Mar 28, 2024  
2020-21 Graduate Catalog 
    
2020-21 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

PT 738 Clinical Education Experience I (8 weeks)


(4 credits)
This first of two full-time clinical experiences in the curriculum is eight weeks in length and occurs after one year of academic coursework. This clinical education experience is the student’s first formal full-time exposure to the practice of physical therapy. Arcadia respects that not all patient types can be available to each student during a clinical experience, but a varied caseload is encouraged. Close supervision and additional clinical teaching may be required in all areas of clinical practice. Emphasis is placed on developing good interpersonal skills with supervisors, patients, and other healthcare practitioners. The experience also focuses on oral and written communication skills, performing physical therapy examinations, evaluation, intervention planning and implementation on cardiac, pulmonary, neurological, medical/surgical and orthopedic patients, and providing basic functional training. The student should begin to appreciate the role of the physical therapist in the interdisciplinary team and the responsibilities involved in carrying a patient caseload. By the final two weeks of the clinical experience, the student should be managing approximately two-thirds of a caseload that is setting-appropriate.