Fifty-five members of the 2012 Doctor of Physical Therapy Class presented Capstones Presentations projects in the Great Room of the Commons on Thursday, Jan. 26.  Poster sessions were followed by research platform presentations.

The Class of 2012 pioneered the creation of a clinical database during their six-month internship, a new requirement under the department’s curriculum revisions. Each intern was to record de-identified information about their patients’ episode of care during the second through fourth month of the internship. These records were used by the interns to reflect on their own physical therapy practice. The summary record for an episode of care was added to the class database if the episode of care was complete and the patient fit one of four areas of practice: acute care, general mobility deficit, low back pain or shoulder problem.

The database, containing a total of 580 records, were compiled by the faculty database administrator to assure that all means of identifying a patient, facility or intern were removed before making the database available to the class for data analysis. Each of the four areas of practice includes additional information fields for history, interventions or outcomes specific to that area of practice. The overall database and practice areas have been analyzed and the posters summarized the findings and discuss implications for clinical practice.

This is the first Physical Therapy class to graduate with revisions in the department’s curriculum. Under these revisions, students did not have a seven-week break between their first and second years but continued with classes through the summer.

“The class has been willing to help us work through these changes while maintaining a positive attitude,” says Dr. Rebecca L. Craik, Professor and Chair of the Department of Physical Therapy. “The class, as a whole, has been transformed into a group that has begun to understand best practice and decision making. They have exceeded our expectations in the areas of altruism and professionalism.”

The following students presented their Capstone projects: Jamie Bradford, Nicole Brill, Michele Carlin, Elizabeth Childs, Sara Conrad, Sam Corkwell, Helen Davey, Marissa DeAngelis, Bryan Durfee, Laura English, Erin Fitzsimmons, Kelly Frederick, Alana Garcia, Jennifer Gulla, Tyler Haggerty, Denise Hall, Daniel Herrmann, Jessica Holtry, Brian Hrynczyszyn, Christina Keltner, Amanda Knapp Sillman, Kevin Kubinski, Elizabeth Leeman, Roel Masangcay, Alissa Massie, Kyle McIntyre, Mark McNutt, Stephanie Meisel, Alyssa Meisenhelter, Kristen Morby, Kimberly Nanovic, Albert Park, Brianne Peterson, Amy Phillips, Jeffrey Reimer, Randy Rodriguez, Stephanie Ronin, Amanda Schrieber, Meghan Serino, Janet Shuhart, Melissa Shukdinas, Joe Song, Liza Spiegel, Erica Stuck, Colleen Sullivan, Christine Taylor, Holly Taylor, Nathan Taylor, Tiffany Thaler, Toniesha Utuk, Katelyn Vagnozzi, Dana Winkler, Robert Wise, Bethany Wolf, and David Wu.