PT 821: Introduction to Professional Practice (4 credits) – This course will include on-campus and on-line activities, including a review of basic concepts in Measurement, and an introduction to online technology. Post-intensive activities will include a case-based critical review of the literature, with a parallel set of objectives to that of the current Capstone. PT 825: Contemporary Practice in Physical Therapy (9 credits) – This course will focus on the health care delivery system - the content in which practice exists, must function, and within which practice goals and objectives are established. Practice-based cases will be used to develop an understanding of health care finance and financial decision-making (including an understanding of case-mix and cost-effectiveness issues), marketing, and capitation/contractual issues. Trends in health care and health care finance will be examined in the context of understanding the role of the physical therapist as an advocate for the patient and the profession. The function of and considerations relative to the physical therapist as a consultant to other practices, health care providers or a community will be discussed. Program evaluation and needs assessment strategies, concepts in wellness assessment, and screening programs will be considered as elements of understanding current practice status, potential for new services and short and long-term practice planning strategies. PT 845: Professional Practice III (4 credits) – This course will prepare students for role competence in practice implementation issues. Practice-based cases will be used to develop an understanding of the role of standardized patient examination data and patient/ practice documentation systems (including employee assessment tools) in examining practice outcomes, administrative issues such as scheduling (patient and personnel), and cost-effectiveness issues around equipment/supplies. The role of documentation systems in contributing to the body of knowledge of the profession and generating financial data will be explored. This course will prepare students for community outreach, implementation of wellness programming, advanced or specialized intervention programs in the context of either practice-based tutorial cases or past tutorial cases revisited. Students will be exposed to options for and have selected experiences with interventions based on advanced technology. Professional presentations by the students will be used as the teaching-learning medium for a substantial segment of this course. | | PT 861: Special Project II (4 credits) – This project will be a summative experience across course work to date, serving as a capstone experience for the practice and community-based phase of the curriculum. Students will work in small groups to develop a full proposal, including some data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Students will work jointly with a faculty member and preceptor from the professional community who can lend expertise to the clinical problem. Each group will present and defend their project to the class, preceptor and faculty, and (where possible) relevant practice personnel in an end-of-semester professional presentation week. The final outcome of each project (approved by the preceptor and faculty) will include a formal written recommendation that includes a full and documented rationale. PT 844: Professional Practice IV (3 credits) – This course will focus on leadership and management theory, including organizational behavior, change agency, and assessing/managing quality assurance. Practice settings and organizational structures will be examined in the context of their impact on patient care, professional and organizational behavior. The course will include examination and interpretation of personnel and practice outcomes, personnel management and development, management of benefits, and risk management. Discussions will emphasize issues in advanced practice, practice management and health care. Actual examples from the students' current clinical practice and sample cases will be used to facilitate discussions of opportunities and need for change, including evaluation of the constraints to change. PT 941: Concepts in Advanced Practice (6 credits) – This is largely a patient-based course with content modules that will include: (i) reviewing and updating the student's skills in critical review of research literature and use of evidence-based practice; (ii) consideration of how current imaging technology and pharmacology impact evaluation, diagnosis, prognosis, and intervention planning for a patient; (iii) looking at options for and understanding the implications of advances in instrumentation for patient examination, evaluation and intervention; (iv) consideration of the impact of primary care on diagnosis and referral; (v) consideration of planning and implementation issues for wellness and screening programs; (vi) consideration of the role of the physical therapist as a consultant to other practices, health care providers or a community. |