About

The UMKC School of Medicine’s Orthopaedic Surgery program is a five-year orthopaedic residency as required by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS), with four residents in each year.

Teaching

The faculty are dedicated to the active education of our residents. We use interactive techniques in conference and rounds which will require all residents in attendance to participate. Residents are expected to develop treatment plans for their patients and be able to defend their thought processes in developing the plan. High academic achievement and the ability to utilize a fund of knowledge 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.
• All residents PGY2 an above scoring over the 80^th % on the OITE are fully funded to attend AAOS.
• PGY2s attend AO Basic
• PGY3s attend an Orthopedic Pathology Course
• PGY5s attend the Miller Review and AAOS
• Optional industry-sponsored meeting or conference yearly
• 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 encorporating the  ABOS’s 17 basic surgical skills modules

Conferences

The bulk of the formal teaching conferences are held at University Health on Wednesday mornings, 6:30 to 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, DEI topics and skills, 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 cogent topics covering the gamut of pediatric orthopaedics over a two-year period.

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

Additional journal clubs and skills labs are held approximately every 6 weeks.

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

A regular Saturday morning case conference is held on the first and third Saturdays of each month, August through May, at Saint Luke’s, 7:00 – 8:00 a.m. The senior residents and sports medicine fellow 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 already assigned to work that day.

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 UH and six weeks each at Saint Luke’s and Children’s Mercy).

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

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

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

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

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.

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 are to be selected. There is a dedicated continuous 6 week block for research during the PGY3 year with additional protected research time during the PGY4 year with anticipated submission or presentation during  the PGY-5 year.  The research project must be submitted, ready for publication 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). 2-3 week nightfloat rotations occur during the PGY2 and PGY 3 years. Residents are not on call more often than every third night on average and receive a 24-hour period free of clinical responsibility at least every seven days.

Benefits

More information on benefits is available here.

• Three weeks paid vacation (21 calendar days, including weekends)
• Professional liability coverage
• Sick leave (1 day per month for each month of employment, up to 72 days)
• Health insurance (2 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 health care and dependent care spending accounts
• Residents can utilize the University Health Truman Medical Center pharmacy and receive employee discount savings

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

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 1-10 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, please visit the ACGME’s website.

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

Clinical Competency Committee

The UMKC Orthopaedic Surgery Clinical Competency Committee (CCC) is chaired by Associate Program Director Dr. Jonathan Dubin and consists of Program Director Dr. Amelia Sorensen, Department Chairman Dr. Akin Cil, Associate Program Director Dr. Tim Badwey, Associate Program Director Dr. Lisa Berglund, Dr. Charles Rhoades, Dr. Caroline Tougas, and program coordinator, Nicole Larm.  The CCC meets periodically and determines the residents progress in the 16 orthopaedic surgery milestones.