MISSION

To produce active duty, commissioned physical therapists who are clinician scientists and leaders prepared for worldwide military health system practice.

VISION

Optimizing military readiness and defining the leading edge of physical therapy education, research, and practice.

PHILOSOPHY

This program fosters clinical and professional excellence in physical therapy and lifelong pursuit of continued professional development. Physical Therapy is a dynamic profession with an established theoretical base grounded in research, and widespread clinical applications, particularly in the preservation, development, and restoration of maximum physical function. Physical therapists seek to prevent injury, impairments, functional limitations, and disability; to maintain and promote fitness, health, and quality of life; and to ensure availability, accessibility, and excellence in the delivery of physical therapy services to the patient. As essential participants in the health care delivery system, physical therapists assume leadership roles in prevention and health maintenance programs, and in professional and community organizations.

Through a rigorous selection process, our students are well qualified for the demands of the curriculum and the profession. They are mature, adult learners who are self-motivated, people-oriented, open minded, independent, flexible, and versatile. Our students are committed to become competent physical therapists in the Uniformed Services and in the health care delivery system of the United States following active duty. We strive to provide our students with one of the best professional preparations in the nation.

Members of the faculty embrace the learning process as active participants and are exemplary professional role models. Faculty members teach the basic sciences and a conceptual framework in the applied sciences to enable the learner to synthesize information and develop problem-solving skills. While recognizing individual differences among students in both rate and ability to learn, the faculty designs meaningful learning experiences and adjusts teaching strategies to meet the needs of each student, whether in the classroom, practical exercises, or tutorial sessions. Faculty members participate in continuing professional development including clinical practice, service, and scholarly activity.

The scope of our program includes three distinct but interrelated arenas-- academic, professional, and military. The intense and challenging curriculum provides academic self-enrichment and the development of professional behaviors and competencies. The demands of the curriculum, coupled with the nature of the military, are both stimulating and challenging for the incoming student. Our faculty recognizes the unique nature of the program and its potential impact on the learning environment. Our faculty accepts responsibility for actively assisting the student's adjustment to this unique interrelationship.

Education is an active, continuous, cooperative process between the teacher and learner and must meet both the needs of the learner and the objectives of the teacher. Learning is a developmental process in which the learner is responsible for the acquisition and synthesis of knowledge. To facilitate the learning process, the faculty must guide the development of the student in a positive and non-threatening manner. The faculty ensures that the learning process is logical and the material presented is well sequenced, evidence-based and can be assimilated within the time allotted. The faculty makes every effort to help each student succeed.

GOALS

The Army-Baylor University Doctoral Program in Physical Therapy will:

Provide a quality curriculum for its students by teaching basic and applied sciences and evidence-based clinical practice to enable students to synthesize information and develop problem-solving skills. Provide students with the medical searching and critical appraisal skills necessary for evidence-based practice.

• Prepare each student to successfully complete requirements for licensure as a physical therapist.

• Prepare students for clinical practice as generalists and primary care neuromusculoskeletal providers in the uniformed services.

• Prepare each student to be an active member of a multi-disciplinary, interdependent health care team.

• Prepare each student to contribute to the physical therapy profession in clinical practice, research, teaching, service, and community activity.

• Provide a professional education foundation for continued personal and professional development, whether one elects to remain in the military or to practice as a civilian therapist.

• Support the development of its graduates as educators, clinicians, researchers, and consultants.

• Prepare students for practice in a deployed environment.

• Develop the future officers and leaders in physical therapy and within the uniformed services.

• Support the missions of the Army Medical Center of Excellence and the Baylor University Graduate School.

• Mentor our students through our leadership in the Army Values and ten Professional Abilities we have deemed important:

ARMY VALUES

Loyalty

Duty

Respect

Selfless Service

Honor

Integrity

Personal Courage

PROFESSIONAL ABILITIES

These ten professional abilities are expectations of our graduate students. These abilities are taught in the curriculum both explicitly (course work) and implicitly (modeled by your faculty). Your academic counseling will focus on both your academic progress and your development in these ten areas. These abilities were identified as generic abilities by the Physical Therapy Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and defined as follows:

1. Commitment to Learning- The ability to self-assess, self-correct, and self-direct to identify needs and sources of learning, and to continually seek new knowledge and understanding.

2. Interpersonal Skills- The ability to interact effectively with patients, families, colleagues, other health care professionals, and the community to deal effectively with cultural and ethnic diversity issues.

3. Communication Skills- The ability to communicate effectively (i.e. speaking, body language, reading, writing, listening) for varied audiences and purposes.

4. Effective Use of Time- The ability to obtain the maximum benefit from a minimum investment in time and resources.

5. Use of Constructive Feedback- The ability to identify sources and seek out feedback and to effectively use and provide feedback for improving personal interaction.

6. Problem Solving- The ability to recognize and define problems, analyze data, develop and implement solutions, and evaluate outcomes.

7. Professionalism- The ability to exhibit appropriate professional conduct and to represent the profession effectively.

8. Responsibility- The ability to fulfill commitments and to be accountable for actions and outcomes.

9. Critical Thinking- The ability to question logically; to identify, generate and evaluate elements of logical argument; to recognize and differentiate facts, illusions, assumptions, and hidden assumptions; and to distinguish the relevant from the irrelevant.

10. Stress Management- The ability to identify sources of stress and to develop effective coping behaviors.

Developed by the Physical Therapy Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison May et al. Journal of Physical Therapy Education 9:1, Spring 1995