Curriculum

The educational program and core curriculum are designed to provide high yield knowledge through didactics, cadaveric labs and case presentations with faculty facilitation.  Every Tuesday, 4 hours of protected education time (1 hour Grand Rounds, 3 hours of education) is provided to the residents.

Daily Fracture Conference and Morning Report (30 minutes)

Every morning, residents present consults from the prior day, formulate treatment plans and discuss system issues relevant to patient care. Surgical indications and education is provided by our trauma faculty and/or chief residents. Post-operative cases from the prior day will be reviewed and constructive feedback is provided.

Tuesday

Grand Rounds 6:30am to 7:30am

Every Tuesday, prior to daily fracture conference, is orthopaedic grand rounds. The grand rounds schedule is a CME approved (1 credit per week) educational conference that covers a wide range of subjects including clinical orthopaedic surgery, ethics, safety, basic science (biomechanics, bone metabolism), and practice management (ie: Contracts, the “business of orthopaedics”). Guest speakers are invited, and we encourage our residents to suggest faculty members. The second Tuesday of each month is Morbidity and Mortality (M&M) conference. In this conference, cases of special interest will be presented, and a root cause analysis and review of the literature are presented.

Approximately 6 CME lectures/year will be held at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University as a campus-wide event for topics related to all medical specialties.

Hand Conference 7:30 am to 8:15 am

Our integrated hand service includes both orthopaedic and plastic surgeons. Residents present cases during the conference. Pathophysiology, anatomy and treatment options are discussed. Robust discussions regarding microvascular surgery and flaps are conducted due to the strong involvement of our plastic hand surgeons.

Resident Conference (Core Curriculum) 8:15am to 11:15am

The residents meet from 8:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. and attendance is mandatory, excluding residents on away rotations (pediatrics) and vacations. The first hour is spine education led by our spine faculty. The rest of the time is spent on subspecialty education.

The subject matter covered in the core curriculum is based upon a generalized schedule provided by Orthobullets.  Every resident is provided an account to Orthobullets during their training. This is supplemented with prior content of the Orthopaedic In-Training Examination (OITE), review books, and over 130 online textbooks as well as library access to online literature through PubMed and other databases. Faculty participation is expected and scheduled a year in advance.

Wednesday  

Orthopaedic Oncology Conference (including Radiology, Tumor Board, and Pre-op Conference : 7am to 10am

The orthopaedic oncology service has 3 hours of dedicated education time every Wednesday. From 7am - 9am, a multidisciplinary radiology and tumor board is held with our orthopaedic oncologists, MSK radiologist and pathologists and medical oncologists. From 9am - 10am, pre-op conference and/or pathology education is held. The three-hour conference is mandatory for the resident on the orthopaedic oncology service and is open to any resident interested.

Friday 

Joints/Sports Medicine Conference and Journal Club 9 am to 12 pm

While on the Pediatric Rotation, a daily morning conference will be held throughout the week, rotating topics on a daily basis Monday thru Friday.