Acute Care Physical Therapy Residency

Program Mission

Our mission is to develop physical therapists with highly specialized skills in the rehabilitation of patients with medically complex acute care needs. To improve the health of local communities, our residents and faculty foster a culture of high-quality education and research, encouraging excellence of practice, science-based clinical reasoning and lifelong learning. The Northwestern Medicine Acute Care Physical Therapy Residency is a collaborative program of Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences.

Program Features

The Acute Care Physical Therapy Residency is an intensive 12-month program beginning in August of each year.

• Clinical Care: You will spend more than 1,500 hours evaluating and treating patients at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the only Illinois hospital ranked on the national Honor Roll for 13 straight years by U.S. News & World Report, 2024 – 2025. Service area rotations include:
  • Cardiopulmonary and cardiothoracic surgery
  • Emergency department
  • General surgery
  • General medicine
  • Orthopaedics
  • Neurosciences/neurosurgery
  • Obstetrics
  • Oncology
• Education: You will participate in service line/patient population-specific didactic content, as well as on-site and external/online program educational opportunities. In addition, you will have the opportunity to help teach DPT courses at Northwestern University, which has one of the largest physical therapy schools in the U.S. and is the No. 4 physical therapy program in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report.
• Mentorship: You will get three to four hours per week of one-on-one direct faculty mentorship with formal evaluation and documentation.

Program Objectives

• Residents will complete education, clinical training and mentorship that reflect our hospital’s Analysis of Acute Care PT Practice to prepare them to obtain ABPTS board certification as clinical specialists in acute care physical therapy as soon as it becomes available.
• Residents will demonstrate advanced, efficient and effective skills in acute care physical therapy practice with a variety of patient populations and conditions consistent with our hospital’s Analysis of Acute Care PT Practice (and DRP when it becomes available).
• Residents will demonstrate specialist-level knowledge and clinical reasoning so examination, evaluation, diagnosis, prognosis, interventions and outcome decisions are consistently based on the three pillars of evidence-based practice.
• Residents will develop advanced skills as educators to share knowledge and best evidence in acute care practice with patients, caregivers, students, colleagues and interdisciplinary partners.
• Residents will demonstrate skills in research and quality improvement methodology through exposure to a variety of projects and participation in a project related to acute care physical therapy.
• Residency graduates will contribute to the growth and development of acute care physical therapy within Northwestern Medicine and broader society.