Orthopedic Surgery Residency

Conferences

Our daily conference schedule bolsters the culture of our program by allowing all the residents to come together on a daily basis. Group discussions of difficult trauma cases, didactic lectures, and exploration of anatomy encourage continual growth of the residents’ knowledge base. The daily practice of meeting together for didactics in the “classroom” (pictured below) fosters comradery among the residents.

Located on the orthopedic inpatient floor of the hospital, the classroom is the hub of resident activity. Residents typically use the room to write notes and prepare for cases, making daily didactic sessions convenient. Not only that, the classroom is just a short hike down to breakfast tacos in the cafeteria and the residents typically migrate together as a large herd for food right before conference starts at 6:45 AM.

Monday – Trauma conference

Residents are challenged to discuss interesting cases seen in the prior week, addressing initial emergency department care, non-operative and operative treatment options and post-operative management. The conference is moderated by various faculty members, who provide additional complementary perspectives for each case.

Tuesday and Wednesday – Core curriculum

Residents review a repeating one-year curriculum based on the Orthobullets 365 study plan for the Orthopaedic In-Training Exam (OITE). Presentations on topics in every orthopedic subspecialty are updated on a yearly basis and reviewed the residents as a group. While the long-term goal of this curriculum is to prepare residents to pass their board exams at the end of their 5^th year, residents find that their foundational knowledge of orthopedic surgery grows with each pass through the content. Our residents consistently score highly on the OITE as a result. In supplementation of resident-driven lectures, all of our faculty provide subspeciality-specific lectures based on topics the residents find particularly interesting. For instance, during the month-long shoulder and elbow module, Dr. Ward gave an excellent talk on the history of the reverse shoulder arthroplasty platform, which he uses extensively in oncologic reconstruction.

Thursday – Grand Rounds

Orthopedic faculty, residents and visiting speakers discuss interesting cases, new developments and controversial topics in these weekly conferences attended by the entire department. The intersection of every discipline never fails to generate interesting and often lively discussion.

Friday – Anatomy

PGY-3 residents are provided with a cadaver for dissection and demonstration of surgical approaches in an anatomy lab on the medical school campus. Alternating lectures and anatomy lab sessions are given by the PGY-3 residents ato the rest of the group. Attendings with expertise in a given area of anatomy show up to provide feedback on the dissection and surgical tips and tricks that one might use when using each approach in clinic practice.

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Primary call

In-house call is divided up between PGY-2 and PGY-3 residents; PGY-2s take the bulk of the primary call. Second-year residents average 7 calls per month, but get 2 weekends per month completely free of any responsibilities, including rounds. Third-year residents take only one primary call weeknight per month with no primary call weekend responsibilities.

Backup call

Home call is taken mostly by the PGY-3 residents, who serve a backup role to in-house residents. Third-year residents also assist the chiefs in the OR one weekend per month.

Chief call

Chief call is taken by PGY-4 and PGY-5 classes. Weekends are split up between the fifth-year residents, who each take one weekend per month.

Investigación

Residents are encouraged to pursue research projects according to their level of interest. In accordance with ACGME standards, each resident is required to complete one research project. To that end, four months of dedicated research time are provided during residency. Dr. Bryce Allen, our department research director \is well-versed in helping residents get projects off the ground quickly and efficiently.

Some residents choose to engage in leadership roles or work on other clinical endeavors after completing their required project. However, research-keen residents often complete multiple projects throughout their tenure. Collaboration with the Temple Health & Biosciences District allows residents to engage in biomechanical studies.

Support from the department allows residents to design and implement prospective clinical studies. A user-friendly electronic medical record and an abundance of eager medial students allows for swift completion of retrospective clinic studies. Presentation of resident work at regional and national conferences is encouraged and can often be funded by our institution or through industry partnerships.

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