This position is designed for the Columbia DPT program as it advances toward a CBEPT (Competency-Based Education in Physical Therapy) framework. There is a strong emphasis on bedside/clinical teaching, curriculum design, and workplace-based assessments.

The Physical Therapy Clinical Faculty Educator is a core, full-time faculty member responsible for delivering high-quality, patient-centered bedside teaching and clinical coaching for Columbia Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students. This educator ensures that students are systematically instructed, observed, and assessed in authentic clinical environments aligned with the 19 Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) defined by the APTA’s Competency-Based Education in Physical Therapy: Essential Outcomes for Physical Therapist Entrance Into Practice.

This individual will play a central role in designing, implementing, and evaluating the clinical curriculum to ensure students demonstrate progressive competence across knowledge, skills, and professional behaviors, ultimately achieving readiness for unsupervised clinical practice at graduation.

The primary role includes providing clinical teaching and coaching; completing workplace-based assessments of performance across various activities; providing feedback to students and other clinical faculty; serving on the Committee on Instruction, which will design the clinical curriculum; and participating in the Student Competency Committee (SCC). In addition, this individual will help support the development of clinical faculty (CIs and SCCEs) at NYP and beyond. 

Responsibilities Include:

• Provide direct bedside instruction to DPT students across diverse clinical settings. 
• Model evidence-informed clinical reasoning, patient-centered communication, and safe, effective intervention strategies.
• Facilitate student performance of all practice components tied to EPAs, such as:
  • Performing initial examinations (EPA 2)
  • Developing management plans and plans of care (EPA 4)
  • Implementing interventions (EPA 5 & 6)
  • Documenting encounters (EPA 8), and
  • Conducting patient education (EPA 10)
• Create structured opportunities for repeated practice, coaching, and performance improvement.
• Ensure students engage in authentic, progressively complex clinical tasks that align with expectations for entry into practice.
• Join the Committee on Instruction to integrate the 19 EPAs into the DPT clinical curriculum, ensuring progressive acquisition and assessment of competencies.
• Join the Committee on Instruction in mapping the EPAs to didactic, lab, simulation, ICE (Integrated Clinical Experiences), and full-time clinical rotations.
• Ensure continuity between classroom instruction and bedside application.
• Utilize the TRUST PT entrustment supervision scale for workplace-based assessments (EPA guidance, p.34–35).
• Conduct direct observations of students during patient care to determine readiness for:
  • observation
  • co-performance
  • direct supervision
  • indirect supervision, or
  • unsupervised performance (Level 5 entrustment)
• Collect multiple low-stakes assessments to support summative entrustment decisions.
• Train and mentor clinical instructors (CIs) on EPA-based evaluation techniques.
• Provide timely, constructive, specific feedback on student performance, emphasizing:
  • What went well
  • areas requiring improvement
  • strategies for deliberate practice
• Engage students in self-assessment and reflective practice to support the development of lifelong learning skills.
• Identify students needing remediation and, with the team, develop individualized competency development plans.
• Collaborate with clinical sites to ensure alignment with Columbia DPT program outcomes and EPA expectations.
• Develop site-based processes and shared language for performance evaluation of DPT students.
• Support clinical educators' ongoing development in CBE practices.
• Provide support within early lab courses as a lab instructor, as needed, to build relationships with students and to foster the connection between classroom and clinical settings.

Minimum Qualifications

• Eligible for licensure as a physical therapist in New York
• Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree OR academic doctoral degree, or enrolled in one.
• Minimum 5 years of clinical experience as a licensed physical therapist in the in-patient setting.
• Demonstrated excellence in clinical teaching, mentorship, or clinical education.
• Familiarity with competency-based education, workplace-based assessment, or EPA frameworks.
• Strong communication, interpersonal, and coaching skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Board certification (ABPTS) or advanced clinical certification.
• Experience designing clinical curriculum or assessment tools.
• Experience with simulation-based training, ICE development, or multi-source assessment.
• Prior academic appointment or CI credentialing (CCIP).
• Scholarship or publications related to PT education or clinical practice.

Columbia University is an Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Pay Transparency Disclosure

The salary of the finalist selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to departmental budgets, qualifications, experience, education, licenses, specialty, and training.  The above hiring range represents the University?s good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.

About Columbia University

Columbia University is one of the world's most important centers of research and at the same time a distinctive and distinguished learning environment for undergraduates and graduate students in many scholarly and professional fields. The University recognizes the importance of its location in New York City and seeks to link its research and teaching to the vast resources of a great metropolis. It seeks to attract a diverse and international faculty and student body, to support research and teaching on global issues, and to create academic relationships with many countries and regions. It expects all areas of the university to advance knowledge and learning at the highest level and to convey the products of its efforts to the world.

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