PERSPECTIVES 25th Anniversary - Fall-Winter 2018

Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences 41 In 2002, the Postprofessional Transition Doctor of Physical Therapy Program was established to provide a bridge to the doctoral-level degree for physical therapists that entered the profession with a bachelor’s or master’s degree in physical therapy. In 2011, the first hybrid D.P.T. Program in the country commenced at the NSU Tampa Campus. More recently, we have added a neurological residency program that has earned candidacy status and will accept students into our faculty residency in January 2019. We also look forward to the development of an orthopedic residency within the next two years. Throughout its history, the department has been a trailblazer in physical therapy education. Introduced during the past 23 years were the following innovative programs: • self-contained, collaborative, integrated, clinical education (ICE) model • partnership with the NSU PT Clinic to provide ICE experiences to all students throughout the first two years of the program • a progressive clinical education program integrating clin- ical experiences in years one and two, culminating in 32 weeks of final clinical experiences in year three for a total of 40 weeks, exceeding the national average • partnership with Broward Health to provide outpatient services to the underserved population in Broward County under faculty supervision • comprehensive, community-based service-learning program that is both PT and interprofessionally oriented • Ph.D. in PT in a distance hybrid format—the first and one of the only in the country • Postprofessional Transition Doctor of Physical Therapy Program for practicing physical therapists wanting to ad- vance their knowledge and degree • manual therapy certification through the Postprofessional Transition Program • the first CAPTE-accredited Hybrid Professional Physical Therapy Program in the country (located on the NSU Tampa Campus) • neurology residency in conjunction with Pinecrest Rehabilitation Hospital • developing one of the first faculty residency programs in the PT profession • continuing education programming for community partners, alumni, and PT professionals in the community As can be seen from the above list, the PT Program has strived to develop its educational offerings throughout the continuum of PT education. Our start was the entry-level program, which originally offered a Master of Physical Thera- py and now offers a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree. (continued on next page) PT faculty members instruct students in manual techniques.