BUILDING HYBRID PHYSICAL THERAPY DEGREE PROGRAMS: KEYS TO SUCCESS

B. Young¹, K. Gagnon²

¹Baylor University, Department of Physical Therapy, Waco, United States, ²Johns Hopkins University, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Baltimore, United States

Background: In 2018, over half of World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) member nations reported 5 or fewer practicing physical therapists (PTs) per 10,000 population. Fifty-four percent of WCPT nations allowed direct access to PTs. With the availability of instructional technology, opportunities exist to develop hybrid PT educational programs across the world. Hybrid programs may allow students to live and learn anywhere, providing opportunities for students to access physical therapy education in geographic areas where these programs have not typically been available. These graduates may remain in their communities upon graduation. Educators would benefit from evidence on the structure and outcomes of hybrid PT education, to inform the design of these programs across the globe and assess the potential impact on the physical therapy workforce and likely improve access to care in medically underserved areas.

Purpose: This project will highlight lessons learned from the first hybrid program in the US to report its structure and student outcomes within the professional literature. Lessons learned may be informative for program development in other regions of the world as PTs continue to address access to healthcare within our global community.

Methods: Program data was collected and reported describing academic affairs, student affairs, faculty affairs, and institutional affairs in the DPT program at Baylor University, a fully hybrid DPT program in Waco, TX, USA. Program data was compared to published US aggregate physical therapy education data. Furthermore, data regarding student clinical education and region of residence data was compared to published data indicating medically underserved and primary health care shortage areas within Texas.

Results: Hybrid, 2-year doctoral PT education is feasible with outcomes comparable to those reported in national aggregate DPT program data. The American Physical Therapy Association reports 9.5 PTs per 10,000 population in the US, and reports Texas at 5.6 per 10,000 which is similar to WCPT averages. However, little evidence to date supports that hybrid program has been successful in providing graduates into more rural or medically underserved areas.

Conclusions: Hybrid education may provide an opportunity for student access to PT training in geographic areas where there are workforce shortages and limited opportunity for residential education. Opportunities exist to increase marketing and admissions efforts within medically underserved regions in order to enhance PT care availability within those regions.

Implications: Opportunities exist for the PT profession to leverage hybrid education models to support the vision of the WCPT Physiotherapist Education Framework, emphasizing curricular efficiencies, high quality learning, technological innovation, and efficient time to degree.

Funding acknowledgements: None

Keywords:
Education
Instructional technology
Inclusion

Topics:
Education
Professional issues: diversity and inclusion
Globalisation: health systems, policies & strategies

Did this work require ethics approval? No

Reason: Project did not meet definition of human subject research.