Harnessing Our Collective Professional Power": Diagnosis Dialog (original) (raw)

Physical Therapy, 2007

Abstract

For more than 20 years, the faculty of the Program in Physical Therapy at Washington University in St Louis has focused on diagnosis and classification. Steven Rose, PT, PhD, FAPTA, who directed the program in the 1980s, and Shirley Sahrmann, PT, PhD, FAPTA, Associate Director for Doctoral (PhD) Studies, were the primary initiators of the efforts made by many faculty members to conduct research and refine, elaborate, clarify, and teach the concepts. The program often had considered hosting a conference on diagnosis and classification. After Cynthia Zadai, PT, DPT, CCS, FAPTA, delivered the 2004 John P Maley Lecture at the PT 2004 Meeting in Chicago, it was clear that the time was right for planning an invitational conference. (See page 641 for a Perspective1 adapted from that seminal lecture, from which the title of this editorial is borrowed.) “Diagnosis Dialog I: Defining the ‘ x ’ in D x PT” was held at Washington University in St Louis in July 2006 (Diagnosis Dialog II was held at the Institute of Health Professions of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston in February 2007). Participants from many different areas of the profession were invited to attend—individuals with recognized expertise in major areas of clinical practice, editors of Association and section journals, Association leaders and senior staff, researchers, academicians—all of whom were known to have an interest in diagnosis. First, the group reviewed a history of diagnosis in physical therapy based on a collection of publications and personal accounts of events. Then, the participants determined the agenda for the rest of the meeting by rank ordering, based on perceived importance, a set of 16 questions derived from the pre-meeting survey that they had completed. There were no formal presentations, just free and open discussions that were spirited, respectful, and extremely rich in information …

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