Professional Foundations I: Introduction to Physical Therapy (PHTH702)

This course introduces the profession of physical therapy, the roles of professionals who practice physical therapy, and the numerous factors that shape and influence the profession, including societal, governmental, legal, organizational, and financial.  Students use core documents of the profession, evidence-based documents, and clinical reasoning models to consider professional issues. Students will be introduced to the mission, vision, philosophy, expected outcomes, and policies/procedures of the PT program at AHU. Students will investigate the components and assessment of professional behavior as well as topics related to common and emerging practice settings.   Principles of evidence-based practice, including formulation of clinical questions for critical inquiry and the identification of appropriate information sources, are incorporated to assess the scientific support for and to direct decision-making.