Leadership Competencies for Physical Therapists: A Delphi Determination

Introduction. Leadership is linked to patient experience and quality of care. Some health care professions have identified leadership competencies to guide curriculum design. Yet, the physical therapy profession lacks explicit leadership competencies for the point-of-care professional. The academic community is inconsistent including leadership development within Doctor of Physical Therapy entry-level education or residency/fellowship training. This project aimed to fill this knowledge gap and inform the conversation on leadership competencies essential for new graduate physical therapists while clarifying whether expectations differ for those physical therapists with additional experience who do not hold formal leadership positions. Subjects. Delphi panel of physical therapists with content expertise in leadership Methods. A collated document of leadership competencies was circulated electronically to the Delphi panelists for 2 rounds of structured review. Each panelist rated each competency for level of importance for new graduate physical therapists and the more experienced physical therapists. Consensus threshold was set priori at 0.80. Results. The Delphi panel consisted of 14 content experts. Ten completed 2 rounds of review. Of the 76 potential leadership competencies, 37 were deemed as “very important” and 1 as “somewhat” important for all physical therapists regardless of years postlicensure. Three were “not important” for new graduate physical therapists. Consensus was not reached on 35 leadership competencies. Conclusions. Identification of leadership competencies for physical therapists is essential for role identity and to impact quality of care and the overall patient experience in physical therapy. Results of this paper provide a foundation for discussions on the adoption of a set of leadership competencies within the profession to guide leadership development within curricula for entry-level and professional development activities.