CLINICAL EXPERIENCES

The ULM Doctor of Physical Therapy Program requires completion of 36 weeks of full-time clinical education experiences. The program uses a non-concurrent clinical education design, where students are either in school full-time or immersed in a clinical environment full-time. There are (4) Integrated Clinical Experiences (ICE) courses that are set up as skills labs with part time integrated clinical experiences (totaling 17 hours of direct clinical contact).

 

When do full-time clinical experiences occur?

The following is a list of required clinical experiences, totaling 36 weeks:

Professional Education I: October 2nd- December 8th 2023 (10 weeks)

Professional Education II: June 10th- July 19th 2024 (6 weeks)

Professional Education III: Sept. 30th- Dec. 6, 2024 (10 weeks)

Professional Education IV: January 21st– March 28th 2025 (10 weeks)

Elective Clinical Education: March 31st – May 9th 2025 (6 weeks) *

*Clinical Education Elective can occur in course PHYT 6870 Independent Study. This course is set up so that it allows students to take the last 6 weeks of the program to either do an extra clinical rotation (as available, students must notify the Director of Clinical Education (DCE) 6 months in advance if they are interested in using this time to do an extra clinical rotation), students can also use this time to take an exam prep course or to study for the PT board exam independently.

 

Types of Clinical Experiences

Students are required to complete the following types of clinical experiences:

A minimum of 1 in-patient/skilled, 1 out-patient/orthopedics, and 1- rural

All required skills associated with the Physical Therapist Clinical Performance Instrument are required to be at Entry-level Performance before students are considered eligible for graduation. Students are expected to receive experience in all aspects of physical therapy care throughout the continuum of the lifespan. Students may also perform clinicals in special populations, such as pediatrics and women's health.

 

Where do clinical experiences occur?

ULM contracts with over 250 clinical sites and facilities in 19 states. Therefore, there is the expectation of travel during full-time clinical experiences. Student are responsible for covering housing and travel during full-time clinical experiences.

 

How are Clinical experiences selected?

Student will be assigned clinical experiences based on a lottery pick system generated by the EXXAT data base system. Students will be allowed to enter their top 10 desired locations, but there is no guarantee that student will receive placement at their desired location. Students are able to request a specific clinical site be added to the list of available sites, but must start the request process with the DCE 6 months prior to placement need.

 

Contingency Plan: 

 

The purpose of this student-centered contingency plan is to demonstrate accountability and the ULM DPT program’s commitment to equity by presenting a proactive strategy which describes the course of action ULM will take should full accreditation be denied, and current students need to be transferred. This only applies to students in the 2nd and 3rd cohorts. Students in the 1st cohort will be considered graduates of an accredited physical therapy program upon graduation in 2025.

 

To assure comparability of educational experiences across academic institutions in terms of didactic knowledge and clinical skills, the ULM DPT program will work with each collaborative partner and design a pass/fail “comprehensive” written and observational clinical skills assessment that students will take and must pass to be transferred to an accredited program to complete their studies.  Students failing this assessment will receive remediation and be provided one (1) additional attempt.  Students not passing the comprehensive assessment after two attempts will not be eligible for transfer to partner programs.  Passing is defined as demonstrating mastery of 85% or more of all assessment materials. 

 

 

 

 

Effective November 8, 2022, The University of Louisiana Monroe Doctor of Physical Therapy Program has been granted Candidate for Accreditation status by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE), 3030 Potomac Ave., Suite 100, Alexandria, Virginia 22305-3085; phone: 703-706-3245; email: accreditation@apta.org).  

If needing to contact the program/institution directly, please call 318-342-1265 or email ulmdpt@ulm.edu. Candidate for Accreditation is an accreditation status of affiliation with the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education that indicates the program may matriculate students in technical/professional courses. Achievement of Candidate for Accreditation status does not assure that the program will be granted Initial Accreditation.