Authors

  1. Scheets, Patricia L. PT, DPT, NCS
  2. President

Article Content

In recent years, this first President's Perspective of the new year has been a platform for sharing reflections of the past year in the Academy of Neurologic Physical Therapy (ANPT) and considerations for what is to come. This year's perspective continues to be framed by the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2020, 20% of health care workers have quit their jobs, and it is suggested that up to 47% of health care workers plan to leave their positions in the next 2 years.1 These are daunting figures in the context of an aging population and contribute to a much faster than average expected growth of physical therapy jobs in the next 10 years of 17%.2 While this job outlook is a positive if you are currently seeking a new position, persistent staffing shortages can have a negative impact on workplace morale. Most certainly, the COVID pandemic has exacerbated issues with health care worker burnout and the need for joy in work. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) describes a set of evidence-based recommendations for promoting joy in work as "Psychological PPE."3 These recommendations include strategies like finding peer support, reframing negative experiences as positive, and facilitating opportunities to show gratitude.3

 

During 2022, ANPT has served as "Psychological PPE" through our meaningful connections with peers. While we are seeing some impact of the pandemic on membership, overall, our numbers remain strong with membership consistently over 6000. Nearly 400 members volunteer to serve on committees, tasks forces, special interest groups (SIGs), and the Board of Directors. Our deep bench of engaged members and leaders was identified as one of our greatest strengths during the strategic planning process we completed during the summer, and I want to express my gratitude to each of you for being a part of who we are and what we are building through ANPT.

 

This was a very big year for ANPT meetings! We had our first-ever face-to-face Annual Conference and our Second International Conference for Vestibular Rehabilitation (ICVR) in October in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Annual Conference boasted a keynote address, plenary and concurrent educational sessions, panel discussions, posters, and unique opportunities for networking. Our thanks to the planning committee for their vision and expertise in orchestrating a set of experiences that were highly engaging and furthered our commitment to knowledge translation. The ICVR immediately followed the Annual Conference and was a veritable triumph for the planning committee who negotiated the logistics associated with international speakers and their travel, an extraordinarily tight schedule, and a group of attendees eager for the material. Our thanks to the ICVR planning committee for making it happen and to the executive office team for being the glue holding together both conferences. Collectively, you built amazing and highly valued experiences for our members.

 

Evidence Elevates is the name of our second national campaign and is designed to assist in dissemination of resources and tools associated with the position paper published in January 2021, "Moving Forward."4 There are great resources being developed for this campaign including podcasts, practice substitutions for clinicians, the evidence pyramid, and more. All these resources are designed to assist all of us in moving forward toward evidence-based practices.

 

In the area of education, during 2022, an appointed task force completed their vital work of developing entry-level competencies for neurologic physical therapy for use in physical therapist education. These competencies reflect the consensus of physical therapy educators, researchers, and clinicians and will set the road map for training new physical therapists. The completion of this work is an important part of our collective "Moving Forward,"4 and I am grateful to the task force leaders and participants for their work in this area.

 

Our overall educational offerings have expanded during 2022. We now host more than 600 educational offerings including conference courses, podcasts, YouTube videos, fact sheets, and online learning courses. Many of these can be found through our new online education platform, which is providing many new features that improve the customer experience.

 

As a part of our ongoing commitment to evidence-based practice, 2022 was a year for updates. The clinical practice guideline (CPG), Vestibular Rehabilitation for Peripheral Vestibular Hypofunction,5 was updated and updates to the Traumatic Brain Injury and Spinal Cord Injury EDGE documents with recommendations for the use of outcome measures in these populations either were updated or are in process. Each of these efforts involves the time, expertise, and commitment of ANPT members-many thanks to these individuals for helping all of us grow and learn.

 

The Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy (JNPT) is our primary vehicle for CPG submissions and continues to be a highly recognized source of relevant and accessible scientific information. JNPT now boasts a 5-year impact factor of 4.785! Congratulations to editor-in-chief, George D. Fulk, and the editorial board members.

 

I am writing this perspective 1 week after Damar Hamlin, safety for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League, experienced cardiac arrest during the Monday Night Football game with the Cincinnati Bengals. In the hours and days that followed, our perspectives shifted. We saw rival players, coaches, and fans holding hands and holding their breath to see what would happen. We breathed a collective sigh of relief when we read that he was "neurologically intact." We relaxed the tension in our necks and shoulders when we heard he was successfully extubated. And we laughed together when we read reports that he wanted to know, "Who won the game?" With each piece of good news, this story has become a bit of "Psychological PPE" as we see some hope and can begin to reframe a negative experience into a more positive one. My hope for each of you is that during 2023 you will find and put on your own version of "Psychological PPE"-that you find and put on, joy.

 

-Patricia L. Scheets, PT, DPT, NCS, President

 

REFERENCES

 

1. Popowitz E, Bellemare T, Tieche M. Addressing the healthcare staffing shortage. https://www.definitivehc.com/sites/default/files/resources/pdfs/Addressing-the-h. Accessed January 2023. [Context Link]

 

2. Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor. Occupational outlook handbook, physical therapists. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/physical-therapist.htm. Accessed January 6, 2023. [Context Link]

 

3. Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Joy in work. https://www.ihi.org/Topics/Joy-In-Work/Pages/default.aspx. Accessed January 2023. [Context Link]

 

4. Scheets PL, Hornby TG, Perry SB, et al Moving Forward. J Neurol Phys Ther. 2021;45(1):46-49. [Context Link]

 

5. Hall CD, Herdman SF, Whitney SL, et al Vestibular Rehabilitation for Peripheral Vestibular Hypofunction: an updated clinical practice guideline from the Academy of Neurologic Physical Therapy of the American Physical Therapy Association. J Neurol Phys Ther. 2022;46(2):118-177. [Context Link]