January 2009

Thank you to all who sent in your images for the WCPT photography competition.  We have received some fantastic photographs showing physical therapy from around the world and across many specialties.  Watch this space for the results in March.

WCPT, the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) and the Canadian Physiotherapy Association (CPA) are pleased to announce that an international policy summit on Advanced Scope of Practice and Direct Access in Physical Therapy will be taking place in Washington DC, USA from 22-24 October 2009. This will be especially relevant to those involved in policy, service development and negotiations with governments

The objective of the summit is to share international experiences in developing and implementing policy in these areas. A combination of high profile presenters, posters and discussion sessions will help to address key questions. A working group will also be formed to take forwards the outcomes from the Summit.

This will be an excellent opportunity for member organisations to focus on a key area of practice and policy and to work strategically.

Put the date in your diaries and visit the Summit’s dedicated website for more information as it becomes available: http://directaccesssummit.com

If you have outstanding expertise in the field of spinal cord injury (SCI) and would like to participate in an international study please read on.

Researchers from the Ludwig-Maximilian-University in Munich would like to invite physical therapists from around the world to participate in the 'Validation of the ICF Core Sets for Spinal Cord Injury from the perspective of health professionals' study as a Delphi panel member.  

To facilitate the application of the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) in clinical practice, the research group have developed disease-specific Core Sets.  These are selections of ICF categories relevant for the majority of patients with a certain health condition. 

Before its routine usage, a validation of the ICF Core Sets is required.  A survey of health professionals will ask about the types of patients’ problems they treat in persons with SCI.  The survey will be carried out between March 2009 and August 2009 using electronic mail.  It consists of three survey rounds and is performed according to the so-called Delphi method taking around four hours in total.

For further information and expressions of interest please contact Kirsten Herrmann at Kirsten.Herrmann@med.uni-muenchen.de

For more information on the ICF core sets projects, please see www.icf-research-branch.org.

The results from the World Phyiscal Therapy 2011 surveys carried out last year are now on the WCPT website.  Please go to www.wcpt.org/congress to see what you feel are the most important topics to be covered at our congress in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The following events are all to take place within the next few months:

• 1st Congress of the International Society of Electrophysical Agents (ISEPA), 8-9 February, Las Vegas
• The American Physical Therapy Association's Combined Sections Meeting, 9-12 February, Las Vegas
• Malaysian Physiotherapy Association National Conference, 23-24 March, Kuala Lumpur
• Bahrain Physical Therapy Association Conference, 22-23 April
• South African Society of Physiotherapy International Congress, 1-3 May, Cape Town
• Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care, 7-10 May, Vienna

For further information please see the events section of the WCPT website at http://www.wcpt.org/events/index.php.