Predictors of National Physical Therapy Examination Failure in Graduates of a Blended Doctor of Physical Therapy Program

Abstract

Introduction:Passing the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE) is a necessary step in progressing into a professional career. The purpose of this study was to identify student factors that predicted failure on the first attempt of the NPTE in graduates of a blended Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program.Review of Literature:Student factors that may affect NPTE outcomes have been studied in traditional physical therapist education programs but have not been studied in blended programs. Blended instruction is a delivery format that combines distance asynchronous learning and face-to-face synchronous learning in a complementary way.Subjects:Two hundred ten graduates from 6 consecutive cohorts of a DPT program taught in a blended format.Methods.Retrospective observational cohort design. Demographic, preadmission, and in-program academic data and NPTE pass/fail status were collected. Variables were analyzed with forward stepwise logistic regression for their ability to predict first-time NPTE failure. Receiver operating characteristic curves were plotted to determine cut points of predictive variables.Results.Two regression analyses were conducted. First, an analysis of all variables identified 3 significant predictors: comprehensive examination score, cumulative third-year grade point average, and Graduate Record Examination Verbal Reasoning (GRE-V) score, which explained 43.2% of the variance. The second analysis excluded variables occurring late in matriculation to identify early occurring predictors. This yielded 2 early predictive variables, GRE-V score and academic difficulty, which explained 29.5% of the variance.Discussion and Conclusion.To our knowledge, this is the first study of predictors of NPTE outcomes in blended DPT program graduates. Like previous studies, a mix of preadmission and in-program factors predicted first-time NPTE failure. These findings may help inform admissions policies, academic advising processes, and academic warning policies in blended programs. Future research is needed to explore factors unique to blended educational settings and the qualities of the students they attract.

Predicting First-Time National Physical Therapy Examination Performance for Graduates of an Entry-Level Physical Therapist Education Program

“…Few studies have examined the extent to which comprehensive examination performance relates to NPTE performance; however, these studies indicate that it may be useful to consider comprehensive examination performance when attempting to predict NPTE scores. 11,12 Our findings are generally in agreement with these prior studies because we found that comprehensive examination scores made a unique contribution to predicting NPTE performance. In most cases, comprehensive examinations are taken after students have completed their didactic training.…”

“…Studies exploring potential student variables have typically focused on cumulative program GPA and/or GPA for certain years during the program. [5][6][7][10][11][12][13] To our knowledge, this is the first study examining the relationship between first-semester program GPA or program on basic science course GPA and NPTE performance. Both variables exhibited weak-to-moderate relationships with NPTE scores (r = 0.42 and 0.45).…”

“…Considering the high stakes associated with the NPTE, there have been numerous attempts to identify factors related to NPTE performance. 5-16 Potential factors can be differentiated into “applicant variables” and “student variables.” 17 Applicant variables reflect performance before admission (eg, undergraduate grade point average [GPA]), whereas student variables reflect performance after admission (eg, physical therapist education program GPA). The results of a systematic review and meta-analysis by Wolden et al 17 indicate that there are both applicant and student variables that are related to first-time NPTE performance.…”

“…Considering the high stakes associated with the NPTE, there have been numerous attempts to identify factors related to NPTE performance. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Potential factors can be differentiated into "applicant variables" and "student variables." 17 Applicant variables reflect performance before admission (eg, undergraduate grade point average [GPA]), whereas student variables reflect performance after admission (eg, physical therapist education program GPA).…”

“…17 Some have also examined whether performance on a comprehensive examination (ie, test of student content knowledge before graduation) relates to NPTE performance. 11,12 However, the extent to which comprehensive examination scores predict NPTE performance remains unclear.…”