Acute Care Residency Program

The Hartford HealthCare Rehabilitation Network offers an intensive, 13-month Acute Care Physical Therapy Residency Program at Hartford Hospital, one of the largest teaching hospitals and tertiary care centers in New England. It is an 867 bed Level 1 Trauma Center and Comprehensive Stroke Center.

Hartford HealthCare Rehabilitation Network is committed to the training of the next generation of physical therapy clinicians, researchers, and scholars. Training of the Residents in a 13-month hybrid residency model capitalizes on highly trained clinicians, faculty, and staff.

Residents will be educated and mentored in Acute Care Physical Therapy, scholarly activity, and participate in the classroom/lab instruction of entry-level DPT students at The University of Hartford. The program is heavily focused on experiential learning and mentoring and supplemented with didactic education. Mentoring is provided by highly experienced, passionate acute care colleagues within the hospital and classroom settings.

Program Mission

The mission of the Hartford Healthcare Rehabilitation Network Acute Care Physical Therapy Residency program is to provide clinical and academic opportunities necessary to develop advanced practitioners in the field of acute care physical therapy. To prepare clinicians to contribute to the profession and to improve the health and healing of the communities we serve through advanced and evidence-enhanced clinical practice, professional development, teaching, life-long learning, scholarship, and community involvement.

Program Goals

Support the mission, vision, values, and goals of Hartford Healthcare and the University of Hartford
Advance the profession of physical therapy, specifically the practice of acute care physical therapy, by facilitating the development of clinicians promoting a commitment to lifelong learning, teaching, and scholarship
Recruit and retain motivated physical therapists who possess a commitment to advancing their acute care clinical skills, clinical reasoning skills, and leadership skills
Provide mentorship and instruction in the areas of clinical care, clinical education, and scholarship
Provide didactic and clinical learning environments that integrate evidence-based clinical practice
Improve access for patients to highly qualified acute care physical therapists in the state of Connecticut

Program Specifics

ABPTRFE Accreditation	Developing Program as of August 28, 2025
Application Period	12/19/2025 to 2/27/2025
Duration	13 months
Start/End Date	July 27^th, 2026 to August 27^th, 2027
Number of Residents Accepted	1 per program year
Number of Graduates	N/A
Completion Rate	N/A
First Time Specialty Exam Pass Rate	N/A

Curriculum

A typical week for the resident consists of approximately 40-50 hours of dedicated time, of which ~65% will be devoted to clinical practice, ~20% to learning activities (in-person + self-study), ~10% to teaching, and ~5% to scholarship.

Total Program Hours: 2690

Educational hours - 355
Patient-care hours - 2200 (32-37 hours/week)
Mentoring hours - 195
Teaching hours - 51 (3 hours/week for 1 semester)

Clinical Practice

32-37 clinical hours per week
Opportunities to develop advanced clinical skills via mentored and independent clinical practice occur throughout the program at Hartford Hospital
The immensely diverse patient population, in addition to extensive PT staff clinical experience/knowledge, allows for sufficient experience and exposure to a wide variety of body systems and clinical diagnoses

The resident will participate in the following rotations amongst 6 acute care specialty teams during the program, including:

GENERAL MEDICINE: 12 weeks
SURGERY + TRAUMA: 9 weeks
BONE & JOINT INSTITUTE (Orthopedic): 5 Weeks
EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT: 5 Weeks
NEUROLOGY + NEURO-SURGERY: 10 Weeks
CARDIOLOGY + CARDIO-THORACIC SURGERY: 12 Weeks

On each team, residents will treat and be exposed to patients throughout each level of the acute care continuum: floors, step-down, and ICU levels of care. Residents will have the opportunity to observe specialists in acute care, including but not limited to: Certified Lymphedema Therapists, Certified Brain Injury Specialists, Certified Stroke Rehabilitation Specialists, MCS-trained therapists, and more. Additionally, residents will have the opportunity to experience multi-disciplinary observations in the acute care setting, including but not limited to: OT, SLP, respiratory therapy, advanced practice providers, physicians and surgeons, social work, prosthetists, and more.

Learning Activities

Learning activities will occur both within and across the realms of clinical practice, teaching, and scholarship
Didactic:
- ~4-8 hours of weekly Didactic Learning via in-person lectures and/or self-study modules via learning management platform (MedBridge)
- Didactic Learning Modules mirror the resident’s rotations through the program
Journal Clubs, Case Reports
Skills Labs
Chart Review Assessments
Observations with multi-disciplinary acute care specialists, surgical observations

Mentorship

The resident will be provided 3-4 hours per week of dedicated, 1:1 mentoring per week from experienced acute care clinicians
In addition, the resident will have mentored teaching through the University of Hartford’s entry-level DPT program as an adjunct faculty member

Teaching

Various opportunities to teach at the University of Hartford and Hartford HealthCare Rehabilitation Network will occur. The resident will develop foundational teaching skills and be provided with consistent constructive feedback on overall performance
The residency role will include being an adjunct faculty member/teaching assistant in the University of Hartford entry-level DPT curriculum, presentations to fellow acute care physical therapists during team meetings or staff meetings, journal clubs, and within continuing education lectures within Hartford HealthCare Rehabilitation Network

Scholarship

Fundamental skills in basic laboratory and clinical scholarship may be developed at Hartford Hospital, within Hartford Healthcare’s Rehabilitation Network, as well as through classroom and other specialized learning activities

Admission Criteria

Completion of an admission application, which will include:
- Resume/CV
- PT School Transcript
- Essay describing the reasons for applying to the Residency Program
- Three letters of recommendation + Reference Rating Forms
Must be a graduate of a CAPTE-accredited professional physical therapy program
Must hold a valid Connecticut Physical Therapy License to start the program
Candidates will be invited for an interview with the Program Director, Program Coordinator, and selected leadership of HHCRN
Application Period: 12/19/2025 to 2/27/2025

Apply to our Residency Program

Download Reference Rating Form Document