Practicing During a Pandemic: Changes in School-based Physical Therapy Practice During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In March 2020, much of school-based physical therapy practice quickly turned from in-person service delivery to online or hybrid service delivery. This change continued into the 2021 – 2022 school year as outbreaks of new COVID variants emerged. This session will present findings from a recently conducted original qualitative research study and findings from current literature regarding changes in related services practices as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This session will primarily focus on three themes: 1) Changes in communication amongst educational teams, 2) Changes in how student IEPs and goals are developed and addressed, and 3) Ethical dilemmas which emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Attendees will identify and discuss strategies to improve communication and collaboration with educational teams and will propose strategies to develop and implement high-quality IEPs for students during this challenging time. Attendees will also discuss their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and how the pandemic impacted their practice of physical therapy. Small groups will use a knowledge translation facilitation worksheet which will include discussion questions based on the three themes which were the focus of this session. This knowledge translation facilitation worksheet may be used by educational teams after this session to reflect upon their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and to discuss implications on their current school-based physical therapy practice.