Week 7 Prompt Post: Contemplating Controversy

In my week 3 open post, I talked about a DPT (Doctorate of Physical Therapy) and about what a doctoral degree in physical therapy is. I mentioned that it was a controversial topic in the field of physical therapy. This week I'm going to try and go more in depth about each side of the issue and talk about how people in the field now feel about it.

 

A summary of what was in my open post about the controversy on DPT:

DPT is becoming more common in physical therapy and the issue is that some people see it as beneficial to themselves and as the area of occupation overall. These people see it as advancing and highering the standard for physical therapy. However, there are other people who feel like DPT isn't all that great. These people are mainly people who are already working in the field and feel like their credentials as a physical therapist aren't as valid as others.

 

After looking more in depth on both sides of the issue, I learned more about how each side feels and about the controversy itself. This week I learned that the American Physical Therapy Association has something that's called "Vision 2020". It's pretty much goals that they want to reach by the year 2020 and one of them is to convert all physical therapists over to doctors of physical therapy. Today there are 198 programs for physical therapy are doctoral and there are only 13 programs left that offer the master's degree level for physical therapy.  

View points of those who believe DPT is beneficial to physical therapy:

• DPT opens an opportunity for physical therapists to become a practitioner of choice for people who need it.
• If the clinical environment of physical therapy changes then the skill level and knowledge required goes up and physical therapists could be more well-rounded individually.
• Clinical internship hours would go up which would be beneficial because it allows for patient care to improve and also for graduates to apply interaction skills more.
• Physical therapists who have reached doctoral status would be more likely to help develop the science and evidence base. They would be more likely to also look past their career in physical therapy, and think about a position academically.
• DPT degree is more appealing to students so it would mean that the field would bring in strong potential physical therapists.

View points of those who are against DPT:

• There was a survey that was done and as of right now there are still 58% of physical therapists that don't have the DPT status.
• DPT doesn't necessarily mean that you'll have a higher salary than someone who doesn't.
• Changing the title of a physical therapist might lead to confusion for not only the public and people seeking physical therapy but also in the health professions community. These people might not know about the change in the field.
• This seems like physical therapy as a whole is trying to add legitimacy to the occupation.
• Employment could be affected by this change. If physical therapists are reaching higher levels and raising the standards then they might be employed for administration positions or higher positions and the services that a physical therapist would traditionally provide will have to be provided by physical therapy assistants, clinical kinesiologists, or rehabilitation assistants.

CITATIONS

"The Doctor Debate:Physical Therapists Share Their Thoughts on DPT." therapyjobs.com. TherapyJobs.com, 2014. Web. 24 Feb 2014.

Mathur, Sunita. "Doctorate in Physical Therapy: Is it Time for a Conversation." Physiotherapy Canada v.63(2) (2011): 140-142. Web. 24 Feb 2014.