Clinical Education/Internships

Each student at Temple University completes a total of 40 weeks of clinical education as part of the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree requirements. The 40 weeks are broken into 5 clinical internships.

The first internship, which occurs during the summer 2 semester of your first full academic year, is a full-time, 4 week experience. Clinical Internships 2-5 are each 9 weeks in length. Clinical Internships 2 occurs during the spring semester and clinical internship 3 follows in the summer 1/2 semesters of your second academic year. Clinical Internship 4 begins the Monday after the New Year in the spring semester and is followed by clinical internship 5 which typically ends in time for a May/Spring graduation. Please see the DPT curriculum matrix for more information regarding the timing of clinical education with regard to other courses.

   DPT students at Temple University meet with the Director of Clinical Education to discuss potential placement sites. Once the Director of Clinical Education has gathered information from all the students in the cohort a randomized computer-based placement system is utilized to assign students to clinical facilities. Students have many options for clinical sites as Temple University DPT program currently has contracts with over 300 facilities all across the country as well as internationally. International placements are possible and are handled on a one-on-one basis with the Director of Clinical Education. Students may be required to drive up to 50 miles to their assigned clinical site, but are not required to do an internship outside of any specific geographic area.

   At Temple University we value diversity of clinical education experiences. As such, students must complete at least 9 weeks of an inpatient physical therapy internship as well as at least 9 weeks of an outpatient physical therapy internship. Requirements for clinical internships may vary according to the facility, however, Temple University requires that all students, prior to participation in clinical education, must submit current evidence to the Director of Clinical Education of: PPD, personal medical insurance, current CPR and First Aid, physical, criminal background check, and drug screen. The Director of Clinical Education will give you information to facilitate these processes but please note the cost is incurred by the student.