Clinical Mentorship
Program Options
Clinical Mentorship
The Mentorship is for you, if you want to:
- Expand and refine your skills in differential diagnosis and treatment of patients with dysfunctions of the spine, shoulder, and knee complexes.
- Advance your level of practice through systematic clinical reasoning.
- Learn strategies for patient care to integrate throughout the rest of your career.
- Receive tailored instruction with immediate feedback from faculty members.
- Continue working while advancing in the field through one-on-one clinical mentoring and online clinical coursework.
Course Schedule
April 1: Applications due. Click here for application information.
October: Begin the Clinical Mentorship with a three-week independent study period. You will complete directed reading in orthopedic physical therapy and basic and applied sciences and interact with your classmates in an online journal club.
Late October: Begin coursework in an interactive and innovative online learning environment. Online study time will average 9 to 12 hours per week. You’ll have the opportunity to interact with faculty and classmates in online clinical forum discussions, Webinars and virtual office hours.
December: Participate in one weekend lab session with faculty and classmates to consolidate your clinical reasoning and handling skills.
January – May:
- Continue online coursework and case study projects. Receive feedback on your clinical reasoning and handling skills during lab sessions held every five to six weeks, for a total of five weekends, including selected Fridays.
- Work 16 to 20 hours per week at one of several Kaiser Permanente clinical training sites in the San Francisco Bay Area. During your clinical practice hours at Kaiser, you’ll receive 4-5 hours per week of 1:1 mentoring. Mentoring occurs approximately every other week over the program. This is the program element for which many individuals choose Kaiser Hayward over other programs.
- In addition to clinical practice at Kaiser, participants may continue employment with their current employer two to three days per week. Individuals relocating from out of the area may seek employment at local hospital or private practice settings or on-call agencies. We will provide you resources for locating employment and housing.
May: Final exams.
Go to Typical Training Week to learn about the schedule for online coursework, laboratory sessions, mentoring and independent study expectations.
Course Content
- Anatomical and biomechanical foundations of orthopedic manual physical therapy
- Detailed manual therapy examination and treatment procedures focusing on the upper cervical, mid-cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine complexes and shoulder and knee complexes.
- Clinical reasoning and differential diagnosis focusing on the Australian (Maitland Concept) approach to manual therapy
- Indications and contraindications to manual therapy
- Principles of technique selection and progression
- Principles of overall patient management, including exercise and self-management
- Scientific basis of orthopedic manual physical therapy
- Medical screening: Differential diagnosis of non-musculoskeletal conditions
- Journal club discussions of current literature
Curriculum Hours
- 145 hours of clinical coursework, tutorials and online discussions
- 50 hours of one-on-one clinical mentoring
- 30+ hours of independent study projects
- 16-20 hour work week with patient care (20 hours per week employment is required for benefits) for a total of 320 – 400 clinical practice hours
- Practical exams with patients
- Written and technique exams
- Completion of case study and clinical projects
- Participation in a community clinic to provide care to the uninsured
Prerequisites
- Minimum of one year physical therapy clinical practice, preferably in an outpatient orthopedic physical therapy setting. Each year of experience you bring will help you gain more from the expertise of our faculty.
- Prior weekend coursework in orthopedic physical therapy or other relevant educational background.
Certification
- A manual therapy certification, Level III, in Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy will be awarded to graduates.
Tuition, Benefits and Mentee Salary
Click here for tuition and benefit information.