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High school health academy students describe hands-on physical-therapy clinicals and workplace certifications
Summary
Students and instructors at a local high school health academy described a multi-year program that starts in ninth grade, offers anatomy and physiology courses, clinical placements with local health providers and certifications including CPR and CMAA to prepare students for health-care careers.
Students and instructors at a high school health academy described a multi-year pathway that begins in ninth grade and gives students hands-on clinical experience with local health providers and workplace certifications.
An instructor explained the program sequence and how clinical placements work. “We are able to provide our students with the real life experiences, from clinicals. It starts ninth grade year. So our ninth grade year we build them with med skills, then they go into A and P, which is anatomy and physiology, and then health foundations. And then their senior year, they're in their programs where they're able to get their certifications and CPR certifications so that they can provide real life experiences and, go out there and get a certain career,” the instructor said.
The instructor listed partner sites where students shadow or train in rehabilitation departments: “My students go to, different sites like BayCare. They are actually in the rehab department. They may be paired with a PT or occupational therapist. We also do AdventHealth. PT Solutions is another organization that the students get a chance to shadow physical therapists there.” The instructor also named PT Performance Therapy downtown Tampa and Florida Orthopedic Institutes as additional clinical sites.
Students described skills and workplace tasks they practice. One student said, “I've had a lot of hands on opportunities in the physical therapy program such as learning how to walk with a walker, crutches, like the specific gait patterns, as well as different type of therapy treatments like cryo cuff, heat therapy, massage therapy. And I'll also be leaving with the certification, the CMAA certification, which allows me to get a job straight out of high school in, like a front desk setting at different, like, hospitals or rehab centers.” Another student said motivation came from personal experience with sports injuries: “What inspired me is I like to help people in general, and I suffered many injuries in my career with sports, so I wanted to, like, help prevent that from happening from other athletes or just people in general that like to be active in anywhere with life.”
An instructor described how students can specialize: “You can get into these different programs and you can really specialize. So in your junior year, you're sitting in a class with that teacher for 2 class years and you're learning exactly what that shop is all about. Whether it's radiology and you're dealing with x rays or ultrasound, whether it's dental assisting, or whether it's being in my shop, PT, OT, sports medicine, where you're really looking at I'm not gonna be an athletic trainer. So you really get into the basic details of that program in your senior year.”
The transcript did not record any formal votes or board actions; the statements are descriptive accounts of the curriculum, clinical partners and certifications reported during the session.
