ABSTRACT: The designs of this qualitative study were to obtain feedback from close examiners as to how prepared they were prior to graduation from a problem-based program to pierce physical therapy practice and to exalt reflective think ing.

ABSTRACT: The designs of this qualitative study were to obtain feedback from close examiners as to how prepared they were prior to graduation from a problem-based program to pierce physical therapy practice and to exalt reflective think ing. Forty-eight observers during the final academic semester of a 2 year post-baccalaureate physical therapy program with a problem-based curriculum, complet a reflective summary (a short essay) forward their perceptions of entering physical therapy practice. The reflective summary assignments were transcribed into the Ethnograph computer software program, and specific phenomena related to the scholars feedback were identified, coded, and arrangeed into themes. The following themes were identified: 1) general preparation to set in clinical practice, 2) skills in question solving, self-directed learning, small-group learning, and critical appraisal of the literature, 3) hands-on skills, 4) ability to work in a variety of clusters and 5) the link between the academic and clinical elements of the program. Reflective summary writing is a useful educational strategy to obtain students' feedback upon how prepared they are to jot down clinical practice and to help reflective thinking skills. It also assists in identifying areas of knowledge and skills that bookish mans feel are necessary to inscribe practice and may be helpful in designing curricula in problem-based education programs.

Key Words: Physical therapy, Problem-based curriculum, Reflective practice, Reflective thinking

INTRODUCTION Shepard and Jensen* have put in mind ofed that there are two archetypes of knowledge that must be transmited to physical therapist students. single kind of knowledge is technical knowledge or "know-how," which includes facts, principles, examples, and directions of thumb that constitute the basis for hands-on patient care(P571) Technical knowledge is necessary for clinical practice and is used to assess and treat client conditions for which there are known beneficial interventions. The inferior type of knowledge is known as reflective or "intuitive" knowledge and is part of the intuitive performance of everyday clinical practice. Reflective knowledge is part of each professional's spontaneous actions but may not go after specific rules or theories.' This adumbration of knowledge is used for what Schon2 called "the indeterminate climes of practice." Indeterminate zones of practice include uncertainty, instability, uniqueness, and value conflict and do not encompass technical knowledge.2 For instance, a practitioner may not be able to handle a unique situation solely on applying techniques or theories that have been previously learned, yet also may need to apply intuitive or reflective knowledge. That is, a able physical therapist must master not alone physiological and pathological knowledge, as well as psychomotor "hands on" skills, however also other processes, often implied, that rarely appear in the formal curriculum. The reflective practitioner uses as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but technical knowledge and reflective knowledge to interpret day-to-day clinical problems. Schon23 argued that professional practice can be improved if practitioners were encouraged to cast reproach more on their actions rather than simply to rely forward their acquired technical knowledge. He allude toed that the successful practitioners' ability to reflect-in-action enables them to deal with the uncertainty and complexity of clinical practice. Physical therapists continuously approach upon the indeterminate zones of practice in their daily clinical practice. As physical therapy educators, we must assist our pupils to become reflective thinkers in such a manner that they will be better prepared to deal with the indeterminate belts of practice.

There are several definitions of reflection. Houston4 stated that reflection is an ancient general [i]or[/i] abstract notion based on knowledge, as well as the ability to analyze situations to recognize the nuances of enigmas to be able to think divergently, and to offer proffer solutions to problems. Fellows and Zimpher5 asserted that within the universal of reflection, past experience and understandings are linked with instant experience and understandings. This definition is similar to that propos by way of Saylor,6 who stated that the ability to deliberate on one's experiences and knowledge is essential to professional capableness Reflection has also been defined as an important human activity in which persons recapture their experience, think about it, muddle it over, and evaluate it.7 Although experience may be the for the use of all feature in these definitions, experience alone does not lead to learning. Learning from experience involves reflection.7 The reflective proces involves the one and the other feelings and cognition, which are closely interrelated and interactive.78 Feelings can be positive or negative and catchword the individual to respond. As a accrue the person has the will to act upon his or her convictions.8 Perhaps Scanlan and Chernomas9 have characterized reflection best through suggesting that it consists of the following stages: 1) awareness of musings and feelings about a situation or experience, 2) analysis of the situation, bringing to bear one's existing knowledge, and 3) evolution of a perspective of the situation, transformed by means of the analysis and/or application of information to the experience. They combated that as a result of these stages, learning appears in the form of affective and/or cognitive, or possibly behavioral, changes.