Assessing Physical Therapy Knowledge amongst the New Graduates in Saudi Arabia: Competency Examination across the Nation

Abstract

Given the increasing demand for more trained physical therapists in providing care to patients in Saudi Arabia, it has become vital to adequately assess individual physical therapy graduate academic learning and performance. Therefore, the present study aimed at evaluating the knowledge and skills of Saudi PT graduates. A competency examination adapted from a practice test that is commercially available and simulates the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE) was conducted. Out of 398 Saudi physical therapists that were approached with the examination link, 149 PT graduates consented to the study. Seventy questions were randomly selected by two individuals familiar with the content of PT programs in the United States and Saudi Arabia. The content outline of the selected questions followed the NPTE recommendations for body systems and non-systems. Each question was multiple choice with four answers. The examination was distributed electronically. Each participant was given 90 min to complete the examination. The passing score was set at 55%. Out of 149, only 6six (4.02%) participants passed the examination with an average passing score of 67% (range: 56–96%). In the primary domains of body systems, the score was highest in the endocrine domain (55.1%), followed by the integumentary (42.18%) and the neurology (40.9%) domains. In the non-system, participants had the highest score in the professionalism domain (89.8%). The highest mean knowledge score was obtained in the field of assessment (38.57%). PT graduates from Saudi Arabia performed poorly in the examination, demonstrating weak domain knowledge and skills.