Physical Facilities and Resources

The fellowship program is located within the physical therapy service of Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) on Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

This facility opened in March of 1996 and is one of San Antonio's Level I Trauma Centers. The physical therapy service is located in a satellite outpatient clinic with primary care, lab, radiology, and pharmacy services. The PT clinic consists of over 18,000 square feet of state-of-the-art rehabilitation equipment and space. The department is divided into four sections: (1) an outpatient neuromusculoskeletal evaluation and treatment section; (2) an outpatient section for postsurgical, amputee, and neurological rehabilitation (Center for Intrepid); (3) an inpatient clinic for orthopaedic and general ward patients (BAMC); and (4) a Soldiers in Training Clinic which is housed in a separate facility and serves our active duty training soldiers.

The fellowship is integrated into all functions of the department. A separate classroom and evaluation/treatment area is dedicated for the fellows. Each fellow has a designated work area in the clinic for evaluation and treatment of patients. Through an information network, fellows have immediate access to radiology and laboratory reports and electronic ordering of radiographs, bone scans, and selected medications. As Baylor graduate students, fellows have access to a plethora of resources that are useful for research and didactic preparation. The fellowship has access to ultrasound imaging systems, and digital fluoroscopy for clinical and research purposes.

A physical therapy clinic library is maintained in the department with numerous clinical references. The BAMC Medical library and Stimson Library at the Medical Center of Excellence, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, are available to request journal articles and additional references. The Medical Center of Excellence also houses the anatomy lab. Prosections of all regions of the body are available for study. Students also have full access to the Physical Therapy Research Center (PTRC) at the Medical Center of Excellence. The PTRC is a state-of-the-art research facility developed for the U.S. Army-Baylor University Doctoral Program in Physical Therapy.

The physical therapy service is fully equipped with the most current technology in terms of modalities, treatment space, manual therapy tables, strength and endurance training equipment, and access to an Olympic size therapeutic swimming pool. New BAMC infrastructure in 2005 included a dedicated 2,500 square-foot amputee rehabilitation facility, and the Military Performance Laboratory, which has the capability to precisely quantify and analyze kinesiological and biomechanical parameters of human movement. The clinic is fully integrated with the medical center. The fellows are part of the clinical staff. They are fully integrated into all clinic functions, attend weekly staff meetings, and participate in quality improvement activities and in-services on a weekly basis.