Preceptor: Mara Karamitopoulos, MD
Contact: Randie Godette, Randie.Godette@NYULangone.org 
Telephone: 212-598-6509

Prerequisites: Medicine and Surgery Clerkships

Description

This is an advanced 4-week elective that seeks to build on orthopedic knowledge and experiences gained in the pre-clerkship and clerkship years. It may be an additive experience to the 2-week Orthopedic Surgery Introductory Elective or the 2-week Orthopedic Surgery Surgery-related elective (SRE). As an advanced elective, students will be expected to serve at the level of a sub-intern. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the core principles, foundational knowledge, and essential skills relevant to Orthopedic Surgery through encounters with a diverse set of pathology and range of surgical cases reflective of this specialty. Students will gain this experience through rotating on the various orthopedic services contained within the Department of Orthopedic Surgery. Students will be exposed to operating room procedures, emergency room diagnosis and treatment, care and evaluation of in-house patients and those in the outpatient clinic. They will participate in the didactic programs of the department and residency training program. Each student will be assigned a faculty mentor and work on a specific orthopedic team at one of the participating clinical sites of NYU Langone Orthopedics, including:

• Adult Service
• Pediatric Service
• Spine Service
• Sports Medicine Service

Objectives of the Elective

By the end of this elective, through daily contact with patients and didactics, you will:

1. Gain a deeper understanding of the field of orthopedics, building on your pre-clerkship and clerkship experiences, through a broad exposure to orthopedic pathology and procedures
2. Expand your skills in inpatient and outpatient workup and the management of patients with orthopedic disorders 
3. Learn about specialty-specific history and physical examinations, imaging modalities as well as the indications for various orthopedic surgery procedures
4. Demonstrate the ability to present and give a cogent case history presentation and discussion.
5. Gain operating room exposure and experience, learning how to prepare a patient for surgery, use of orthopedic surgical instruments and suturing skills
6. Begin to learn how to perform orthopedic surgery procedures through graduated degrees of hands-on participation 
7. Understand aspects of post-operative care and rehabilitation following orthopedic surgical procedures
8. Gain knowledge regarding treatment modalities used to treat orthopedic disorders
9. Gain insight into the interdisciplinary nature of this specialty and how our clinicians interact with other medical disciplines to provide comprehensive patient care
10. Ensure your choice of orthopedic surgery as a career, obtain mentorship from department faculty and gain insight into the residency application process

Key Responsibilities of the Student While on the Elective

By enrolling in this introductory elective, you have agreed to:

1. Participate in at least 35 contact hours of education each week
2. Provide communication of any excused absences to the Office of Student Affairs (excused absence form) and to the elective coordinator, in a timely fashion 
3. Arrive in a timely fashion to all locations to which you are assigned  
4. Participate in daily morning rounds and patient care with residents and attendings
5. Provide clinical care in the Emergency Department and operating theatre
6. Be an active participant in the care of patients being followed by the team, as dictated by the resident/attending
7. Spend one night a week on-call and spend one weekend day/night during the rotation on-call at the Bellevue Hospital Emergency Room. While on-call, students are expected to assist the junior resident on-call in the evaluation and management of acute orthopedic injuries.
8. Attend all didactics provided for trainees, including our weekly Wednesday morning academic conference, weekly team conferences, at which time students are expected to be prepared to answer questions tailored to their abilities and knowledge
9. Attend resident run skills sessions on splinting/casting as well as sawbones fracture fixation modules 
10. Meet with your faculty preceptor at least once per week and give one case presentation and review of the literature to your preceptor during the 4-week rotation
11. Prepare and deliver a talk at the end of the rotation on a topic of your choosing

Key Responsibilities of the preceptor/residents/faculty while you are on Elective

By accepting your enrollment in this introductory elective, the department has agreed to:

1. Clearly communicate their expectations of you
2. Maintain a supportive clinical learning environment 
3. Ensure that you have access to a broad case mix and clinical experience  
4. Provide the education necessary for you to gain an understanding of the patients and pathology reflective of this specialty
5. Provide feedback on your clinical skills

Didactic Program

Our Wednesday morning academic conference lecture schedule is 6:30AM-9:15AM. The daily schedule will depend on which service you are assigned to for the 4-week elective.  Your schedule will include time in the operating room, outpatient clinic and faculty office hours.

Method of Evaluation

Students are evaluated by the chief resident assigned to their service and also by their faculty preceptor. They are evaluated based on their performance during rotation, including knowledge base, ability to work as a team member and interactions with patients and peers.

Scheduling Information

Duration: 4 weeks

Months offered: All year

Student point of contact before start of elective: Randie Godette, Randie.Godette@NYULangone.org

On day 1, students report to: NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital, 201 East 17th Street, Room 1402, New York, NY 10003

Students per elective block: 12

For visiting students, the application can be found here. In addition to the NYU Application, please submit a copy of your CV, medical school transcript and USMLE transcript.

Once your medical school has approved your application, please forward it to the address listed above.