At CHOP, we offer an exciting clinical education for current physical therapy students. With more than 50 credentialed clinical instructors, our mission is to prepare entry-level practitioners for the field of pediatric physical therapy.

Students who will have completed all of their didactic coursework can apply to do their final clinical education internship at CHOP. We will challenge students to utilize their didactic knowledge as well as new evidence from the literature to support their emerging clinical practice. Students successfully completing clinical education at CHOP will be ready to enter the Physical therapy profession with basic competencies in the areas of pediatric evidence-based clinical care, ethical and effective patient care management, professional behavior, patient and family education, communication, documentation and cultural diversity.

Physical therapy programs interested in more information should have the Clinical Education faculty email ptclinicaleducation@chop.edu.

Goals of clinical education at CHOP

• To provide an advanced, specialized learning experience in pediatrics for entry-level physical therapy clinicians
• To create a liaison between affiliating institutions and clinical staff
• To match each student's learning objectives with the appropriate intervention setting and with an APTA credentialed clinical instructor
• To enhance the teaching skills of our clinical instructors
• Educational objectives
• At the end of the program students will be able to:
• Practice in a safe, ethical and effective manner within the hospital based and/or outpatient setting
• Demonstrate effective written and verbal communication in the care of their patients
• With direct supervision, perform initial examinations inclusive of history, systems review, tests and measures, goals and plans of care
• With direct supervision, demonstrate competency with basic Physical Therapy interventions
• Demonstrate cultural competency as evidenced by the students’ interaction with patients/caregivers and staff from diverse backgrounds
• Practice family-centered care by incorporating the patient and caregivers into the Physical Therapy goals and plans of care
• Utilize evidence to support clinical decision making

Admission information

Requirements

Students must meet the following criteria to enroll in our physical therapy clinical education program.

• Students will be graduation eligible from an APTA accredited DPT program (i.e. on their final affiliation).
• Participating institutions will have a current student contract with CHOP.
• Participating institutions will engage in an annual review of their pediatric curriculum.
• Students will have demonstrated advanced clinical decision making skills and a desire to pursue a career in pediatrics.
• Participants will have demonstrated cultural competence by their institutions' curriculum.
• Participants will participate in the interview process and will be accepted or declined pending the outcome of the interview and recommendation forms from the school.

Guidelines

Many students from around the country request a clinic education experience at CHOP. Because of the high volume of requests, we have the following guidelines:

• All correspondence for clinical education should be via the school DCE/ACCE and our CCCEs.
• The minimum time period of each clinical education affiliation is 16 weeks.
• Students must be in their final clinical education affiliation.  This includes completion of all other clinical education prior to arrival at CHOP. 
• Applications are sent to select Physical Therapy programs two times per year; in the spring and fall.
• Our application process involves a written application followed by a short interview (in person or via Skype). 
• We ask that each school send a maximum of 3 students per application period.
• All students will need clearance by CHOP Human Resources with required immunizations and screenings prior to the start of their clinical education affiliation.