Program Overview

About

The UMKC School of Medicine’s Orthopaedic Surgery program is a five-year orthopaedic residency which fulfills the requirements of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS). Four residents are accepted each year.

Teaching

The faculty are dedicated to the active education of our residents. We use interactive techniques in conference and rounds which require all residents in attendance to participate. Residents are expected to develop, explain and execute their treatment plans for patients under direct and indirect supervision.  Early involvement in the OR is emphasized.

Educational Benefits

  • PGY-1 residents receive personalized surgical loupes and OR lead.
  • Resident with highest OITE score each year receives a monetary prize
  • PGY-2 residents and above who score over the 80th percentile on the OITE are funded to attend AAOS or an additional conference of their choice.
  • PGY-2s attend AO Basic
  • PGY-3s attend an Orthopedic Pathology course
  • PGY-5s attend the Miller Review and American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS)
  • Optional industry-sponsored meeting or conferences as rotations allow.
  • Access to Clinical Key
  • Access to the Resident Orthopedic Core Knowledge program
  • Access to AAOS ResStudy question bank
  • Access to an Orthopedic Skills lab with simulators in trauma and arthroscopy
  • Stipend for travel to present research at local, regional or national meetings
  • Protected time to work on basic surgical skills and research
  • Intern bootcamp incorporating the ABOS's 17 basic surgical skills modules

Conferences

Weekly conferences

The bulk of the formal teaching conferences are held at University Health on Wednesday mornings from 6:30-9:30 a.m. Wednesday morning conferences include orthopaedic faculty presentations, resident presentations and other invited speakers, including alumni. The majority of conferences focus on board testable topics and include case and question review. Additional conferences on the business of medicine, inclusive excellence topics, patient safety and wellness occur throughout the year.

Once a month the Wednesday conferences are held at Children’s Mercy Hospital for pediatric orthopaedic surgery grand rounds. At Children’s Mercy, the hospital’s faculty present a review and update of topics covering pediatric orthopaedic care. 

Grand rounds presentation

PGY-3 and PGY-4 residents present one formal grand rounds presentation per year. PGY-1 residents are able to attend the department’s formal teaching conferences during all rotations. 

Journal clubs and skills lab

Additional journal clubs and skills labs are held approximately every six weeks.

Monthly research meetings

Regular departmental research meetings occur monthly covering active projects within the department and allowing the residents on their research rotations to present their progress.

Bi-weekly case conference

A case conference is offered twice a month. The senior residents and fellows present cases for review by the faculty to help become better prepared for their oral board examinations. This is required for the presenter and those residents assigned to work that day.

Rotations

Our residents graduate with exceptional surgical experience. Most graduates will have more than 2500 major surgical cases during their time as a resident. Our residents become talented in the OR, with good technique and surgical judgement.

PGY-1 rotations

PGY-1 residents are assigned to a series of rotations, which fulfill the ABOS requirements, including critical care, vascular surgery, radiology and neurosurgery and six months of orthopaedic surgery (three months at University Health and six weeks each at Saint Luke’s and Children’s Mercy).

PGY-2 rotations

The PGY-2 residents are assigned three-month rotations, including pediatrics, trauma, hand, sports medicine, arthroplasty and spine.

PGY-3 rotations

The PGY-3 rotations include arthroplasty, foot and ankle, upper extremity, research, pediatrics and oncology.

PGY-4 rotations

PGY-4 rotations include sports medicine, oncology, arthroplasty, trauma and foot and ankle.

PGY-5 rotations

PGY-5 rotations include pediatrics, hand, shoulder and elbow, trauma, sports and arthroplasty.

Resident Research

All residents are expected to complete a research project prior to graduation. By the end of the PYG-2 year, a research topic and faculty research collaborator will be selected. PGY-3s will have a dedicated, continuous six-week block for research. Additional protected research time is added during PGY-4 year. During PGY-5, students are expected to deliver a national presentation or journal submission. The research project must be ready for publication, submitted or presented at an orthopaedic meeting as a requirement for graduation.

Work Hours/Call

Residents’ duty hours are carefully regulated to ensure compliance with the 80-hour work week requirements of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Two to three weeknight float rotations occur during the PGY-2 and PGY-3 years. Residents are on call every third night on average. They receive a 24-hour period free of clinical responsibility every seven days (at least) and have a minimum of four days off per month.

Benefits

  • Three weeks paid vacation (21 calendar days, including weekends)
  • Professional liability coverage
  • Sick leave (one day per month for each month of employment, up to 72 days)
  • Health insurance (two plans)
  • Dental and vision benefits
  • Long-term disability
  • Tax-deferred annuity program controlled by the resident
  • Accidental death and dismemberment program
  • Life insurance — 1x annual salary at no cost with options to increase at variable costs
  • Flexible benefits program through healthcare and dependent care spending accounts
  • Access to the University Health Truman Medical Center pharmacy with employee discount savings

Visit the Salary and Benefits page for more information.

Evaluations

Every six months residents are evaluated on their progress toward the understanding of the 16 orthopaedic surgery milestones, defined by the ACGME and the ABOS. In addition, residents are evaluated four times a year immediately following each three-month rotation in the following areas, as recommended by the ACGME:

  • Medical knowledge
  • Patient care
  • Systems-based practice
  • Practice-based learning and improvements
  • Professionalism
  • Interpersonal/communication skills

How evaluations work

Faculty are sent an evaluation form and asked to comment on what the resident is doing well and how the resident can improve. They score the residents from 1-5 in each of the core competency categories. UMKC participates in the ABOS/ACGME Knowledge, Skills, Behaviors program, which asks for frequent feedback on resident performance.

At the quarterly evaluation meeting, each resident’s performance is discussed in detail. All faculty members are invited to attend the evaluation meeting. Comments are recorded and used in combination with the completed evaluation forms by the program director to complete summative and formative evaluations of the resident, which are conducted twice a year.

For complete details on the evaluation rubric and details of what these terms mean, as well as expanded details of each milestone, refer to ACGME’s Orthopaeidc Surgery Milestones document (PDF).

Final evaluations

Following the final evaluation of the year, the program director determines if the resident will be promoted and/or graduate. All resident appointments are for 12-month periods. Residents not reappointed as a result of poor performance may utilize the UMKC grievance process.