Determinants of Clinical Practice Guideline use by DPT and PTA Students

Purpose: Instruction of student physical therapists and student physical therapist assistants in the use of Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG’s) can be challenging. Doctor of Physical Therapy and Physical Therapist Assistant curriculums are required to include evidence-based practice. Although many programs offer experiential learning opportunities to teach students how to evaluate and implement CPG's, a scarcity of literature confirming student usage of CPG's exists. This project aims at gaining insight into the facilitators and barriers that students experience with knowledge translation of CPG's from classroom to clinic across physical therapy domains. Design: A cross-sectional survey Methods: A web-based survey of DPT and PTA students in the Midwest was distributed to accredited programs. Statistical analysis will be performed to examine factors associated with CPG use. Results: Data collection is still in process; data analysis will take place before research days.