Dr. Kevin Robinson and Dr. Christi Williams, faculty in the School of Physical Therapy, presented a continuing education course for physical therapists throughout the state at the Tennessee Physical Therapy Association’s (TPTA) Spring Meeting.  The TPTA meeting was held at the Millennium Maxwell House in Nashville this past weekend.  The course taught by Robinson and Williams was entitled, “Are You Over or Underestimating Your Patient’s Strengths? New Technology for Today’s PT’s.”

Belmont physical therapy students have the opportunity to complete international clinical affiliations including alongside seven Italian facilities that are coordinated by Eduglobal Associates, founded by Michael Arnall, PT, MS, MBA.  Following his tenure as Chair of the DPT program at Saint Francis University in 2006, Michael began collaborating with American PT schools to provide internships at Italian rehabilitation facilities, including Fondazione Turati in Tuscany, where he worked as a staff PT in 1981-82. Eduglobal Associates currently contracts with over 50 PT schools and Belmont has been an affiliate since 2012. A group of 34 Belmont PT students has been mentored by Italian clinical instructors through the past seven years.

Gail Bursch, PT, MSEd, CWS, director of clinical education and Belmont adjunct faculty member Janet Szczepanski, PT, MHS both serve on the advisory board of Eduglobal Associates. In Pistoia, Italy last September, they provided clinical instructor training for 45 Italian clinical instructors mentoring PT students.

The course included eight hours of content and case study activities based on the pilot course taught to 10 of the Italian PT managers during the October 2016 APTA National Student Conclave Meeting in Miami. Therefore, the majority of the clinical instructors at the Italian clinical sites have been trained. They mentor a total of 90 students each year from programs across the US on clinical affiliations that span from 8 – 12 weeks.

Belmont’s Doctorate of Physical Therapy class of 2020 received a visit from Congressman Jim Cooper during their Health Care Systems class taught by Professor Natalie Michaels last week.

Congressman Cooper interacted with students, discussing everything from the history of health care in the United States, to the current state of health and student debt in our country. He spoke candidly about the current situation in both the state and federal governments regarding health care and answered questions for the students.

Belmont Physical Therapy student researchers Samantha Cook, Colleen Manning and Jessie Mills presented two papers at the National Physical Therapy Conference in Washington DC on Jan. 26.  Their research was conducted at Belmont and included two other student researchers Ashley Thomas and Royale Lopez. The group was mentored by professor Kathleen Galloway.

The presentations, “Superficial to deep fibular sensory nerve communication in the foot: a study of anatomic variation” and “Normative values for deep fibular nerve conduction and deep fibular nerve musculoskeletal ultrasound” were enthusiastically received by clinicians in attendance.