Physical Therapy DPT Requirements

A student accepted into the Physical Therapy program is expected to abide by the regulations set forth by Arcadia University and the written policies of the Physical Therapy program. For a discussion of the general academic policies and procedures for graduate students, see Graduate Academic Policies and the Arcadia University Student Handbook. The policies of the Physical Therapy program are published in the DPT Student Handbook and Clinical Education Manual, revised annually, and address specifics regarding performance benchmarks that must be met in order to progress through the program.

Essential functions are the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective skills necessary for a student to participate in the physical therapy program and become a physical therapist. Below are the “Clinical Performance Criteria for the Physical Therapist Student” as outlined in the “Physical Therapist Clinical Performance Instrument for Students” developed by the American Physical Therapy Association.¹ Students must have the physical, mental and emotional capacity, with or without reasonable accommodations, to meet all of the below criteria. These essential functions apply in the classroom, lab, community, and clinical settings as part of the physical therapy program. Independent facilities used for clinical education may or may not be willing or able to provide the same reasonable accommodations provided by the university.

1. Practices according to the Code of Ethics for the Physical Therapist; demonstrates respect for self, the patient/client, and colleagues in all situations.
2. Practices according to legal and professional standards, including all federal, state, and institutional regulations related to patient/client care and fiscal management.
3. Accepts and is receptive to feedback; participates in planning and/or self-assessment to improve clinical performance; contributes to the advancement of the clinical setting through educational opportunities; seeks out opportunities to improve knowledge and skills.
4. Demonstrates professional verbal and nonverbal communication with all stakeholders (e.g., patients/clients, caregivers, intra/interprofessional colleagues); adapts to diverse verbal and nonverbal communication styles during patient/client interactions; utilizes communication resources (e.g., translators) as appropriate; incorporates appropriate strategies to engage in challenging encounters with patients/clients and others; facilitates ongoing communication with physical therapist assistants regarding patient/client care.
5. Delivers physical therapy services with consideration for patient/client diversity and inclusivity for all regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, or other characteristics of identity; Provides equitable patient/client care that does not vary in quality based on the patient’s/client’s personal characteristics (e.g., ethnicity, socioeconomic status).
6. Strategically gathers, interprets, and synthesizes information from multiple sources to make effective clinical judgments; applies current knowledge and clinical judgment leading to accurate and efficient evaluations including: selection of examination techniques, diagnosis, prognosis, goals, and plan of care; ensures patient/client safety via medical screening during the episode of care and when making discharge and progression decisions; presents a logical rationale for clinical decisions with all stakeholders (e.g., patients/clients, caregivers, intra/interprofessional colleagues).
7. Performs evidence-based initial and re-examination tests and measures that are relevant to the practice setting; rules out other pathologies and refers to or consults with other healthcare professionals as necessary; evaluates data from the patient/client examination (e.g., history, systems review, tests and measures, screening, and outcome measures) to make clinical decisions, including the determination of a diagnosis to guide future patient/client management.
8. Establishes a physical therapy plan of care that is safe, effective, patient/client-centered, and evidence-based while also considering prognostic factors; adapts plan of care as appropriate by utilizing test and retest measures, outcome measures, and caseload discussions to ensure patients/clients are progressing toward discharge goals.
9. Selects and performs appropriate physical therapy interventions (e.g., therapeutic exercise, therapeutic activity, neuromuscular re-education, application of modalities, manual therapy) that are evidence-based and completed in a competent and efficient manner; consults with interprofessional colleagues as appropriate (e.g., nurse, physician, occupational therapist, speech-language pathologist, orthotist-prosthetist) to seek advice or an opinion; educates patients/clients and caregivers using multimodal approach based on patient’s/client’s learning style; educates healthcare team on relevant topics by taking an active role in activities (e.g., journal clubs) or in-service opportunities.
10. Produces quality documentation that includes changes in the patient’s/client’s status, descriptions and progressions of specific interventions used, and communication among providers; maintains organization of patient/client documentation.
11. Identifies financial barriers and limitations to patient/client care (e.g., authorization limits, cost to patient); adjusts plan of care and schedule frequency based on the patient’s/client’s financial concerns or needs; understands nuances of insurance including copay, co-insurance, out-of-pocket max, deductible, etc.; appropriately bills patients/clients according to legal guidelines and insurance regulations; demonstrates appropriate understanding of other fiscally responsible behaviors, including time management and appropriate use of clinical supplies and equipment when providing physical therapy services.
12. Actively participates in caseload discussions with interprofessional colleagues to optimize patient/client outcomes; delegates tasks to support staff as appropriate; identifies patient/client complexity model of care when scheduling patients/clients with a physical therapist assistant versus a physical therapist.

Sample behaviors for each of the above performance criteria are available upon request.

¹Physical Therapist Clinical Performance Instrument (PT CPI) 3.0. Alexandria, VA: American Physical Therapy Association. *https://cpi.apta.org/dashboard*. Published May 15, 2023. Accessed June 6, 2023.

© 2023 American Physical Therapy Association. Used with permission.

Fall (22.5 credits)

• PT 607 Intro to PT Theory & Practice 2 credits
  • Students are introduced to academic areas that inform physical therapy practice in order to begin the lifelong learning necessary for safe and effective practice. Students are introduced to WHO’s International Classification of Function, Disability, and Health (ICF), and the Guide to Physical Therapist Practice published by the American Physical Therapy Association.
• PT 661 Movement System Foundations I: Motion 5 credits
  • This course will focus on movement system impairments associated with motion, namely, acute musculoskeletal injury. Content will include methods to reduce inflammation and physical stress or load to the injured tissues.
• PT 662 Movement System Foundations II: Force 5 credits
  • Movement system impairments associated with increasing force production. Content will include various ways to measure muscle performance in patients who are neurologically intact. The intervention content will include methods to increase physical stress or load to increase muscle strength.
• PT 663 Movement System Foundations III: Energy 5 credits
  • Movement system impairments associated with energy production, namely, deconditioning. The examination content will include determining the extent of deconditioning and the need for assistance in functional mobility and balance.
• PT 664 Movement System Foundations IV: Motor Control 5 credits
  • Movement system impairments associated with disordered motor control after brain injury. The examination content will include assessment of general sensory-motor integrity, movement analyses for functional mobility tasks, and the use of standardized measures of functional capacity.
• PT 658A Exposure to PT in a Health Care System I .5 credits
  • This course is a part-time Integrated Clinical Education (ICE) experience designed to expose first-year physical therapy students to current physical therapy practice in a given health care system. Students will be exposed to physical therapy practice and clinical decision making in inpatient and outpatient settings. Assignments related to clinical activities and the current academic learning units will be completed and shared with fellow students in a problem-based, collaborative experience.

Spring (23.5 credits)

• PT 671 Integrated Patient Management I: Acute Musculoskeletal Injury 5 credits
  • Comprehensive patient management following fracture. Content is focused on comprehensive assessment of patients after upper- and lower-extremity fractures. Content will include joint mobilization, exercise progression across the continuum of care, functional progression in activity and function, thermal and non-thermal physical agents, and electrical stimulation for pain relief.
• PT 691 Differential Diagnosis & Intervention – Extremity 1 4 credits
  • Differential diagnosis associated with pain in the upper extremity, management from injury or overuse, and progression back to function. Content will include highlighting the use of various classification systems and contrast pathoanatomic classification (traditional medical diagnosis) with rehabilitation classification systems driven by irritability and impairments.
• PT 692 Differential Diagnosis & Intervention – Extremity II 5 credits
  • Differential diagnosis after an acute lower-extremity musculoskeletal injury, management from injury or surgery, and progression back to participation. The examination content will include differential diagnosis after acute lower-extremity injury and determination of neuromuscular impairments and the need for dynamic stability retraining.
• PT 672 Integrated Patient Management II: Acute Medical Conditions 5 credits
  • Physical therapy management of individuals with acute medical/surgical conditions. Foundational content focuses on the pathophysiology and medical/surgical management of the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems.
• PT 673 Integrated Patient Management III: Progressive Neurological Conditions 4 credits
  • Progressive neurological conditions and associated movement system impairments including motor control and motion, such as ataxia, rigidity, bradykinesia, and tremor. Content will include mobility training; aerobic, flexibility, strength, and balance training; and patient education.
• PT 658B Exposure to PT in a Health Care System .5 credits
  • See description for PT658a—continuation of that course.

Summer (22 credits)

• PT 761 Movement System: Advanced Analysis & Intervention I 5 credits
  • This course describes advanced analysis of the movement system using gait and reaching tasks. The course uses cases to integrate foundational and clinical sciences with content that will include kinematic and kinetic assessment of gait, assessment of patients with amputations, and assessment of patients after shoulder surgeries. The intervention content will include gait training, prosthetic management, and exercise progression after shoulder surgery as well as decision making for adaptive, supportive, and assistive devices considering various reimbursement mechanisms.
• PT 793 Differential Diagnosis & Intervention III: Spine I 5 credits
  • Differential diagnosis and management of low back pain and related problems. Foundational content will highlight the use of various classification systems, manual therapy, and various exercise approaches to intervention, along with the relevant anatomy and biomechanics. Management of chronic pain will be discussed using a biopsychosocial model emphasizing cognitive behavioral approaches and motivational interviewing, along with active rehabilitation approaches.
• PT 794 Differential Diagnosis & Intervention IV: Spine II 5 credits
  • This course will focus on differential diagnosis and management of neck pain and related problems. Course content will include classification systems for neck pain and vestibular disorders, while interventions will focus on manual therapy and exercise approaches for the various pathologies. Anatomy and biomechanics for this course focus on the cervical spine, with a review of the vestibular system.
• PT 737 Clinical Simulation Experiences 3 credits
  • This course provides students with the opportunity to apply knowledge gained through the first three semesters of the program and to develop clinical reasoning skills and professional communication. Students will participate in multiple clinical simulation experiences, allowing repeated opportunities to practice patient examination and evaluation, establish a plan of care, make intervention decisions, and document patient care.
• PT 774 Integrated Patient Management IV: Chronic Medical Conditions 4 credits
  • This course will focus on the physical therapy management of chronic medical conditions that affect activity and participation. This course uses cases to integrate foundational, clinical, and practice-related content across diverse areas. We will highlight issues related to the psychosocial impact of chronic disease on patients and caregivers across the lifespan, and levels of care including hospice care and support groups.
• PT 787 Experiential Learning
  • During the second year of the Program, students participate in PT787; a one-credit, satisfactory/unsatisfactory course that integrates the same reflections from the first-year experience while serving the underserved through supervised PT practice. In this course, students will collaborate with individuals who are underinsured or uninsured (i.e. Arcadia University Pro Bono Clinic), and individuals living with a complex progressive neurologic diagnosis (i.e. Dan Aaron Stay Fit Clinic), who are not frequently represented in typical clinical education settings. This course will also include novel settings (i.e. telehealth, community-based programming, Pro bono) that require a breakdown of traditional content silos to refine evidence-based clinical skills of education, examination and evaluation, plan of care development, plan of care implementation, re-evaluation, and promotion of health and wellness.

Fall (14 credits)

• PT 758 Clinical Education Experience I 4 credits
  • This first of the full-time clinical education experiences in the curriculum is eight weeks in length and occurs after one full year of academic coursework, part-time integrated clinical education, and experiential learning 25 opportunities. Close supervision and additional clinical teaching may be required in all areas of clinical practice. Emphasis is placed on developing good interpersonal skills with supervisors, patients, and other health care practitioners.
• PT 775 Integrated Patient Management V: Non-progression Neurologic Conditions 5 credits
  • Management of patients with non-progressive neurologic conditions, with a focus on spinal cord injury. Examination content will include determining and evaluating changes in strength, sensation, and systemic changes related to injuries of the spinal cord and assessing the need for assistance in functional mobility and balance.
• PT 795 Differential Diagnosis & Intervention V: Pain 5 credits
  • This course focuses on movement system impairments associated with various types of pain including neuropathic pain, nociceptive pain, nociplastic pain, and the psychosocial aspects of pain. Examination content will focus on differential diagnosis of individuals with the various types of pain, including an introduction to electrodiagnostic testing and interpreting those results.

Spring (22 credits)

• PT 846 Health Promotion 2 credits
  • This course provides students with an opportunity to organize and conduct an educational program to a community audience of people with chronic medical conditions or who may be at risk for developing a given condition.
• PT 824 Management Leadership Principles in a PT Setting 3 credits
  • This course will provide an overview of management principles and leadership models with emphasis on application in practice. Students will explore how current financial, legal, and regulatory policies affect physical therapy practice and impact the patient experience.
• PT 862 Movement System: Advanced Analysis & Intervention II 5 credits
  • This course focuses on movement system impairments associated with longstanding neuromuscular disorders across the lifespan. Examination content will include determining neural, biomechanical, and physiologic contributors to impaired functional movements such as gait, balance, and arm-hand actions.
• PT 835 Enhancing Activity & Participation 5 credits
  • This course will focus on the integration of advanced patient management concepts in order to enhance activity and participation across the lifespan. This course will help to develop the clinical skills, reasoning, and decision making to progress patients back to sports, work, or community participation while offering an opportunity to more deeply engage in selected specialty practice areas.
• PT 858 Clinical Education Experience II 6 credits
  • This terminal full-time clinical education experience is 12 weeks in length and occurs after 1.5 years of academic coursework, one full-time clinical education experience, part-time integrated clinical education during the first year of the program, and experiential learning opportunities. Emphasis is placed on clinical decision making as a critical component to the physical therapist’s management of any patient in any setting. Sound clinical decision making is key in preparing the student for entry-level competence with multiple diagnoses.

Summer (6 credits)

• PT 859 Clinical Education Experience III 6 credits
  • This terminal full-time clinical education experience is 12 weeks in length and occurs after 1.5 years of academic coursework, one first and one terminal full-time clinical education experience, part-time integrated clinical 26 education during the first year of the program, and experiential learning opportunities. Emphasis is placed on developing good interpersonal skills with supervisors, patients, and other health care practitioners. It also focuses on oral and written communication skills, performing physical therapy examinations, evaluations, intervention planning, and implementation. The student should become skilled in the role of a physical therapist in the interdisciplinary team and the responsibilities involved in managing a patient caseload.

• PT 887A Independent Study: Research
  • This elective course is offered beginning in year one of the entry-level curriculum. The course is designed to offer students the opportunity to explore and participate in a research project. The course provides the student with an opportunity to delve more deeply into the subject matter of a wide range of professional topics. Each experience will be designed individually with a mentor to help the student. In each case, the student will be required to review relevant literature, formulate a plan of action, complete a project, and evaluate the project’s success.
• PT 887B-G Independent Study: International Service-Learning Electives
  • All Arcadia entry-level DPT students have the opportunity to participate in an International Service-Learning elective, with the goal of collaboratively expanding the availability of healthcare with long-standing international partners. Students can apply to take this 2-credit elective to provide education and physical therapy services, under the supervision of stateside licensed physical therapists and locally licensed clinicians, in countries such as Belize, Guatemala, and Jamaica. These planned, mentor-accompanied trips are generally two weeks in length and occur after the didactic curriculum, or during/after the terminal clinical experience.