On Friday, December 6th the class of 2020 presented their capstone projects to faculty and students. The Capstone Seminar in Physical Therapy provides an opportunity for third year Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students to develop a tailored learning experience involving professional peer mentoring, education or research, and evidence-based practice. The goal is to create a systematic review which can be disseminated. Systematic Review questions are determined by faculty who serve as mentors over this year long process.
The capstone project fosters life-long learning and skills needed to create similar projects to answer clinical questions which add to the body of literature once they become clinicians. The uniqueness of this project is based in its team approach, collaboration among group members, and ability to present to colleagues their findings. Student elect between 2 tracks – teaching/learning and research. In the teaching/learning track, students receive knowledge and skills to serve as near-peer mentors in a first year DPT course. Whereas, students on the research track participate in a formal research project based on their faculty mentor’s research.
These projects have been accepted and presented at University of South Florida Health Research Day, American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) CSM and NEXT, and other national and regional meetings. Finally, systematic reviews have been accepted for publication.
