Fall CSU DPT Program Clinical Education Update

As 2016 draws to a close, the DPT students have been keeping active in our community before the holiday season arrives. During the month of October, our 2^nd year student class took part in this year’s Global PT Day of Service in an effort to give back to the community and to celebrate National PT Month. The PT Day of Service was started the previous year as an opportunity for students, therapists, and other team members associated with the physical therapy profession to volunteer and give back to the community, bringing care out of the clinic and to the public for a day. This year the 2^nd year DPT class chose to collaborate with the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging located in Cleveland, Ohio. The Benjamin Rose Institute is an aging center that offers advanced services for seniors and their caregivers, including home-delivered meals, supportive housing, adult day services, partial hospitalization, social work, mental health services, and Senior Companions. The institute also participates in local research and education to better advocate for older adults in the community. For this year’s Day of Service, our students took the time to visit the Benjamin Rose Institute to provide blood pressure screenings and grip strength testing for those seniors interested in participating. Furthermore, this semester is the time that our DPT students volunteer at the American Cancer Society Joseph S. and Jeannette M. Silber Hope Lodge in Cleveland. The Hope Lodge provides a positive, comfortable environment and supportive accommodations for patients who are going through cancer treatment. It is a Cleveland State University DPT tradition to volunteer each year near the holiday season at the lodge, typically by providing a meal for patients and their families. This year, the 2^nd year class prepared and shared in a dinner with the Hope Lodge residents and family members.

2nd year student volunteers for PT Day of Service at the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging

2nd year students at the Hope Lodge dinner

The first year DPT students have also been keeping busy by participating in volunteer activities throughout Northeast Ohio, including MedWish and the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. MedWish is a non-profit organization that takes discarded medical materials and equipment to be repurposed and dispersed to humanitarian aid locations in underdeveloped countries. Our DPT students took the time this year to visit the distribution warehouse and assist in packing the newly repurposed medical equipment for shipment across seas. A trip to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank was also organized to assist with food collection, organization, and packaging of the groceries donated to the warehouse to prepare for distribution. The opportunity to volunteer and work with such groups allows our students to not only give back to the community here in Northeast Ohio, but also reach out and positively contribute to those in need on an international level.

1st year student volunteers at MedWish

1st year students volunteering at the Greater Cleveland Food Bank

At this holiday time, we would also like to take a moment and express our gratitude for the efforts of our clinical instructors over the past year!  We are extremely fortunate have such a talented and caring group of clinical instructors, and we look forward to more collaboration in 2017! 

Adriana Zalar, DPT Class of 2017

Karen McIntyre, Director of Clinical Education

Spring CSU DPT Program Clinical Education Update

DPT Program Professionalism Ceremony 

   

           

“Vulnerability is not weakness. Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change.” Brene Brown

This past week at CSU, we celebrated the 5^th annual DPT Program Professionalism Ceremony.  This event honors our 2^nd year students as they prepare to embark on their first full-time clinical education experiences in a little over a month.  It is truly a celebration of all they have accomplished in the program thus far, as well as the exciting possibilities that lie ahead in the next phase of their DPT education.  During the event, students receive white coats, which symbolize their professional duty to their future patients and their acceptance of the core values of physical therapy.  They also recite an oath and receive a blessing of the hands in front of faculty, peers, and their family and friends who have supported them.  In addition, a keynote address was provided by Mr. Edward Ash, PT, ATC, OCS, COMT, CSCS, winner of the CSU Viking Award in 2015. 

Mr. Ash provided our students with many “tips” as they prepare to head out into the clinic, including: the value of having a mentor across a professional career, the need for therapists to put their own feelings aside and focus on the patient, and remembering that what lies beneath the white coat is what is most important.  However, one final message from Mr. Ash that really resonated with me was his focus on how it is important for students to be vulnerable in the clinical learning process.  As the Director of Clinical Education, I certainly appreciate that while students are excited for their first clinical experience, it is also truly terrifying for them in many ways.  What exactly are students afraid of?  I have asked students to discuss this in the academic setting prior to their first clinicals, and students often note some of the following: not knowing the answer to a CI or patient’s question, saying the “wrong” thing, making a mistake, being unsuccessful, etc.  While I have fully understood their perspective and fears, I have also tried to stress with them that they often learn the most from those “safe learning mistakes” that their CIs allow them to make and grow from.  Mr. Ash emphasized to the students how they need to be more accepting of themselves and the fact that it is normal and “ok” to make some mistakes in the process.  As I think about the role of a clinical instructor, I think it is critically important that we as CIs help students to accept where they are, yet also to push themselves outside of what is comfortable in order to facilitate their continued development. As Dr. Brene Brown suggests, being vulnerable can be a catalyst to tremendous change!    

"For Pete's Sake - Be an Organ Donor" Drive

I want conclude this spring update with a quick moment of remembrance for our clinical education colleague, Peter Mosher, PT, DPT, OCS, former DCE at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, OH.  Dr. Mosher passed away in December 2013 while awaiting a lung transplant.  This April, our CSU DPT students are participating in the 2^nd annual "For Pete’s Sake – Be an Organ Donor” Drive, which challenges all PT & PTA schools in our region to register new organ donors on their campus.  If you are interested in becoming an organ donor, you can find additional information at: https://www.lifebanc.org/about-donation/ohio-donor-registry.html.   

Wishing you all a happy and healthy spring!

Karen McIntyre, PT, DPT – Director of Clinical Education