Grow and develop skills as a pediatric physical therapist.
The pediatric residency program is one year in length, from July 1 through June 30 of the following year. Within that year, residents receive an average of 45 hours a week of structured time. The breakdown of these hours includes 36 hours of patient care including 5 hours of 1:1 mentoring, 4 hours of lecture/lab, and approximately 5 hours of experiential learning, research, and interprofessional collaboration each week.
What makes this program unique?
- Opportunity to work with 2 different mentors throughout the course of the year to give varying perspectives on clinical practice
- Up to 200 designated mentor hours weekly with 1:1 instruction and real time feedback
- Opportunity to teach and collaborate with the DPT program at DeSales University
- Exclusively in-house residency structure
- Weekly learning modules to review pediatric diagnoses, adapted equipment, gait training, orthotics, and much more
- Numerous outside clinic experiences with healthcare professionals
- Board-certified pediatric physical therapists contributing to the coursework and mentoring sessions
Sample rotation schedule
The information below provides an illustrative example of the weekly schedule. Please note that specifics are subject to change as updates and enhancements to program are continually made to improve the resident learning experience.
| Time | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AM | Patient Care | Patient Care | Class or Experiential Learning |
Mentoring with Patient Care |
Patient Care | |
| PM | Class 2x/month | Patient Care | Patient Care | Experiential Learning | Patient Care | Patient Care |
Curriculum Topics:
- Common Pediatric Diagnoses
- Pediatric Physical Therapy Settings
- Typical Development
- Pediatric Gait
- Statistics
- Aquatics
- Seating and Positioning
- Adapted Equipment
- Sports and Fitness
- Burns and Wounds
- Orthotics and Prosthetics
- Sensory Processing
- Vision and Vestibular
Experiential Learning
Experiential learning consists of diverse observational and interactive learning experiences throughout the St. Luke’s University Health Network and the community. You will be observing and interacting in many different health care settings including orthotics and prosthetics, radiology, seating clinic, athletic screenings, gait lab, and orthopedic surgery. You will have the opportunity to observe and work with other pediatric physical therapists in early intervention, inpatient, and school-based observations. Other events that fall on experiential learning days include journal club, research, psychomotor development, and grand rounds.
How to Apply
Submit your application to be considered for the St. Luke’s Orthopaedic Physical Therapy Residency Program.