Can Organizational Relationships Disable the Ethic of Critique?
Theory/Body:
The authors will explore the history of accreditation and describe organizational relationships between accrediting agencies and the professional organizations they serve. Examples of best practices within the Allied Health Professions will be compared to more problematic relationships that impede the oversight, and checks and balances that should exist between these organizations. Finally, the authors will demonstrate that the exercise of ethical theory can be paralyzed by a lack of such oversight. The authors will describe how the American Physical Therapy Association’s (APTA) relationship with the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) holds up under this analysis.