Goals and Objectives

Responsibilities to Residents:

1. The residents develop a personal program of self study and progressional growth with guidance by the teaching staff. This is started in the PGY I year with regular attendance at monthly Grand Rounds and reading assignments centered on the Orthopaedic Knowledge Update.  Residents are also provided with a handbook of study which includes basic textbooks and recommended journals.
2. Residents are encouraged to study in small groups including bi-weekly sessions run by the chief residents concentrating on anatomical exposures and recent cases and review of the literature.
3. Quality of education provided by the program is evaluated by the resident staff, both through the quarterly Resident Evaluation of Program Forms and monthly evaluation forms of the core curriculum. Feedback is obtained from the residents to the Program Director and Education Committee for modification of curricula.
4. Residents' exposure to ethical, socioeconomic, medical/legal issues, and cost containment is provided through the core curriculum and the Quality Assurance Committee, Department of Orthopaedics, at the University. Residents are involved in service rounds attended by physical therapy, social service, nursing, trauma, and orthopaedics on a weekly basis.

Quality Assurance: Residents participate in quality assurance through weekly service rounds and monthly quality assurance meetings that include mortality and morbidity. Quality issues are discussed in terms of repeat trips to the operating room, adverse events, and so forth.

Resident Supervision and Working Environment:

1. Duty hours and on-call schedules are based on educational rationale, patient need, and continuity of care.  Resident on-call is approximately one night in four to one night in five. At no time do residents do more than ten calls per month as noted in the contract of the Committee of Interns and Residents and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The orthopaedic program which spans the University and the Affiliated Institutions, bases the on-call schedule on continuity of care and maximal educational benefit for the orthopaedic residents.  Orthopaedic residents are only responsible for patients treated by the teaching service faculty. Residents are assigned on-call with a member of their orthopaedic team including team faculty, and this provides them with continuity of care with the admitting resident and management team. Clinics are also organized in the same fashion where the responsible team, including faculty, is present in clinic. They follow the patients that are treated as in-patients by the particular teaching faculty.
2. There is a second call resident and senior resident back-up on the hospital on-call schedule, and residents can be relieved with this back-up support when patient care responsibilities are difficult or prolonged.

1. An orthopaedic surgeon who practices high quality orthopaedics, both in the science and art of the discipline.  In addition, this education is to provide the individual with a high level of moral and ethical practice in the health care profession.
2. To educate the individual and provide them with a solid foundation for further study, including self-study and continuing medical education.
3. To educate the individual and expose them to basic research methodology in orthopaedics so that they may have a foundation to pursue their own interests.
4. To educate the individual so that they may pass certifying examinations.

Program Evaluation:
The educational effectiveness of the program is analyzed monthly using feedback from evaluation forms distributed to the resident staff, allowing them to grade content and presentation of each activity. Resident evaluation of the program is done on a quarterly basis which includes the critical analysis of individual affiliate hospitals and University Hospital programs with respect to clinical content and didactic lectures.

Program Personnel:
Attending faculty is ultimately responsible for the care of the patient and the performance of the resident staff in conjunction with the treatment of his/her patient. Resident staff involved in patient care and administrative issues are directed to the chief administrative resident or designee.  The administrative chief resident is coordinator of all patient care activities as well as resident staff issues. The chief resident is available at all times and at each institution. Individual resident representatives at the R1, R2, R3, and R4 levels handle educational and year specific issues such as on-call, core curriculum issues, scheduling, and direct feedback of the evaluation process to the faculty and program staff. The Chairman and Program Co-Director are available at all times for residency and patient care issues specifically related to the residency program. Evaluation of the resident's knowledge and skills is performed on a quarterly basis by feedback from the senior resident staff and teaching faculty at each institution. These are recorded and discussed with the faculty education staff as well as the resident staff at regular bi-annual meetings where residents are given feedback regarding their performance. Any resident with particular deficiencies, difficulties and other issues, are addressed immediately following identification of the problem. Resident specialized learning and tutoring is performed as needed with concentrated input from the Chairman and Program Director. A mentor system with identified faculty is also in place. This mentor system is instituted as needed for the individual resident after careful consultation with the Chairman, Program Director, and resident on an individual basis.