{"id":6446,"date":"2024-08-19T17:38:13","date_gmt":"2024-08-19T17:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nau.edu\/stories\/?p=6446"},"modified":"2024-08-19T18:57:54","modified_gmt":"2024-08-19T18:57:54","slug":"hybrid-doctor-physical-therapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/hybrid-doctor-physical-therapy\/","title":{"rendered":"Movement experts: hybrid Doctor of Physical Therapy program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sara Thomasson is on her way to becoming a physical therapist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critical to patient recovery, physical therapists (PTs) assist injured or ill people to improve movement or manage pain. Thomasson is part of the first cohort in NAU’s hybrid Doctor of Physical Therapy<\/a> (DPT) program. From the fingers to the toes, Thomasson is gaining a deep understanding of the human body and how everything works and moves together. She is, as her professors describe it, becoming a \u201cmovement expert.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomasson has always been interested in medicine and science. As an athlete in high school, she was exposed to the effectiveness of PT as her teammates recovered from injuries. Then, during undergraduate school, a little girl at her parents\u2019 church had a stroke and wasn\u2019t able to move the right side of her body. \u201cI followed her story as she went through physical therapy and other therapies,\u201d Thomasson says. \u201cNow, you wouldn’t even know she had any problems. She plays sports, she runs. She does everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get started in PT, Thomasson moved from her hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana, to Phoenix to get a biology degree with a pre-physical therapy emphasis at Grand Canyon University. But to have a career as a PT you need a doctorate. Thomasson chose NAU\u2019s program because of its affordability, location, and convenience. \u201cI also just love the idea of it. We’re a competency-based education program, so we’re a little bit different than all of the other programs right now,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to change how physical therapy is being taught to students, and that was really innovative. Also, the faculty is super incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sara<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

NAU offers residential DPT programs at the Flagstaff campus and the Phoenix Bioscience Core<\/a> in addition to the hybrid option. Thomasson is one of 31 students in the inaugural hybrid cohort with students from across the United States. In the hybrid model, students attend classes remotely then gather at NAU\u2019s Flagstaff campus at the end of the semester for several days of immersive, hands-on classes to practice what they learned online. \u201cWe practice scenarios with each other. Someone plays the patient, another plays the therapist,\u201d she says. \u201cWe practice what we’ll be actually doing as professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Thomasson has enjoyed the competency-based approach, she had to get used to the different teaching method. \u201cI’ve always been taught in the traditional sense of education where you teach to a test rather than teach to learn skills.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flexibility in the hybrid program was key to Thomasson. She can spend time with her husband and one-year-old daughter and get hands-on experience through a therapy aide job. \u201cI’m able to do things in my personal life, but also, I was able to continue working as a therapy aide in a hospital, so I’m able to learn in a different way,\u201d she says. \u201cThe way that they’ve set it up has really been foundational. They help us get the skills we need for clinical practice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as what she\u2019ll do after graduation in 2025? She\u2019s keeping her options open and will know better after completing her clinical rotations, but she is considering pediatric PT. \u201cI love children. I have one of my own, and they have a different kind of energy. I also think that working in a hospital is really interesting,\u201d she explains. \u201cBut again, I don’t know exactly where I might fit because I haven’t been in my clinicals yet, so I think that’ll be valuable experience to shape where I really want to go.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sara Thomasson is part of the first cohort in NAU’s hybrid Doctor of Physical Therapy program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"featured_media":6454,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-service"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6446"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6457,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6446\/revisions\/6457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}