About the Program
The University of Dayton's doctor of physical therapy program will prepare you to be a knowledgeable, service-oriented, self-assured, adaptable, reflective practitioner. Our faculty and graduates contribute to society and the physical therapy profession through practice, teaching, administration and research.The need for highly trained physical therapists is rapidly on the rise, and the DPT program will put you at the front of the curve.
U.S. News & World Report named physical therapy one of its "Best Careers in 2006." The U.S. Department of Labor predicts employment of physical therapists to increase 27 by 2016, much faster than the national average for all occupations. And the American Physical Therapy Association has called on schools to raise the educational standards for practitioners, who will expected to have doctorate degrees by 2020.
The DPT program enrolls 35 students per year. The program is delivered over three years in eight consecutive semesters. Students will take 86 weeks of classes, 38 weeks of four, full-time clinical rotations and a research capstone course leading to a publishable manuscript. A total of 80 hours of observation is required from at least two distinctly different physical therapy patient care settings. A minimum of 20 observation hours must be in an inpatient setting.
Much of the curriculum is delivered through problem-based learning, which emphasizes professional decision-making and the use of critical analysis in problem solving.
Students require a bachelor's degree in a field such as pre-physical therapy, exercise science, dietetics, biology, psychology or chemistry to enter the program.
The University of Dayton's DPT program was created in 2006 as a direct response to the needs of the Dayton medical community and is the only advanced degree in physical therapy offered in the Miami Valley.
The program has the full support of local hospitals, which look to the University to provide qualified graduates for their staffing needs. The Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association, which represents 20 regional hospitals, pledged approximately $1.1 million to offset the start-up costs of the program.
