The objective of the Department of Physical Therapy is the cultivation of analytical and critical thinking and the provision of support to students for their active participation in the process of learning, which constitutes a life-long learning process, in order for them to work as autonomous professionals or as members of the health group and can effectively perform the physical therapy restoration of the patient.
Knowledge:
The graduates of the Department must have knowledge about the Science of Physical Therapy, being capable to advance and protect the health of the individual, prevent, improve and restore pathological conditions, congenital and acquired, as well as trauma caused disorders in various systems of the organization, such as in the musculoskeletal, neural, respiratory, and cardiovascular system. The graduates of the Department must have complete scientific and practical proficiency and select, organise and safely perform, within a context of ethical rules, the actions of physical therapy, after thorough physical therapy screening. The Department aims to apply a dynamic and constantly evolving curriculum, modern and in pace with the progress of Science, in order to fully adjust to the field of Health and satisfy the purpose of creating specialised employees. This necessary curriculum must constantly integrate any new knowledge produced, which must be produced by the Department. It must be noted that Physical Therapy in higher education is found solely in the technological field; to this end, every new knowledge, including the adjustment of international findings in Greek conditions can and must be performed solely by the Department of Physical Therapy. The graduate of the Department must be completely proficient in using the natural means and the therapeutic methods and techniques, with the purpose of restoring, preserving, and promoting the individual's physical and psychological condition, including his/her social existence, where tear, trauma or disease have altered his/her daily abilities.
The Department educates its students in order to be capable of:
- offering the suggested Physical Therapy to patients hospitalizing in public or private clinics or institutions;
- offering services to the family and to the community where there are patients or disabled persons;
- playing a significant role in the promotion and education of health and well-being of the public through educational and consulting services;
- ergonomically educating the patient in order to control the loads applied on his/her joints during his everyday activities;
- contributing to the education of the personnel of health sciences, in order to have a better attitude towards the minimization of energy consumption;
- offering advice and educating patients to cater for themselves.
The Department of Physical Therapy also educates his students to:
- respect the autonomy of patients;
- work with complete confidentiality;
- provide sufficient information for their operational disability, in order to be able to consent to the rehabilitation regimen suggested;
- be knowledgeable about the research process, with complete respect to the rights of the participants, of the researchers, and of the writers whose sources are used;
- be able to develop research activity with the purpose of promoting the Science of Physical Therapy;
- be ready to adjust the physical therapy practice to the new conditions of the science formulated.
Objectives of special importance include the research activity and further specialization through postgraduate studies.
These objectives are of high priority for the development policy of the Department, regardless of the various institutional framework, mainly since it is the maximum level of education in the field of Physical Therapy.