Neurologic Physical Therapy
Residency Curricular Resources

This document reflects the work of the APTA Neurologic Residency Curriculum Task Force beginning in February 2012 to produce a resource offering suggestions for curricular content and methods of implementation appropriate for post-professional education within a Neurologic Physical Therapy Residency Program. The Task Force was guided by the Neurologic Physical Therapy Description of Specialty Practice (2004), the Normative Model of Physical Therapist Professional Education, and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) in developing this document. The primary intention of this document is to assist individuals who are developing curricula for new residency programs. Content was selected to reflect current best practice. Specific tests and measures were not included in an effort to prevent the document from becoming obsolete in the near future. The Task Force acknowledges that this is not an all-inclusive list of curricular content or learning objectives for neurologic residency programs. For example, rather than including objectives for all possible interventions, an attempt was made to embed a broad spectrum of interventions throughout the document.

  

Use of the Document

This document is intended to provide neurologic residency directors, faculty, and residents with examples of didactic and clinical practice learning objectives, instructional methods, and methods of knowledge/competency assessment to guide neurologic residency programs in their curricular development. The topics that are addressed represent key knowledge areas and practice expectations outlined within the Neurologic Physical Therapy Description of Specialty Practice (DSP). This document is not intended to serve as a standard curriculum to be adopted by all programs. Programs are encouraged to select and/or modify the objectives and learning experiences to best meet their individual curricular needs and resources. For example, program faculty may decide that learning content related to a specific topic is optimally met by addressing didactic objectives only. Similarly, program faculty may elect to focus on just one of the instructional methods that are suggested for a topic, or they may decide to revise these or develop new methods on their own. Strict adherence to this curriculum does not ensure that the program will meet all of the criteria for credentialing as established by the American Board of Physical Therapy Residency and Fellowship Education (ABPTRFE); all programs must comply with the curricular requirements for credentialing of neurologic residency programs as set forth by the ABPTRFE.

The Compendium of Resources for Neurologic Physical Therapy Residency Programs can be downloaded here.

The ANPT Residency and Fellowship Special Interest Group is in the process of updating this resource. When an updated version is available it will be announced in the ANPT newsletter.