What is Clinical Assessment?
The Clinical Assessment is the last stage of the Standard Assessment Pathway, and allows you to demonstrate your clinical skills and reasoning, and undertake safe and effective consultations. The assessment is conducted in a simulated environment, the Simulation Lab, with professional actors simulating real patients. There are three compulsory practical components including:
- musculoskeletal physiotherapy
- neurological physiotherapy
- cardiorespiratory physiotherapy
How will I be assessed during the Clinical Assessments?
During your Clinical Assessments, the assessors will be examining you according to Australia’s entry-level competencies. The Clinical Assessment Information Booklet describes these competencies and the related domains and criteria that you should be mindful of when preparing for your assessments.
Where are the Clinical Assessments conducted?
All Clinical Assessments are conducted in-person at the Council’s Simulation Lab located in Melbourne.
Location:
Level 3
600 Victoria Street
Richmond, Victoria 3121
Australia
How can I prepare for the Clinical Assessments?
- Make sure you have adequate professional indemnity insurance
You will need professional indemnity insurance to cover your Clinical Assessments. You must provide the Council with a Certificate of Currency – Professional Indemnity Insurance for a minimum of $5 million. Most candidates will already have free professional indemnity insurance via their free associate membership with the Australian Physiotherapy Association. To read more click here.
- Complete the Council’s orientation before your assessment
You can view the Council’s orientation video and access other resources here to be prepared for your Clinical Assessments.
- Go through the Simulation Equipment List
The equipment list outlines what will be available in the Simulation Lab for you to use during your Clinical Assessments.
- Read the Clinical Assessment Information Booklet
To prepare for your Clinical Assessments, you must read the Clinical Assessment Information Booklet carefully. The booklet explains the assessment format, how the assessment is marked, the do’s and don’ts on the day, and more.
How much does the Clinical Assessment cost?
Fees can be found here.
How can I apply for the Clinical Assessment?
You can apply for the Clinical Assessment via the Candidate Dashboard after successfully completing Written Assessment.
Frequently Asked Questions
When you apply for your Clinical Assessment or Clinical Assessment Resit through your Candidate Dashboard, you will be asked to select your preferred clinical assessment dates from a list of available sessions.
This gives you the flexibility to customise your schedule based on your availability and preferences, either choosing to complete all clinical assessment components on the same day or choosing separate dates for each individual assessment.
If this is your first time applying for Clinical Assessment, you will need to select and pay for all three (3) assessment dates.
The available assessment dates will keep rotating so if your preferred date is unavailable, we encourage you to check availability regularly for another suitable time.
The Council advises you to request a change your booking only if absolutely necessary. The Clinical Assessment exams are in high demand and changing your booking may affect the allocations of other candidates and you may be required to pay a cancellation fee of up to 100%.
If you are over 34 weeks pregnant, the Council will not allow you to undertake the Clinical Assessments for your safety.
If you are under 34 weeks pregnant, you will need to provide a letter from your medical practitioner dated no earlier than 1 week before your assessment date confirming that you are physically and medically fit to undertake the Clinical Assessments.
The candidate report that includes your Clinical Assessment results will be emailed to you within 14 business after the assessment day. The candidate report will indicate performance in the Domains and Performance Indicators that are observed during the assessment. To know more about the Domains and Performance Indicators read the Clinical Assessment Information Booklet. No other information is provided regarding the performance, it is your responsibility to interpret your performance against the assessment criteria.
The Clinical Assessment result is final and cannot be altered. If you have procedural issues with your Clinical Assessment, you must apply for an Internal Review within 14 days of receiving your results.
If you are unsuccessful in your Clinical Assessment, you must apply for an Internal Review within 2 weeks of receiving your results. The Internal Review can only be undertaken based on procedural grounds.
Once successful with all the 3 components within the Clinical Assessment, you will be issued with a Final Certificate which will meet one of the qualification requirements for General Registration with the Physiotherapy Board of Australia.
If you're unsuccessful in passing Clinical Assessments, you will receive a feedback report which highlights the areas you need to improve.
If you are unsuccessful with any of the 3 assessment components (musculoskeletal, cardiorespiratory or neurology), you will need to apply to resit the specific component.
You can only apply and pay for additional resits through the Candidate Dashboard once you have completed the Clinical Assessment in all the three components (cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal and neurology).
The Council does not provide training for Clinical Assessments.
However, there are training and preparation programs provided by external organisations that you can contact independently. The Council advises you to seek information directly from these external organisations to ensure the programs meet your needs. Many of these programs can be found through the Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA).
The Council recommends staying active in your assessment journey and completing all stages as soon as possible. However, if you need to renew your Interim Certificate after its two-year validity, please email us 4 weeks before its expiration date and we can issue you another Interim Certificate.