April 3, 2023
Northland Physical Therapist Assistant students, Greta Haslekaas (left) and Hannah Galde (right), were selected to present their research poster at the American Physical Therapy Association Combined Sections Meeting in San Diego, CA.
April 03, 2023 – For the tenth year in a row, students from Northland Community & Technical College earned national recognition at the American Physical Therapy Association’s (APTA) annual Combined Sections Meeting held in February in San Diego, California, the largest such conference in the country.
Seven second-year students in the Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA) program completed a research study that was accepted for presentation at the APTA conference, which is attended by some 16,000 physical therapy professionals and students. Of the hundreds of research abstracts accepted by peer review for presentation, Northland’s was the only PTA student-submitted research to be accepted at this year’s conference.
“Having research presented nationally by PTA students is uncommon,” Justin Berry, PTA Program Director, explained. “This is another great opportunity for Northland PTA students to be involved with the profession.”
The research study – conducted by Greta Haslekaas, Hannah Galde, Alex Audette-Hoberg, Dani Anderson, Suzy Dullum, Alexander Hallaway and Matthew Vangerud – consisted of surveying PTA students from across the country to determine the prevalence of academic dishonesty within PTA educational programs. Galde, a Hatton, N.D. native, explained why their research topic was unique, especially for a student-led study.
“Being able to be a part of an academic research study is a great opportunity for all of us as students,” Hannah Galde said. “It is extremely rare, especially for PTA students to be accepted to present at a National Conference. Academic dishonesty is not always talked about in research, so being able to have our own research poster on statistics from PT/PTA schools all over the country is a very unique experience.”
Dating back to 1921, the American Physical Therapy Association is a professional organization representing 100,000 member physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, and students of physical therapy. Northland’s record of annual recognition through student research study acceptance is a testament to the quality of the program and its instructors.