IN SEARCH OF CLINICAL EXCELLENCE

This article was presented as a lecture at the 1995 Combined Sections Meeting by Joseph P. Farrell, MS, PT, who received the Orthopaedic Sec tion's Paris Distinguished Service Award. He was recognized for servic e to the Orthopaedic Section in the area of manual therapy and for the formation oi the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Ther apists (AAOMPT). Clinical excellence is a journey that every clinician should commence early in his/her career. The purpose oi this paper is to discuss clinical excellence and its importance to the physical the rapy profession. To address this topic the following items will be dis cussed: ii clinical competency and clinical expertise; 2) communicatio n and patient management in the current era oi health care reform; 3) politics relating to manual therapy; 4) the role oi manual therapy in our profession; 5) clinical residency educational programs; and 6) the academic and clinician role in education. The author concludes that i f physical therapy is a profession of excellent clinicians, then the p hysical therapy profession can survive evolving changes in the health care system.