Complex Medical Conditions

This 14-week course during the seventh term of the DPT curriculum is designed to enhance students’ clinical reasoning in managing patients with complex conditions and students’ ability to reflect on their development of clinical reasoning.

This course offers students in their final didactic semester of the DPT program opportunities to think on their feet as well as reflect on their thoughts and decisions after they encounter with simulated patients with complex conditions or watch the unfolding of the simulated cases. The simulated patients are in different clinical domains and various clinical settings. They present with challenging clinical, personal and/or contextual factors, including situations of an ambiguous or unpredictable nature. Students are required to be in the role of a physical therapist, an engaged observer, or a peer evaluator. They are also expected to review relevant case materials before each simulation class, apply what they have learned to each simulation case, and participate actively in the debriefing session of each class using the think aloud method.