CHCS Perspectives Summer/Fall 2013

PERSPECTIVES • SUMMER-FALL 2013 – Page 46 This year, the Hybrid Entry-Level Doctor of Physical Therapy Program in Tampa was honored to host the 2013 Florida Physical Therapy Association (FPTA) Student Conclave. Over 150 physical therapist (PT) and physical therapist assistant (PTA) students and 25 NSU HE-D.P.T. student volunteers attended the two-day event. The FPTA Board of Directors attended the opening ceremonies at the nearby Sheraton resort, where keynote speaker Sheila Nichol- son, PT, FPTA president, opened the weekend with a discussion of the profession’s future. On Saturday, expert physical therapists presented educational sessions with a focus on their specialty practice area and preparing for the future. Students attended sessions to learn about the board exam and licensure process, residency in physical therapy, and spe- cialty focus in areas such as geriatrics, orthopedics, neurology, pe- diatrics, prosthetics/orthotics, the VA, isokinetic exercise, and more. Students and presenters were impressed by the facilities at the Tampa Campus, as were members of the FPTA Board of Direc- tors, which held its annual meeting onsite during the conference. The student conclave is an important professional development tool for entry-level D.P.T. and PTA students, and it was an honor hosting this event in only the second year of the HE-D.P.T. pro- gram’s history. It provides the experience of attending a professional conference, allows for networking with other students from across the state, and introduces students to possible professional mentors in the field. For NSU students, hosting the event meant months of logistical planning, arranging meals, marketing to potential ex- hibitors and attendees, and coordinating volunteers. Student co- chairs Michael Selvaggi and Carolyn Jones coordinated efforts with fellow students Kantica Arora, Lisa Todd, Isabel Boyd, Michelle Sierra, and Lauren Levia with the support of Mary Blackinton, Ed.D., PT, program director, and SGA faculty liaison Melissa Lazinski, D.P.T., assistant professor. The aforementioned planning committee will assist the future Student Conclave to host the program in 2014. While the planning, organizing, and scheduling of speakers was time-intensive and sometimes overwhelming for NSU students who both work and go to school, the end result was priceless. Now, 150 future PTs and PTAs recognize NSU-Tampa as a leader in PT education and a wonderful site for continuing profes- sional education. 2013 FPTA Student Conclave Hosted by HE-D.P.T. Students at Tampa Campus with the developers, who created an application to emit a signal (a foghorn sound, in this case) at random intervals through the time periods faculty members indicated they were working. At the sound, the taxonomy was presented in pages on the iPad. The fac- ulty member would then take about 5-10 seconds to go through the pages sequentially and check the tasks and activities they felt they were doing at the time of the signal. The data points are up- loaded to a host in the cloud, where the PI is able to access them weekly. The PI downloads them into an Excel spreadsheet and is able to import them into statistical software for analysis. After a pe- riod of testing the various process components, the research was ready to go live. Four faculty members in the hybrid program in Tampa were se- lected to participate, as were four faculty members in the tradi- tional program in Fort Lauderdale. They were offered the use of an iPad in return for agreeing to be a subject in the study. Faculty members in both locations were trained on the use of the taxon- omy and the device. Observations were collected during the fall 2012 and winter 2013 semesters. Data analysis was planned for the summer of 2013, followed by writing of results. This innovative study will demonstrate the feasibility of using tablets for work-sampling research. We hope it will provide an ob- jective description of faculty work in entry-level physical therapy programs, as well as a comparison between the types of activities performed in traditional vs. hybrid instruction. The results might be used to help faculty members and administrators better under- stand the distribution of tasks and activities associated with these positions. The information can assist with making decisions about time management, faculty planning, faculty development, and re- source allocation. The application itself might be leveraged for other academic and clinical investigations regarding faculty work. Other possible areas for future research using the iPad work-sam- pling process include investigating the nature of student activi- ties/work in two different modes of physical therapy instruction. While we might not completely answer the question, we hope our research will help us understand where our time goes. By Carolyn Jones, 2015 D.P.T. Student Class President “Time” continued from page 45...