The UBC Master of Physical Therapy (MPT) program continues to expand, offering more student seats in geographical regions throughout the province. While one of the aims of expansion is to address the shortage of physiotherapists in British Columbia, the impact of training more students is an increased demand on the current healthcare system to support their training. Meeting the growing demand for clinical placements has been challenging.
In response, the UBC MPT Program leadership consulted with clinical educators and administrators, universities throughout Canada, and current and graduated students to determine how we could structure clinical education at UBC in a way that would increase capacity and meet the needs of clinicians and students. The new placement model is based on feedback from our stakeholders.
The main changes are a reduction in the number of clinical placements and an increase in the length of most clinical placements.
Students will be required to complete a six-week-long placement in each of the following core areas:
- Acute/Hospital Care
- Rehabilitation or Community Care
- Ambulatory Care or Private Practice
As well as two five-week-long electives in any area of practice.
Students will continue to complete most of their placements in public practice and be required to meet all National Physiotherapy Entry-to-Practice Curriculum Guidelines.
The new placement model has several positive impacts, including:
- The majority of our clinical partners indicated that six weeks is the preferred placement length
- Placement dates will be moved out of the summer months when many clinical educators take their vacation
- Addition of breaks before and after placements, whenever possible, to provide additional time for our students to travel to and from placement
- Reducing the number of placements will decrease the administrative burden associated with coordinating placements and decrease the student burden associated with moving to new placement locations
The new placements dates will begin in 2024 for the 2023-2025 cohorts will be as follows:
- Level 1: 5-week elective, April 22nd to May 24th, 2024
- Level 2A: 6-week core, November 4th to December 13th, 2024
- Level 2B: 6-week core, February 17th to March 28th, 2025
- Level 3A: 5-week elective, May 26th to June 27th, 2025
- Level 3B: 6-week core, September 2nd to October 10th, 2025
We continue to seek feedback from our partners and look forward to collaborating with all our stakeholders to optimize the clinical learning of MPT students.