Orthopedic Surgery Residency Curriculum | NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine | NYU Langone Health

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Orthopedic Surgery Residency Orthopedic Surgery Residency Curriculum

Orthopedic Surgery Residency Curriculum

NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine’s Orthopedic Surgery Residency offers a comprehensive specialty training experience to our resident physicians, while delivering high-quality patient care and advancing research in the field. Our residency is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

The mission of our residency program is to provide a foundation for a lifetime of learning and for the practice of orthopedic surgery, and to produce graduates who exemplify the highest ideals of our profession. It is our purpose to excel in clinical service, education, and research while maintaining the highest ethical standards and providing compassionate healthcare services.

Program Details

The residency in orthopedic surgery is a five-year program. It offers comprehensive training in all areas as mandated by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery for certification. Training is supervised and scheduled by the Department of Orthopedic Surgery. The residency program is overseen by Mark G. Grossman, MD, program director.

Orthopedic Surgery Residency program aims include preparing residents to fulfill the following ACGME competencies:

  • provide patient care that is compassionate, appropriate, and effective for the treatment of orthopedic problems
  • demonstrate expertise in medical knowledge of those areas appropriate for an orthopedic surgeon
  • maintain the ability to investigate and evaluate their care of patients, appraise and assimilate scientific evidence, and continuously improve patient care based on self-evaluation and lifelong learning
  • obtain the interpersonal and communication skills that result in the effective exchange of orthopedic information and collaboration with patients, their families, and health professionals
  • demonstrate a commitment to carrying out professional responsibilities and an adherence to ethical principles in any type of community they will serve
  • master an awareness of and responsiveness to the larger context and system of healthcare, as well as the ability to call effectively on other resources in the system to provide optimal healthcare

We accept three residents each year. They obtain valuable clinical experience with diverse patient populations at NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island and other inpatient and outpatient settings.

Clinical Training

Our clinical rotations offer residents both inpatient and outpatient experiences in the major subspecialty areas of orthopedic surgery. Residents receive ample operating room experience supervised by attending staff.

Postgraduate Year 1 Rotations

The first residency year is a combined medical and surgical experience. Rotations include anesthesiology, basic surgical skills, general surgery trauma, musculoskeletal radiology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, plastic surgery, rheumatology, and surgical critical care. Additionally, rotations through orthopedic spine and general orthopedic surgery for both adult and pediatric patients are included in the year-one schedule.

Postgraduate Year 2 Rotations

Second-year rotations offer experience in managing different orthopedic conditions, including adult joint reconstruction, foot and ankle surgery, hand and upper extremity surgery, orthopedic sports medicine, orthopedic trauma, and pediatric orthopedics.

Postgraduate Year 3 Rotations

In the third year, residents should have the knowledge and experience to more actively direct the care of orthopedic patients. Residents rotate through adult joint reconstruction, orthopedic oncology, orthopedic spine, orthopedic sports medicine, and orthopedic trauma. Residents also have a dedicated research rotation to undertake a project—basic science, translational, or clinical research—under the mentorship of faculty.

Postgraduate Year 4 Rotations

Responsibility for patient care continues to increase in the fourth year of residency training. Residents gain further experience through rotations in foot and ankle surgery, hand and upper extremity surgery, orthopedic spine surgery, and pediatric orthopedics.

Postgraduate Year 5 Rotations

During the final year of training, residents rotate through adult joint reconstruction, orthopedic sports medicine, and orthopedic trauma.

Didactic Training

Our comprehensive academic and didactic program includes teaching and conferences every week. These include but are not limited to the following:

  • Orthopedic Grand Rounds
  • Orthopedic Trauma Conference
  • Orthopedic Journal Club
  • Continuous Quality Improvement
  • Orthopedic Research Committee
  • Surgical Skills Lab
  • Core Competency Lecture Series
  • Orthopedic Didactic Series
  • Annual Department of Orthopedic Surgery Resident Research Day
  • Annual House Staff and Medical Student Research Day

Research Opportunities

Along with extensive clinical exposure and comprehensive didactic experience, residents participate in a wide variety of research endeavors, including a dedicated research rotation during postgraduate year 3 (PGY-3). Over the duration of residency training, each resident develops and implements a sound scientific research proposal demonstrating a knowledge and understanding of evidence-based medicine that must be suitable for publication. Residents also participate in quality improvement and patient safety projects.

In the first year of training, residents lay the preliminary groundwork for a scientific research project to be executed during residency training. Minimally, this proposal should include a selected topic for study, a review of the pertinent literature, development of research questions, generation of a hypothesis, selection of an appropriate research methodology, data analysis, and a valid conclusion and discussion. To ensure appropriate study design and if substantial data analysis is required, residents collaborate with a biostatistician at NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island early in the design phase of the study.

Additionally, an abstract must be submitted to the Office of Graduate Medical Education for the NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine Annual House Staff and Medical Student Research Day. If the abstract is selected, you will have the opportunity to present a poster or give an oral presentation to the NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island community. Your research will also be presented to the Department of Orthopedic Surgery during the Annual Resident Research Day in June.

Residents are encouraged to submit abstracts, posters, and presentations at international, national, state, or regional meetings. Residents are provided with an annual $600 educational allowance as well as a $1,500 conference allowance to use over the duration of their training. The department will make any reasonable efforts to support travel to additional national conferences over and above for particular situations.