Sports Physical Therapy Residency Program

Mission

In accordance with the American Physical Therapy Association's "Requirements for Post-professional Clinical Residency Programs for Physical Therapists," The mission of the St. Louis Children’s Sports Physical Therapy Residency Program is to provide advanced education and mentorship for physical therapy graduates, fostering expertise in the area of sports medicine. The program aims to develop competent clinicians, mentors, instructors, and leaders in sports physical therapy as evidenced by excellent clinical reasoning and clinical teaching skills, dedication to community and professional education, research, advocacy, and leadership. Graduates of the program will demonstrate clinical excellence and leadership in the field of sports physical therapy to provide care for athletes of all levels.

Goals

The goals of the program are to:

1. Develop clinicians with advanced clinical decision-making skills and evidence-based management of youth athletes.
2. Create an environment to encourage participation in clinical research and scholarship that promotes advancement of youth sports physical therapy.
3. Provide residents with an atmosphere that fosters participation in a multi-disciplinary team to optimize the management of sport-related injuries in young athletes.
4. Provide an innovative and informative curriculum emphasized in clinical reasoning, evidence-based practice, and excellence in teaching in a sports physical therapy practice.
5. Develop residents who demonstrate specialist level decision making skills and management related to sports diagnoses.
6. Develop clinicians who will demonstrate proficiency in knowledge and skill required to pursue ABPTS certification in sports physical therapy.
7. Develop program graduates who will be employed in a sports physical therapy setting and will continue to demonstrate growth and contributions to sports physical therapy practice.

About the Residency

The St. Louis Children’s Sports Physical Therapy Residency Program is a planned program of post-professional clinical and didactic education for physical therapists that is designed to significantly advance a resident's expertise in examination, evaluation, diagnosis, prognosis, intervention, and management of patients in the area of sports physical therapy. The curriculum for the sports physical therapy residency is based upon the description of specialty practice for sports physical therapy.

For more information about program costs please see the financial fact sheet.

Length of Residency

The physical therapy residency is a 12-month program, beginning each August.

Accreditation

St. Louis Children’s Sports Physical Therapy Residency Program has been granted candidacy from ABPTRFE.

Application Requirements

To apply to the St. Louis Children’s sports residency program, you must meet the following application requirements:

• Candidates must meet all requirements to be employed as a practicing physical therapist at St. Louis Children’s Hospital
• Doctoral Degree from a CAPTE accredited physical therapy program
• Current license to practice physical therapy in the state of Missouri for the duration of the residency
• Current emergency medical responder (EMR), emergency medical response for the athlete (ERA), ATC, or EMT certification
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Strong skills in scientific inquiry and writing
• Evidence of commitment to a career in sports physical therapy
• Current CPR, AED, and First-Aid Certification
• Letter of intent
• Curriculum Vitae
• Two letters of recommendation

Successful Completion of the Program

• Residents will show a commitment to the advanced plan of study through the following:
  • Attendance to didactic lectures, clinical treatment, clinical research, physician observation, sports clinical training, biomechanical analysis, and clinical research
  • Demonstration of increased knowledge through the documentation of clinical evaluations/assessments, re-evaluations/assessments, functional screening (pre- and post-injury), completion of content exams (upper extremity, lower extremity, etc.), and mentor forms
  • Positive reports from physician observation and outreach sports medicine experiences
  • Demonstration of ability to set-up, operate, and analyze biomechanical motion capture system findings through explanation to the patient, family, and coaches
• Residents will show a commitment to the mentored clinical experience through the following:
  • Attendance to weekly mentoring sessions – clinical and didactic
  • Demonstration of ability to comprehend clinical and scientific concepts taught by mentor through documentation on weekly mentor forms and completion of written content examinations
  • Demonstration of ability to incorporate clinical and scientific concepts taught by mentor into clinical assessment and treatment of patients through testing of manual skills, selection of exercises and progressions, and improvements in patient outcomes
• Meet and maintain all requirements to be employed as a practicing physical therapist at St. Louis Children’s Hospital
• Signed contract including acceptance of all details of Financial Compensation and Benefit provided by Talent Acquisition/Human Resource representative and available on mybjcnet.carenet.org

Resident Sample Week

How to Apply

For more information on the residency program or for information on how to apply please contact Joseph Hannon at [email protected].

Please direct any questions or correspondence to:

Program Director:

Joseph Hannon PT, DPT, PhD, SCS

[email protected]

Outcomes