Making the Most of International Volunteer and Learning Opportunities

A growing number of PTs, PTAs, and physical therapy students travel outside the United States to volunteer their services and to learn more about health care worldwide. How can these experiences help ensure a successful experience for everyone?

Before he or his students become involved in any international volunteer activity, Michael Landry, PT, PhD, presumes the worst. "I go in with the assumption that I'm going to do more harm than good. Then I must prove myself wrong. Because," in his opinion, "in the aggregate over the centuries, [volunteers] have done more harm than good."

Landry is chief of the Doctor of Physical Therapy Division in the Department of Community and Family Medicine at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.

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Wesby M. The help and harm of the $173 billion "voluntourism" industry. The Wilson Quarterly. July 23, 2015. http://wilsonquarterly.com/stories/the-help-and-harm-of-the-173-billion-voluntourism-industry/. Accessed August 29, 2016.
Lattanzi JB, Pechak CM. Educating Globally Minded Physical Therapist Students: Curriculum Strategies to Equip the Next Generation. Journal of Physical Therapy Education. Winter 2012. 26(1):55-60.
Loh LC, Cherniak W, Dreifuss BA, et al. Short term global health experiences and local partnership models: a framework. Globalization and Health. 2015. DOI 10.1186/s12992-015-0135-7.
Pechak C, Thompson M. International Service-Learning and Other International Volunteer Service in Physical Therapist Education Programs in the United States and Canada: An Exploratory Study. Journal of Physical Therapy Education. Spring 2009. 23(1):71-79.
Pechak CM. Survey of International Clinical Education in Physical Therapist Education. Journal of Physical Therapy Education. Winter 2012. 26(1):69-77.

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