Primary Care Physical Therapy Certificate
Six courses. One structured model for first-contact practice: systems, screening, population health, accountability, and advanced decision-making. Built by experts for clinicians who expect excellence.
Primary care is defined by function, not by profession.
A certificate that builds the clinical first-contact role on top of the legal permission you already have.
Every state now has some form of direct access. Far fewer physical therapists practice as true first-contact providers, because the skills, the mindset, and the accountability are different. This certificate closes that gap.
Six courses move from the foundation, through differential diagnosis and screening, chronic disease and preventive care, health systems science, and advanced clinical decision-making, to a capstone integration. Each course is built from recorded modules with knowledge checks, and each one is anchored to the APTA Description of Specialty Practice, so the competencies map to language the profession already recognizes.
The entire certificate is included in the BrainSmith membership. There is nothing else to buy.
Six courses, in order
Each course builds on the one before it. Apply each course before starting the next.
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Course 1: Foundations of Primary Care Physical Therapy. Available now. The first-contact role, the health system, the safety-first evaluation, population health, accountability, and the therapist as educator.
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Course 2: Differential Diagnosis and Screening. Available now. The diagnostic inversion, system-by-system screening, red flags and triage, imaging appropriateness, lab values, and the SBAR handoff.
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Course 3: Chronic Disease Management and Preventive Care. Available now. The chronic disease case, the cardiometabolic cluster, pulmonary disorders and long COVID, mental health and pain science, preventive care, polypharmacy, and monitoring, outcomes, and health equity.
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Course 4: Health Systems Science. Available now. Health systems science as the third pillar, payment systems and financial literacy, quality measurement and improvement, policy and advocacy, health equity and the social determinants of health, and building a primary care physical therapy program.
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Course 5: Advanced Clinical Decision-Making. Available now. Expert reasoning and calibrated uncertainty, six complex multisystem cases, imaging and pharmacology judgment, interprofessional leadership, care pathways for high-complexity patients, and a capstone case run through the five-step pathway.
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Course 6: Lifespan Modules. Available now. Pediatric primary care from growth plates and developmental screening to concussion, whole child health, and safeguarding; geriatric primary care from the four Ms and frailty to falls, atypical presentation, delirium, and advance care planning.
Built by experts
Excellence in education, for clinicians who expect it.
