Curriculum/Courses

DPT Degree
Requirements

 

DPT Course
Listing

 

Graduation
Plan

 

PT
Scholarships

 

DPT Recommended Courses

A number of courses are determined to be good preparation for certain components of the PT graduate program and therefore are recommended if they fit into the applicants preparation: Microbiology or Infectious Disease, Medical Terminology, Kinesiology, Exercise Physiology, Basic Motor Learning, upper level Anatomy, Neuroscience, Pathophysiology, Abnormal Psychology, Physiological Psychology, Developmental Psychology. 

DPT Course Sequence

 * indicates a course with a practical lab

Expected Graduate Outcomes (Student Learner Outcomes)

Upon completion of the prescribed curriculum, graduates will be expected to enter the profession at a level consistent with initial practice of the profession of physical therapy and be able to accommodate to the ever changing health-care environment. The specific expected graduate outcomes described below are partially adapted from the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education’s (CAPTE) Physical Therapy Evaluative Criteria. The CAPTE Evaluative Criteria were drawn from the Normative Model of Physical Therapist Professional Education (1996), and the Guide to Physical Therapist Practice. Graduates of the program will be prepared to:

1. Expressively and receptively communicate with patients / clients, families, care givers, practitioners, consumers, payers, and policy makers while engaged in physical therapy practice, research, or education.
2. Incorporate an understanding of the implications of individual and cultural differences when engaged in physical therapy practice, research, and education.
3. Demonstrate professional behaviors in all interactions with patients / clients, families, care givers, practitioners, other healthcare providers, students, other consumers, and payers, upholding the highest ethical and legal standards of professional practice.
4. Demonstrate clinical decision-making skills, including clinical reasoning, clinical judgment, and reflective practice.
5. Practice critical inquiry including evaluation of published studies and information related to new and established techniques and technology and participation in scholarly activity.
6. Educate others (including patients) using a variety of teaching methods that are commensurate with the needs and unique characteristics of the learner.
7. Formulate and implement a plan for personal and professional career development based on self-assessment and feedback from others.
8. Perform screening to determine the need for further examination by, consultation with, or referral to the appropriate healthcare professional.
9. Independently examine and re-examine a patient or client (by history, systems review, and appropriate tests and measures) and synthesize examination data to complete the physical therapy evaluation.
10. Engage in the diagnostic process to establish differential diagnoses for patients based on evaluation of results of examinations and medical and psychosocial information.
11. Determine patient or client prognoses based on evaluation of results of examinations and medical and psychosocial information.
12. Establish, implement, monitor, and adjust a physical therapy plan of care, including collaboration with patients / clients, families, and other professionals, which reflects patient-stated goals, expected time duration and intensity of treatment, and anticipated functional outcomes.
13. Provide safe, ethical, and legal physical therapy intervention and consultation, based on impairments, functional limitations, and disabilities identified in the examination, and including patient-related instruction, and appropriate delegation to support personnel to achieve optimal patient functional outcomes.
14. Complete thorough, accurate, analytically sound, concise, timely, and legible documentation that follows guidelines and specific documentation formats required by the practice setting.
15. Implement an evaluation of individual or collective outcomes of patients or clients.
16. Identify and assess the health needs of individuals, groups and communities and promote optimal health including screening, prevention and wellness programs that are appropriate to physical therapy and that provide information on wellness and health risks related to age, gender, culture and lifestyle.
17. Provide management and care to patients in various care delivery systems.
18. Participate in administration, including appropriate delegation, supervision, management planning, budgeting, billing reimbursement, and marketing plan.
19. Provide consultation to individuals, businesses, schools, government agencies, or other organizations to develop programs for promotion of health and fitness and prevention of injury and illness.
20. Demonstrate social responsibility as a professional including participation in community activities and voluntary service organizations, provision of pro bono and other patient / client services and involvement in professional organizations.