Conferences and Research Requirements

Grand Rounds – Grand Rounds are held four times a month for a total of four hours of Category I CME accredited activities per month.
Structure is as follows:

• Week One: Morbidity and Mortality (one hour)
• Week Two: Visiting Professor Presentation (one hour)
• Week Three: Children’s Orthopaedics Grand Rounds (one hour)
• Week Four:  Chief Grand Rounds or Faculty Development Grand Rounds

 Note: Grand Rounds is on hiatus during July and August

1. Morbidity and Mortality: The format is that of presentation of clinical cases and discussion regarding management and complications
2. Visiting Professor Presentations: A subspecialty topic is designated for each month in accordance with the program’s educational curriculum. The format is a formal CME presentation on an orthopaedic subspecialty topic of the speaker’s choosing. This is followed by a more resident specific lecture, then 90 minutes of case presentations.
3. Pediatric Orthopaedic Grand Rounds is held at Children Nationwide Hospital. It consists of formal lectures and case presentations regarding pediatric Orthopaedics. All orthopaedic residents are expected to present a grand rounds at least one time during their six months at Children’s Hospital.
4. Chief Grand Rounds: Each of our PGY5 residents are expected to present a grand rounds topic of their choosing
5. Faculty Development Grand Rounds: These grand rounds typically focus on teaching skills, evaluation methods, or other pertinent topics, such as  diversity and wellness. 

Teaching Conference – A Two-Year rotating curriculum has been established for the residency program. Over a two year period, the curriculum includes 12 lectures in each subspecialty area (6 lectures in each subspecialty each year). The Division faculty for each subspecialty have predetermined the topics for each of these lectures and this curriculum is used repeatedly in subsequent years. In addition, the division faculty have also identified corresponding lecture references from landmark and current literature. The articles corresponding to these lecture references are made available to the residents and they are expected to read this material prior to the conference.

Each teaching conference is organized, presented, and moderated by a faculty members from the division which is being represented at the teaching conference. Although teaching conference is not mandatory for all faculty, many do voluntarily attend.

Anatomy Conference – Anatomy Conference takes place weekly during July and August. Residents are divided into teams with a resident representative from each PGY year. Dissections are done in an organized format with a specific anatomic area being dissected each week. The 1st and 2nd year resident in each team is responsible for the dissections, the 3rd year resident is responsible for the approaches, and the 4th and 5th year residents are responsible for teaching and explaining the anatomy and approaches to their respective teams. One faculty member is designated to supervise all teams. In addition, each team is encouraged to seek faculty input at any time and often more than one is present at these sessions

Basic Science Conference – Basic science conference takes place each year during July and August. Lectures are given by both faculty and residents on basic science topics including biomechanics, joint biology, cellular and molecular biology and immunology, biochemistry, gait orthotics, and pharmacology.

Research Conference – Research conferences are part of a comprehensive research curriculum in which all residents participate. It takes place each year in July, August, and/or September. In these sessions, residents are taught how to read a scientific paper and how to perform a systematic review. Residents are also provided with instruction on research design and analysis, research ethics, grant preparation, and presentation, among other topics.

Journal Club – Journal Club is held monthly. All residents are required to attend. The format is discussion of six to seven articles from current literature. A different subspecialty area is chosen for each journal club. All faculty are required to attend at least 50% of the journal clubs each academic year.

Arthroscopy Labs – Residents participate in arthroscopy wet labs every year according to the following format:

• Basic Knee – for PGY2’s and PGY3’s
• Advanced Knee – For PGY4’s and PGY5’s
• Basic Shoulder – for PGY2’s and PGY3’s
• Advanced Shoulder – for PGY4’s and PGY5’s
• Hip – for PGY5’s

Ethics Education - Per the ACGME common program requirements, residents should be provided with opportunities to participate in learning activities designed to advance their knowledge of ethical principles foundational to medical professionalism. As such, the yearly resident didactic schedule includes presentations on ethics in medicine and in research. In these sessions, the principles of medical ethics are reviewed.

Two sessions are included in the didactic schedule each year:

• Ethics: Palliative Care and Medical Decision Making.
  • This presentation will include training on root cause analysis as well as how to disclose adverse actions to patients and families.
• Research Ethics/Quality as a Research Project

Safety and Clinical Quality Improvement – Residents attend monthly morbidity and mortality conferences. The format is that of presentation of clinical cases and discussion regarding management, complications, and quality improvement. Residents also attend quarterly patient safety and clinical quality improvement conferences which are led by medical center quality and safety personnel.

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All residents are required to attend all of the above conferences. This is considered protected time for all residents, wherein they are free of all duties. Attendance records are kept.

Note: Additional Conference Required by All Residents, Every year: Summa Orthopaedic Oncology Review Conference, takes place every year in October.

Specialty-specific conferences also take place on each rotation solely for the residents and fellow who are on the rotation. One to one and one half hours of conference on each service is required each week. Topics are determined by the Division Chiefs and his or her faculty. Division faculty attend and direct each conference and residents on the service are required to attend. Residents that are not on the service are also welcome to attend, but this is not mandatory.

Residents rotating at NCH for their six month block of pediatric orthopaedics are required to attend conferences, as directed by the pediatric orthopaedics faculty.

These conferences may include:

OR Trauma/Surgery & Rounds: Daily
X-Ray/Indication Conference: Weekly
Reading/Indications Conference: Weekly, Wednesday mornings (2 hours)
Fracture Conference: Daily
Morbidity and Mortality Conference: Bi-monthly
Journal Club: Bi-monthly

Resident research is treated similar to graduate student research projects and, as such, each resident has primary responsibility to complete his or her project. Residents are encouraged to begin their research projects are early as possible. Each resident must select a project from a faculty-generated list no later than September of his or her PGY3 year. Residents may develop their own research projects provided they can enlist appropriate faculty advisors.

An advisory committee consisting of at least one clinical faculty member one research faculty member will be formed to guide and assist with the project. Clinical faculty advisors may be selected from the university's orthopaedic faculty or from other clinical faculty involved in resident education. The research member of the committee should be an Ohio State faculty member actively involved in research and familiar with the resources available within and around Ohio State. Additional committee members may be added as necessary for any specific project. The advisory committee will be responsible for assuring the quality of the research project.

Each resident will submit the project title and a letter from the members of his or her advisory committee confirming their willingness to serve in this capacity to the academic committee by October of his or her PGY3 year. The advisory committee will meet at least once a quarter to review progress, discuss problems and plan the next phase of the research, in addition to the monthly "resident research" meetings, which will focus more on research education. Minutes from the advisory committee meetings will be filed with the residency administrator.

We understand that productive research takes time. While research is mandatory, clinical performance takes precedent. Over the course of the residency, partial afternoons may be made available to residents for their research efforts. At no time can a resident allow his or her research requirements to interfere with the clinical responsibilities of the program.

The scope and detail of a particular resident's project may depend somewhat on that resident's clinical standing. Although each resident is able to select their own project, its scope and duration may be shaped by the program director or the academic committee, based on the resident's clinical and academic performance. On the other hand, if a resident is performing at an outstanding level clinically, then he or she can be given increased latitude and technical assistance in order to perform more complex and demanding research. This may involve up to one full day for research per week.

Residents interested in exploring research on more than one project are encouraged to do so, and will be supported as much as possible in these endeavors. The submission of abstracts and manuscripts to state, regional and national meetings is encouraged, and the department makes every effort to support resident attendance at meetings where their work is being presented.

Resident participation in research is a driving force behind the academic productivity of the Department of Orthopaedics and is supported and encouraged to the full extent of the available resources. In addition to the complete clinical facilities available at University Hospital, Riverside Methodist Hospital, and Children's Hospital, a number of resources devoted specifically to research are available to orthopaedic residents. For more information, view our research facilities.

The department gathers annually at the Mallory-Coleman Orthopaedic Research Day to hear residents present their research to faculty and a distinguished visiting professor. This forum was created by two prominent orthopaedic surgeons in our community to honor the memories of departed family members and has become a focus for orthopaedic research and education in the program. All residents in the program are required to present at least once at Mallory-Coleman Orthopaedic Research Day; many residents present more than one project during their time in the program. For more information please refer to the Mallory-Coleman Orthopaedic Research Day page.

In addition to presenting their work, residents are required to prepare a manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed archival journal. This manuscript is to be completed no later than April of their PGY5 year (at the time of the Mallory-Coleman Orthopaedic Research Day). This manuscript should then be revised and submitted to a peer-reviewed journal prior to completing the residency program.