Using criteria-based interview models for assessing clinical expertise to select physiotherapists at major multisport games

Benchmarking is an established way to identify levels of specialist practice and competence-based interviews are a tool used to facilitate this. The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) provided an opportunity to introduce a pragmatic approach to assess expert behaviour in large numbers of volunteer physiotherapists. To test inter-tester repeatability of an assessment matrix used to score clinical expertise in a sporting context, followed by reporting on the findings for physiotherapy selection. Levels of agreement ranged from 22% to 88%. A good correlation (r=0.754 p>0.001) was found between self-reported clinical experience and scenario scores. Marginal data points in the correlational analysis indicated that only 52% of participants reached the same score across assessments.
A tool to facilitate assessment for large scale selection could be employed for Host Nation physiotherapist selection for Major Games. There is a need to train assessors in this environment, as well as provide detailed matrices, specific to each context being assessed, to guarantee that observations can be made on domain-specific and general, non-technical aspects.