If We Build It, Will You Come?

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As Malcom X reflected, “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow ... November. 5, 2017. 4. Malcolm X. Word quotes. https://www.brainyquote.com/.
Journal of Acute Care Physical Therapy

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

If We Build It, Will You Come?

C

hristine Gregoire said, “Education is the foundation upon which we build our future.”1 In May 2017, the Academy of Acute Care Physical Therapy (AACPT) had a strategic planning retreat. For a weekend in Pittsburgh, leaders and active members of the AACPT met to discuss, challenge, and grow our plans for the next 3 years of Academy priorities. Education—how we provide it, how we structure our Board and Committees to support it, and how to grow it—was a topic that rightfully took a lot of our attention and time. Over the next few months, members will see how we are taking steps to expand the depth and breadth of our educational offerings at a variety of levels from entry level through expert acute care clinician. I invite you to partner with us as we broaden our reach, and I actively invite your participation as we seek to get more members involved on this front. Given the emphasis that our new strategic plan has placed on education, I was excited to see many engaged educators, both clinical educators and academicians, at my first Educational Leadership Conference only a few months later. It was invigorating to see physical therapy educators from across the country presenting their work covering the spectrum of education, with much of it focusing on the special needs and concerns of acute care and critical care physical therapy. Having such robust representation from acute care educators and clinicians at this important conference shows how much our area of practice has developed, and signals strongly where we see ourselves headed into the future. Seeing physical therapy, and specifically acute care physical therapy, represented at international medical education conferences such as Collaborating Across Borders (focusing on interprofessional education) and International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare (the Society for Simulation in Healthcare annual meeting) demonstrates the growth of our knowledge The author has no conflicts of interest and no source of funding to declare. Copyright © 2018 Academy of Acute Care Physical Therapy, APTA DOI: 10.1097/JAT.0000000000000075

base, research base, and importance in health care education. As we move forward to grow our educational footprint, the AACPT was proud to be a sponsor of the 6th Annual Johns Hopkins Critical Care Rehabilitation Conference in November. We are actively seeking partnerships such as this to promote best practices and to expand the skills, knowledge, and behaviors key to providing high-quality acute care and critical care physical therapy. In addition, as an outreach from the AcuTEACH open discussion at CSM 2017, the AACPT has established an online forum to allow educators, clinical and academic, to collaborate online. The AcuTEACH Discussion Forum,2 hosted through the AACPT Web site, is a place to continue the discussion started at CSM about acute care education, to partner facilities and programs, and to share resources and materials to better provide acute care and critical care education from entry level through residency and fellowship. We hope that sponsorships and forums like these can continue to connect educators and provide sparks that will work to improve outcomes for our students, residents, and fellows specific to acute care practice. Most exciting of all, the AACPT has taken a bold step and is proud to announce the upcoming conference and workshop “Bridging the Acute Care Gap: Advancing Acute Care Physical Therapy Education and Educators.”3 This conference will focus on best practice in acute care education, and will allow participants to actively engage and problem-solve ways to strengthen, grow, and expand their acute care education, both in the clinic and in the classroom. Creating this conference puts the AACPT into the forefront of physical therapy education and will position the Academy to work from within to promote best practices in education, as they relate to acute care physical therapy practice. The AACPT Board of Directors hopes this conference will be the first step in expanding the AACPT commitment to education beyond our excellent programming at CSM, and we look forward to hosting conference attendees in Indianapolis this May to help bridge this gap. I hope you will look forward to other opportunities and offerings moving forward though 2018 from

JACPT  ■  Volume 9  ■  Number 1  ■  2018

Copyright © 2018 Academy of Acute Care Physical Therapy, APTA. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.

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President’s Message

the AACPT. We are committed to serving the needs of our members through education and to moving the practice of acute care physical therapy ever forward. As Malcom X reflected, “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”4 Sharon L. Gorman,  PT, DPTSc Board-Certified Geriatric Clinical Specialist Fellow, National Academies of Practice President, Academy of Acute Care Physical Therapy [email protected]

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REFERENCES 1. Gregoire C. Word quotes. https://www.brainyquote.com/ quotes/quotes/c/christineg167882.html?src=t_education. Accessed November 6, 2017. 2. Academy of Acute Care Physical Therapy. AcuTEACH Discussion Forum. http://www.acutept.org/forums/Default.aspx. Accessed November 6, 2017. 3. Academy of Acute Care Physical Therapy. Bridging the Acute Care Gap Conference. http://www.acutept. org/?page=AACPTworkshop2017. Accessed November 5, 2017. 4. Malcolm X. Word quotes. https://www.brainyquote.com/ quotes/quotes/m/malcolmx386475.html?src=t_education. Accessed November 6, 2017.

JACPT  ■  Volume 9  ■  Number 1  ■  2018

Copyright © 2018 Academy of Acute Care Physical Therapy, APTA. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.