Breaking Boundaries: How Acute Care PTs Are Shaping a New Specialty

Show Notes

Acute care physical therapists have long known that their work is different—fast-paced, data-driven, and grounded in collaboration at the highest level of care. Now, that difference is finally being recognized.

In this episode of Acute Conversations, Dr. Jennifer Ryan joins hosts Dr. Leo Arguelles and Dr. Daniel Young to share an inside look at the ongoing effort to establish Acute Care as a board-certified specialty through ABPTS. Jen traces the movement’s roots from the early 2000s to today’s evidence-rich, residency-supported landscape and explains what the next steps mean for clinicians at the bedside.

From lessons learned through years of research and advocacy to the evolving role of interprofessional collaboration, this conversation highlights the depth and expertise of hospital-based PT practice. Whether you’re a new grad or a seasoned clinician, this episode will leave you inspired to see acute care not just as a setting—but as a specialty built on purpose, complexity, and professional pride.

Today’s Guests:

Jennifer Ryan PT, DPT, MS

APTA Acute Care Vice president and Project Coordinator of the Petition for Specialization

jennifer-ryan@northwestern.edu

Guest Quotes:

10:31 “ when I hear colleagues say like, acute care is a specialty, really? It tells me that I need to help them understand what we do.”

24:01 “…in this whole specialty assessment, in this really long survey you had to have a understanding of physiology and a pathophysiology of every body system. You have to have a keen awareness of not necessarily. Everything memorized, right? But a keen awareness of your level of awareness of those and your need to seek out more resources, or you need to confirm information you know, and then all the clinical sciences, all the laboratory values, all the imaging, all the pieces like that.”

26:14 “So now we’re in the perfecting phase one phase. And so demand is one of the categories and need is one of the categories. Demand is how many PTs will. Want to sit for specialization and the turnaround time and all that…The need piece is like. Why do you need PTs to work function at this level? Is someone else taking care of it?”

Rapid Responses:

Now you’ve lived in Chicago your whole life, but if you weren’t in the city, where would you go for fun?

“Well, I live in the burbs. I work in the city. That’s been 99% of my experience. I’m never gonna live more than a half a tank of gas from Mount Prospect, Illinois. That’s, and where would I go for fun? I totally love being in my garden. I was picked, I picked about 40 things outta my garden, brought ’em to work today. I, yeah, fun. Fun is like where my family is. My dogs are all that kind of thing.”

You know you work in acute care when…

“ You know you’re working at acute care when it’s. No big deal to stand in the bathroom with a complete stranger. “

Links:

https://specialization.apta.org/for-specialists/volunteer/specialization-academy-of-content-experts

https://academy.aptaacutecare.org/

🎧 Connect with Our Hosts

Leo Arguelles (pronounced LEE-O R-GWELL-IS)

📧 largue2@uic.edu

🐦 Twitter: @LeoArguellesPT

Nicole Neveau, PT, DPT, NCS

📧 ngunder1@gmail.com

🔗 LinkedIn: Nicole Neveau