SKILL ACQUISITION AND COMPETENCE TESTING FOR PHYSICAL AGENT MODALITY USE

Objective. The use of physical agent modalities is not considered an e ntry-level skill and requires postprofessional education, according to the American Occupational Therapy Association. The purpose of this su rvey was to determine how occupational therapy practitioners who use p hysical agent modalities are trained. Method. Two hundred fifty occupa tional therapists were randomly selected from the American Occupationa l Therapy Association's Physical Disabilities Special Interest Section . The practitioners were surveyed about their use of, education in, co mpetency testing for, and opinions on eight physical agent modalities. Results. Results were based on 100 responses (40% response rate). Of t he eight modalities, the most commonly used were hot and cold packs, a nd the least were transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulators. The mos t common means of education was on-the-job training, and the least com mon was higher level accredited education. A majority (71) of responde nts reported that no competency testing was being performed at their f acilities. In the remaining facilities (29) the majority performed com petency tests with no routine frequency, using no particular guideline s for testing and no formal methods for maintaining standards for phys ical agent modality use. Eighty-five respondents indicated they would be interested in attending continuing education programs on the use of physical agent modalities, and 88 believed that functional activities should follow the use of physical agent modalities within the same tr eatment session. Conclusion. The occupational therapy profession may n eed specific educational and competency guidelines to assure the quali fications of therapists using physical agent modalities.