Department of Orthopædic Surgery

Adult Reconstruction Fellowship

RESEARCH

One day per week will be protected for research, during which time the fellow is required to carry out both a clinical and basic science research project during the year. The basic science research project may be either a mechanical or a biologic study.  A variety of clinical research studies may be developed drawing from the joint registry; emphasis will be on developing projects which combine both basic science and clinical projects.  The fellow will also be responsible for collecting data for the joint registry database.  Fellows are encouraged to submit abstracts for the Joint Arthroplasty Fellows’ Conference held prior to the annual Academy meetings and submit clinical research findings for Academy podium and poster presentations. 

Funded within the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery is a full-time technician for the Molecular Laboratory as well as a full-time engineer to support the Biomechanics Laboratory.  The full-time coordinator of the Joint Registry is also available to assist fellows with clinical research data collection.  Many of the existing projects in both the Biomechanical and Molecular Laboratories have extramural funding.  It is possible that the Fellow will participate in existing research projects.  If a new research project is contemplated by the Fellow, start-up funding from Institutional Grants from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, up to $10,000, is available. 

The Fellowship benefits from the active collaborations in research projects from the Departments of Rheumatology (under the direction of Dr. Lawrence Schwartz), Physical Therapy (Dr. Dan Riddle), Biochemistry (Dr. Matthew Beckman), and Biomedical Engineering (Dr. Jerry Williams).

       TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES

One of the goals of the Fellowship is to help the fellows develop communication and teaching skills which will allow him or her to be an effective clinician.  In the VCUHS OR, fellows serve as assistants and learn to teach residents surgical skills.  Fellows will also have many teaching opportunities as the resident resource for complications and problems that occur on the orthopaedic floor following surgery.  The Attending surgeon will provide feedback to the fellow in the clinic regarding his or her skill in posing questions and introducing discussion with residents so that the resident learns diagnostic skills and clinical analysis.  Fellows also assist in the preparation and presentation of lectures on arthroplasty subjects delivered from time to time during weekly resident teaching conferences. 

DIDACTICS

Teaching conferences are held each Friday afternoon.  Dr. Jiranek sits down each week with the fellows, teaching and leading discussion from the text:   Orthopaedic Knowledge Update:  Hip and Knee Reconstruction 3.  Each week, the fellows present the scheduled cases for the next week in an Indications Conference for discussion with the teaching staff.  Complications Conferences are held monthly with fellows assembling and presenting the cases, as well as giving a review of steps to avoid complications in the future.  The fellows and residents also organize an Arthroplasty Journal Club meeting every other month to present and discuss articles selected from recent journals covering the topics of implant and non-implant reconstruction of the elbow, shoulder, hip and knee.  Participants are encouraged to bring x-rays from complicated cases to discuss over food and drinks in a casual atmosphere, attended by professionals in the community. 

RESEARCH AND LEARNING TOOLS

ORV (Orthopaedic Research of Virginia), an organization which performs various functions to advance musculoskeletal care, teaching, and research in Virginia including image and data storage and analysis, maintains an educational media department that is state of the art.  We have an extensive collection of videos on pertinent reconstructive techniques such as approaches, surgical techniques, management of complications, etc.  Personal computers with internet access are available with access to Medline database searches as well as teaching aids available on the web.  A laboratory equipped with arthroscopic and open surgical equipment is also available to the fellows.  A digital radiograph database, indexed by diagnosis, is maintained by the attending staff and is available to the fellow for teaching purposes.

The Department of Orthopaedics has a new  library with state-of-the-art presentation equipment as well as reference medical books located on the VCUHS campus.  There are adult reconstructive orthopaedic educational aids available to fellows including videotapes, sound/slide programs, movies, x-ray teaching files, and computer-aided instruction.