California Code of Regulations
Title 16 - Professional and Vocational Regulations
Division 13.2 - Physical Therapy Board of California
Article 2 - Applications and Examinations
Section 1398.26.5 - Clinical Service Requirements for Foreign Educated Applicants

(a) The period of clinical service required by Section 2653 of the Code shall be certified by at least one supervising physical therapist (the supervising physical therapist is the Center Coordinator of Clinical Education and/or the credentialed Clinical Instructor) licensed by the board, or by a physical therapy licensing authority in another jurisdiction which is accepted by the board.

(b) For the purposes of this regulation, supervision means the supervising physical therapist must be onsite in the same facility and available to the physical therapist license applicant to provide assistance with any patient care.

(c) Effective January 1, 2008, the Center Coordinator of Clinical Education (CCCE) must be an American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) credentialed Clinical Instructor. Effective January 1, 2010, all Clinical Instructors must be APTA credentialed.

(d) The certification shall be submitted in a report to the board and shall document the supervising physical therapist's determination that the physical therapist license applicant possesses the skills necessary to perform any physical therapy evaluation or any physical therapy procedure of patient care within the California healthcare system. The supervising physical therapist's evaluation of the physical therapist license applicant shall be prepared utilizing the Physical Therapist Clinical Performance Instrument issued by the American Physical Therapy Association in December of 1997, incorporated by reference herein, or the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy's Supervised Clinical Practice Performance Evaluation Tool, dated September 2013, incorporated by reference herein, and completed pursuant to subsection (g). The certification shall include two evaluations of the physical therapist license applicant's skills. One evaluation shall determine the skill level mid-way through the period of clinical service and the other evaluation shall determine the skill level at the end of the clinical service. Both evaluations shall be reported at the end of the period of clinical service.

(e) Three (3) months of the required nine (9) months of clinical service shall be waived by the board if the physical therapist license applicant successfully completes a course in Law and Professional Ethics as offered by a post-secondary educational institution or by successfully completing four (4) continuing education units in Ethics offered by a continuing education provider recognized by a California healthcare board.

(f) One (1) month of clinical service shall be waived for each month of licensed clinical practice in another state up to the required total of nine (9) months.

(g) To create an account for access to the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy's Clinical Practice Performance Evaluation Tool on their website at fsbpt.org/SCPPET, the supervising physical therapist must enter their email, first and last name, create a password, and choose California as the jurisdiction.