 |
|
|
|
|
||||
Home Services Faculty Patient Education Directions News Medical Education Calendar Gift Opportunities Links Contact Us |
CLINICAL AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES The residency program at UNC provides residents with a varied clinical experience. Each day, the Orthopaedic service uses three to six of the UNC Hospitals' nineteen regular and four day-operating rooms. Thirty-six adult beds are assigned to the Orthopaedic service, plus as many as are needed in the Student Health Service for students with orthopaedic disorders. There is no set number of pediatric beds. UNC Orthopaedics opened a newly renovated practice space on the second floor of the Ambulatory Care Center (ACC) that operates as a comprehensive outpatient care center. Consolidated to one location, all patients are seen here. The goal is to enhance a patient’s overall experience: convenience, comfort, and quality. Most notably, there is now on-site parking, physical and occupational therapy facilities, radiology, and an OrthoRX shop--a brace shop supplied and staffed by OrthoRX. The Comprehensive Outpatient Care Center includes eighteen examining rooms, four cast rooms, nursing, and five extensive diagnostic and therapeutic radiology rooms. Crippled Children's Clinics are held each month in other parts of the state by UNC orthopaedic attendings and residents. These allow residents to be exposed to a broad spectrum of pediatric orthopaedic problems. Complex or operative cases are then referred to Chapel Hill for comprehensive evaluation and treatment. The Clinical Service at UNC Hospitals is divided into Blue, Gold, and Red teams. One or more attendings on each team has special expertise in adult reconstructive orthopaedics, pediatric orthopaedics, and trauma. Each team spends two and a half days in the operating room and two days in the Outpatient Clinic per week. A typical weekly clinic schedule is shown here. Residents rotate between the three teams at three to six month intervals. During the PG-3 year, each resident spends three months in basic science and research and three months as the orthopaedic consult resident. Residents also spend six months during their PG-3 year and three months during their final year at WakeMed in Raleigh. WakeMed is affiliated with UNC Hospitals for residency education through an Area Health Education Center. Built in 1961 and recently expanded, WakeMed contains 560 beds, with an average daily orthopaedic census of 53. The clinical experience at WakeMed is especially rich in surgery of trauma, hand, and the adult spine. The residents there have their own conferences, and there is a bi-weekly trauma video conference between the two institutions, thus maintaining their contact with the formal educational program at UNC. WakeMed is within easy commuting distance of Chapel Hill, so no change of residence is required during this rotation. Orthopaedic residents participate actively in the teaching of the musculoskeletal course to second-year medical students. This course is given to the entire class and fills two weeks each year. The residents take part in the instruction of anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, and pathology as it relates to the musculoskeletal system. This has repeatedly been voted as the best course by the second-year medical students. Senior residents, in addition to teaching junior residents on a day-to-day basis, precept third-year students rotating as clinical clerks through the Orthopaedic Service. Since teaching compels learning, these opportunities provide a valuable adjunct to the resident's educational experience. Because the residency is an educational experience, involvement of the faculty is essential. Attending surgeons participate in pre- and postoperative care of patients as well as in the operative procedures, although the level of attending supervision varies with the competence and experience of the resident. Formal teaching activities, which were entirely restructured beginning in July, 2000, include, among others: Basic Science Seminars; a Core Curriculum Conference presented by subspecialists on a rotating basis; the Kindergarten/Motor Skills Conference; and a weekly Postoperative Conference to present current operative cases. The monthly teaching conferences are shown here. All orthopaedic residents at the University of North Carolina attend at least five courses or symposia at other institutions; those who present their research findings are funded for those meetings as well. In the spring, Orthopaedics hosts the annual Raney Visiting Professorship, a three-day event in which a distinguished guest professor conducts teaching conferences, rounds, and lectures. He also serves as the external reviewer for the theses of the chief residents, which are presented during the Professorship. The event culminates with the Alumni Dinner that affords residents an opportunity to meet past graduates of the program. Among previous Raney Professors are Drs. Charles S. Neer II, Robert B. Salter, Roby C. Thompson, Jr., Vert Mooney, Clement B. Sledge, Charles A. Rockwood, Henry L. Mankin, Patrick Kelley, C. McCollister Evarts, Michael W. Chapman, and Frederick A. Matsen. |