Future challenges in physical

therapy
 Physical therapy‘s moral mission
• THE FUTURE IN THREE REALMS
• The Individual Realm
• Many of the professional issues that arise in the
individual realm are related to the managed care
system, potential changes with the transition to the
doctor of physical therapy (DPT) degree, and PTs’
ability to achieve the goal of autonomous practice
• With regard to the practice of physical therapy, most
agree that all PTs will engage in evidence-based
practice in the future
• The Institutional Realm
• The role of the PT in organizations and the potential conflict
between PTs’ professional values and those of the organization will
continue to evolve. Managed care has pressured health care
organizations to remain profitable. This has caused some
organizations to adopt policies for increasing productivity that
conflict with the professional values of physical therapy. These types
of conflicts are particularly stressful when jobs are less plentiful. In
the future, PTs will need organizational skills that allow them to
negotiate such conflicts successfully and enable them to contribute
to the development of more effective organizational structures,
perhaps beyond the model of traditional health care systems
• The Societal Realm
• The broadest level of societal perspective is global. The
increased interaction and sharing of ideas and resources
made possible by the Internet and other technological
advances are exciting opportunities. This potential for
communication enriches PTs’ professional experiences as
they seek to resolve issues in all three realms. The ability
to compare and contrast multiple models of the three
realms is profoundly important to PTs striving individually
and collectively to meet their professional responsibilities
Professionalism and the physical therapist

• The four-component model of professional

behavior provides a framework for analyzing
professional issues and for developing
appropriate strategies for dealing deal with
those issues