Each resident spends a significant portion of his/her academic year under the direct supervision of an attending, experiencing firsthand the nonoperative, preoperative and postoperative care of patients and learning the clinical practice of orthopaedic medicine from an experienced practitioner. In the operating room the resident functions on a one-on-one basis with an attending and learns surgical techniques firsthand. By the PGY-5 year, the resident will fully mature to the level of an independent orthopaedic surgeon under the direct supervision of an attending surgeon.

The Outpatient Experience

Resident orthopaedic clinic and resident fracture clinic are held bi-weekly and are supervised by a senior resident and an attending physician. The PGY-5 resident functions as a practicing physician, diagnosing and implementing treatment plans for the orthopaedic patients. In addition to clinic, all residents participate in private office hours with the attending on their service. This experience provides the resident with a more global view of all aspects of orthopaedic practice.

The Inpatient Experience

On the inpatient services, residents are integrated into all phases of patient care including the inpatient floor, outpatient clinic, private office practice and the emergency department. The inpatient program is divided into six major services, with the majority of the services comprised of one resident and one attending. The six major services are set up in a mentorship format. Independent resident rounds in addition to attending teaching rounds are made daily on all patients on service. During teaching rounds the resident and attending discuss the pertinent details of clinical cases. Aspects of basic science also are integrated including anatomy, biomechanics and pathology. Residents (with attending supervision) are expected to make clinical decisions and initiate treatment within the scope of their level of knowledge and patient care skills.

The Operative Experience

Departmental, institutional and educational policies necessitate attending presence in the operating room. An early operative experience is stressed for junior residents (PGY 2-3) and routine cases are allotted with this in mind. Throughout residency, the delegation of operative responsibility is directly related to the resident's preoperative planning, grasp of anatomy, mastery of the surgical technique and the level of difficulty of the case. Supervised operative independence affords a smooth transition of the resident to post-residency practice.

The Emergency Experience

The resident on call actively participates in evaluation and treatment of acute trauma patients in the Department of Emergency Medicine. The resident evaluates and treats, on a preliminary basis, all orthopaedic patients, who are then admitted to the hospital for further definitive care, referred to the office of an orthopaedic staff physician or followed in the outpatient clinic. Albert Einstein Medical Center is a Level One Trauma Center which receives a mixture of blunt and penetrating orthopaedic trauma. The resident will learn how to work up and treat patients with the highest level of acuity.