Below is a transcript of our conversation with Karen Grossnickle, Clinical Education Director, CMU’s Department of Physical Therapy
David Nicholas:
I'm David Nicholas, and this is Central Focus, a weekly look at research activity and innovative work from Central Michigan University students and faculty. The nation faces a growing shortage of people in health professions, including physical therapy. According to a national workforce study project, by the year 2038, that shortage will grow to 60,000. Karen Grossnickle, Clinical Education Director for CMU's Department of Physical Therapy, received a 2025 Go Grant to take the message about PT careers to rural areas…
Karen Grossnickle:
So, there are a number of settings that physical therapists work in. It could be a public or private hospital or institution health system. It could be a school providing care to children. It could be a skilled care facility that might be public or private. It could also be an outpatient clinic, again, affiliated with a bigger system or privately owned. So, there are even therapists that work in corporations and industry. So, there are lots of avenues for physical therapists to work.
DN:
Talk about the proposal that you presented and how you wanted to work through what that funding could support you to do.
KG:
So, the funding is supporting a science, technology, engineering, math, arts camp for children that might be interested, 6th graders particularly, that might be interested in a healthcare career to explore, particularly physical therapy. The idea behind this came when I was at a conference a few years ago, a national physical therapy conference, and they were discussing this workforce shortfall and that we'd have to look deeper than going to high school career fairs. And it was mentioned 6th grade. And I thought that was a rather stunning age to be looking to talking to children about being a physical therapist. But in doing further research, I found that that's a peak time when kids are making a choice about whether they will or will not attend college. So, it's a perfect time. The grant is specifically looking at going into rural communities. So, we'll be going into Petoskey, we're going into Newberry, and we're going to do a local camp here in Mount Pleasant for our rural schools. The reason that we identified rural is that those are the areas that will be most underserved in the future by a lack of physical therapists, but they're also schools that are typically I don't want to say underserved, but they don't typically have access to as many healthcare providers. There's 50% fewer PTs in those communities than in urban and metropolitan areas. So, mentors, there's not as many mentors. There aren't universities in their backyards offering career camps and things like that. They may also just not have as much access to the healthcare system they may be driving 45, 60 miles. And so, they just might not have that opportunity to see those things. And so that's how the idea was born.
DN:
I wonder if we can think of this as, or would you define it as maybe a pilot program, hoping that based on results and hope for success, that it would be something you'd want to expand to go to another series of areas in the future.
KG:
That's exactly what it is. We've created a curriculum based on 6th grade curriculum for students in Michigan that actually is hands-on camp. They're going to actually get some science behind what we do. They're going to learn anatomy, physiology. We're going to actually have them treat a mock patient or pretend to patient using the tools that we do with our guidance. They're going to write a physical therapy note. So, the idea is it's a blueprint. We're trialing it. We're researching whether this ends up allowing students to have some exposure to a career and educational path and eventually lead to having more physical therapists go back to those rural communities because this is where their interest was born. But we're also looking at it as a pilot to be this curriculum to be a blueprint for us to do it, but maybe other places to do it across the country.
DN:
We'll say congratulations on earning the grant and best of luck for the clinics. And I guess a personal salute, I, in trying, as I've spoken with you, to look back and wondering how much of a processed idea of my future I had in the 6th grade. So, hats off to these young people if they are further along in that process. But we hope it's a successful venture heading forward and then one that for future years because it's the introduction to the knowledge, possible recruitment for the university, kind of a win-win across the board. Thanks so much for having the time to come and talk with us.
KG:
Thank you very much for having me and for inquiring about this study.
