The core academic curriculum for the orthopedic residency program at the University of Kansas was recently restructured with the goals of increasing faculty involvement, placing a greater emphasis on cadaver/surgical skills labs and improving preparation for Orthopedic In-training Examinations and ultimately the boards.  The new curriculum follows the AAOS ROCK (resident orthopedic core knowledge) curriculum.  This establishes blocks throughout a 2-year cycle dedicated to each of the orthopedic subspecialties and basic sciences. These blocks include arthroplasty, sports medicine, trauma, orthopedic oncology, basic science, shoulder and elbow, hand, spine, pediatric orthopedics, and foot and ankle.  The blocks include both faculty led didactics and procedure-based cadaver labs that allow residents to take what they learn through a guided self-study program supplemented by case-based lectures to a hands-on lab environment and ultimately to the operating room.  The dedicated core conferences are held each Wednesday morning from 6:30 am to 9:30 am throughout the year.  Given the emphasis on the guided self-study portion of the curriculum, the faculty lead lectures during this time focus on providing tips and tricks, clinical pearls, testable facts, and case-based examples that can only be obtained through years of experience in practice.  The lectures follow closely with the assigned weekly readings.  On average, two of these Wednesday mornings a month are dedicated to cadaver labs in our Orthopaedic Research and Education Center (OREC) lab on campus with occasional labs held off-site.  There are over 20 labs a year, giving residents the opportunity to perform actual surgical procedures—covering the majority of the ABOS core procedures—in a lab environment led by our orthopedic faculty.  With the help and cooperation of dedicated staff, industry sponsors and feedback from current and past residents, we believe our academic curriculum provides an elite training program to help produce elite orthopedic surgeons!

In addition to the core academic curriculum, orthopaedic resident education is also enriched by the following conferences:

Transition to Practice Lecture series is held quarterly during the Wednesday morning conference and focuses on "what comes next" in your professional lives in a very informal fashion that helps to prepare orthopedic residents as they begin their practices.  These conferences offer guidance and support, answer questions that the residents may have and ultimately helps to ease any anxieties.  The topics of these conferences include finding a job and choosing a practice, the interview process, billing coding and compensation, managing debt, buying a house, retirement planning, and the "non-medical" aspects of practice including consulting, medical legal aspects and Worker's Compensation.

M&M conference is held once a quarter on Wednesday morning from 7:00 – 8:00 am and includes resident presentations and faculty led discussions as we review selected cases that have education and quality improvement value. Following each M&M conference, the residents also take a Milestone Diagnostic Exam through Orthobullets that allows the residents to track their progress and preparedness for the OITE and boards and to assess their knowledge acquisition compared to their peers. 

Indications Conference is held the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Tuesday morning of each month from 7:00 - 8:00 am. During this conference, residents present specialty specific recent cases that were performed, preoperative plans, and/or long term follow ups of interesting cases. Surgical indications, valuable teaching points and reviews of the literature are discussed amongst faculty and residents. All KU faculty and residents are required to attend this conference.

Spine Conference is held each Friday morning from 7:00 - 8:00 am. Residents rotating on the service, as well as the faculty, PA, and nursing staff attend the conference. Upcoming surgical cases are reviewed and planned for.

Trauma Conference is also held each Thursday morning from 7:00 - 8:00 am. Residents rotating on the service and the trauma faculty attend the conference. All aspects of trauma injuries and care are covered. An additional trauma conference is held on the first Monday of every month where rotation specific issues are addressed in addition to discussing any interesting cases in an informal manner.

Sports medicine journal club is held on the 2nd Friday of each month from 7:00 - 8:00 am. The sports medicine faculty, as well as community physicians, and residents on the service attend. Three journal articles are reviewed each month.

The Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine and Sports Medicine sponsors the Leonard F. Peltier Lecture each year in mid-June. A nationally known guest speaker is invited to present two scientific papers. In addition, the PGY-5 residents present their research and the PGY-3 and PGY-4 residents each present an interesting case study. All faculty and residents are required to attend, and alumni and community physicians are invited.

In addition, the orthopedic surgery residents are also encouraged to participate and attend the Kansas Orthopaedic Society Annual Meeting held each September, as well as the Kansas City Orthopaedic Society meeting held in the fall of each year.

Residents attend at least one off-campus conference each year as indicated below.

• PGY-1: AO North America Trauma Basic Principles of Fracture Management Operative Fracture
• PGY-2: AANA Foundations in Arthroscopy
• PGY-3: Subspecialty course of the residents’ choosing
• PGY-4: Subspecialty course of the residents' choosing
• PGY-5: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting and the Miller Review Course