Summer/Fall 2020 CSU DPT Clinical Education Update

2020 has certainly been a challenging year thus far, but it has reminded me again just how fortunate we are at CSU DPT to have such amazing support from our clinical education partners.  Eruption of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring created new and complex challenges for both healthcare and physical therapy delivery.  With safety and continuity of patient/client care as top priorities, it was appropriate for clinical education to take a bit of a “back seat.”  At the same time however, our clinical partners re-iterated their strong commitment to the clinical education of future physical therapists when it was feasible to resume.  I truly cannot begin to put into words my appreciation for ALL of you – every student, clinical instructor, site coordinator, and administrator.  Together, we have problem-solved and successfully navigated through numerous clinical cancelations, re-placing of students, evolving onboarding processes and safety procedures, and so much more.  I have felt the support of our PT community more than ever across the past 6 months.  I am looking forward to building even stronger partnerships and growing with new opportunities that the pandemic has presented (e.g. telehealth, different methods of teaching & learning in the classroom and clinic, etc.). 

I would also like to take this opportunity to share that we have made some adjustments to our clinical education experiences in accordance with guidance from the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE).  I have previously shared these changes via email with Site Coordinators, but want to make sure they are available to our entire clinical education community.  You can view tables showing a brief summary of the changes for 2020 and 2021 on this website by clicking on the tab marked “Calendar” or going to this link: http://csudptclined.blogspot.com/p/clinical-dates.html.  In summary, we did make the difficult decision that we will not “make-up” all weeks/experiences that were canceled due to the pandemic.  We are fortunate that our curricular plan includes a total # of weeks of clinical education that is well beyond the CAPTE minimum (and also above the national average).  While we are of course saddened that our students have lost some valuable clinical time, we are confident that we will successfully graduate students with clinical experiences of sufficient breadth and depth, and who demonstrate entry-level performance.   We know that changes across multiple DPT programs can be confusing, so please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns at any time: k.vitak@csuohio.edu or 216-687-3903. 

Finally, unfortunately we will not be holding a formal Prestige Speaker event on campus on Monday October 19^th as originally planned.  We will be having a shortened Awards Program via Zoom at 6:30pm that evening; additional details to follow for those who may be interested. 

Thank you again for everything! 

Karen McIntyre, Director of Clinical Education

Cleveland State University Doctor of Physical Therapy Program