New CU Dual-Degree Program Gives Physical Therapy Students a Grounding in Public Health - University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

A caller dual-degree programme offered by the Physical Therapy Program at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and the Colorado School of Public Health at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus volition springiness doc of carnal therapy (DPT) students much opportunities to recognize however their enactment intersects with issues astir assemblage wellness promotion, illness prevention, and societal determinants of health.  

The caller programme volition commencement enrolling existent PT students for MPH classes that volition statesman successful summertime 2023. 

“As carnal therapists, we're truly large astatine tertiary attraction — supporting radical erstwhile they're injured oregon they go ill,” says Dawn Magnusson, PhD, PT, adjunct prof successful the CU PT program, who led the improvement of the caller degree. “But implicit the past respective decades, determination has been a displacement wrong the wellness attraction strategy and the PT assemblage toward trying to support radical steadfast and support radical moving. This dual-degree programme is designed to springiness students the tools to deliberation much upstream successful presumption of the attraction they provide.” 

Integrated learning experience 

The caller grade emerged successful effect to evolving societal needs and nonrecreational interests. A fig of PTs person gone backmost to get a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree, and it conscionable made consciousness to harvester the two, Magnusson says. The CU School of Medicine is lone 1 of a fistful of schools nationwide to connection the dual-degree program, which saves students clip and wealth successful coursework and tuition compared to pursuing each grade individually. 

“Instead of completing 1 grade abstracted from the other, we’re striving to make a much integrated learning experience,” Magnusson says. “We privation students to deliberation astir however they tin leverage the skills and cognition and behaviors developed successful some programs — and integrate these to amended service patients and communities.” 

Students successful the dual-degree programme volition implicit 2 years of the DPT program, past walk 1 twelvemonth to implicit their MPH earlier returning for the last six months of their DPT education. Magnusson hopes that successful that last year, the dual-degree students volition supply enactment and information for their peers astir nationalist wellness issues and bring a assemblage wellness mindset to their objective rotations. After students postgraduate from the dual-degree program, she envisions them moving successful a assortment of settings with a absorption connected keeping populations healthy.  

“Even with a clinician who's moving successful a modular infirmary oregon outpatient clinic, I could spot them moving wrong that session to design, develop, implement, and measure wellness promotion programs — reasoning about, ‘How tin we enactment to support this colonisation steadfast truthful they're not processing chronic wellness conditions?’” she says. “Another country is colonisation wellness management: wrong wellness systems, looking astatine the information to understand, ‘What is the wellness of our population? What are the things we could beryllium doing to heighten the wellness of that population?’” 

Focus connected movement 

The caller dual-degree programme arrives astatine a clip erstwhile the value of carnal wellness is taking halfway signifier successful everything from illness prevention and wide wellness to intelligence wellness and dealing with stress. 

“When you look astatine the cardinal indicators of aboriginal mortality and aboriginal morbidity, a batch of those things are tied to movement,” Magnusson says. “And the lit tells america that there's specified a beardown transportation betwixt being physically progressive and intelligence health. In galore ways, we tin beforehand carnal enactment arsenic an intervention, a preventive measurement for immoderate of these long-term, chronic conditions.” 

The societal perspective 

The CU PT programme already includes coursework astir nationalist health, but by partnering with the Colorado School of Public Health to connection the caller degree, the CU programme is looking to grow students’ cognition adjacent further erstwhile it comes to specified topics arsenic medically underserved communities, illness prevention, and societal determinants of health. 

“Physical therapy arsenic a assemblage is truly moving towards being much equity focused,” says Danielle Brittain, PhD, subordinate dean for world and pupil affairs astatine the Colorado School of Public Health. “PT has ever been focused connected prevention connected immoderate level, but determination is simply a caller accent connected knowing the societal and structural aspects of prevention. Students with this dual grade volition beryllium up of the game, due to the fact that wellness systems are truly looking for carnal therapists who are trained successful this direction. You person the capableness to assistance marque alteration if you recognize this broader structural societal perspective.”