Advancing Interprofessional Education

“I don’t know of another physical therapy school that has done anything like this.”

February 3, 2023
DPT Interprofessional Education Event

On day three of the lab for the course DPT 6220: Bracing, Orthotics & Prosthetics, an interprofessional education (IPE) activity took place for 94 Baylor physical therapy students, nine occupational therapy students and six prosthetic students and residents from University of Texas Southwestern School of Allied Health Sciences.

One of the faculty, John Fergason, CPO, Chief Prosthetist at the Center for the Intrepid at San Antonio Military Medical Center, has been a part of these types of blended learning programs since 2015.

“I think one of my biggest charges is to help the physical therapy students know how to interact with someone who does prosthetics and to be able to figure out how they can work well together when they’re often not in the geographically same place,” he said.

“For us, as a prosthetist/orthotist, the physical therapist is a key to getting successful results with our patients that have limb loss. But a bigger piece is teaching each of these fields how to communicate with each other and to understand what are the things that are within your scope, what are within my scope and where do our two scopes of practice cross?”

What surprised Fergason, known as one of the best prosthetists in the country, is something that was added to the IPE activity by Casey Unverzagt, DPT, DSc, Clinical Associate Professor for the Baylor University Department of Physical Therapy.

“You had these patients come in and give of their own time just because they want to be a part of something,” Fergason said. “They want to help, and they really want to help the people that come after them in rehabilitation.”

“One of the things that was the most fascinating, though, was watching the physical therapy students gain a whole new appreciation of what an occupational therapist brings to the table. I think the prosthetic orthotic students got an eyeful about how much a therapist, OT or PT, knows that’s within their own scope that affects the successful outcomes for those of us doing the prosthetic orthotic services.”

“So what he [Unverzagt] showed, I’ve never seen it done before in an educational setting, where you’ve actually had PTs, OTs and prosthetists doing co-treatments. Simulated co-treatments certainly, but getting histories together and somebody filling in the gap that another clinician didn’t think of or maybe even missed. I think that the interaction was priceless. So Casey, he gets credit for putting something together that honestly is unprecedented. I don’t know of another physical therapy school that has done anything like this.”

The field of orthotics and prosthetics is rather unique. Like the fields of physical therapy and occupational therapy, it involves a wide range of patients. For instance, Fergason works with those in pediatrics, geriatrics, athletes, active duty and retired service members, and more.

Yet, the field requires a lot of creativity and problem-solving. Problem-solving both in regard to technique and physically producing something that will give someone mobility that they wouldn’t otherwise have. Everything that he produces is through his own hands or those of skilled technicians on the team.

“Prosthetics and orthotics is really a medically based art,” Fergason said. “It requires an incredible diversity of knowledge, but again, it’s all within this small scope. Physical therapists have to know this whole room. I have to know this chair. I have to know a much smaller scope, but it’s as deep as a well.”

Ultimately, the IPE activity will contribute to the success of the patient.

“One key is it has little to do with me, has little to do with Casey,” Fergason said. “It has everything to do with what he and I try to demonstrate about how we’re going to try to work together and put our egos aside, put our own successes and our desires for that aside, and to try and come together with a solution that works. And that is what that IPE did. I’ve never seen it work like that, and really when you look at that, you say, ‘OK, each of those disciplines got to see and hear something that they did not know before they got there that morning.’”

Fergason was adamant that other programs need to be doing these types of learning experiences for students. Thankfully, other schools have already taken note.

“The funny thing was this last year when we were reaching out to UT Southwestern again to partner with us, some of the students who came last year asked to come back: ‘Hey, can we please come back?’” Fergason said.

“And this is no convenient deal. They got to drive up there several hours staying in a hotel the night, spend all day with us and then drive home again. But they asked, ‘Hey, we really want to do that.’ And they recruited some people from the class below them and say, ‘If you want a wild experience, come do this. You’ll never see anything like it.’”

“So I can’t say enough about it, and Baylor has embraced it and allowed us to have the funds and the support necessary to make an activity like this happen as well as the OT school, which saw the value in it and cut their students loose for a full day with us. Cut it right out of their curriculum. I really could go on and on.”