Kaiser Permanente Hayward PT Fellowship

Program Options

Option II: Clinical Mentorship plus Advanced Fellowship

The Clinical Mentorship is designed as a stepping stone to the Advanced Fellowship. Completion of both the Clinical Mentorship and Advanced Fellowship are required to meet APTA requirements for graduation from a credentialed manual therapy fellowship and to become a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapists (AAOMPT). Learn advanced clinical reasoning concepts and advanced manual therapy examination and treatment. Attain the high-level skills necessary to become a PT primary care provider, clinical specialist and/or consultant in your field.

The Advanced Fellowship is offered once per year from July of one year to June of the following year. You can either attend the Clinical Mentorship and Advanced Fellowship consecutively or with a break. Take the Clinical Mentorship from October to May and then continue directly into the Fellowship, which runs July through June of the subsequent year. If you’d prefer to not attend the Clinical Mentorship and Advanced Fellowship consecutively, you can skip a year and return for the next Fellowship program. You must complete the Advanced Fellowship within three years of your initial start date.

Thoracic PPIVM's

The Benefits of the Fellowship:

Diagnose and manage complex, multifactorial patients
Attain the high-level skills necessary to become a PT primary care provider, clinical specialist, faculty member and/or consultant.
Incorporate effective teaching and consulting skills into your practice
Gain the tools to grow in your career to the level of "master clinician"

Course Schedule

July 1: Applications are due the year prior to enrollment. Click here for application information.

July – October: Participate in online coursework and interact with faculty and classmates in clinical forum discussions, Webinars and virtual office hours. You’ll come to Kaiser Hayward every six weeks for laboratory sessions to consolidate your clinical reasoning and handling skills.

November – June:

Continue online coursework and attend laboratory sessions every six weeks. In addition to practicing with classmates, we offer the unique opportunity of regularly practicing with program graduates, as many alumni work near our training sites.
Work (16-20 hours per week) at one of several training sites in the San Francisco Bay Area. During your clinical practice at Kaiser, you’ll receive 1:1 clinical mentoring an average of 4-6 hours per week over 30 weeks, allowing you time to truly consolidate your skills in examination and patient management to move you to the next level of expertise.
In addition to mentored clinical practice at Kaiser, fellows in training can continue their current employment two to three days per week. Individuals moving to the area may be employed at local practice settings or an on-call agency. We have designed the program so that individuals who need to relocate for the program can minimize the length of their stay in California while maximizing the value of ongoing mentoring from our faculty. We’ll assist you in finding employment and housing in the area.
We encourage all fellows in training to work an average of 32 hours per week, although 40-hour employment can also occur.

Culminating Teaching Project

During the Advanced Fellowship, you will design and implement a culminating teaching project in the community. This phase may be completed anywhere in the United States. You may also complete a scholarly project of a poster presentation or submitting a paper for publication. Completion of the project is required for graduation.

Go to Typical Training Week to learn about the clinical practice hours, weekend coursework and program expectations.

Course Content

Advanced manual therapy examination, assessment and treatment of the spine and all peripheral joints, incorporating grades of movement I – V
Emphasis on the Australian approach combined with selected concepts of the Osteopathic, Norwegian and related manual therapy approaches
Advanced clinical reasoning concepts
Patient management strategies, including ergonomic, exercise and self-mobilization interventions
Medical differential diagnostic skills in preparation for primary care physical therapy roles
Applied sciences, including anatomy, biomechanics, exercise physiology, pain sciences, as well as the principles of chronic pain management
Teaching and consulting skills
Research methods with critical review of the literature
Journal club discussions of current literature
Presentation of scholarly project to the community

Curriculum Hours

230+ hours of in-depth online clinical coursework and tutorials on the spine and all peripheral joints
Laboratory sessions with faculty and classmates every six weeks in the San Francisco Bay Area
110+ hours of one-on-one clinical mentoring
16-20 hour work week with patient care (20 hour employment is required for benefits)
30+ hours of independent study projects
Practical exams with patients
Written and technique exams
Preparation of seminar paper and clinical projects
Participation in a community clinic to provide service to the uninsured

Overall Time Commitment

Completion of the Clinical Mentorship, Advanced Fellowship and culminating teaching project takes 19 - 21 months for those who take the Mentorship and Fellowship consecutively. Participants who choose not to take the Clinical Mentorship and Advanced Fellowship consecutively must complete all requirements within three years. You are only required to be on site at Kaiser Permanente (Northern California) for five months of the Clinical Mentorship and seven months of the Advanced Fellowship. Throughout the program, online study averages 9-12 hours per week.

Prerequisites for the Advanced Fellowship

Successful completion of Clinical Mentorship
Minimum of two years of physical therapy practice, preferably in an outpatient orthopedic physical therapy setting.
Prior weekend coursework in orthopedic physical therapy or other relevant educational background.

Certification

Completion of the Mentorship, Advanced Fellowship and all independent study components are required to meet standards to become a Fellow in the AAOMPT and to become a graduate of an APTA Credentialed Fellowship in Manual Therapy. A manual therapy certification, Level IV, will be granted upon successful completion of all curriculum requirements. Graduates are eligible to apply for Fellowship in the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapists.

Tuition, Benefits and Mentee Salary

Click here for tuition and stipend information.

Total Hours Toward Achieving Your Fellowship Status in the AAOMPT

If you complete both the Clinical Mentorship and Advanced Fellowship and all independent study components, you will receive 375+ hours of advanced clinical coursework and small group tutorials, 60+ hours of guided independent study 150-160 hours of one-on-one mentoring and complete 850 – 1,000 clinical practice hours. The American Physical Therapists Association (APTA) requirement for Fellowship programs is 1,000 hours. The Kaiser Hayward program will provide you over 1,630 total hours in an integrated, individualized curriculum with close interaction with classmates and faculty – an opportunity that few other programs offer. All of these hours make you eligible to become a Fellow in the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapists (AAOMPT).