Stanley Paris, PhD

Physical Therapy Products spoke with Stanley Paris, PhD, PT, FAPTA, the president and CEO of the Florida-based University of St Augustine. PTP asked him about his school's new program in San Diego, and the future of the physical therapy industry.

What are some of the unique benefits of the University of St Augustine?

The university, while covering all the content areas necessary for accreditation and for students to pass state licensing exams, also has a focus on the musculoskeletal system and on wellness. We begin in manual therapy and allow for a number of elective courses in that area. Our faculty is encouraged to practice clinically, and we do our best to graduate clinical practitioners who have a strong sense of professionalism.

What does the new San Diego program offer its students?

The San Diego program is close to a mirror image of the program in St Augustine, Fla, and starts out accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) since it is termed by CAPTE as an "expansion."

What initiated St Augustine's decision to create a San Diego DPT program?

WWe were approached by the community of therapists in that area. Several visits to meet with the therapists assured us of the need and of the support from the community. While there was no other physical therapy school in the area, nor an occupational therapy school, we were nonetheless agreeably surprised at the pool of existing faculty talent who moved to San Diego for a variety of reasons but could not find a teaching position. Having adequate and competent faculty is usually a major problem in starting a school—but this is not our experience.

What are your long-term plans for the San Diego DPT program?

We expect to add an occupational therapy program and again offer a dual-degree option wherein a therapist may get a master's in occupational therapy and a doctorate in physical therapy. This has been very successful in St Augustine. We will also establish what we call a FLEX program on weekends. In the FLEX program—ideal for students married with children—a student takes most of the class work online and attends on weekends for the lab work. Instead of the full-time, seven-trimester, campus-based DPT, the program takes 12 trimesters part time over 4 years.

What are some of the emerging changes/challenges to the physical therapy field?

The need to continually upgrade our education and clinical skills so that we may safely assume the leadership in the musculoskeletal field. Medicine today focuses on disease, and surgery on removal and replacement. By contrast, physical therapy is the restoration, maintenance, and enhancement of the physical functioning and wellness of the individual. We are emerging as a very different profession, and we must be prepared to lead. The challenges will be numerous but exciting.

The United States Department of Labor has designated physical therapy as an occupation for which there is a national shortage. Have you noticed such a trend?

Indeed, there is a shortage. We are being constantly called, and our graduates all have a number of job offers, and the salary is finally getting to where it should be. The shortage will continue for some time as many schools of physical therapy have had a decade of lean years where their classes did not fill as a consequence of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act. Now, the applicant pool is strong once again, but schools are experiencing difficulties in ramping up due to faculty and funding shortfalls. This has not been a problem for us, since we have a full faculty at both programs and an active process to train future faculty.

The shortage of PTs is nothing new. In fact, except for one short period of time, we have suffered from a shortage and have failed to expand into developing needs. For example, our shortage caused us to neglect chest physical therapy, and so respiratory therapy was founded. Our lack of numbers to take care of the athletes caused athletic trainers to be created. Acupuncture, which should be a modality within physical therapy, is now, regrettably, a separate profession. Whenever we have a shortage and fail to meet the numbers, a new profession will form and our leadership and voice in rehabilitation is diminished. The next area is wellness, and we are moving rapidly to train and recognize practitioners in that area.

Is there anything else you'd like readers to know about your university?

We are different in that we are the only proprietary school in the nation. All other schools are within state or private universities. This gives us great flexibility and ability to respond to changing needs. Perhaps that is why today we are the largest physical therapy school in the nation and the third largest occupational therapy school. We can innovate. Our offering a course of study that allows a student to graduate with both a physical therapy and an occupational therapy degree is but one such example. We also allow for specialization before graduation.