Professor Emeritus Lynn Fitzgerald
Professor Emeritus Lynn Fitzgerald retired from the Physical Therapy Department at the end of June 2022. She joined the department in 1998 and served as the director of Clinical Education, where for 23 of those years she single-handedly managed the clinical education for the entry-level PT program. Under her tenure, the PT program transitioned from a Master of Physical Therapy to the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree. A hallmark of the nine-term DPT program was the yearlong clinical education experience, which was the culmination of our students’ clinical training that also included three part-time clinical education experiences consisting of 12 hours per week during the students’ second, third and fifth terms and a six-week full time experience in the students’ fourth term. On an annual basis, she managed the clinical education experiences for 180 students.
As the director of Clinical Education, Fitzgerald established a strong collaborative relationship with our clinical partners, the UPMC Centers for Rehab Services, where more than 95% of our students were placed for all their clinical education experiences. In addition to the placement and grading of students during the clinical education component of our PT education program, Fitzgerald’s hallmark achievements included the development of specific benchmarks for each clinical education experience that progressively required the student to function at a higher level of clinical competence to the point where they were expected to be functioning at the level of a competent clinician (not an entry level clinician) at the conclusion of our DPT program.
As part of her Master of Education degree, she developed the CIET (Clinical Internship Evaluation Tool) to evaluate the professional behaviors and clinical competence of our students during their clinical education experience. Since its publication in the Physical Therapy Journal, the CIET has become a widely adopted tool by other PT programs for the evaluation of their student’s clinical competence during their clinical education experience. Fitzgerald has also been instrumental in the training and APTA certification of clinical instructors in the greater Pittsburgh region and throughout western Pennsylvania. Through these achievements, she has not only enhanced the clinical training of Pitt PT students, but also for students from other PT programs in the Pittsburgh region and nationally.
Fitzgerald has always been student-centered in her approach to clinical education. She has established methods to ensure that all students received well-rounded clinical education experiences, while also accommodating the student’s clinical interests. Additionally, she provided strong instruction and mentoring to ensure that the students were well-prepared for being in the clinical environment by exhibiting professional behaviors and strong communication skills. She also established effective remediation plans for students who needed to improve their clinical performance and/or professional behavior. Throughout the clinical education component of the DPT program, she garnered the respect and admiration of all PT students and graduates.
Three years ago, as part of the department’s reorganization, Fitzgerald was promoted to vice chair for Clinical Education. This advancement of her position was instrumental in the planning and implementation of changes to shorten the DPT plan of study from nine to seven terms. The shortening of the DPT program plan of study was largely made possible by Fitzgerald’s reorganization of the clinical education program. She was able to plan a clinical education program that provided our students with 42 weeks of full-time clinical education, which is still longer than most other DPT programs.
The University of Pittsburgh established and implemented a strong clinical education program through the efforts of Lynn Fitzgerald and our partnership with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Her efforts to develop a strong clinical education program has contributed greatly to our reputation and #1 ranking among DPT programs across the country.
We wish her the best for a long, happy and healthy retirement and know that she will continue to be a strong supporter of the Pitt DPT program. We know that the program will always live with Lynn--once a Pitt PT, always a Pitt PT!
James J. Irrgang, PT, PhD, FAPTA
Professor and Chair
Department of Physical Therapy
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Published May 17, 2023