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The New Doctor of Physical Therapy Program: An Interview with Dr. Lynn Rivers
Please note: This article was written in February of 2004 and some program-specific details may no longer be accurate. Please refer to the Physical Therapy department web pages for current information.
The Department of Physical Therapy at D’Youville College was established in 1986 offering a curriculum leading to a combined BS/MS in Physical Therapy. Today the department continues to offer a master’s degree in PT and is currently introducing a doctor of physical therapy program. The DPT program has three primary admission tracks: a 6-year program for entering freshmen; a 3-year program for students holding bachelor’s degrees and the required pre-requisites; and a 1-year part-time program for those students who already have a master’s in physical therapy. We spoke recently with Lynn Rivers, Chair of the Department of Physical Therapy, who talked about current developments in the profession and answered some questions about the new program.
Q: Is this a good time to become a physical therapist?
A: Absolutely. Although the number of jobs for physical therapists shrunk in the early 90s, in the past 3 to 5 years it has expanded dramatically, primarily in the areas of sub-acute care and in rural areas.
Q: How do you account for the growth of the profession?
One big reason is the current emphasis on health and wellness and the promotion of physical activity in adults. The physical therapy profession is very instrumental in promoting physical activity and exercise for well individuals as well as those with disabilities. In fact, that’s one area where I see the profession growing—physical therapists involved in more community and individual health promotion. The second reason is the aging U.S. population. As our society lives longer and baby boomers are reaching retirement age, there is a greater demand for PT rehabilitation to maintain functional mobility.
Q: Is our society inherently unhealthy?
A: What’s happening is that people are living longer but their health behaviors are declining. People are less physically active, eating less healthy foods. Therefore, people are having problems in their 40s and 50s—instead of their 60s and 70s—limiting their ability to move and to work. It’s a very negative trend. So we’re trying to target individuals before they’re hospitalized with diseases and injuries as a result of not being physically active. I’m hoping to increase the emphasis on preventive care in our new doctoral program curriculum.
Q: Has the PT doctoral program already started?
A: There are multiple entry paths. The 6-year curricular path open to high school students begins in fall of 2004. However, in fall 2003 we began designing a couple of high-level 6th-year special topic doctoral courses. We will offer the first two of those this spring to our licensed PTs who are coming back to get their clinical doctorate in PT.
Q: Could you explain each of those paths to the DPT?
On the first path, students enter as freshmen, choose one of three undergrad pathways to a bachelor’s degree, and then proceed to graduate work. On the second path, individuals with bachelor’s degrees who have the social science and basic science prerequisites can directly enter the three-year graduate phase. They are currently being accepted as transfer students. They will also officially begin their program this coming summer. On the third path, licensed, master’s-prepared professionals—DYC alumni—are being accepted immediately as transfer students this spring because they only need to take that third and final graduate year. And those are the courses we’re offering this spring. For those students, it’s approximately one academic year of courses that can be spread out part-time.
Q: Why the need for this program at D’Youville now?
A: It’s a recognition by our faculty that society’s expectations of the practicing physical therapist continue to go up and up in our managed care environment. Similar to nurses, we are now able to serve as case managers in the home, a new development in the profession. In addition, there’s a lot more case management and interaction at the primary care level when patients are first coming into the system. So we realized that we needed to expand our curriculum in the areas of health promotion as well as in the area of differential diagnosis screening.
Q: What does that mean exactly?
A: It means that physical therapists are going to screen patients to see whether they need to be referred back to the doctor or to other health care providers. Even though we don’t make medical diagnoses, we need to interpret whether there’s a need for one. In thirty-eight states, not including New York, clients have direct access to physical therapists. In other words, people can walk off the street into a physical therapy office without a physician referral. As a result, we are expected to serve our patients in an expanded way. And this means a higher level of differential diagnosis. We are also asked to serve as advocates for our patients now. In short, there’s just more required of physical therapists in many of our practice settings.
Q: Why doesn’t New York have direct access?
A: Physical therapists have been seeking direct access in New York State for twenty years. But New York is one of the most medically conservative states so we may be the last state to get direct access. Although we need a referral in New York for ongoing treatment, we can by law examine a patient and make recommendations but we cannot treat a patient beyond the initial examination without a physician referral.
Q: The 6-year DPT track looks like a tough curriculum. Will most students do it in six years?
A: It’s extremely rigorous but the 6-year path is doable for most students. It’s intended for very focused students who do not need to work and can complete a BS degree in three years. However, we also have two well-established 4-year paths to the bachelor’s degree. Students can switch undergrad degree paths for financial, personal or family reasons without reapplying to the graduate DPT program. At D’Youville, we are committed to the high school student who wants to be a physical therapist. You can choose one of three undergraduate degrees—a four-year BS in health services, a four-year BA degree in biology, or a three-year accelerated BS in health sciences. You’ll take the undergrad courses you need as prerequisites for the PT program and we’ll hold your seat in the graduate phase of the program.
Q: So there is some flexibility built into the program?
A: Yes. We think the 6-year program is right for most students and parents who are looking at the cost of higher education because six years is less expensive than seven. But not every student will be able to complete it in six years. In this program, students will be awarded a B.S. in health sciences at the conclusion of the third year since the graduate part of the program technically begins in the summer of year four. It’s a very flexible and innovative curriculum with multiple entries and exits.
Q: Is there a typical prospective PT doctoral student? Male? Female?
A: Certainly the 6-year program is directed to high school students. They have a guaranteed seat in the grad program upon acceptance. At many other institutions, you have to reapply to the grad program and there’s no guarantee you’ll get in. The ratio of men to women in our PT program is about 60/40 women to men.
Q: Does the fieldwork typically take place in the community?
A: Absolutely. Another strength of our program is that we have over 500 different clinical sites. They’re all over the country including Hawaii and Alaska as well as Puerto Rico and Australia. And they are in every conceivable physical therapy practice setting. Fewer of them are in hospitals these days because, due to managed care, people aren’t staying in hospitals long enough for rehab anymore. Most therapists are in sub-acute care settings, long-term care settings, rehabilitation hospitals and home care.
Q: I understand there are web seminars for students doing fieldwork in other locations?
A: Right. We use our web-based technology to augment our curriculum and to link our students while they’re on fieldwork. We might have 50 students spread out across the country and it gives them an opportunity to talk to each other and to us. They can post interesting cases that they’re seeing. It also allows students to review other people’s cases and really pull together their curriculum. Because not all students see the same kinds of patients.
Q: How many students are in the Physical Therapy department?
A: Our target enrollment for the DPT program is a total of 48 students in any one cohort. Right now there are approximately 160 Physical Therapy majors on campus.
Q: Are there a lot of Canadian students in the Physical Therapy program?
A: Yes, there has been a great increase of Canadian students in our program in the last couple of years. The demand for physical therapists is enormous in Ontario since the number of their PT programs is very small compared to the U.S. Out of 100 applications to our graduate program in the last cycle, I would estimate that 70 of the students were Canadian. Many of them are coming to us with undergraduate degrees in kinesiology and health science.
Q: Anything you’d like to add?
A: I think it’s important to recognize that this program came about due to the dedication of several of our senior faculty members, especially Dr. Penelope Klein and the Langeloth Foundation, which donated $380,000 through a research grant for the development of the program. Dr. Klein wrote the grant proposal for the funding that allowed us to develop the on-line seminars and develop several of the new courses in the program.
For more information on applications, admissions, and prerequisites to the Physical Therapy doctoral program, please contact D’Youville College Graduate Admissions at (716) 829-8400 or (800) 777-3921.
