Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT)

Physical therapy, often known as physiotherapy, is a practical skill dealing with the diagnosis and rehabilitation of patients who are incapacitated due to pain, sickness, or injury, as well as their treatment with physical therapeutic measures.

Overview

The doctor of physiotherapy (DPT) – 5 years programme culminates in a Post-baccalaureate degree upon satisfactory completion of the period. The American Physiotherapy Association established the DPT Degree (APTA). “By 2020, physical therapy will be provided by physical therapists who are doctors of physiotherapy recognised by consumers & other health-care professionals as the practitioners of choice to whom consumers have direct access for the diagnosis of, intervention for, & prevention of impairments, functional limitations, & disabilities related to movement, function, & health,” according to the “Vision 2020.”

Career Opportunities

With an aging population that is living longer in addition to younger generations living more active and healthier lives, the demand for physical therapists will continue to grow. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the potential job growth for physical therapy is 22 percent by 2028—much faster than the average for all occupations. Earning an annual median salary of $87,930, physical therapists are ranked #11 on the Best Healthcare Job list and #21 on the 100 Best Jobs list by U.S. News and World Report.

If you have considered a career in physical therapy, check out these exciting career paths that fall outside what may be considered more traditional PT settings.

Acute Care: PTs who have a focus in acute care are found in hospitals working with patients who have been admitted for a short-term illness, surgery, accident, or trauma. In this setting, PTs will work with an individual so that they are able to be safely discharged.

Rehabilitation Hospital: Occasionally, a patient must be sent to a rehabilitation hospital or facility for a longer recovery. In this setting, a PT will provide an intense therapy program of three or more hours a day to improve the person’s ability to care for themself.

Sub-Acute Rehabilitation: In this scenario, a patient is admitted to a hospital or facility that provides medical or rehabilitation care but needs a less intense rehab. A PT who works in a sub-acute facility will provide up to three hours of therapy to a patient in a day.

Skilled Nursing Facility: Facilities that provide long-term nursing care, rehabilitation, and other services for a variety of patients often employ physical therapists to help with a number of mobility-related health issues such as falls, strength, balance and ambulation.

Outpatient Clinic: – Many PTs choose to work in private settings that offer outpatient services. In this setting, patients are often referred to a PT to help with musculoskeletal or neuromuscular injuries or impairments.

Government: PTs are employed by federal agencies, including the Veteran’s Health Administration (VHA), Department of Defense, and Indian Health Service (IHS) to provide services to civilians and military personnel.

School/Preschool: Students on an Individualized Education Plan, or IEP, are often eligible for physical therapy to help improve things like balance while sitting in class, walking between classrooms or to the bus, and navigating playground equipment.

Sports/Fitness: Sports and fitness training facilities often employ PTs to work with athletes to help prevent injury and promote a healthy lifestyle. Professional sports organizations may also employ PTs to work with their team.

Home Health: PTs who provide care in the patient’s place of residence can work with a range of patients from senior citizens who need rehab after a fall, to pediatric patients with developmental disabilities and other conditions.

Hospice: PTs who work as part of the hospice team help patients to maintain functional abilities for as long as possible and manage pain in the last phases of an incurable disease.

Travel: As a traveling physical therapist, you can work anywhere throughout the country, typically on 13-week assignments. This setting allows you to explore different locations, and work with some of the top hospitals, outpatient clinics, and long-term care facilities.

Women’s Health: As a physical therapist that focuses on women’s health, you will address pelvic floor disorders such as incontinence, and also provide therapy related to osteoporosis, post-mastectomy care, and fitness and wellness.

Animal Therapy: A newer career path in physical therapy is to provide rehabilitative care to animals who have had surgery, been injured, or suffer from chronic pain. Physical therapy can speed an animal’s recovery and improve its quality of life.

Education: If you have an interest in teaching, you should consider becoming a clinical instructor in your work setting, continuing education courses to practicing clinicians or teach a course in a DPT or PTA program at a college or university..

Researcher: PTs conduct research to improve patient/client care outcomes and support the body of knowledge in the field physical therapy, including research in concussions, strokes, spinal cord injuries, limb loss, and more.

Tech Startup/Entrepreneur: As technology continues to advance, new startups developing products to assist with rehabilitation are often looking to hire PTs to help with research, product design, sales and marketing, training and customer support.

Rehab Liaison/Intake Coordinator: Rehab liaisons or intake coordinators are responsible for helping to fill beds in a rehabilitation facility. While these roles often require some sales and marketing skills, you may also be working with insurance companies, analyzing data, and educating patients on the benefits of inpatient rehab.

Healthcare Recruiter: As a healthcare recruiter you help organizations find the right practitioners for the roles they are seeking to fill.

Telehealth: A telehealth PT is one who provides physical therapy services over a digital platform through live video, remote patient monitoring, or mobile healthcare delivery.

Utilization Review: In this role, a PT works for a payer organization and reviews the services provided by a physical therapist to determine if they fall under the coverage of the plan in question.

Influencer/Blogger: Some PTs have taken their clinical knowledge and applied it to a health or wellness lifestyle brand through social media or blogging sites.

Program Learning Outcomes

As the profession of physical therapy moving towards a doctoral degree for some time due to the advancements in the foundational and clinical science and practice of physical therapy, therefore, entry-level physical therapist practitioners are:

1. Expected to screen patients for possible underlying medical conditions masquerading as Neuro- muscular, Musculoskeletal, Cardio-pulmonary, Pediatrics and women health problems that may need referral to another health care practitioner.

2. Expected to assess and manage effectively the problems related to Neuro-muscular, Musculoskeletal, Cardio-pulmonary, Pediatrics and women health through the use evidence based treatments and rehabilitation protocols.

3. Expected to analyze and critique the evidence from research literature to inform choices about optimal interventions in order to achieve functional outcomes for patients.

4. Expected to demonstrate a thorough synthesis of evidence related to a defined clinical question pertinent to the profession of physical therapy.

5. Through both oral and written presentation, students will demonstrate competence in exploring the literature, assessing the strength of evidence, synthesizing the findings of individual studies, interpreting the results and applying the evidence to physical therapy practice.

6. Expected to complete a research project at the end of coursework may be in the form of a systematic review, an applied clinical research project, or single case research design project. The student shall complete the project significant to the field of physical therapy as approved by the faculty.

Programme

Semester 1
Sr #	Course Code	Course Name	Credit Hours
1	DPT-301	Upper Limb & General Anatomy	4(3-1)
2	DPT-303	Cardiovascular & Neuromuscular Physiology	3(2-1)
3	DPT-305	Introduction to Kinesiology	3(2-1)
4	ENG-321	Functional English	3(3-0)
5	STA-322	Introduction to Statistical theory I	3(3-0)
6	PST-321	Pakistan Studies	2(2-0)
Total			18
Semester 2
Sr #	Course Code	Course Name	Credit Hours
1	DPT-302	Lower limb Anatomy & General Histology	4(3-1)
2	DPT-304	Visceral Physiology	3(2-1)
3	DPT-306	Clinical Kinesiology	3(2-1)
4	ENG-322	English Comprehension & Composition	3(3-0)
5	STA-323	Introduction to Statistical theory II	3(3-0)
6	ISL-321	Islamic Studies / Ethics	2(2-0)
Total			18
Semester 3
Sr #	Course Code	Course Name	Credit Hours
1	DPT-401	Head and Neck Anatomy & Human Embryology	3(2-1)
2	DPT-403	Physiology of Reproductive , Nervous & Renal system	3(2-1)
3	DPT-405	Introduction to Biomechanics & Ergonomics	3(3-0)
4	BCH-407	Biochemistry & Genetics I	2(2-0)
5	DPT-409	Introduction to Exercise Physiology	3(3-0)
6	CSI-321	Introduction to Computing Applications	3(2-1)
Total			17
Semester 4
Sr #	Course Code	Course Name	Credit Hours
1	DPT-402	Human Neuro Anatomy	3(2-1)
2	DPT-404	Advance techniques in Biomechanics & Ergonomics	3(2-1)
3	DPT-406	Behavioral Sciences (Psychiatry & Psychology)	3(3-0)
4	BCH-408	Biochemistry& Genetics II	2(2-0)
5	DPT-410	Advance Clinical Exercise Physiology	3(3-0)
6	DPT-412	Medical Physics in Rehabilitation	3(2-1)
Total			17
Semester 5
Sr #	Course Code	Course Name	Credit Hours
1	DPT-501	Pathology & Microbiology I	2(2-0)
2	DPT-503	Pharmacology in Rehabilitation I	3(3-0)
3	DPT-505	Physical Agents & Electrotherapy I	3(2-1)
4	DPT-507	Therapeutic Exercises & Techniques	3(2-1)
5	SOC-307	Introduction to Sociology	2(2-0)
6	DPT-511	Health & Wellness	2(2-0)
7	DPT-513	Supervised Clinical Practice I	3(0-3)
Total			18
Semester 6
Sr #	Course Code	Course Name	Credit Hours
1	DPT-502	Pathology & Microbiology II	3(2-1)
2	DPT-504	Pharmacology in Rehabilitation II	2(2-0)
3	DPT-506	Physical Agents & Electrotherapy –II	3(2-1)
4	DPT-508	Manual Therapy	3(2-1)
5	DPT-510	Teaching Methodology & Community Medicine	3(3-0)
6	DPT-512	Supervised Clinical Practice II	3(0-3)
Total			17
Semester 7
Sr #	Course Code	Course Name	Credit Hours
1	DPT-601	Clinical Medicine I	3(3-0)
2	DPT-603	Orthopedic Surgery	3(3-0)
3	DPT-605	Radiology & Diagnostic Imaging	3(2-1)
4	DPT-607	Musculoskeletal Physical Therapy	3(2-1)
5	DPT-609	Human Growth, Development & Community Based Rehabilitation	2(2-0)
6	DPT-611	Supervised Clinical Practice III	3(0-3)
Total			17
Semester 8
Sr #	Course Code	Course Name	Credit Hours
1	DPT-602	Clinical Medicine II	3(3-0)
2	DPT-604	Advance techniques in General Surgery II	3(3-0)
3	DPT-606	Neurological Physical Therapy	3(2-1)
4	DPT-608	Evidence Based Practice	3(2-1)
5	DPT-610	Introduction to Prosthetics & Orthotics	2(2-0)
6	DPT-611	Supervised Clinical Practice IV	3(0-3)
Total			17
Semester 9
Sr #	Course Code	Course Name	Credit Hours
1	DPT-651	Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapy	3(2-1)
2	DPT-653	Emergency Procedures & Primary Care In Physical Therapy	2(2-0)
3	DPT-655	Clinical Decision Making & Differential Diagnosis	3(3-0)
4	DPT-657	Scientific Inquiry & Research Methodology	3(3-0)
5	DPT-659	Professional Practice (Laws , Ethics & Administration)	2(2-0)
6	DPT-661	Integumentary Physical Therapy	2(2-0)
7	DPT-663	Supervised Clinical Practice V	3(0-3)
Total			18
Semester 10
Sr #	Course Code	Course Name	Credit Hours
1	DPT-652	Obstetrics & Gynecological Physical Therapy	2(2-0)
2	DPT-654	Pediatric Physical Therapy	2(2-0)
3	DPT-656	Gerontology & Geriatric Physical Therapy	2(2-0)
4	DPT-658	Sports Physical Therapy	2(2-0)
5	DPT-660	Supervised Clinical Practice VI	4(0-4)
6	DPT-681	Research Project	6(0-6)
Total			18
Total Credit Hours			175