Brooks has been conducting residency training since January 2007 and currently offers residencies in orthopaedic physical therapy, neurologic physical therapy, and geriatric rehabilitation.
The Brooks Clinical Residency Program is one year in length and all participants must be Brooks staff physical therapists during the course of the program. The primary training will consist of three components that include didactic/psychomotor classes, clinical mentoring and supervision, and directed learning activities. Success in the program will be measured by both written and practical exams as well as grading of other activities that will be requirements within the program.
Summary of training
The didactic/psychomotor classes will be performed in several different manners. The first will be all day classes during a week day, the second is four hour classes held in the evenings, the third will be weekend classes, and then there will be classes that will be home study courses. The mix of the above formats will vary between programs as well as between years for each of the programs.
o The clinical component will consist of two types of clinical practice experiences. The first will be 150 hours of 1:1 clinical mentoring with an experienced clinician from that particular specialty area of practice. The second level will be 850 hours of supervised clinical practice where the resident will be able to communicate with their mentor immediately regarding clinical questions.
The resident will also participate in over 300 hours of "directed learning activities" that will consist of scholarly activities, clinical rotations through other specialty areas and/or with healthcare practitioners besides physical therapists, professional activities and activities related to practice management.
All of the Brooks Residency/Fellowship programs will be based on five foundational pillars that will be present within all of the training programs. The common thread for our training will be the mentoring that will be embedded within each of the foundational areas. The five foundational pillars with some examples of activities related to each of the pillars are listed below:
Advanced Clinical Competence
Residents will attain advanced skills including improved problem solving, improved efficiency/effectiveness with establishing and implementing a successful plan of care, and improved psychomotor skills. Each resident will receive approximately three hours of one-on-one mentoring per week as well as 17 hours of clinical supervision per week.
Scholarship
The goal of the program is to develop advanced clinical practitioners. Brooks recognizes scholarly activity as an important component of advanced clinical practice. Therefore, the program will emphasize training to develop the ability of our clinicians to contribute to the body of knowledge of the healthcare profession, as well as develop practice patterns that include current literature into their daily patient interactions (i.e. follow the principles of evidence based practice). Each resident will develop four (4) case studies, several of which will be presented orally during a presentation open to the local/regional healthcare community. At least one case study will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal and presentation at a Professional Conference (such as the APTA Annual Conference, APTA CSM, FPTA Conference, etc).
Education
The Brooks training will create the opportunity for change in two different ways from an educational point of view. The first is that the residents will be trained to embrace the idea of being life long learners. The second component is that we want the residents to become our next generation of mentors within the classroom and in the clinic. The program will train the residents to be our next generation of mentors within the professional classroom and in the clinic. To gain this ability each resident will teach a "block" of a course in a Physical Therapy First Professional Program. The residents will perform inservices to the Brooks staff using the material they learned during the training. Lastly, each resident will be a clinical instructor for a physical therapy student.
Professionalism
Brooks supports the development of the clinician as a professional. Professional development includes training in clinical practice, self-governance, and community outreach. In addition to the clinical training, each resident will serve on a committee, board or something similar for a discipline related group. Each resident will also participate in a community outreach activity and/or perform pro bono rehabilitation services for an underinsured population. The residents will receive continuous mentoring while performing these activities.
Practice Management
The final component of the five pillars is practice management. The residents will receive training to insure that they are complying with ethical, legal, and regulatory standards/guidelines in all areas of their clinical practice. Residents will perform marketing/PR visits and perform communications with payers regarding denials for services.
You may download an Outline of the Brooks Residency Program.