On October 28 and 29, 2022, the Utah chapter of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) held their 47th annual fall conference in Salt Lake City. Various faculty and students from Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions (RMU) presented their research findings at the conference. This was a unique opportunity, especially for the students, to collaborate with leaders and authorities in the physical therapy (PT) profession as well as share and receive feedback on their research in a professional setting.
One of RMU’s presenters at the conference, Cade Mooney, a student in RMU’s Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program, said, “I learned a lot about the importance of interacting with other professionals as I prepared and presented my findings. It was eye-opening to talk with other PTs in the field about gaps in the research I had discovered while working on this project.”
The conference also provided attendees with a unique clinician perspective on healthcare issues. Crystal Miskin, PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT, a clinical faculty member in the RMU DPT program and the Director of RMU’s Community Rehabilitation Clinic, shared her thoughts on the clinician perspectives given at the conference. “Case studies are simple but powerful ways clinicians can share their experiences with treatments and patients. Clinicians have a ‘boots on the ground’ perspective that needs to be shared to improve patient care, enhance clinician/healthcare collaboration, and influence research.”
Dana Tischler, PT, DPT, MS, PCS, an Assistant Professor in RMU’s DPT program and student in RMU’s Doctor of Philosophy in Health Sciences (PhD) program, gave a poster presentation at the conference on patient-reported outcome measures in the field of pediatric physical therapy and how these perspectives can improve how physical therapists interact with their patients.
“It’s important to me to share my findings so that others may learn from the data I’ve collected,” Tischler said. “Evidence-based practice is an important part of all healthcare professions; it helps ensure we are following best practices.”
With the broad scope of conditions and scenarios that healthcare continually addresses, it is inevitable that more questions will arise and thus the need for more solutions. Fortunately, the constantly evolving field of healthcare research provides for a brighter future.
“This opportunity has encouraged me to continue my research career with new goals to address some of these unanswered questions,” Mooney said.
RMU looks forward to participating in more research collaboration opportunities that broaden solutions and effect healthcare change.
For more information on research at RMU, visit the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects website.
