• The ABPTRFE Quality Standards for Clinical Physical Therapist Residency and Fellowship Programs outlines the mentorship requirements for programs.
• The APTA Learning Center provides a course entitled “Successful Mentorship for Residency & Fellowship”  that provides an in-depth overview of residency and fellowship mentoring, including: how resident/fellow mentoring is different from student mentoring; how to build a resident/mentor relationship; and strategies for assessment and remediation.
  • Mentor training and faculty development resources:
  • ABPTRFE Mentoring Resource Manual
    • Includes sample mentor session preparation forms
    • Includes sample mentor evaluation documents
  • Mentoring the Mentor Course Reference List 
  • TIRR Memorial Hermann Annual Mentoring Workshop
    • Includes example learning objectives, educational methods/format, and assessment strategies
  • The Academy of Education’s Residency & Fellowship SIG provides a number of mentoring resources under the “Resources for Program Administration” section.
    • Sample mentor training documents from Moss Rehab Neurologic Residency Program’s mentor training documents are available through this site

Frequently Asked Questions:

• Are all program mentors required to have a specialty certification?
  • No. At least one ABPTS-certified neurologic specialist must be on the program faculty and involved in all aspects of curriculum development, resident mentoring/advising. 
  • If a mentor is not ABPTS-certified, then they must be a graduate of an ABPTRFE accredited neurologic residency/fellowship OR demonstrate at least 3 years of significant and current experience in neurologic physical therapy. 
• What are different structures for residency/fellowship mentorship?
  • Residency programs utilize a variety of mentoring structures based upon program resources, curricular design, and preferences. As you develop your program’s mentoring structure, ensure that the ABPTRFE requirements for mentoring are met (ie: at least 150 1:1 hours of clinical mentorship, of which 100 hours must be in direct patient care). Consider the following structures to achieve these requirements:
    • What hours will mentoring be scheduled in direct patient care versus outside of patient care?
    • Will mentoring occur side by side with a resident while both are treating patients or with both mentor and resident working with the same patient?
    • Will the resident self-select their mentor(s) or will mentors be assigned?
    • Will residents stay with 1 mentor throughout a given rotation or the entire program?  
    • Will residents rotate between different mentors? 
    • Will a shared model be used where 2 residents work with 1 mentor?