Overview: Curriculum and Clinical Education Program

The hybrid Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree program comprises three years of full-time study divided into six semesters and three summer terms. The curriculum follows a systems-based format, meaning the learning focus is on a different system of the body in each semester.   

In the first two years of the program, you will learn how to function as an autonomous practitioner in the health care system by focusing on how to incorporate clinical reasoning skills, evidence-based practice, and the differential diagnostic process into your practice. In the third and final year, your focus will shift to integrating the information and skills you learned in the first two years of study. 

The University of Southern California takes pride in offering you a rich variety of full-time clinical experiences, starting right from the first year of the program. The final year of the curriculum is designed to be an integrative experience that challenges you to combine and refine the skills you developed in the previous two years of the program. The ultimate goal of the curriculum is to equip you with the knowledge and skills you need to provide effective patient care in complex circumstances. 

Each clinical experience is designed to provide you with an opportunity to practically apply the theoretical knowledge and skills you have acquired in a specific area of the academic curriculum. These experiences will advance your expertise in the evaluation and treatment of patients with various diagnoses. 

The aim of the clinical education program is to develop students to the point of meeting and exceeding the performance level expected of an entry-level physical therapist during the third year of the DPT program. Your performance will be evaluated against predicted performance levels set by faculty across all three years of the program. Performance is judged on several clinical decision-making skills, hands-on performance and professional behaviors using the Clinical Performance Instrument (CPI). 

The systems-based focuses in your curriculum and corresponding clinical components are as follows for each year of the degree program:

• The First-Year Experience

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  As a first-year student or DPT-I, you will complete a two-week practicum in the middle of your second semester and a six-week summer affiliation at the end of your first year. 

  – Semester 1a (summer) and 1b (fall): Foundational sciences and introduction to patient management 

  – Semester 2: Clinical management of musculoskeletal dysfunction with an integrated clinical experience 

  – Summer 1: Clinical management of musculoskeletal dysfunction and six-week clinical experience

  DPT-I’s are prepared to evaluate and treat general medical and musculoskeletal disorders. As such, you will be assigned to clinical education centers where you will work with numerous general medicine and orthopedic patients.

• The Second-Year Experience

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  As a DPT-II, you will complete a two-week practicum in the middle of the first semester of your second year, a two-week practicum in your second semester of your second year and an eight-week summer affiliation prior to returning for the summer coursework to complete your second year.

  – Semester 3: Clinical management of cardiovascular and pulmonary and medical conditions, particularly in the acute hospital setting with an integrated clinical experience

  – Semester 4: Clinical management of neurologic dysfunction

  – Summer 2: Differential diagnosis and eight-week clinical experience

  In addition to managing patients with orthopedic dysfunction, DPT-IIs will also be prepared to evaluate and treat patients across the life span with various medical issues, including cardiopulmonary and neurologic dysfunctions across the settings (e.g., outpatient, acute care, acute rehab).

• The Third-Year Experience

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  As a DPT-III, or third-year DPT student, you will complete two 13-week extended clinical experiences, integrated with ongoing weekly Integrated Patient Management Seminars.

  – Semester 5: Full-time clinical rotations with integrated patient management skills and seminar coursework

  – Semester 6: Full-time clinical rotations with integrated patient management skills and seminar coursework

  The purpose of the extended clinical experience is to give you the opportunity to manage a full caseload over an extended period of time. Consequently, DPT-IIIs focus on the improvement of manual skills, clinical reasoning, pattern recognition, differential diagnosis, prognosticating, development of plan of care, goal-setting, interprofessional communication and comprehensive patient management.

As a student, you will approach patient care from the three important perspectives that form the basis of evidence-based practice:

The Patient

You will learn how to connect with and collaborate with patients to provide the best possible patient-centered care. We emphasize skills for providing culturally sensitive, compassionate care using evidence-based methods including motivational interviewing and shared decision-making.

Current Research

You will learn how to stay current throughout your career by using the best available evidence to guide your practice. We emphasize the skills clinicians need to be savvy consumers of clinical research while also providing opportunities to participate in conducting research.

Professional Expertise

You will develop your own insights and confidence to provide direct access to physical therapy in the complex health care environment. We emphasize effective interprofessional collaboration and team-based health care.