Curriculum

The Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) provides a broad-based curriculum that is competency-based and features numerous teaching modalities including bedside teaching, one-on-one structured didactics, an extensive didactic lecture series, faculty and resident combined conferences, Medical Education Conference (Grand Rounds), specialty workshops, regularly scheduled Visiting Professors and a prosthetic and orthotic conference.

Typical Weekly Schedule of Conferences

Monthly lectures in addition to the above include TBI rounds, trauma rounds and EMG rounds.

Didactic Lecture Series (DLS)

A well-structured curriculum that includes extensive lectures on all aspects of PM&R, this lecture module consists of a series of 18 lecture modules that span over an 18-month time period. It occurs Monday through Wednesday at noon. Therefore, each lecture module is repeated twice for every resident. Each lecture module is individually developed by a faculty member and the chief resident. Lectures are primarily provided by full-time and part-time faculty, therapists and administrators, as well as physicians from CMC and the community.

Lecture Modules Include:

• Anatomy (yearly)
• Introduction to PM&R Series (yearly)
• Physiatric Therapeutics
• Joint and Connective Tissue
• Musculoskeletal
• Cancer/Pain
• Spinal Cord Injury
• Brain Injury
• Stroke
• Administrative
• Prosthetics and Orthotics
• Pediatrics
• Electrodiagnosis
• Cardio/Pulmonary
• Integrative Medicine
• Nerve and Muscle
• Biostatistics
• EKG
• Research

Resident/Faculty Combined Conference

Every Thursday, a resident-led conference occurs at noon with an assigned faculty member as the advisor for that conference. Numerous formats are utilized and include didactics, case presentations, guest lecturers and hands on workshops.

Several different conferences are rotated on these Thursdays:

• PI/QI Medicine
• Clinical Case Conference
• Journal Club
• EMG Conference
• Ethics Conference
• Morbidity and Mortality Conference
• Competency Conference (based on one of the ACGME 6 competencies)
• Research Conference

Medical Education Conference (MEC)

This conference occurs on Friday at noon, two to three times per month. Lectures are given by both local and visiting faculty, residents and other guest speakers. Each resident will give two medical education lectures during their residency. These are typically focused areas of interest provided in a review of the literature format.

Specialty Workshops

These workshops occur about throughout the year. Past topics included EMG Workshops, Manual and Complementary Medicine, Peripheral Joint Injections, Acupuncture, Nonviolent Crisis Intervention, Stress & Depression and a Modality Fair. The department also sponsors an alternating prosthetics course, alternating with an orthotics course, every other year. We recently sponsored a one-time State of the Art Spasticity Symposium and began an annual Musculoskeletal Workshop. Our residents are encouraged to utilize their educational stipend and allotted conference time to attend other courses regionally and nationally.

Specialized Academic Curriculum

• Ultrasound: Led by faculty Sports/Ultrasound Curriculum Director and senior residents. Comprehensive education on ultrasound terminology, physics, anatomy of 6 major joints of the body and physical exam maneuvers. Assessment of specific pain generators and complete ultrasound examination of the areas of interest are also part of the education. Quarterly ultrasound-guided or fluoroscopy-guided workshops are carried out each academic year. Opportunity to practice the knowledge and skills obtained on self, co-residents and patients in inpatient and outpatient settings. The residency owns a state-of-the-art ultrasound machine designated for resident-use only.
• Resiliency: Led by Resilience Curriculum Director and senior residents. Residents undergo formal strength assessments workshop to learn how to best optimize performance in both professional and personal aspects of life. A team approach is established between resident and faculty physicians to facilitate improved communication & problem-solving. PM&R mentorship is provided for all residents by PM&R senior residents, faculty and research leaders. Lectures and conferences held throughout the year on different topics including: Strengths assessment, Mindfulness, Burnout Prevention, Giving/Receiving Feedback, etc. On a weekly basis, members of the department participate on Mindfulness Mondays, Creative Writing Wednesdays and 7-minute workouts on Thursdays. Residents put these topics into practice through team-building events, monthly hiking club, intramural sports and spending time with each other outside of a work setting.
• Quality Improvement: Led by faculty Quality Curriculum Director and Quality Improvement Chief Resident. Focus on vocabulary, methods and strategies of process improvement. Residents apply the knowledge by participating in real world QI projects to improve patient care at CR. Residents perform yearly in IHI quality medicine modules as self-learning. Furthermore, the curriculum includes a quality medicine didactics lecture series and quality medicine conferences throughout the year. Finally, resident physicians are active members of system quality committees such as QAIC and Hospital Process Improvement.
• Administrative: Led by the Chief Medical Officer and Administrative Chief Resident. We all get into medicine for a variety of reasons-most of which center around helping those who need help the most. However, at the end of the day, medical management is also important to optimize the utilization of resources. Topics such as personal finance, job contracts, reimbursement methods, licensure, different practice models, documentation & coding and risk management are routinely included in our administrative lecture series. An Administrative Rotation provides introductory exposure to hospital system leadership and an advanced Administrative Elective is available for those seeking a more in-depth education. Residents have multiple leadership opportunities as noted above. These characteristics and skills are rarely addressed throughout medical education but are imperative to thriving both professionally and personally after training is complete.