Postprofessional cartography in physical therapy: charting a pathway for residency and fellowship training

Remarkably little is known about what constitutes a good residency or fellowship training program. In contrast to entry-level programs, the job of residency and fellowship educators is sometimes more subtle and difficult to articulate. Developing advanced clinical reasoning, communication skills, use of evidence, and patient-management approaches beyond entry-level competencies for students of various levels of education and backgrounds creates unique and diverse teaching challenges. There is no gold standard and precious little evidence to guide us on how best to sequence and pace residency/fellowship curricula, integrate mentoring into didactic and clinical coursework, conduct examinations, and measure the impact of training on patient care. To this end, we'd like to congratulate Drs Rodeghero, Wang, Flynn, Cleland, Wainner, and Whitman on their paper, “The Impact of Physical Therapy Residency or Fellowship Education on Clinical Outcomes for Patients With Musculoskeletal Conditions.” This is a significant first step in the effort to explore that most important challenge of any health profession's educational initiatives: did training result in improved patient outcomes?