Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is an "on-line" course and why is this a "good thing"?
Answer: An "on-line" course is merely a course that is conducted using a variety of cutting-edge distance learning technologies as well as standard internet capabilities. EIM highly leverages distance learning and other technologies (online Grand Rounds, Author in the Room, discussions via MyPhysicalTherapySpace, etc.) to maximize the learning experience and collaboration with other EIM Residents/Fellows throughout the country.
A practicing clinician is a busy professional whose primary responsibility is still patient care. Fitting in the necessary courses to advance your career can be tough. A program whose courses are all on-online (except 4 onsite weekend intensives) make the EIM Residency and easy and flexible way to structure your learning time around your busy schedule so you can move forward with your professional development. In an online format, you never have to hear the words: "Absent from class, again?!!"
An example of the content and structure of one of our Clinical Management courses is listed below.
Selected Examination and Intervention: Lower Extremity
Week | Topic | 1 | EBP review, Differential Diagnosis review, and Health Outcomes Assessment Discussion | 2 | Hip disorders, special focus on hip osteoarthritis | 3 | Knee disorders, special focus on knee osteoarthritis | 4 | Ankle and Foot Disorders, special focus on ankle sprain, Achilles tendinopathy, and plantar foot pain (plantar fasciitis, plantar heel pain) | Weekend Intensive | Focus on manual therapy interventions for the lower extremity and assorted other topics relating to LE disorders | 5 | Intervention "Potpourri": Topics may include balance training, taping techniques, physical modalities, OKC/CKC rehabilitation, and regional interdependence | 6 | Post-Operative Care: Hip Fracture, THA, TKA | 7 | Radiology rules for acute knee and ankle injuries, Orthotics/Orthoses | 8 | Diabetic foot ulceration, DVT, & PAD |
2. How do you know if people are really learning, how is grading accomplished and how are course requirements met?
Answer. First, each course will be taught and guided under the watchful eye of a national or internationally recognized leader in the field. Rob Wainner is in charge of our Residency and Fellowship programs as well as our Residency Director and will personally be leading many of the classes and Network Partner cohorts. Online interaction with the instructor and other classmates typically occurs on a daily basis. A full list of course instructors may be viewed at: http://www.evidenceinmotion.com/eimteam.asp
There are a number of assignments and learning activities in the course to reinforce specific skills and knowledge. Learning activities are a critical and have been developed to facilitate students' learning so they will be successful in meeting the course objectives, which are indicative of students’ mastery (ie. learning) of the topic. The grade for the course is determined by the student's performance on both learning activities and graded assignments. A typical grading structure for the Clinical Management courses is as follows:
% of Grade | Course Component | 40% | Online Discussion | | | 45% | Group Projects (small group assignments, critical reviews, creative products) | | | 15% | Weekend intensive participation |
3. Do we work as a group?
Answer. Yes! Group work is an important part of the learning experience and critical appraisal of the literature is a vital skill that all DPTs should possess. Small groups will be assembled and provide critical appraisal of articles about therapy which are then submitted in useful Critically Appraised Topic (CAT) format (1 -3 pages in length depending on focus).
4. What are the weekly assignments are like and what is the time commitment?
Answer: The core learning experience is the ongoing exchange of ideas and information on the Discussion board and active participation is critical. Students will be expected to post either original postings or replies to other people's postings. In the Course Content for each week, we have specified the minimum number of postings you should make each week. Most importantly, you will also be graded on the quality of your postings (and 40% of your grade in the Clinical Management courses!).
All course content (except weekend intensive) is online. Reasonable estimates of time for course activity would be as follow: - On-line posting and interaction forums (4 – 6 hrs/wk)
- Reading (~ 3 articles a week)
- Projects (variable depending on projects….2 -3 projects per course (3-4 hrs week)
5. What are the Bottlenecks in the program?
Answer: Prodigious and patient "plodding" is a virtue in this program. Bottlenecks are only experienced when students don’t adhere to a disciplined program of keeping up. The commitment to spending at least some time every day (and making it up the next when missed) is critical to success. For the Fellowship, not having a clinical mentor (must be a Fellow) to provide mentoring hours can be a significant bottleneck; starting the Fellowship without access to a Fellow who can provide mentorship hours is not advised. This is not a problem with the Residency as many of the mentorship hours are obtained during the program through the clinical outcomes monitoring and through on-line interaction during grand rounds. In addition, OCS clinicians are much more accessible and can provide supervision for the mentor hours.
6. How long is the whole program
Answer: In addition to completion of course-work requirements, progression through the program is dependent upon several factors that include obtaining the required clinical mentored hours and completion of the weekend intensive courses.
The EIM Orthopaedic Residency and Fellowship in Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapy programs will be completed in no fewer than 12 months. Generally, the EIM Orthopedic Residency can be completed in ~18 months and the EIM Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy Fellowship in 12-18 months, depending primarily on the ability to complete mentoring hours. Due to the extra requirements for the tDPT, it will take a therapist who is employed full-time approximately 24 months to complete the EIM/Regis Residency/tDPT combination program (although it could be completed soon (18 month) if you don’t mind not having a life during that time!)
7. Does completing the EIM Orthopaedic Residency make me eligible to sit for the OCS examination?
Answer: Yes, providing you are eligible in every other respect, completing an APTA-credentialed residency qualifies a candidate to sit for specialty certification in orthopaedics through option B, which replaces the requirement of 2000 hours of clinical practice. Click here to view APTA’s list of minimum eligibility criteria for Orthopaedics and go to page 23.
The Capstone activity of the Residency is the Orthopaedic Certified Specialist (OCS) Examination Preparation course. While completion of the OCS prep course doesn’t guarantee passing the OCS, there is not better preparation to insure you success on the exam. The goal of the EIM Residency is to first and foremost develop a reflective and evidence-based Orthopaedic specialist practitioner; passing the OCS exam will be the natural by-product of our students’ preparation and training.
8. What is the status of credentialing?
Answer: Applications for credentialing of both the EIM Residency and Fellowship programs have been submitted to the APTA. The first review has been completed and initial comments have been positive. In order to be considered for credentialing, programs must have students currently enrolled in the program. We currently have 12 Residents and 3 Fellows enrolled and slated to start in January of 2008.
9. What is the knowledge base difference between Residency and tDPT?
Answer: The primary difference between these two programs is that the tDPT has an additional focus on professionalization, leadership and mentorship. This is accomplished through additional course work that focuses on the dynamics of the profession (professional responsibilities, encroachment of practice, legislative issues) as well as theoretical and applied concepts of mentorship and decision making (leadership theories, HOAC clinical decision making algorithm, etc.). A side-by-side comparison of programs is available.
10. What are the differences between a Residency and Fellowship?
Answer: The Residency program is designed to facilitate the growth of practitioners as physical therapists skilled in orthopaedic physical therapy. We seek to produce highly skilled, autonomous practitioners who have substantially increased their ability to provide care to patients with musculoskeletal conditions. Graduates will have a strong base of knowledge of evidence-based practice, orthopaedic manual therapy techniques, advanced medical screening, and radiology.
The Fellowship program is designed to graduate clinician scientists skilled in the evidence-based integration of thrust and non-thrust manipulation into the overall care of patients with musculoskeletal conditions. We seek to produce highly skilled autonomous practitioners who are critical thinkers, reflective, empathetic, and lifelong learners. Fellowship graduates will represent the best clinicians in the physical therapy profession, equipped to teach and mentor residents, clinicians, and students.
The differences between the Residency and Fellowship are primarily related to role and focus. The Residency first and foremost is about developing a sound and up-to-date knowledge base in orthopaedic physical therapy practice, how to apply it in clinical practice, and developing the skills required to keep current. The Fellowship has a more narrow focus of manual physical therapy practice and developing additional skill sets of applied professional leadership, teaching, clinical mentoring, and research.
11. What are the other requirements besides courses?
Answer: The only other additional requirement is that the tDPT requires the construction of a professional portfolio that serves as the Capstone project. The professional portfolio is a collection of the students’ personal reflections, writings, goals established and met, learning and clinical outcomes, and project accomplishments.
12. How do you judge/guarantee the quality of those mentoring sessions?
Answer: Nothing in life is guaranteed. However, the quality of our faculty (see question 16 below) and the extensive community of collaborating partners comprised of academic programs and high quality physical therapy employers ensure students that a high standard of mentorship is maintained.
13. If my friend and I study well together, but one needs to do the tDPT/residency and the other needs to do just the residency, are we able to study together and work together on the same assignments, etc?
Answer: While students in the Residency and Residency/tDPT combination will be assigned to different on-line class sessions, all common course material (ie. Clinical Management courses) will be exactly the same. So yes, in courses common to both programs you will be able to study the same material together but you will not be able to work collaboratively on projects for a grade.
In addition, the course instructors are engaged in ongoing dialogue with each other throughout the course (in nearly every case they will be close colleagues and collaborators; for ProAxis Rob Wainner will conduct the LE course for the Residency and Julie Whitman will conduct the course for students in the combined program).
14. You preach EBP - how do you know it happens in our clinic following this program?
Answer: The last step of EBP is monitoring your own practice. Once you complete the program you will be the best one to judge whether or not you are meeting an EBP standard of practice. You will know what that standard is and have met it as a student of the program. Your job is to continue the momentum.
15. How would you describe a successful Resident or Fellow? What does this person have at the end of the education that makes him/her better?
Answer: A successful Resident or Fellow will not only have completed program requirements, but one who has demonstrated a change in their clinical behaviors. The successful Resident or Fellow continues to change their behavior based on current best evidence and emerging evidence, who grows and improves in areas they identify as deficient (via clinical outcomes) and are mentors that teach others to do the same. In other words, Success is a verb.
16. What is special about this residency - besides ability to have it here?
Answer: In short, it’s our relationships and our faculty. EIM has built a vast community of evidence-based practitioners, high quality employers, prospective employees, and is closely associated with many of the best academic programs and other key stakeholder groups in the physical therapy profession. The extensive community that has formed around EIM provides a "first in class" environment for prospective residents and fellows to receive the highest caliber of training and become distinguished leaders in evidence-based orthopaedic and manual physical therapy practice.
EBP has become a buzzword, plain and simple. Unlike other programs, the EIM Residency and EIM/Regis combination Residency/t-DPT program has been developed and taught by faculty who are clinician scientists and in many cases are practice owners who have a business mind-set as well. In their clinical scientist role, EIM faculty have mastered the rare and difficult combination of teaching, practice, and conducting publishable research. In this program, you will not only learn evidence-based physical therapy, but you will see it modeled throughout the program.
17. Most residencies begin in January so I will have several months to work before starting a program.
Answer: Our program currently has a semi-annual matriculation cycle with classes starting in January and June. This will likely shift to quarterly in the next 2 years.
18. Are you looking for or accepting new grads right out of school for your program?
Answer: We are looking for quality people to enter the EIM residency who are hungry to grow professionally. New grads welcome!!! (these are actually easier to train than the "old farts"…no offense intended but it is true).
19. Do you offer a non distance learning program?
Answer: With the exception of 4 weekend –intensive courses and arranged student arranged clinical mentorship hours, the EIM Residency and Fellowship programs are exclusively on-line learning platforms that leverage the latest distance learning technologies.
20. Do you offer a resident to work in a clinic with an expert ( I am willing to relocate if that is an option)?
Answer: Our Network Partners are multi-site clinics who are always on the look-out for well trained therapists. Having gone through the EIM residency will certainly make you more attractive. If there is a beauty contest and one PT is wearing an EIM residency ribbon and the other isn’t, guess who will almost always win?
21. What do you think the pros and cons of doing distance learning vs. an on site program would be ( I think there would be more value being in a clinic with an expert PT?).
Answer: The adult learning model is optimum for learning and is inherent with on-line programs and specifically with the EIM programs. Clinical mentorship that fosters critical thinking is provided in a variety of ways, including virtual grand rounds, discussion threads and during the weekend intensives. Additional mentorship time is arranged locally by the resident or fellow and allows necessary 1:1 time with an OCS clinical mentor (by a Fellow for the Fellowship). BTW, we don’t have expert PTs around here: only thoughtful and reflective evidence-based practitioners. Any and all self-proclaimed experts are suspect until proven otherwise.
22. When do you think the program will be accredited by the APTA?
Answer: Funny you should ask…..unfortunately we are bound by the APTA with a super-secret pinky handshake that says we can’t tell you that information (seriously, just part of the policy they currently have). However, suffice it to say they have our application.
23. Do you have specific sites/dates/ mentors set up at this time?
Answer: See the FAQ2 file attached. We do have our weekend intensive dates set and I can send these to you. Mentorship info is discussed in items #5 and #12 above.
24. I have been to student coclave and discussed residency programs with a residency director. I have been to the AAOMPT conference in St. Louis and talked to several residency/fellowship directors. There seems to be a growing resource of residencies and choosing the right one seems overwhelming at this point. If you have any advice about residencies or how to learn as much as I can as a new grad coming out who is eager to learn and has no attachments please let me know.
Answer: There are some key considerations in this decision. 1. It must be evidence-based, in actuality and not merely in name…dogma and personality driven programs need not apply; 2. It should be of reasonable cost (including all fees as well as need to relocate) and needs to be flexible with regard to your time-table; 3. It should help connect you with a professional community that facilitates your growth after the program and helps open doors. Take a look online at our curriculum and our faculty. We are confident that you cannot find any other program comparable to EIM’s with faculty teaching, research, practice and publication experience. If you do, let me know because I need to go through it.
Answer: You have to have graduated to be enrolled.
25. Can you move directly from the residency to the fellowship program. Are the fellowship start dates in sync with residency end dates so you could move through both in 2 years? Also I noticed you wanted 2 years of experience before beginning the fellowship. Is that still true if you go through the residency program?
Answer: Residency will take you about 18 mo. to complete, yes about moving directly into Fellowship (program is designed for this).
26. What would be your advice on how to select a job while going through the residency? Would you recommend I look for a position where there is a mentorship program and an OCS where I work? As a new grad what would be your advice to me?
Answer: Yes, find a place that has good mentors and a culture that values and fosters life-long learning. Money is important (usually about 3rd on the priority list), but you will increase your earning potential later by taking care of business now.
27. I am well aware of your faculty members and all that you have contributed to physical therapy. My only concern to the long distance learning platform is that my face to face/hands on access to your faculty would be limited except the intensive weekends and mentorship hours. It seems that with on site residency programs you could pick up helpful advice on evaluation and treatment techniques and bounce questions and concerns off the faculty because you would be in the clinic with them. As I reflected on my clinical experiences there was always something I was learning from my CI (either watching or talking with him) as far as client patient interaction, assessment techniques,patient management, proper techniques for mobilizations etc. etc. Is it unnecessary to have concern about my perception of possible limited face to face/hands on interaction with faculty as compared to on site residencies or do you think my needs will be sufficiently met through EIM residency?
Answer: You need to find a work environment described in #26 above and the same thing will take place. However, it will be enhanced and collaborative when you are in our program. In the typical on-site model, you have to move somewhere to be on location, have 3-4 other residents in the program to work with, and your time with the primary clinical instructor is still only a few times a week! In our program you have class mates from all over the country, different practices represented, get regular interaction with regard to critical thinking an clinical problem solving from leaders in physical therapy (us), as well as major hands-on time in the weekend intensives. And you don’t have to move.
28. As a resident would I be involved in any research (doing a research project) in anyway other than being a consumer of the literature?
Answer: We are always looking for the right folks to collaborate. I have 2 residents in this class who will be involved in an RCT with me.
29. Do you know if student loans are deferred when going through the EIM residency program?
Answer: Don’t think they would be, all residency and fellowship training is credentialed by the APTA and not higher education bodies.
30. How much time away from my clinic is required outside of WIs?
Answer: None if you have an OCS certified PT who can do your 1:1 mentoring hours (40 for residency).
31. How much time and/if travel is required for the mentoring program and how does a therapist living in a rural area complete the mentoring portion
Answer: See responses #5 and #12 above to determine what you will need to do in your specific circumstance.. If have more specifics questions related to your circumstance, please e-mail or call EIM for more information.
32. Do we have some other cohorts in the works for California?
Answer: We are currently in dialogue with a large, high-quality practice in southern California but details are still pending. January of 2009 would be the earliest state date should that practice elect to become a Network Partner.
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