An intermediate level webinar, available through the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Learning Center, focuses on strategies designed to close the gap between research and practice, with the goal of fully implementing evidence-based practice (EBP) in the clinic.
The Learning Center website notes that while physical therapist clinicians may understand EBP, fully implementing it is unlikely without a system that supports their use of research in the clinical setting. The site adds that recent trends in physical therapy payment and delivery systems require effective and efficient practice analysis and the alignment of front line care with clinical practice guidelines and best available evidence.
Presenters in the recorded “How to Overcome Obstacles to Using Evidence-Based Practice In Your Clinic” webinar, the site says, will discuss evidence-based knowledge translation interventions and share success stories from a range of practice settings.
Upon the webinar’s completion, the site notes that participants will be equipped with information to create a program in their own setting that will foster increased use of evidence in their everyday practice.
Objectives for the webinar include describing various knowledge-translation models and interventions aimed at clinicians, critically appraising online web-based learning tools specific to rehabilitation, and explaining the existing gaps between research and practice.
Additional objectives include identifying existing facilitators and barriers (practice habits, self-efficacy) to change within each individual’s clinic/organization, describing interventions offering site-specific solutions to identified barriers, and implementing strategies for monitoring adherence to evidence-based practices.
Presenter Patricia Scheets, PT, DPT, MHS, NCS, is the director of quality and clinical outcomes with Infinity Rehab. The site notes that she received her professional and postprofessional degrees from Washington University in St Louis and is a board-certified clinical specialist in Neurologic Physical Therapy. She has worked extensively with patients with stroke, neurological disorders, and balance and vestibular disorders. The site adds that Scheets has developed a set of movement system impairment diagnoses that is used to guide the therapist’s clinical examination and treatment selection for patients with neuromuscular conditions. She has experience with implementing evidence-based systematic methods for patient examination, evaluation, and intervention in small and large practice settings.
Presenter Tara Jo Manal, PT, DPT, OCS, SCS, is the director of clinical services and residency training and associate professor at the University of Delaware, the site says. She has taught evidence-based practice to entry-level students, clinicians, and residents. She is co-chair of the PTNow editorial board and the initial Choosing Wisely campaign. The site notes that she has published and presented in areas of orthopedic and sports; and clinical instruction and residency development in sports, orthopedics, geriatrics, and neurological physical therapy, with a particular emphasis on the translation of evidence-based information to the clinician. She is involved daily in the translation and application of evidence in a full-service physical therapy clinic.
[Source: APTA Learning Center]
