Most residents follow our typical clinical education plan that includes an 8-week inpatient or home health experience followed by a 23-week terminal outpatient experience, both of which occur in the final year of the program. Because the majority of our residents are participating in similar settings for each clinical experience, we are able to tightly integrate didactic and clinical education into structured and sequenced curricular plan. For example, residents entering inpatient settings for the first clinical rotation will all have recently completed the foundational courses in musculoskeletal, neuromuscular, acute care, and cardiopulmonary practice that prepare residents for patient exposures in this early clinical experience.
For the final clinical rotations, the vast majority of residents are placed at clinical sites with residency- or fellowship-trained clinical faculty to improve the quality of the learning experience. These experienced clinicians exemplify professional growth and set the stage for our residents to pursue residency opportunities upon graduation.
Additionally, residents are participating in coursework during clinical rotations that reinforces each resident’s clinical education. For example, residents are enrolled in Pharmacology and Management of Aging Adult during the first clinical affiliation which helps them to immediately apply this knowledge to inpatient clinical experience and allows the lead faculty to integrate resident learning experiences into synchronous class time to enrich discussion and case-based learning. Our model allows us to 'bring the classroom into the clinic and the clinic into the classroom.'