One of the unique contributions that the Neurology Section provides to its members is education. For several years, the Section has had the second highest member attendance at the Combined Sections Meeting (CSM) even though we are the sixth largest of the 18 American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Sections. While CSM, pre-CSM conferences, and regional educational conferences provide the mainstay of Section educational programming, this type of programming is limited to a certain demographic, focuses on members who can afford to attend and get employee release time for CSM or regional programming, and does not take advantage of the various forms of educational methods and technologies that are currently available.
The 2006-2010 Strategic Plan has been an important catalyst that has moved the Section forward in many domains. This past year and moving into the next year, the Executive Committee has initiated two important actions that will allow us to move forward on our educational mission.
The first action item was to convene a Section Educational Strategic Planning meeting that occurred October 12-13, 2007, at APTA headquarters in Alexandria, VA. The planning was coordinated by Dr. Dorian Rose, Section Program Chair, and Dr. Jody Gandy, Director of Academic/Clinical Education Affairs at APTA. and included members of the Programming Committee, the Chairs of Telecommunication and Neurologic Clinical Specialist Committees, and special invitations to Section members who represented various member constituencies not represented on our Leadership team. Representatives included a private practitioner, an advance practitioner in a hospital-based setting, a physical therapist assistant with recognition in advanced proficiency in neurology, and three early career professionals within five years of graduation. The addition of these individuals to the strategic planning group was instrumental in that it broadened the group's diversity such that the planning group was more representative of our Section's growing membership. Through the valuable contributions of these additional members, the leadership group realized that we have underrepresented the needs of our early career professionals and physical therapy assistants in addressing their access to educational content in neurologic physical therapy.
Dr. Jody Gandy inspired our strategic planning group to think broadly about the educational direction(s) that the Section wants to pursue by analyzing our current strengths in terms of educational programming, products, and members served. We then focused our discussions on the future. We considered the use of Web-based information access and other technology that we anticipate will drive future educational efforts. We also considered educational activities that would have a greater scope of influence by providing access to information that enhances knowledge transfer regarding neurologic physical therapy to young professionals, students, and members of our profession who may consider themselves generalist but who serve individuals with neurologic disorders. Furthermore, we wanted to engage and assess our effect at the level of entry-level education, professional and patient advocacy, reimbursement, and healthcare policy.
As a result, the strategic planning process resulted in a multifaceted educational agenda for the Section that involves the interaction of four themes or "houses" (Fig. 1):
* House 1 reflects the need to build consensus regarding what constitutes entry-, generalist practitioner-, and advanced practitioner-level competencies, skills, and knowledge in neurologic physical therapy.
* House 2 reflects the need to develop progressive skill levels with the profession from general skills that are common to all practitioners to those who wish to develop advanced neurologic proficiency to those who can serve as mentor/scholars to advance scholarship in neurologic physical therapy practice.
* House 3 reflects the need to translate research into neurologic physical therapy practice. This area includes not only the translation of neuroscience research to clinical practice but the creation of new knowledge through clinical research in neurologic physical therapy and the integration of technology as is appropriate to enhance care or knowledge translation.
* House 4 reflects the need to assess how our educational agenda is affecting the scope of educational offerings to physical therapy, physical therapy assistants, and students. Ultimately, we hope that advances in neurologic physical therapy will be realized with advances in professional and patient advocacy, reimbursement, and healthcare policy.
The second action item that resulted from the strategic planning meeting was a recommendation to the Executive Committee to consider expansion of the elected members of the Section's Board of Directors. As the Section moves forward in its ambitious plans for growth and development, it has become necessary to invest resources that will increase the leadership and oversight needed to accomplish this educational plan. As a result, the Board of Directors will be presenting to the membership a proposal to expand the Board to include a Director of Education at the annual business meeting at the Combined Sections Meeting in Nashville on February 8, 2008 at 7:00-8:30 PM. The Director of Education will be responsible for the overall educational strategic planning direction for the Section. The Program Chair and committee would report to the Director of Education and continue in their current role to develop and implement CSM and regional educational programming. However, the Director of Education will provide the leadership that we need to expand the direction and scope of our educational plan.
The Executive Committee looks forward to your feedback. The Section has a strong foundation to move forward to build this plan. The house is a well-suited analogy for the multiple rooms and ideas that we hope to unite under the roof of our educational agenda.