§ 40.17. Foreign-educated physical therapists applying to take the licensure examination and pursue a clinical experience.
To be eligible to take the examination for licensure, foreign-educated applicants for licensure shall comply with the following conditions:
(1) The applicant shall submit evidence, satisfactory to the Board, indicating that the applicant has met the requirements in § 40.12(a)(1)—(3) and (b) (relating to application for licensure) and pay the fee in § 40.5 (relating to fees) for application for physical therapist licensure through foreign training.
(2) The applicant shall provide written documentation that the applicant has graduated from a physical therapist education program that prepares the applicant to engage without restriction in the practice of physical therapy and that the school of physical therapy is recognized by the authorizing agency or entity of the jurisdiction in which the school is situated.
(3) The applicant shall provide written documentation that the applicant holds or held legal authorization to practice as a physical therapist without limitations in the country where the professional education took place. If an applicant’s authorization to practice in the foreign jurisdiction is not current at the time of applying to the Board, that authorization must have been unrestricted immediately prior to expiring or being placed on inactive status.
(4) The applicant shall provide documentation of legal authorization to seek employment in the United States or its territories.
(5) The applicant shall provide satisfactory evidence that the applicant’s education is substantially equivalent to the education of physical therapists educated in an accredited program as set forth in § 40.11 (relating to educational requirements for licensure by examination) by either showing that the education program is accredited as provided in § 40.11(a) or securing a credentials evaluation from a recognized and accredited evaluation agency approved by the Board. If the applicant’s education was completed before 1998, the credentials evaluation must demonstrate that the applicant has met the requirement of at least 120 semester credit hours of which at least 42 credit hours must be in general education subjects and 69 credit hours must be in professional education subjects. If the applicant’s education was completed in 1998 or later, credentials evaluation must demonstrate that the applicant has met the requirements of at least 150 semester hours of which at least 60 credit hours must be in general education subjects and 90 credit hours must be in professional education subjects. If an applicant has deficiencies in general education or professional education, the applicant can correct the deficiencies as follows:
(i) General education. A minimum of one semester course shall be successfully completed in each of the following areas of general education unless otherwise noted:
(A) Humanities.
(B) Physical science (two courses each in chemistry and physics including laboratory sessions).
(C) Biological science.
(D) Social science.
(E) Behavioral science.
(F) Mathematics.
(ii) Professional education. The applicant shall complete 69 credit hours of professional education the content of which includes:
(A) Basic health science including:
(I) Human anatomy (specific to physical therapy).
(II) Human physiology (specific to physical therapy).
(III) Neuroscience.
(IV) Kinesiology or functional anatomy.
(V) Pathology.
(B) Medical and clinical science coursework including the following:
(I) Clinical medicine pertinent to physical therapy including:
(-a-) Neurology.
(-b-) Orthopedics.
(-c-) Pediatrics.
(-d-) Geriatrics.
(-e-) Cardiopulmonary.
(-f-) Pharmacology.
(II) Physical therapist coursework must include:
(-a-) Examination, evaluation and intervention pertaining to the integumentary system.
(-b-) Examination, evaluation and intervention pertaining to the musculoskeletal system.
(-c-) Examination, evaluation and intervention pertaining to the neuromuscular system.
(-d-) Examination, evaluation and intervention pertaining to the cardiopulmonary system.
(iii) Clinical education. Clinical education shall include physical therapist-supervised application of physical therapy theory, examination, evaluation and intervention. The applicant shall have a minimum of two full-time clinical internships of at least 800 hours total, which are supervised by a physical therapist. The maximum number of full-time clinical education credits is 23.
(iv) Related professional coursework. Content is required in the following nine areas:
(A) Professional behaviors.
(B) Administration.
(C) Community health.
(D) Research and clinical decision making.
(E) Educational techniques.
(F) Medical terminology.
(G) Communication (related to client/patient care).
(H) Legal and ethical aspects of physical therapy practice.
(I) Psychosocial aspects in physical therapy practice.
(6) General educational deficiencies. The applicant may correct general educational deficiencies in the areas specified in paragraph (5)(i) by either:
(A) Pursuing studies in an accredited college or university. Upon completion of studies, the applicant shall submit an official transcript to the Board.
(B) Attaining college credit through successful completion of the following examinations offered by the College Level Examination Program (CLEP). No more than 30 credits may be obtained through CLEP.
(I) The CLEP General Examination may be used to satisfy the requirements in paragraph (5)(i) for credit hours if passing scores are received in the following subjects:
General Examination College Level Credit English Composition with Essay 6 Mathematics 3 Humanities 6 Natural Sciences Biological Sciences (subscore) 3 Physical Sciences (subscore) 3 Social Sciences 6 (II) The CLEP Subject Examination may be used to satisfy the requirements in paragraph (5) for credit hours if passing scores are received in the following subjects:
Subject Examination College Level Credit Analysis and Interpretation of Literature 3 College Algebra 3 English Literature 3 Foreign Language French—Levels I and II 6 German—Levels I and II 6 Spanish—Levels I and II 6 Freshman English 3 English Composition 4 General Biology 3 General Chemistry 3 General Psychology 2 Human Growth & Development 2 Introduction to Management 2 Introduction to Sociology 2 Statistics 2 Trigonometry 2 Western Civilization 3 (III) The applicant is responsible for directing that CLEP report his examination scores to the Board.
(7) Clinical experience. The applicant may correct a deficiency in clinical experience by obtaining, at the Board’s discretion, up to 1 year of supervised clinical experience in the United States, as approved by the Board.
(i) To apply for approved supervised clinical experience the applicant shall:
(A) Submit a notarized application signed by the sponsoring physical therapist who will supervise the applicant in the institution in which the applicant will be pursuing the clinical experience.
(B) Arrange for and have a personal interview with a member of the Board and have the application forms signed and approved by the Board member.
(C) Submit a passport-size photograph for the purpose of identification. The applicant and a sponsor shall both sign either the photograph or the paper on which the photograph is mounted.
(ii) The applicant may obtain the required clinical experience while pursuing studies to correct educational deficiencies in the areas specified in paragraph (5).
(iii) The applicant shall submit a letter from the supervising physical therapist in the institution where the supervised clinical experience was completed, certifying the applicant’s clinical competence.
Authority The provisions of this § 40.17 issued under section 506 of The Administrative Code of 1929 (71 P. S. § 186); and section 3 of the Physical Therapy Practice Act (63 P. S. § 1303); amended under sections 3(a), 4(a), 5, 6, 7.2, 9.1, 10 and 11(a) of the Physical Therapy Practice Act (63 P. S. § § 1303(a), 1304(a), 1305, 1306, 1307.2, 1309.1, 1310 and 1311(a)); section 812.1 of The Administrative Code of 1929 (71 P. S. § 279.3a); and section 16 of the act of July 4, 2008 (P. L. 293, No. 38).
Source The provisions of this § 40.17 adopted July 29, 1977, effective July 30, 1977, 7 Pa.B. 2138; amended October 4, 1985, effective October 5, 1985, 15 Pa.B. 3513; amended August 27, 2004, effective August 28, 2004, 34 Pa.B. 4697; amended December 21, 2012, effective December 22, 2012, 42 Pa.B. 7652; amended May 18, 2018, effective May 19, 2018, 48 Pa.B. 2947. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (364962) to (364967).
Cross References This section cited in 49 Pa. Code § 40.11 (relating to educational requirements for licensure by examination); and 49 Pa. Code § 40.16 (relating to licensure by endorsement).
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