Care to comment on particular PT Programs?

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teaman

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I attended a DPT program in The Chicago Medical School. The program was very strong in cardiopulmonary, orthopedic and manual preparation. It also placed a large emphasis on research and EVP, which truely made a more knowledgable practitioners out of you. The weak points I would rather not talk about, but they were also there.
 
I attended Boston University's DPT program. I felt it had it's strengths and weaknesses as well. Feel free to AIM me and we'll chat.

My recommendation, if you are applying to programs, is get the real deal from students who are in the program. Ask about the curriculum structure, the professors, the difficulty level and the support from administration throughout the program.
 
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By chance have you run into any of the DPT students at GW and gotten
a feel about how they like the program?

Thanks
 
SashaDPT said:
I attended a DPT program in The Chicago Medical School. The program was very strong in cardiopulmonary, orthopedic and manual preparation. It also placed a large emphasis on research and EVP, which truely made a more knowledgable practitioners out of you. The weak points I would rather not talk about, but they were also there.

SashaDPT,

We should start a forum on advice for students entering into PT school... like characteristics of a quality program, what will make the student a strong clinician, what to expect and what not to expect...

When did you graduate?
 
Freddy, I agree with you. I graduated last year and have been practicing in outpatient orthopedics environment. I would be glad to start a forum for new PT's.
 
My mistake...have you happened to have run across anyone in the entry level masters PT program at GW?

Thanks.
 
teaman,

I think GW has an ambassador program and you can contact the PT program and talk to some of the students there. Generally, students at GW are very friendly, but I've only met the medical students.
 
Went to the University of Hartford, was on the Connecticut PT Association Student Affairs Committee and have a lot of experience with the 4 CT PT schools. If anyone has questions regarding these schools I'd be happy to share information.

-J
 
I went to WashU for PT school and absolutely loved it. The curriculum was extremely intense, but still enjoyable. It is not a place to go if you are really into manual therapy however. It is very evidence based and is strong in ortho and neuro. The faculty are awesome. Can't say enough about them. If anybody has questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
 
MSHARO,

What do you think was missing from the WashU manual therapy curriculum? I'm just curious because I know education is not exactly standardized.

Thanks,
Fred
 
In my opinion, it is not that it was really lacking anything; it is just that that manual therapy is not really the emphasis or focus of program. Not by a long shot. As a result, some may find it lacking if they are interested in, or coming from a manual therapy background. Manual therapy is definitely treated as an adjunct to more exercise based PT. Again, this is just a different philosophy than much of the PT community right now. Personally, as an athletic trainer and a physical therapist, I rarely use "manual therapy" other than occasional jt mobs while working in an outpatient ortho setting.

As you mentioned, the curriculum is very different and it really is quite hard to explain, but I'll try and do my best. At WashU they have, in many aspects, been leading to charge towards direct access and evidence-based practice. As a result, the whole focus is being able to diagnose and treat movement impairment syndromes based on valid scientific evidence.

Over the past 15-20 years the faculty, especially Shirley Sahrmann, Barb Norton, Linda VanDillen as well as to some extent Florence Kendall (among others), have been systematically, and scientifically, been identifying the movement pattern faults that lead to pain or disability, whether it is neurological or musculoskeletal (currently the cardiopulm. is a work in process). What makes it difficult for students is that we must learn all of the diagnoses that go along with these movement faults, as well as the more traditional physical therapy terminology/approach. So it is kind of double duty I guess. Since so far WashU is the only school that I have heard that uses this diagnosis system, they want us to be able to go out into the field knowing both sides of the story.

In a nutshell, the ortho movement impairments are primarily based on looking at the joint's path of instantaneous center of rotation, and seeing how it deviates from the standard or ideal movement and how this relates to pain. Once this deviation or movement pattern is noted, treatment is directed towards bringing it closer to ideal movement. It takes the focus away from the more medical aspect of "which tissue is involved" to WHY it is involved. In all actuality, it is very simple if you know you anatomy and kinesiology. It just changes the way you look at things. What is nice is that once the diagnosis is made, you quickly are provided with a direction for your treatment.

I'll leave it at that for now. I am not sure if I really answered the question, but feel free to ask more. Like I said, while the school and program were EXTREMELY tough, I loved it.
 
I went to VCU/MCV and graduated in 2001 so I'm afraid I can't really comment on the current program as they have switched to a DPT and have several new professors. I think I caught them in a rather transitional stage so the education was satisfactory at best.

When I was there, they were particularly strong on neuro rehab, pediatrics, cardiopulmonary, and orthopedic assessment. To this day, even though I work in SCI rehab, I can do a decent orthopedic assessment without too much trouble. Orthopedic treatment was, at the time, severely lacking. We had a new professor who pretty much let us fend for ourselves. It was a huge detriment when I got out and probably had a lot to do with me choosing neuro/rehab instead of outpatient orthopedics. That has probably changed, however, so don't let that deter you.

Evidence based practice is excellent, and whether you like it or not, you will come out with a strong sense of what PT evaluation techniques and treatments have scientific evidence behind them. Sadly, not many of them currently do so there is a lot of work to do within the profession to prove that what we say works really does. It has been very helpful though and I found that a lot of older clinicians have been very receptive.

My only real complaint about the school is it's total lack of manual therapy emphasis. It probably has to do with their focus on evidence based practice but I came out sorely behind my counterparts who graduated from other schools. I chose one rotation specifically to get exposed to manual techniques because we didn't have ANY in school other than basic joint mobilizations.

Overall, it's a good school and I'm sure it's gotten better in the last couple of years. I was a CI for a 3rd year student this year and she was EXCELLENT.
 
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