Orthopedic Surgery Residency

The first year follows the ACGME program requirements and is designed to expose the orthopedic intern to a variety of surgical disciplines with four months of general surgery rotations and six months of rotations directly relevant to orthopedic surgery. The emphasis is on providing excellent hospital care, developing basic surgical skills and developing a foundation in orthopedics.

Each intern will rotate through the following specialties:

General Surgery:
Trauma (1 month)
Pediatric Surgery (1 month)
Burns (1 month)
Vascular surgery (1 month)

Other Rotations:
Orthopedic Trauma (2 months)
Orthopedic Emergency Room (2 months)
Musculoskeletal Oncology (1 month)
Orthopedic Veterans Affairs (1 month)
Neurosurgery-Spine (1 month)
Musculoskeletal Radiology (1 month)
Vacation (1 month)

The orthopedic ER rotation is one of the most unique aspects of our program. During this rotation, the intern is paired with a senior orthopedic resident. Together, they see all emergency room and trauma consults from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. This ensures excellent early exposure to all common orthopedic trauma. The intern quickly becomes confident assessing orthopedic injuries in a wide variety of patients.

Interns also participate in a surgical skills laboratory. The lab follows the guidelines of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery. Additionally, interns attend the Annual Basics of Orthopedics Course that is held over four weekends in August/September. This extensive course combines lectures and sawbones labs.

Residents will spend time rotating in adult reconstruction; hand; pediatrics; spine; sports medicine and trauma, in addition to having one block of night float.

Residents will spend time rotating in foot and ankle; hand; musculoskeletal oncology; trauma and veterans affairs.

Residents will spend time rotating in foot and ankle; pediatrics; spine; sports medicine and trauma, in addition to having one block of research time.

Also, PGY-4 residents have the opportunity to attend The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting, with full support from the department.

Residents will spend time rotating in adult reconstruction; hand; musculoskeletal oncology; pediatrics; sports medicine; trauma and veterans affairs.

• Board Review course of choice for all PGY-5 residents
• Summer, 2-month anatomy course, held on the medical campus
• AO Basic Principles of Fracture Management course for PGY-2 residents
• MSK Pathology review course for PGY-3 residents
• Divisional Journal Clubs and Cadaver Labs
• Quarterly Miami Orthopaedic Society meetings

Residents will be exposed to a wide range of cases from primary arthroplasty to complex revisions with a moderate to high volume. A typical week consists of OR days, clinic, academic day with journal club and pre- and post-op conference. Additional exposure to joints is provided during the veterans affairs rotation.

PGY-3 and PGY-4 residents work with high-volume foot and ankle surgeons treating a wide variety of patients from bread-and-butter foot and ankle to very complex lower extremity trauma and reconstruction at Jackson Memorial Hospital, Lennar Medical Center, and the University of Miami Hospital. Weekly topic presentations solidly the resident’s foot and ankle knowledge.

Every morning begins with trauma/pre-op/post-op conference and rounds. The previous day’s ER hand cases are reviewed during this conference. Hand clinic is held at various locations, including Jackson Memorial Hospital, University of Miami Hospital, Lennar Medical Center and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The remainder of the week is spent in the OR.

Approximately half of the time is spent in the private attending clinics and half in the OR. This rotation is an excellent opportunity to see the entire spectrum of orthopedic oncology. Didactics are excellent on this rotation, with weekly faculty presentations. Pre- and post-op conference and multidisciplinary sarcoma conferences take place in collaboration with medical oncologists, radiologists, pathologists and radiation oncologists. The tumor fellow contributes considerably to resident education in both the OR and in the clinics. Residents spend approximately three days per week in the OR and the remaining time in clinic and attending offices.

As a PGY-2, the majority of the time is spent at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. Residents receive a good combination of OR and clinic during this rotation.

The PGY-4 is at Holtz Children’s Hospital every day. Two and a half days per week are spent in clinic, and one to two days per week in the OR.

The PGY-5 is exclusively at NCH except for conference on Thursdays. The PGY-5 is in the OR four days per week and clinic one day a week.

Thursdays are academic days with didactic lectures following Thursday morning grand rounds and conferences. Friday mornings before clinic faculty walks the residents through various pediatric cases, from initial evaluation through treatment and follow-up.

There is a good balance of time spent in the OR, clinic and on the floor. The rotation offers excellent exposure to a wide variety of bread-and-butter and complex cases including degenerative disease, spinal deformity, infection, tumor and spinal trauma.

Academics are emphasized with weekly spine conference that includes resident and medical student presentations and spine journal clubs. Spine faculty, residents and fellow meet weekly to discuss cases.

The majority of this rotation is spent at The Lennar Foundation Medical Center. Residents will have the opportunity to assist in the care of both collegiate and professional athletes as all faculty are the team physicians for all University of Miami teams and athletic events. Dr. Kaplan is the team physician for the professional baseball team the Florida Marlins. There is opportunity to cover high school sports teams, as well. Approximately half the time is spent in the OR and half in clinics. There is a weekly educational conference.

This very busy service (averaging three operating rooms daily) based at Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital and offers an outstanding operative experience for the resident.

The PGY-1 and PGY-2 are responsible for managing the inpatient census and preparing the daily pre-op conference. In addition, there are two midlevel practitioners to assist with inpatient care, thereby affording the PGY-2 significant access to the OR.

The PGY-3 and PGY-4 spend four days per week in the OR and one day in clinic. The chief resident manages the service and is responsible for organizing the daily operative schedule. Residents typically work one-on-one with one of the five trauma attendings.

Residents are exposed to all aspects of orthopedic trauma, from basic closed fracture care to extremely complex orthopedic reconstructions. Faculty subspecialty interests are broad and include pelvic reconstruction, limb salvage techniques with Ilizarov/circular ring fixator reconstruction and complex upper extremity reconstruction. There is a tremendous amount of camaraderie in the program in general, but it is especially evident on the trauma service, as everyone lends a hand until the final case is done.

The Bruce W. Carter Department of VA Medical Center provides exposure to general orthopedics.

The PGY-1 and PGY-3 are in the OR three days a week and in clinic for two days.

The PGY-5 is in the OR five days a week. The most common operations performed include total hip; knee and shoulder replacement; anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction and arthroscopic knee and shoulder procedures.