BARRY WILLIAMS /Special

Medical College of Georgia students Karla Niedzwiecki and Jennifer Brennin (from left) watch as instructor Lori Bolgla measures the range of motion of fellow student John Belcher's knee during a class. The students are among the first in MCG's doctorate of physical therapy program.

Last year, the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta accepted the first students into its doctorate of physical therapy (DPT) program. This year, thanks to an accredited consortium agreement with Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah and North Georgia College & State University in Dahlonega, students will be able to earn DPT degrees on all three campuses.

"Each university will cover the standardized elements in nine semesters, but each program is a little different and will make use of its own faculty, facilities and resources. The degree will come from the Medical College of Georgia," said Douglas R. Keskula, Ph.D., PT, ATC, chairman of the department of physical therapy in the School of Allied Health Sciences at the Medical College of Georgia.

The formation of the consortium means that all Georgia institutions (including Emory University and Georgia State University) that offer physical therapy degrees have moved to the doctorate level, now considered the entry-level degree for the profession.

The impetus for higher-level training came from a vision statement published by the American Physical Therapy Association in 2000, which said that all physical therapists should be trained at the doctoral level by 2020.

"Schools started adjusting their programs quickly, and more than half now have accredited doctoral programs in place of their master's-level programs," Keskula said. "Some schools just expanded their two-year program into three, but we took several years to redesign our program to meet the needs of the practi-

tioner in the future.

"We looked at how we wanted them to be able to practice 10 years from now and created the program to meet those goals. As a result, we have a better degree and are in a better position to successfully recruit the most qualified applicants."

A growing field

Keskula said that a doctoral degree is necessary because there is so much to learn in the field. The body of knowledge has grown, as has the diversity in practice.

Physical therapists today treat patients of all ages and conditions, including newborns, the elderly in nursing homes and those in hospice care. They work in private practices, specialty hospitals, acute-care settings, rural settings, rehab centers, home-health agencies, sports medicine clinics, schools and many other settings. Those who start private practices need business skills as well as clinical skills.

The profession ranked 12th on CNN Money's list of 50 Best Jobs in America, and it has a projected 10-year job growth rate of 36.74 percent.

"There are a lot of specialties, and much more emphasis on prevention and wellness programs due to an aging population. Having three years gives us more time for clinical rotations to a greater variety of practice areas and more time to teach evidence-based research. There's a research course offered every semester that covers differential diagnoses and clinical decision-making," Keskula said. "The result of a three-year program will be a better-prepared practitioner who can function more autonomously."

Keskula came to the MCG program in 1993, attracted by its reputation and its underlying educational philosophy.

"This isn't a traditional lecture-based program, but a very active program with a lot of group work and real-world problem-solving," he said. "Instead of passive education, we're engaging the students constantly."

MCG students do their clinical rotations all over the Southeast, because the school believes that the best way to educate practitioners to think on their feet is for them to practice and implement what they've learned in the classroom.

"Moving to the doctoral level for training is upgrading the profession," Keskula said. "It allows us to get all the pieces [of training] in that physical therapists need as the profession becomes more complex."