A NON-TRADITIONAL CLINICAL EDUCATION EXPERIENCE: PHYSICAL THERAPY STUDENTS AS EDUCATORS IN A PHYSICAL THERAPY AND PHYSICAL THERAPIST ASSISTANT PROGRAM COLLABORATION. Kyle Hewson*1; Ricki Bialstock2 1. Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY; 2. Nassau Community College, Garden City, NY UNIQUE: Although students in physical therapy programs aspire to become educators, many have no concept of the world of academia. This is still true when the experienced clinician seeks to bridge the gap toward academics. Presently in the United States, there is a shortage of physical therapy faculty. A final, four week clinical education experience introducing physical therapy students to the academic world within a physical therapy or a physical therapist assistant program was created by the Academic Coordinator of Clinical Education (ACCE) at New York Institute of Technology (NYIT). This collaboration was strongly supported by the ACCE and faculty members at Nassau Community College (NCC)Physical Therapist Assistant Program. PURPOSE: The purpose was two fold. First, it was to introduce the students to the responsibilities and roles of the faculty member within the academic setting. Second, it was to have the students function as positive role models, educators, and mentors for the NYIT PT and NCC PTA students. FOUNDATION: The basis for this clinical education experience was to learn by doing! It gave the final year Doctorate in Physical Therapy students an opportunity to learn about the multiple roles of the physical therapy faculty member. These included teaching preparation and presentation, assistance in lab sessions, student advisement, tutoring, clinical work, and research. DESCRIPTION: Students were invited to choose the four week teaching clinical education specialty, including their area of interest and the corresponding faculty member. The students were then selected and matched to a faculty member. Criteria that was taken into consideration included: academic record, maturity, professionalism, trustworthiness, and communication skills. Six students were matched, four at NYIT and two at NCC. During the first week, the ACCE presented an orientation to the students involving learning theories, styles, and domains. The ACCE communicated regularly with each student via email, phone or face to face conversations. Each student was provided with a "Student Teaching Handbook" which included objectives, weekly goals, schedules, and assignments including reflective journaling. Each faculty member mentored the student, assisting them in lecture and exam question preparation and overall sharing in the daily happenings and dynamics within the department. The students attended staff meetings and helped in advisement for students interested in physical therapy. They tutored students, helped in the lab sessions and provided review sessions, group or individual. One of the goals was to prepare a lecture, with a lab component if needed, in the fourth week. The faculty member evaluated the student using a standardized instructional observation form, providing the student with formal written feedback. The students also served as clinical instructors to the first year students in a weekly pro bono clinic on campus, along with their faculty member. OBSERVATIONS: Upon completion of the four weeks, each student and faculty member completed a feedback form utilizing a Likert scale. The form addressed the clinical experience as a whole, the faculty member or student relationship, and a self-assessment. All the students and faculty strongly agreed that the experience was a positive and rewarding one. The students also strongly agreed that their faculty member made them comfortable, providing feedback and that they personally met the overall objectives. The faculty and students did not agree that the length of the teaching experience was appropriate, as they all wanted it to be lengthened beyond the four weeks! Each week, the students wrote a reflection regarding their experiences. The students commented about the faculty's dedication, the great amount of time given to and for the students, and the personal exposure they felt being up in front of the classroom for a longer period of time. CONCLUSIONS: The significance of creating this teaching specialty is to show that the one of the best ways to learn about a career path is to be immersed in it with a mentor! This specialty has also been adapted for exposure to adminstration, and for clinical specialties within our profession, such as hand therapy, aquatics, vestibular rehab, and oncology. This type of clinical education experience can be set up easily and may light the spark for future physical therapy academicians! FUNDING SOURCE: None KEYWORDS: student teaching, mentoring by students, mentoring by faculty Copyright 2009 by the American Physical Therapy Association. Requests for reprints should be directed to the corresponding author of the article. Educators, students, and other academic customers may receive permission to reprint copyrighted material from Physical Therapy (ISSN 1538-6724) by contacting the Copyright Clearance Center Inc, 222 Rosewood Dr, Danvers, MA 01923. Other types of customers who want permission to reprint should contact the APTA Editorial Office, Attn: Physical Therapy.