The House also addressed the profession’s present environment by refining some of the most important guidance around principles and behaviors that are core to day-to-day practice.
Values in the association’s ethics and conduct guidance. The House voted to fold in the core values for the PT and the PTA into the Code of Ethics for the Physical Therapist and Standards of Ethical Conduct for the Physical Therapist Assistant. Previously the core values existed as a separate document cited in those two documents — a separation that was potentially problematic.
Standards around patient and client management. The House voted to modernize the Standards of Practice for Physical Therapy around patient and client management to better encompass the full scope of PT practice. In addition to cleaning up ambiguities, the new standards now include expanded language related to management plans and plans of care and consultation.
Patient safety. The House adopted a position on patient safety that establishes APTA’s support of efforts by PTs and PTAs to achieve the goal of “zero preventable patient harm by demonstrating transformational leadership, a culture of safety, and robust performance improvement.”
Environmentally responsible practice. The House updated APTA’s position on its support for more environmentally conscious practices “for the health of individuals, communities, and society.” That support now includes a commitment to environmental sustainability and greater public awareness of the effect of the environment on human movement, health, and safety.
World Confederation for Physical Therapy meeting location. Delegates voted for the association to act on concerns about WCPT’s selection of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for its 2021 conference, given the country’s poor human rights record. Those actions include an official censure of the decision; a statement that APTA supports WCPT meeting site selections that are consistent with theconfederation’s current policy statement related to diversity, equity, and inclusion; and a directive for APTA to introduce two motions at the 2023 WCPT general meeting: one that would commit WCPT to selecting meeting sites that are consistent with its policies on diversity and inclusion, and a second that would add language to the WCPT inclusion statement to clarify that “All members of the global physical therapy community must be able to attend … without fear of governmental persecution on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, or health status.”
