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Second-Year Success
Design by Kahler Slater, Photo Copyright Kate Joyce Studios 2015Well into their second year, faculty and staff at Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences are seeing the expansion of interprofessional coursework, programs, and enrollment with more exciting growth on the horizon.
The new academic year, which began in June, marked the arrival of a new cohort of students in the occupational and physical therapy graduate programs. These students join the charter class of OT and PT students who finished their first round of clinical rotations in the spring and received pins at a special ceremony in June, a rite of passage marking the end of their first year of graduate school.
Putting Knowledge into Practice
OT students help modify everyday items to assist patients
Like their second-year classmates in the Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences occupational therapy program, Gabby Gelfin and Kristin Goodwin already have significant classroom experience under their belts. But one recent course, which involved working with clients and staff from Wilson Workforce and Rehabilitation Center (WWRC) in Fishersville, is helping them make the transition to full-time patient interaction.
Clinical Seminar Promotes Holistic Approach
Interprofessional education is part of the ethos at the Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences, and a series of clinical seminar courses is helping students across disciplines work together and get a glimpse of real-world collaboration.
“The three-course sequence focuses on interprofessional education and is one of the hallmarks of what we are doing here,” said Lisa Shoaf, director of the physical therapy program. “It’s not a traditional lecture course. They are learning about other health professions and working together as a team — it’s centered around working through a patient case and learning to effectively manage a case across disciplines.”
PA Program Reaches Accreditation Milestone
The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) has granted Accreditation-Provisional status to MBC’s new Master of Science in Physician Assistant (MSPA) Program at Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences.
Set to open on January 4 with a full cohort of students, the developing program embraces the team-based, collaborative, and interprofessional approach to patient care.
Nurses Join Pioneering Health Sciences Program
Just two months into the new academic year at Mary Baldwin’s Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences, the school welcomed a new group of students — nurses seeking bachelor’s degrees — into the charter class for its new RN-to-BSN program.
The 27 students enrolled in the new post-licensure program — many from the Shenandoah Valley and Central Virginia — are already employed in a variety of health care settings, including nearby care facilities such as Augusta Health, Sentara Rockingham Memorial Hospital, Western State Hospital, University of Virginia Health System, Washington and Lee University Student Health Center, Retreat Doctors’ Hospital, and Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community.
All programs have initiated the appropriate professional accreditation process.
Mary Baldwin College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC) to award bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. Inquiries concerning accreditation status only should be directed to: SACS-COC, 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA 30033-4097; (404) 679-4500.
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Effective November 6, 2013, Mary Baldwin College has been granted Candidate for Accreditation status by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (1111 North Fairfax Street, Alexandria, VA, 22314; phone: 703-706-3245; email: accreditation@apta.org). Candidacy is not an accreditation status nor does it assure eventual accreditation. Candidate for Accreditation is a pre-accreditation status of affiliation with the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education that indicates the program is progressing toward accreditation.
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The ARC-PA has granted Accreditation-Provisional status to the Mary Baldwin College Physician Assistant Program sponsored by Mary Baldwin College.
Accreditation-Provisional is an accreditation status granted when the plans and resource allocation, if fully implemented as planned, of a proposed program that has not yet enrolled students appear to demonstrate the program’s ability to meet the ARC-PA Standards or when a program holding Accreditation-Provisional status appears to demonstrate continued progress in complying with the Standards as it prepares for the graduation of the first class (cohort) of students.
Accreditation-Provisional does not ensure any subsequent accreditation status. It is limited to no more than five years from matriculation of the first class.
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The entry-level occupational therapy doctoral degree program has applied for accreditation and has been granted Preaccreditation Status by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) at its August 6-9, 2015 meeting. AOTA is located at 4720 Montgomery Lane, Suite 200, Bethesda, MD 20814-3449. ACOTE’s telephone number c/o AOTA is (301) 652-AOTA and its Web address is www.acoteonline.org. Once accreditation of the program has been obtained, its graduates will be eligible to sit for the national certification examination for the occupational therapist administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT). After successful completion of this exam, the individual will be an Occupational Therapist, Registered (OTR). In addition, most states require licensure in order to practice; however, state licenses are usually based on the results of the NBCOT Certification Examination. Note that a felony conviction may affect a graduate’s ability to sit for the NBCOT certification examination or attain state licensure.