompasses the knowledge and skills suitable to thoroughly examine and appropriately intervene with patients in medically compromised situations encountered in any acute care hospital environment across the lifespan, from children to adults. In the acute care environment, there is a need for all healthcare members to provide safe, efficient and effective care for their patients. Physical therapists (PTs) are essential members of the healthcare team, providing therapy in acute care settings and responsible for making high-level clinical decisions, in a rapid and dynamic environment, for the care of their patients.

To prepare future PTs for these environments, academic and clinical educators are tasked with teaching students as part of entry-level clinical practice on how to efficiently make complex decisions for any patient in the acute care environment with any diagnosis. While this task has previously been guided by core documents and literature, no single guiding document has existed. The Minimum Skills Task Force was convened in response to this need from acute care clinicians, educators, and – most importantly – patients receiving physical therapist services in the acute care environment. The focus of this task force was to create a guiding document to clarify to all stakeholders the unique and overlapping skills required for an entry-level clinician to be independent, safe and effective on day one of practice. The outcome of this task force is the “The Core Competencies for Entry-level Practice in Acute Care Physical Therapy,” which identifies the necessary knowledge, actions and behaviors that are required of a clinician in the acute care environment.