One of the outstanding features of the Doctor of Physical Therapy program at Samuel Merritt College is the number, variety and length of clinical experiences that are very closely integrated with academic coursework. There are a total of 42 weeks of full time clinical experiences in the program compared with the national average of 31 weeks.

Field Experiences: Students spend 1/2 day per week in clinical experiences in local clinical facilities during three didactic semesters, starting in the second semester. During these field experiences, the students are in the clinic working side-by-side with physical therapists seeing patients with the type of problems they are simultaneously learning about in the classroom. Field experiences occur at clinical sites in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

Full-time Clinical Experiences: There are two full-time eight-week experiences interspersed in the curriculum, one following the majority of the musculoskeletal content in the fall and the other following the majority of the neuromuscular and pediatric content in the summer. Most of the eight week Clinical Experiences are in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, but some of them are provided in other parts of California and the United States. The first full-time orthopedic clinical experience occurs in outpatient settings or a combination of outpatient and inpatient settings where the majority of time is spent managing patients with orthopedic problems. The second full-time clinical experience may occur in rehabilitation centers, acute care hospitals, skilled nursing facilities or outpatient centers in which at least 50% of the caseload includes adults and/or children with neuromuscular dysfunction. Students who wish a pediatric experience for this affiliation are placed in pediatric medical centers, school-based physical therapy programs or outpatient clinics.

6 Month Internship: Students begin a 6-month, full-time internship in January after the last academic Semester. Nearly two-thirds of students on these internships receive a stipend. There is no tuition charged during the internship, while students progress from student to a mentored staff clinician role. Clinical experiences and internships are available throughout the United States, with the highest concentration in northern California. The six-month internship is provided in a variety of settings throughout the United States. The entire six-month internship is typically within one clinical site or health system, but at times the student may have the internship split between sites or systems. Both inpatient and outpatient services are included in the internship. Additional experiences in home health, critical care, or other services may also be provided or substituted for the outpatient component of the six-month internship. The typical pattern is two to three months in each clinical area included in the internship. Students will have the opportunity to work with a variety of patient populations in an interdisciplinary environment with experienced clinicians who are committed to clinical learning and teaching.

Clinical learning experiences are typically provided by a core group of approximately 100 clinical centers in California and other states as well as the District of Columbia. Additionally, the Department maintains partnerships with about 200 clinical sites to meet particular needs of students when they arise.