The bonds between academic and clinical education in physical therapy training

Abstract

Welcome to the 2025 Journal of Clinical Education in Physical Therapy (JCEPT) open-access volume. Initiated in 2019, JCEPT was indexed this year to PubMedCentral (PMC), greatly expanding the reach and impact of the work we publish. PMC indexing is vital for the expansion of educational scholarship relevant to the clinical training at the heart of physical therapy education. Scholarship indexed and accessible through the National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine via PMC highlights the work of physical therapy educators to the broader community interested in contemporary biomedical and health care research and practice. Currently, PMC articles related to physical therapy clinical education number in the thousands, compared to the tens of thousands related to graduate (clinical) medical education. We aim to disseminate peer-reviewed educational scholarship related to physical therapy clinical education while strengthening the connections between academic and clinical partners.

The connection between academic and clinical physical therapy education along the professional development spectrum was apparent in this year’s volume. Drevyn et al. examined the utility of supplementing acute care clinical experience with simulation-based learning in the academic program. The relevance of clinical environment on learning outcomes (Charles et al.) and clinical reasoning (Stoddard et al.) was also explored. Assessing clinical performance remains an important area of study explored in this volume with respect to the new Clinical Performance Index (Hansen et al.), particularly in the professional (Young et al.) and clinical reasoning domains (Cunningham et al.). The importance of soft skills was underscored by work describing personality traits of successful residents (Geist et al.) and positive interactions among entry-level students, residents, and/or fellows (Bourassa et al.) which may be influential in developing such skills. The health of the PT profession is strengthened by developing and nurturing the relationship between academic and clinical partners across the continuum of learning, from entry-level education, residency/fellowship training, and continuing professional development programs.

JCEPT publishes scholarly work exploring clinical education in physical therapy addressing academic or clinical faculty; entry-level students, residents, or fellows; and curricula or teaching and learning methods. In addition to original research, systematic reviews, and innovative teaching methods, JCEPT publishes clinical education case reports, residency or fellowship case reports, excellent critically appraised topics, and the occasional perspective. JCEPT submissions have increased and the acceptance rate has decreased, yet our editorial team remains committed to the developmental aspect of our mission as we work with authors through multiple revisions. We look forward to supporting educational scholars and developing the evidence underpinning physical therapy clinical education.