Orthopaedic Trauma Fellowship Information

The orthopedic trauma fellowship at San Francisco General Hospital and University of California, San Francisco is designed to give the fellow broad training in the management of patients with orthopedic traumatic injuries and reconstruction. Each fellow has many opportunities to care for the multiply injured patient with specifical focus on orthopedic injuries. The fellow is involved with all types of procedures, including emergent, elective, and reconstructive procedures of the orthopedic trauma patient. The fellow receives both instructional and practical teaching to achieve competency in developing diagnostic, procedural, technical, and interventional skills essential for the performance of orthopedic traumatology. Additionally, the fellow has the opportunity and is required to be involved in orthopedic trauma related research projects. This is supported by an in-house biomechanics and molecular biology laboratory. The orthopedic trauma fellow will have a superior clinical experience during the 12 month fellowship. There is a hands-on experience, as well as understanding and appreciation of a team approach to the care of the trauma patient with musculoskeletal injuries.

The completion of this fellowship requires the fellow to achieve competency in patient care, medical knowledge, practice based learning, and interpersonal and communication skills related to the trauma patient. The orthopedic fellow is the most senior house officer and is responsible for all patient care on his team. Since the service is chief resident, fellow, and attending directed, they are always backed up by the attending. The fellow is expected to instruct the residents through articles, lectures, and practical experience in the operating rooms and clinics.

Schedule:

The fellow is expected to spend his/her time in research 1 day per week and the other split between the operating room and clinics. Call will be, on average, one weekday per week and every 4th weekend. Each fellow will have four weeks of vacation.

Board rounds:

Morning X-ray rounds begin at 6:45 a.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. During X-ray board rounds, the on-call resident presents the cases that were treated during the previous 24 hours. The fellow will be encouraged to comment on treatment options, reduction methods, and relevant literature related to these cases.

Conferences:

Morning conferences begin at the conclusion of X-ray board rounds.

Monday	Pre-operative case conference
Tuesday	Interdisciplinary case presentation/M&M conferences
Wednesday	Grand rounds/Basic Science conference (Departmental)
Thursday	Foot and ankle/radiology conferences
Friday	Trauma conference is conducted by the fellow and fellowship director. Residents present a specific topic in trauma and fracture care. The fellow is responsible for current literature review.

Other conferences will include monthly cadaver and/or bioskills labs on a monthly basis. There is a teaching conference on each of these days, which include trauma, spine, foot and ankle, radiology, morbidity and mortality, indications and interdisciplinary case presentation conferences.

Orthopedic trauma journal club:

The orthopedic trauma fellow and attending staff are responsible for topic selection, review, and reading assignment on a monthly basis. The trauma fellow and attending will read every article to be presented by a resident during journal club.

Research:

The orthopedic fellow must complete at least one publishable research project. Available resources include comprehensive biomechanics and molecular biology labs with full-time PhD support. Also available are ongoing national multicenter and local clinical research projects.

Meetings:

The orthopedic fellow will be provided the opportunity to attend several meetings sponsored by the AAOS and industry. The fellow will attend the annual meeting of the Orthopaedic Trauma Association in the fall.

Program Statistics

Co-Directors: Theodore Miclau, MD, and Amir Matityahu, MD

University Affiliation: University of California, San Francisco

Institutions: San Francisco General Hospital

Primary Hospital Size: 300 Beds

Length of Fellowship: 1 Year

Fellowship Positions: 1

Stipend: $50,000+ and benefits

Full-Time Trauma Faculty: 4

Trauma Admissions/Year: 1,300 patients with orthopaedic trauma

Emergency Dept. Visits/Year: 1,600 orthopaedic consults from the emergency room

Total Orthopaedic Trauma Procedures/Year: 1,400

Clinic visits: 22,000+ per year