Duke DPT Virtual Information Session

The Doctor of Physical Therapy Program at Duke University is
celebrating a 77-year tradition of excellence in providing the very finest in
physical therapy education. The educational component of one of the
country’s oldest, most esteemed physical therapy programs, Duke’s
Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) Program traces its beginnings to a
program first offered by the School of Medicine in 1943.

Since its inception, our faculty have been dedicated to the well
being and professional development of our students, providing
excellence in prevention and care to the communities we serve,
and fostering quality research in both clinical and basic sciences.
Duke’s Doctor of Physical Therapy curriculum is a 2-year and 10-
month, full-time integration of clinical and didactic education. This
integrated educational experience provides a comprehensive
foundation in the science and art of physical therapy, preparing
graduates to serve as primary care, evidence-based practitioners.

Through excellence in education, clinical practice and research, our
program has gained an international reputation and has consistently
been ranked as one of the top physical therapist programs in the country.

Visit our website to find out more information: https://dpt.duhs.duke.edu.

The Doctor of Physical Therapy Mission Statement

The Duke Doctor of Physical Therapy program is an inclusive community of scholars
engaged in discovery, dissemination, and utilization of knowledge in the optimal care of
patients and instruction of learners.

Our mission is to develop the next generation of the profession's leaders, committed
to health equity and expertly prepared to integrate the best-available evidence in the
patient- centered management of function and quality of life within in a dynamic
health system.

The Doctor of Physical Therapy Division’s Goals
1. Foster, create, and support scholarship
2. Create and develop leaders
3. Construct, support, and utilized innovative educational strategies
4. Promote, teach, support and translate best practice (classroom to clinic/clinic to
classroom)

The Doctor of Physical Therapy Division’s Values
• Collaboration
• Community
• Diversity and Inclusion
• Excellence
• Expertise
• Health and Well-being
• Innovation
• Professionalism

Doctor of Physical Therapy Division’s Outcome Objective for Learners

1. Graduates of the Duke DPT program will be recognized as engaged and committed
practitioners who embody high standards of professionalism. They will be influential leaders,
advocates, and change-agents for their patients, community, and the profession.

2. Graduates of the Duke Doctor of Physical Therapy Program integrate the aspects of evidence
into practice as a part of clinical decision making. These aspects include: 1) identifying,
analyzing, and making appropriate inferences based on best scientific evidence, 2) integrating
cumulative clinical skills and experiences, and 3) understanding and respecting patient values
and circumstances in making clinical decisions. In addition, our graduates cultivate a spirit of
inquiry and contribute to the wider body of evidence.

3. Graduates of Duke DPT serve local, regional, national, and global societies comprised of
people and communities who represent a complex network of backgrounds and characteristics.
Graduates identify the causes and effects of

inequity and are committed to providing comprehensive care that recognizes the social,
cultural, and political landscapes influencing each client’s health status. Graduates of Duke
DPT respect and value the richness of diversity inherent in all communities and populations.

4. Graduates of Duke DPT provide the highest quality care for individuals, with the goal of
optimizing function and quality of life across the lifespan. Central to our graduates’ philosophy
of care is comprehensive and scientifically-guided clinical decision-making that incorporates the
individual’s biological.

5. Graduates of our Duke DPT team-based program are flexible, collaborative, and provide
focused care that is patient-centered and specific to the healthcare practice setting. As a result,
our graduates excel in delivering care in a dynamic and inter-professional healthcare system.

Our Curriculum

The newly revised Duke curriculum builds on Duke DPT’s long tradition of producing leaders in our
profession. Through three phases of education, the curriculum will produce physical therapists who have
the foundation to practice in any setting, along with the additional skills to launch an early career in self-
selected focus areas. Throughout the curriculum, success will be measured across five domains, selected
by the faculty as hallmarks of a Duke Doctor of Physical Therapy: Professionalism in Action; Integration
of Evidence into Practice; Commitment to Health Equity; Management of Function and Quality of Life;
and Patient Management in the Health System. By integrating these domains, through competency-
based assessment, across courses in the three phases of the curriculum, our program seeks to ensure
that Duke DPTs are prepared to lead the profession.

Phase 1: Foundations for Practice
In phase 1 of the curriculum, student will learn the basic science, foundational clinical science,
foundational clinical skills, and professional behaviors necessary for practice in today’s healthcare
system. Students will participate in Team-Based Learning (TBL) throughout all the courses, enabling
them to gain the important skills of team-work, conflict negotiation, and communication key to
collaborative interprofessional practice. Courses will be in blocked format, allowing students to focus on
fewer subjects at a time. Additionally, students will complete Student Team Experience in Practice
(STEPs®), our integrated team-based clinical education experience. During Phase 1, The PT Professional
course, a longitudinal curricular course, will commence and include biweekly team-based
comprehensive case studies that integrate content vertically and horizontally throughout the
curriculum.

Phase 2: Student-Centered Advancement
Students learn best when they can engage in the content that is most meaningful to them. Additionally,
students have the highest potential to develop into leaders by exploring areas of the profession that
they have a passion to pursue. Phase 2 will allow students to have an active role in choosing their
educational experiences. Through “Advanced Practice Courses” (APCs) students will learn from Duke
DPT faculty, as well as national and international experts, in focused areas of practice. Students may opt
to complete three or six course series on focused topics or select from a variety of courses to explore
multiple area of interest. Additionally, during Phase 2, students will participate in “Comprehensive
Assessment and Management of Practice (CAMP), courses that further develop clinical reasoning and
the ability to plan and deliver physical therapy care. During CAMP, students are mentored by DPT
program faculty as they work in small groups to deliver care to community members who have a variety
of diagnosis causing movement dysfunction or pain.

Phase 3: Clinical Education
In the final phase of the curriculum, students will complete three Terminal Clinical Experiences (TCE) in
clinical sites around the country. Each student will complete one TCE in an inpatient practice setting
and one TCE in outpatient practice setting. Each is 12 weeks in length. Additionally, these TCEs will
include a curriculum delivered in collaboration with their clinical site that helps the student continue to
advance their leadership potential and professional identity in self-selected ways.

Team Based Learning (TBL) Curriculum

The Duke DPT curriculum is a result of many hours of planning and development. One of the
foundations of the Duke DPT curriculum is a powerful form of small group learning referred to
as Team Based Learning (TBL). Our faculty are adept at many instructional techniques, stepping
away from the traditional lecture style learning environment to an interactive, hands- on
application environment that promotes learning and exposure to real-world concepts our
students will face as practicing clinicians.

Before students matriculate in August, they are strategically placed in teams of 5-6 people
based on information provided in their application. These teams are created to be as diverse as
possible and students work within these teams for the first two didactic years at the Duke DPT
program.

Please note that this is not a concept of ‘group work’ where students receive the same grade.
Each student is held accountable for their own individual grades; however, students view their
team as a support system where they work together to learn and achieve common goals and
objectives.

Comprehensive Assessment & Management of Practice
(CAMP)

In this hands-on class, students will be mentored by DPT program faculty in small groups with
community members who have a variety of symptoms causing movement dysfunction or pain.
This course takes place during the second year of the program.

Student Team Experience in Practice (STEPs®)

The Duke DPT program’s integrated clinical education component offers students the
opportunity to practically apply their didactic education. This experience is a pivotal element of
the DPT program. Designed to go hand-in-hand with the program’s didactic coursework, the
clinical education program offers collaborative learning experiences that engage students,
clinical educators, patients, interdisciplinary practitioners, administrators and academic faculty.

During the first phase of the curriculum, students participate in the Student Team Experience in
Practice (STEPs®) program, where participate in a clinical experience in teams of three to four
students, working with carefully selected and trained clinical educators. During this full-time
experience, approximately half of the day is spent in patient care, and the rest of the day
consists of clinical problem solving and planned learning experiences.

Students begin STEPs® for one full week in the fall, then 2 full weeks in the spring at the same
clinical site. In early summer students will switch to a different site for one week, then finish
with a two week experience in early fall at the second site. The program aims to give students
both an inpatient and outpatient experience in STEPs®.

Our students appreciate their STEPs® experience because it prepares them for the third-year
clinical internships. Before they reach the third year they are comfortable in various settings
within the profession of physical therapy and have had an opportunity to practically apply what
they have learned.

Terminal Clinical Experiences

The last two semesters of the Duke DPT Program are devoted to three consecutive, 12-week
terminal clinical experiences that take students to a broad variety of locations. While the
clinical options may vary from year to year, terminal clinical experiences are available in:

- Over 155 affiliating clinical facilities and/or health systems in 34 states and the District
of Columbia

During the terminal clinical experiences, Duke DPT students learn to treat diverse patient
populations across the lifespan in a variety of clinical environments including teaching hospitals,
regional and community hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and private physical therapy
practices. In this environment, students gain experience in administration, education, research,
and community service. Terminal clinical experiences ensure that students develop the skills
and abilities needed to preserve patient safety, promote best practices and uphold fiscal
responsibility.

Duke University Doctor of Physical Therapy Division
Curriculum Outline

YEAR ONE YEAR TWO

Session 1: 17 weeks total (1 STEPs®) FALL Session 4: 17 weeks total (2 STEPs®) FALL

PT Professional 1 2 PT Professional Practice 4 2
STEPs® 1 1 STEPs® 4 2
Structure and Function of the Human Body 10 Foundational Pediatrics Practice 4
Movement Science 4 Management of the Complex Patient 2
Introduction to the Patient Examination 5 Advanced Practice Course (APC) 4 classes offered 0-4*
22 Patient Management (CAMP) 1 class offered 0-1*
Total Credits

Total Credits 10 (min) – 15 (max)*

Session 2: 12 weeks total (2 STEPs®) SPRING

PT Professional Practice 2 2 Session 5: 13 weeks total SPRING
STEPs® 2 2
Health Care Systems 2 PT Professional Practice 5 2
Foundational Integumentary Practice 1
Exercise Prescription in the Continuum of Care 2 Advanced Practice Course (APC) 8 classes offered 0–8*
Foundational Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Practice 4 Patient Management (CAMP) 2 classes offered* __0 – 2*
Pain Science 2
Total Credits 6–12*
Total Credits 15
Session 6: 9 weeks total SUMMER

PT Professional Practice 6 2

Session 3: 18 weeks total (1 STEPs®/1 break) SUMMER Advanced Practice Course (APC) 4 classes offered 0–4*
Patient Management (CAMP) 1 classes offered* __0 – 1*

PT Professional Practice 3 2 Total Credits 2–7*
STEPs® 3 1
Physical Therapy for the Older Adult 2 Session 4 – 6* FALL, SPRING, SUMMER
Evidenced Based Practice 2
Adaptive Technologies 1 Advanced Practice Course (APC) 1 1
Foundational Musculoskeletal Practice 12 Advanced Practice Course (APC) 2 1
Foundational Neurologic Practice 8
Advanced Practice Course (APC) 3 1
Total Credits 28
Advanced Practice Course (APC) 4 1

Advanced Practice Course (APC) 5 1

Advanced Practice Course (APC) 6 1

Advanced Practice Course (APC) 7 1

Advanced Practice Course (APC) 8 1

Advanced Practice Course (APC) 9 1

YEAR THREE Advanced Practice Course (APC) 10 1

Session 7: 24 weeks total Advanced Practice Course (APC) 11 1

Terminal Clinical Experience 1 FALL Advanced Practice Course (APC) 12 1
Terminal Clinical Experience 2
12 Patient Management (CAMP) 1 1
Total Credits 12 Patient Management (CAMP) 2 1
24
Session 8: 12 weeks total Total Credits 14
Terminal Clinical Experience 3 SPRING
12 * Students are required to take 12 APC’s and 2 CAMP’s
Total Credits 12 over Sessions 4-6.

Total Credits - 129



Duke DPT Program Clinical Education 2019-2020

* States in which the DPT Division currently maintains active clinical affiliates:

(This list is dynamic and subject to change with internship offers varying from year to year)

Alabama
Arizona
California
Colorado
*District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Illinois
Kentucky
Louisiana
Massachusetts
Maryland
Michigan
Missouri
Mississippi
Nebraska
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
North Carolina

Ohio
Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas

Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington