The Foreign Credentialing Commission on Physical Therapy has a new service to assist foreign educated candidates. This service assists those foreign educated candidates that were deemed NOT to have a substantially equivalent education to U.S. physical therapy graduates. The Planned Learning Assistance Network (P.L.A.N.) counselor identifies deficiencies and appropriate professional education courses that candidates could take. The goal would be for those foreign educated candidates to obtain an education substantially equivalent to the first professional PT degree in the U.S. The common content area deficiencies in professional education are administration/management, cardiopulmonary system, community health/wellness, differential diagnosis, evaluation”clinical decision making, geriatrics, integumentary system, legal and ethics aspects (professional behaviors), pediatrics, and pharmacology and supervised clinical practice.
Many courses are taught in transitional DPT curricula and are conveniently provided in a distance education model. Here is a short list of APTA-accredited schools that you might consider:
AT Still University
Lori M Bordenave, PT, MEd
Acting Chair, Physical Therapy
Arizona School of Health Sciences
5850 East Still Circle
Mesa, AZ 85206
FAX: 480 219-6100
Phone: 480 219-6000
Florida Gulf Coast University
Sharon Bevins, PT, PhD
Chair and Program Director
Department of Physical Therapy and Human Performance
10501 FGCU Blvd. South
Ft. Myers, FL 33965-6565
Phone(239) 590-7530
Fax: (239) 590-7474
MGH Institute of Health Professions
Maura Daly Iversen, PT, MPH, SD
Professor and Associate Director
Charlestown Navy Yard
36 First Avenue
Boston, MA 02129-4557
Tel: 617-724-6446
FAX: 617-724-6321
Programs for international students
New York Institute of Technology
Karen Friel, PT, DHS
Chair,
Department of Physical Therapy
500 Building, Room 501
Old Westbury, NY 11568-8000
Phone: (516) 686-7651
Fax: (516) 686-7699
This format is especially conducive to the foreign educated candidate. Other content areas may be met using an independent studies model which might be onsite as well as online.
Source: www.fccpt.org
Editors Note:
In our opinion, the best option is to ask your batch mates or class mates which courses were deemed deficient on their evaluation. You must also ask them which credentialing agency they used. For general education courses that are deemed deficient, try to make-up theses courses locally. Most local colleges offer these courses at reasonable prices. For professional education courses that are deemed deficient, try to make up these courses at an accredited local physical therapy university that offers masters or doctorates degree in physical therapy. For all other courses, you can contact any of the universities listed above. Most of the universities listed offer their courses online and you can complete these courses at your home country.
FCCPTs Fee for full service P-L-A-N is U.S. $350.00. Applicants who do not wish to apply for the full services may purchase portions of the service at a rate based upon 30-minute time frames. Fee for Hourly services is U.S. $100.00 per 1/2 hour. Before a P.L.A.N. service, you have to complete an Educational Credentials Service which costs $465.00 or Type I Service which costs $660.00. After you have completed all the courses, you have to pay for a re-evaluation which costs $210.00. Why not complete all you deficiencies first before applying for FCCPT credentials verification? This way you save a lot of time and money.
