New FlexCast explores healthy practice and sustainable careers in physical therapy

We spend years teaching future physical therapists how to care for patients. But are we also preparing them to sustain themselves throughout a career of caring for others?

In the latest episode of FlexCast, ACAPT welcomes Dr. Mario Baker from the Healthcare Regulatory Research Institute (HRRI) to discuss the Healthy Practice Resource and what it means to build and sustain healthy professional practice.

Conversations about healthcare professional well-being often focus on individual strategies such as managing stress, developing resilience or finding work-life balance. But healthy practice involves much more.

HRRI’s Healthy Practice Resource encourages healthcare professionals to reflect on multiple dimensions of personal well-being as well as factors within their practice environment. The episode explores how workplace culture, support systems and professional demands can interact with individual well-being—and why supporting a healthy workforce requires shared responsibility.

Baker also discusses the connection between healthy practice, professional competence and the ability of healthcare professionals to continue providing safe and effective care throughout their careers.

For academic physical therapy, the conversation raises an important question: Should preparing students for healthy, sustainable practice begin before graduation?

The episode explores how concepts such as self-assessment, professional well-being and sustainable practice could fit within DPT education, including professional identity development, clinical education and transition-to-practice preparation.

Preparing practice-ready graduates is about more than ensuring students have the knowledge and clinical skills to begin their careers. It can also mean helping them develop the awareness and habits needed to sustain those careers.

Consider: How are we preparing future physical therapists to care for themselves while building careers centered on caring for others?