Anton Barnett-Harris, Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Physiotherapy Council (APC), says that they have built a state-of-the-art simulation lab for practical assessments of overseas qualified Physiotherapists in Australia.
APC is an independent national body charged to accredit entry level physiotherapy programs and to assess the qualifications, skills and key competencies of overseas qualified physiotherapists for registration and migration purposes.
With the greatest demographic shift of our time on our doorstep - with the aged population currently at its highest level in human history - the demand for Physiotherapy is increasing at an exponential rate, says Anton.
He adds - With this new change in assessment, APC would be able to ensure that overseas qualified physiotherapists hoping to join our chief allied health profession are not only as academically qualified as domestically trained physiotherapists, but indeed as competent to handle Australias diverse range of patients (in terms of medical presentations, demography, age and widely varying cultural backgrounds) and independently practice in an arguably self-regulated, first contact practitioner environment.
The new simulation environment will offer highly-trained simulated patients (actors).
Anton says that with rich case histories that can straddle multifarious health considerations which is often hard to source with real life patients.
Further, APC hopes that through this process will provide an assessment environment that is clinically authentic by realistically replicating a patient encounter in multi-environments (including hospital, private practice and rehabilitation settings) that cover the breadth of practice.
It will also allow overseas candidates to showcase the full gamut of clinical skills including physical examination, communication and rapport building, as well as history taking.
More details about the new assessment process and state-of-the-art simulation lab would be available on APCs website.
