SummEr/FAll 2011 - Nazareth College

n school of health and human services
PT Clinics Get National Audience
by Robyn Rime
Nazareth’s School of Health and
Human Services has always known
its clinics were special, providing
both valuable clinical experience to
its students and valuable health care to the
greater Rochester community. Last January,
two physical therapy students—one current,
one former—got to share that news at the
annual conference for the Society of Student-
Run Free Clinics (SSRFC) in Houston, TX.
Terra Rice ’11G, then a student, and
Rachel Quashnoc ’10G, P.T., D.P.T., a recent
graduate, were selected to represent Nazareth
at the conference. The two worked with
Jennifer Collins, P.T., M.P.A., Ed.D., professor
and chair of the department of health science
and physical therapy, to develop an abstract
and presentation, focusing on Nazareth’s
unusual model of embedding its on-campus
clinics into its required PT coursework. Students
serve widely varied populations in the
College’s range of clinics, including the musculoskeletal
(ortho) clinic, the neuromuscular
(neuro) clinic, Kids Club, the Multiple Sclerosis
Wellness Program, Paddlers with Disabilities,
and various off-campus clinical opportunities.
“Most schools that are lucky enough to
have clinics on campus are run on a student
volunteer basis and aren’t supported financially
by the college,” says Quashnoc. “This
severely limits both the size of the clinical
population able to be served as well as
the resources.”
“Most student-run clinics are run by
medical schools, with students from other
health professions kicking in as ancillary
services,” adds Collins. “They’re not run
by other health professions nor are they as
strongly supported by the school as Nazareth’s
are. All our students get this experience,
working with people underserved by typical
health care providers.”
Nazareth students receive side-by-side
mentorship with the faculty, too—another
differentiator that strengthens its program.
Terra Rice ’11G works with a physical therapy client.
“We supervise closely what students do, and
we have a one-to-three faculty student ratio,”
Collins says. “They’re also mentored by more
advanced students, our apprentice clinical
instructors.” All in all, she says, “it’s a unique
way of meeting our goals: experiential learning,
a triad of faculty-student-mentor, and the
College serving the community.”
Both Quashnoc and Rice came away from
the conference recognizing that Nazareth’s
clinics are ahead of the curve. “Almost everywhere
else doesn’t have this opportunity, or
it’s a much more scaled-down experience,”
says Quashnoc, currently a pediatric physical
therapist at Mary Cariola Children’s Center
in Rochester. “I took for granted the unique
opportunities we have in our curriculum for
hands-on experience in a ‘safe’ setting.”
Quashnoc has taken that opportunity to
heart: she now also works as an adjunct professor
at Nazareth leading a problem-based
learning discussion group and serving as a
clinical instructor for the Kids Club clinic.
Rice, who calls the conference experience
“amazing,” hopes to advocate for studentrun
free clinics with future employers. She
and Quashnoc are already providing useful
information to other conference attendees
seeking advice on setting up their own physical
therapy clinics.
Collins credits much of Nazareth’s clinics’
success to strong administrative support, from
the dean’s level on up, as well as to participation
of every PT member. “There is faculty
time, dedication, and commitment required
for this way of teaching,” she says. “It’s very
time and labor intensive. There are didactic,
lab, and clinic components.”
But the outcomes are worth it, Collins
concludes. Not only are the program’s pass
rates great, but “students gain a better appreciation
for altruism and giving back to their
communities. After studying at Nazareth, they
take that away with them.”
Read more about Nazareth’s P.T. clinics at
go. naz.edu/PT
Robyn Rime is the editor of Connections.
www.naz.edu CONNECTIONS | Summer/Fall 2011 15