COVID-19 has altered our usual approaches to teaching physical therapist and physical therapist assistant students both academically and clinically.  This webinar is designed to explore the challenges faced in developing student competence in acute care physical therapy through both academic teaching and clinical education. The panel will discuss strategies for academic faculty to facilitate knowledge and skill for practice in acute care settings given the extensive transition to virtual teaching and limited or absent integrated clinical experiences.   Collaboration between academic and clinical partners in creating virtual clinical learning experiences will be highlighted.  Challenges in acute care clinical education experiences will be discussed from the perspective of the DCE, SCCE and hospital administration including the ability of sites to accept students during COVID, implications of social distancing and PPE requirements, and best practices to foster students’ achievement of safety and competence.

Learning Objectives:

1. Adapt academic acute care curriculum to be responsive to rapid changes between in-person to virtual teaching or hybrid models

2. Describe strategies to determine student readiness for clinical experiences in acute care in the case of limitations in face-to-face, hands-on lab experiences

3. Examine opportunities for creation of virtual clinical learning experiences to enhance student clinical decision-making and observation skills through partnerships between academic institutions and clinical sites

4. Describe best practices in provision of clinical education in acute care settings during the pandemic

5. Consider the implications of shortages of acute care clinical placements during COVID for readiness to practice of new graduates

Course Instructions

1. Click on the Contents tab to watch the course recording.
2. Click the Take Quiz button to complete the assessment. Learners will have 3 attempts to pass and must answer at least 70% of questions correctly.
3. Click Fill Out Survey under the Evaluation listing to provide valuable course feedback. Scroll down on all questions as there may be answer options that expand past the size of the window.
4. Click the View/Print Your Certificate button under the Certificate listing. You can view/print your certificate at any time by visiting the APTA Learning Center and clicking the CEU Certificate/Transcript link on the left-hand side of the page. 

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