南澳大学

This Master’s degree enables students who have already completed a bachelor’s degree or equivalent in a health-related area to meet the registration requirements to practice as a physiotherapist with just two years of extra study.

Your studies will develop your capability to assess, treat and prevent human movement disorders, enabling people to lead healthy and functional lives.

Throughout your studies you will undertake supervised clinical practice with patients within a vast range of industry organisations. This involves being exposed to research and learning opportunities in collaboration with other allied health students including exercise physiology and podiatry, in our on-campus Physiotherapy Clinics. This practical experience is a great way for you to apply what you have learnt during your studies and encourages you to build industry networks and relationships.

What you'll need

Students who undertake activities where interaction with patients/the public is required for their degree, such as field or clinical placements/visits and in University clinics and gyms, must demonstrate they meet mandatory pre-placement conditional requirements. These include criminal history clearance, child related employment clearance and immunisation requirements. Please visit the Clinical Placement Unit for information on key requirements, and to access the full student checklists.

Students must also be registered to practice physiotherapy in Australia. Applicants who are overseas trained physiotherapists and are eligible to apply for Australian registration with the Australian Physiotherapy Council are not eligible to apply for this degree.

All students enrolled in a program leading to professional registration must be registered with the relevant National Board. The registration process is undertaken by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) with the University providing notification to AHPRA following enrolment in the program.

What you'll learn

Physiotherapists assess, treat and prevent human movement disorders across various areas of practice, including sport, musculoskeletal, cardiorespiratory and neurological conditions in people of all ages.

At the beginning of the program you will cover topics in evidence-based practice, clinical reasoning skills, professional practice skills, the theory and science behind pain and the theory, assessment and management for cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal and neurological conditions. A central component of this Master’s degree is clinical placements, which commence in the second half of your first year of study, in the area of acute care.

Your second year will focus on ethics and communication skills along with developing clinical competence in a range of clinical settings including rehabilitation and community clinics. You will learn to work with people of all ages including working with children.