| Abstrakt: |
The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic introduced new problems and issues for health professional educational programs, especially those which require completion of clinical internships. As a result of the pandemic and the uncertainty related to the treatment of patients with Covid-19, many health organizations canceled clinical internship rotations, which left educational programs without a vital aspect of their educational curriculum. In collaboration with the core faculty members, the Howard University Department of Physical Therapy Program Director and Academic Coordinator of Clinical Education were required to develop a plan of action that modified curricular sequencing, given the situational changes in the Program's clinical education accreditation requirements. Purpose: The purpose of this presentation is to describe the process used by the HU Department of Physical Therapy to develop an alternate didactic and clinical, educational plan of action for the summer and Fall 2020 semesters while keeping in mind curricular and accreditation requirements, pandemic restrictions, student health and safety concerns, and financial and legal implications. Conclusion: The Program's curricular sequencing was flipped to cover the Fall semester didactic content in the Summer sessions, and full-time clinical internships, which were postponed from the Summer 2020 sessions, were completed in the Fall 2020 semester. Students in the 2020 graduation cohort were delayed in the completion of their academic curriculum by one semester. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
