Are you a practicing Physical Therapist or Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) student who wants to provide primary care physical therapy (PT) services in an interprofessional team to underserved communities and marginalized populations in your community?
With this certificate, we can give you the broader scope of skills and knowledge necessary to meet this important need where you practice.
Did You Know?
In the United States...
- 98 million individuals live in areas with little access to primary care according to HRSA Health Workforce Shortage Areas data.
- 15 million people live in medically underserved areas.
Many states are like Alabama where...
- 2,000,000+ people live in rural areas.
- for every 2,200 rural citizens, there is only one primary care physician.
- we have 59 primary care Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) counties.
Help Ease this Chronic Personnel Shortage And Increase Access to Medical Care
You can see there is a chronic personnel shortage here, and your expertise will be in high demand when you complete this program because you’ll be able to do the following:
- develop broad consultation and referral networks with community-based services that reflect the needs and priorities of marginalized and underserved populations;
- perform screening/triage to provide primary and emergency care in physical therapy;
- perform holistic examination and management of patients with complex/chronic conditions;
- assess program outcomes such as safety, effectiveness, timeliness, efficiency, and equity;
- develop, implement, and evaluate community health programs; and
- apply emergency and disaster preparation and management skills within physical therapy scope of practice.
Practice at the Top of Your License
Once you have completed this 15-credit hour graduate certificate, you’ll have the enhanced knowledge you need for success in this area of practice promoted by the American Physical Therapy Association.
Mission
Preparing graduates to improve access to and quality of care for underserved populations and marginalized communities.