Education

Undergraduate
Postgraduate
- Residency
- Fellowship

Training Program Description

The Orthopaedic Surgery Training Program at Western University has evolved as a structured program in which every member of the department is expected to participate in teaching. All trainees should view this as a major responsibility and share this commitment to teaching.

This teaching obligation is especially true with regard to the medical students. Many students now spend considerable time in either elective or selective rotations in Orthopaedic Surgery. These rotations are in high demand, not only because of the nature of our specialty but also because of the rewarding experience as expressed by previous students. Some of these students are seriously considering Orthopaedic Surgery as their future. Therefore, encouragement and participation is required.

Compulsory attendance is demanded for all trainees (residents and students) at all formal didactic teaching sessions. This includes Orthopaedic Surgery City-Wide Grand Rounds from 07:15 to 08:15 and the Orthopaedic Resident Seminar Teaching from 08:30 to 11:30 every Wednesday morning. All trainees are to be released from service commitments by their staff for these teaching times and attendance is mandatory.

Seminars

Daily seminars in all subspecialty areas are a key component of our training program. Orthopaedic Surgery City-Wide Grand Rounds occur on Wednesday mornings from 07:15-08:15 a.m., and are followed by Academic Half-Day resident teaching that includes an Ortho Program Orientation and Ortho Boot Camp held in July, Surgical Anatomy and Basic Science Seminars, Clinical Teaching Unit seminars, guest visiting speaker lectures and case discussions, and surgical simulation.

Resident Journal Club is scheduled once monthly in the evening and is hosted by the Clinical Teaching Unit supervising consultant(s) at a local restaurant. Article papers for discussion are selected by the assigned resident (R3, R4 or R5) and are made available to the participants in advance of the event.

Participants include all Orthopaedic residents, the CTU supervising consultant(s), and their Orthopaedic fellows are invited to attend the event.

Training Sites

London Health Sciences Centre - University Hospital, London, Ontario: This is the hospital site of the Adult Hip and Knee Reconstructive Surgery Clinical Teaching Unit, and the Sport Medicine Clinical Teaching Unit within the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery. The Sport Medicine Clinic is located at the Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic - 3M Centre on UWO campus.

London Health Sciences Centre - Victoria Hospital, London, Ontario: This is the hospital site of the Trauma, Foot and Ankle, Spine and Neurosurgery, and the Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgery Clinical Teaching Units within the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery.

Roth McFarlane Hand and Upper Limb Centre, St. Joseph's Health Care, London, Ontario: This is the hospital site of the hand and upper extremity surgery.

Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario: This is the hospital site for Orthopaedic Musculoskeletal Oncology.

Research

In the PGY-3 year, three blocks are dedicated for research. This may be basic or clinical and is at the discretion of the trainee with the advice and guidance of the research committee. A review of available research opportunities is given at the beginning of each academic year. Residents may select from these options or pursue study of their own design. Each resident is expected to carry out one clinical or basic science project annually to be presented at the Annual Residents' Research Day conference held in October each year. The research material will also be submitted by every resident for the Annual Canadian Orthopaedic Residents' Association Meeting. Residents who wish to pursue a more in-depth research focus have the opportunity to participate in Masters level programs if they so desire.

Residents are encouraged to discuss in each academic year, their proposed subject of research with the Chair of the Orthopaedics Research Committee, who will correlate the projects with the appropriate consultants.

The Postgraduate Medical Education Office has a Resident/Fellow Travel Award to help support trainee travel to present their research at meetings.

Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) accepts applications for the Resident/Fellow Travel Award. In order for an application to be considered, the Program Director Recommendation Form must be submitted with the application, both in electronic format. The link to the criteria and the Program Director Recommendation Form can be found here.

Service

Residents and students will be assigned to a specific orthopaedic team based on well-designed educational objectives. Ultimate authority for the activities of each team rests with the responsible consultant. It is expected that the senior resident at each hospital or on each team, will assume considerable responsibilities acting as a junor attending staff member. Junior attending staff member residents will be delegated responsibilities commensurate with their level of training. In order for the team approach to be successful, however, no member should assume any responsibility for any activity which they are not familiar with. We feel that the strength of our program owes much to this philosophy.

On-Call Schedules are prepared monthly by each training unit and must meet PARO guidelines. While we acknowledge that being "on-call" is of a high service-oriented nature, nevertheless, it provides an excellent teaching and learning experience to fulfill the various roles as a trainee.

In-Training Evaluations

Our program has been constructed so that adequate exposure will be provided in all major areas of Orthopaedics, sufficient to prepare the final year resident for the Royal College Fellowship Examination. Assessment of each individual resident's performance is done during and at the end of each three-month rotation. As well, each resident is interviewed by the Program Director twice yearly to discuss their progress. It is expected that each resident will write and pass the Orthopaedic In-Training Examination each November. The PGY-2 residents will be obliged to write the Royal College Principles of Surgery Examination in the spring.

Attendance of residents and students for the upcoming orthopaedic weekly activities is at the discretion of the Chiefs of Service or appropriate faculty members, except for the compulsory didactic sessions discussed above.

In addition to resident evaluations, consultant evaluations are performed after each rotation by the resident staff, and a composite evaluation is completed for each consultant at the end of the year by all residents.

Holidays

All hospitals in our training program are prepared to share in allotting one week of holiday time for each resident during each three-month rotation. Statutory holidays will be distributed equitably. A five-day holiday period will be arranged over the Christmas period. All holidays must be arranged through the appointed Senior Chief Resident and coordinated with the Chief of Service at each hospital and the individual consultant. As a general principle - holidays should not be taken in association with conventions and meetings, or the Christmas season, as this causes difficulties in arranging on-site coverage for the services and teams.

Appeal Mechanism

Postgraduate medical trainees registered with the Faculty of Medicine, Postgraduate Medical Education Office whose performance has been judged unsatisfactory by their teachers have the right to appeal. The grounds of an appeal may include medical, compassionate or extenuating circumstances, bias, inaccuracy or unfairness. The full Appeal Mechanism Policy is available through the Postgraduate Medical Education Office.