Mount Saint Mary's University provides doctoral education to a diverse student body culminating in physical therapist with sound clinical reasoning in a variety of settings who are committed to professional and personal development, social citizenship and ethical, compassionate care. This post-baccalaureate degree program offers professional education based on a foundation of liberal arts and sciences. It is a three-year (9 semester) program of academic rigor requiring full time study throughout the curriculum. Concentration on the basic and clinical sciences is integrated with physical therapy patient/client management principles and procedures. The total educational experience of the student involves life-long learning, and the physical therapy curriculum facilitates this value throughout the student's acquisition of knowledge and development of intellectual skills, professional behaviors, cognitive abilities, and practice competencies. The program design provides early and continual integration of clinical experiences that foster maximum development of the student's clinical thought processes, and provides opportunities for mastery of the personal and skill-based competencies requisite for entry-level practice. The Physical Therapy Department is committed to providing an education that enables graduates to be generalist practitioners of the highest quality. The learning environment nurtures students to become skilled professional practitioners, possessing the skills of clinical reasoning and effective communication. Students experience and discover the personal and service-oriented aspects of health care including: * An understanding of the holistic nature of health, integrating body, mind, spirit and emotion * An understanding of human beings, their inherent dignity; and appreciation, acceptance and respect for differences in thought, national origin, race, ethnicity, culture, age, gender, sexual orientation, sexual identity, religion, economic condition, or disability * A respect for the role of compassion, empathy, and communication in health and healing * A respect for the role of mutual trust and responsibility in patient relationships * An ethical basis for decision making As integral members of the health care team, graduates impart their knowledge and skill through competent and compassionate patient care, enlightened education, scholarly activity, quality consultation and a commitment to life-long learning and professional development. The curriculum is a sequential 3-year, 9-semester design based on a foundation of hierarchical and adult learning theory. The curriculum design incorporates values, content and process components. Seven values serve as a core for the program and are based on the mission and philosophy of the University and Department. These values are integrity, empathy, social citizenship, diversity, knowledge, leadership, and effectiveness. Seven themes serve as the conceptual framework around which the curriculum is organized. The themes are Foundational and Basic Sciences, Medical Sciences, Critical Thinking/Research, Patient/Client Management, Practice Management, Integration Seminar, and Clinical Experiences. The program includes a total of 36 weeks of full-time clinical education experiences, culminating with two 12-week terminal full-time clinical education experiences.The Doctor of Physical Therapy degree program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE). Mount Saint Mary's DPT graduates are eligible to sit for the National Physical Therapy Exam in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Licenses are granted by the licensing authority in individual states and those licensing boards might require an additional exam on laws and regulations specific to that state. The Physical Therapy Board of California is the licensing authority for California and requires an exam on the laws and regulations for practice of physical therapy in California. Contact information and licensure requirements for the licensing authorities in all jurisdictions can be found on the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy website.
Admission deposit is nonrefundable. It is applied to the cost of the program for the first semester.
http://www.msmu.edu/graduate-programs/physical-therapy/