This developing program offers a year-long advanced training program for physical therapists specializing in geriatrics. The program is funded by the VA Office of Academic Affiliations.
About the program
Highlights
- Residents treat a geriatric patient caseload about 30 hours per week - rotating through three different areas of practice including acute medicine, subacute care (Community Living Center) and outpatient.
- Residents are also involved in 1:1 mentoring sessions with expert clinicians a minimum of 4 hours per week, didactic coursework 6-8 hours per week, research exposure and a variety of teaching opportunities throughout the year at Concordia University, St. Paul.
- Residents who successfully complete the program are eligible to apply to sit for the Geriatric Clinical Specialty (GCS) exam.
Benefits
- Annual base salary is $56,273
- Health, dental and vision benefits
- Accrue 4 hours of sick and 4 hours of annual (vacation) leave every 2 week pay period
- Eleven paid federal holidays
- Liability coverage and protection under Federal Tort Claims Act
- Uniform (scrubs) provided by Minneapolis VA Health Care System
- Medical library access
Goals
- Support the mission, vision and values of the Minneapolis VA Health Care System by meeting the needs of our Veterans, service members and geriatric residency program through provision of geriatric physical therapy services.
- Contribute to the profession of geriatric physical therapy through writing, teaching and leadership in consultative roles.
- Be a discerning consumer of scientific literature and proficient in the inclusion of new evidenced-based treatment techniques and knowledge into clinical practice.
- Exhibit the highest standards of integrity and professionalism.
- Complete required curricular content and clinical experience to successfully prepare for completion of the GCS exam.
- Participate in clinical research to advance geriatric physical therapy.
Fees
This program will not have additional application or tuition fees, although the RF-PTCAS process does have its own fee. Minneapolis VA Health Care System provides tuition support for didactic programming. The costs associated with the program are related to attendance at Combined Section Meeting (CSM) to cover travel and tuition expenses.
Fees for continuing education courses and national conferences are not covered by this program, but residents often qualify for student rates or can attend VA or sponsored programming for free.
Program outcome goals
- 100% first time pass rate on GCS exam
- 100% of residents will report feeling satisfied or highly satisfied with the geriatric residency program on the 6-month and 12-month Resident Satisfaction Survey
- 100% of residents will achieve required number of clinical hours within 32/34 diagnostic categories within the Description of Residency Practice (DRP).
- 100% of residents will receive at minimum 400 hours (or greater) of instructional hours during the residency program
- 100% of residents will receive 200 mentoring hours during the residency program
- 100% of residents will attend at minimum one professional conference (CSM) during the residency program
Program structure
We plan to have one permanent residency position each calendar year. Evidence of an interest in geriatric physical therapy is desirable, although we don't require any specific continuing education course work or specific clinical and/or didactic learning experiences to apply.
Between the clinical practice, mentoring, teaching, research and didactic programming, it is anticipated that the resident spends 50-55 hours per week on residency-related activities. In addition to direct patient care, this includes teaching prep time, data analysis, assigned readings, webinar attendance, researching given topics, etc.