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Program Mission
The mission of the VCU-SA Neurological Physical Therapy Residency Program is to prepare physical therapy residents for advanced specialty practice.
The program is designed to provide comprehensive training in leading-edge assessment and treatment of individuals with neurologic impairments while promoting the core values of professionalism. This program will aim to produce advanced physical therapy practitioners who are able to provide care to individuals with complex neurologic disorders, teach, serve as a resource to the community and other health professionals, and contribute to evidence-based practice.
Attaining the knowledge and skills to be a certified neurologic clinical specialist will be accomplished via neurological clinical experiences throughout the continuum of care in a variety of settings at Sheltering Arms Rehabilitation Hospital and Virginia Commonwealth University Health System under the mentorship of neurological clinical specialists, along with didactic learning experiences in neurology with Virginia Commonwealth University teaching and research faculty.
Program Description
The residency is comprised of a network of community clinical partnerships that provide the resident with a wide variety of opportunities promoting enhanced clinical reasoning and exposing the resident to differing perspectives on care. The experiences are designed to achieve the vision of the program while preparing the resident for successful completion of the specialty exam.
The one-year residency includes
- Contributing to a clinical project that can be disseminated nationally (scholarship / research)
- Contributing to an initiative aimed to improve the health of the community (service learning)
- Promoting evidence based care (evidence based practice)
- Learning through interprofessional collaboration and networking (interprofessional education)
- Teaching in the entry level program or for professional development events (teaching)
Although residents are expected to contribute to and learn from each component of the program, residents are encouraged to design an experience that both provides a foundation for their continued professional development and challenges their professional growth. The clinical mentors and residency faculty help guide the design of the resident’s individualized experience.