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Department of Orthopaedics

Clinical Rotations

The residency program provides extensive clinical experiences across all orthopaedic subspecialties - all at area hospital sites within 20 minutes of each other.

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Meet the Department

Meet the Department

Meet the faculty and residents advancing Orthopaedic practice and research locally, nationally, and globally.

Clinical Faculty Teaching Faculty Residents

Clinical Rotations

The residency program provides extensive clinical experiences across all orthopaedic subspecialties - all at area hospital sites within 20 minutes of each other.

The residency program at Brown University’s Orthopaedic Surgery is comprehensive and provides world-class education with all sites in Rhode Island and within 20 minutes of each other.  The primary education sites are at Rhode Island Hospital and the Miriam Hospital Hospital, both in Providence, and the Kettle Point office and surgical center in East Providence.  There is no need for “away rotations” to complete the resident experiences in any of the orthopaedic subspecialities.

Intern (PGY-1) rotations are 4 weeks long and are collaborative with the Departments of General Surgery, Neurosurgery, Anesthesia and Radiology. Starting PGY-2 year, all rotation blocks are 2 months in duration. All Orthopaedic subspecialties are covered.

Intern Year

The first year of our comprehensive training is divided between orthopaedic and non-orthopaedic rotations with plenty of hands-on patient care and operative experience. Interns also benefit from a year-long, weekly “intern boot camp.”

You’ll learn how to manage orthopaedic patients pre- and post-operatively at our Level 1 Trauma Center. Duties include assisting the second-year consult resident with consults from the Emergency Department where you’ll learn how to evaluate and diagnose common orthopaedic conditions. You will learn and gain skills in fracture reduction, cast and splint applications, arthrocentesis, placement of traction pins, and application of external fixators.

You’ll learn how to manage orthopaedic patients pre- and post-operatively with the graduated independence and responsibility of night coverage. Duties include assisting the second-year consult resident with consults from the Emergency Department and covering the orthopaedic service.

As the Miriam intern, you will be working with our PA as the primary call for our busy community-level Emergency Department.  You will be learning the perioperative management of orthopaedic patients at our primary community hospital. Additionally, you will have hands-on experience as the first assist in the operating room for community-level trauma cases without competing with senior residents or fellows.

During this highly operative rotation, you will be a member of the plastic surgery team at Rhode Island Hospital. Your time will be spent learning the fundamentals of skin closure in the operating room and evaluating hand consults in the emergency department.

During this rotation you will be working with the general surgery team to provide perioperative management for some of the more complex surgical patients at Rhode Island Hospital. You will be working closely with general surgery residents and attendings to manage these patients, which will develop skills that will be invaluable in the remainder of your residency and career. You will also be in the Emergency Department learning the general surgery management of trauma patients.

During this intensive care unit rotation, you’ll manage the most critical patients, often with severe orthopaedic injuries. You will learn to properly evaluate and resuscitate these trauma patients, care for them from a full-systems perspective, and appreciate the concepts of ATLS, damage control orthopedics, and early total care in orthopedic trauma. 

As the vascular surgery intern, you will be working with the general surgery residents and attendings to care for medically complex vascular patients. The skill set and experience gained from this rotation will be invaluable in the care of both orthopaedic trauma and elective patients later in training.

You will be on a busy pediatric surgery service and will learn how to manage pediatric patients with a variety of surgical diagnoses. You will gain familiarity with caring for pediatric surgical patients. You will be the consulting resident in the pediatric Emergency Department including for pediatric trauma activations.

This highly operative rotation involves being a member of a busy neurosurgical service at Rhode Island Hospital. You will gain operative and clinical experience in surgical spinal pathology from the neurosurgery perspective.

This new rotation will be a first experience in the mentorship model of orthopaedic training at Brown. You will grow technically one on one as the first assist with the Residency Program Director and develop matching clinical skills in the outpatient setting. Protected time will be set aside in the cadaver lab and on the arthroscopic simulator for basic surgical skills. The overall goal is to set you up for success for all the orthopaedic rotations to follow.

PGY-2

PGY-2 year and on will consist of all orthopaedic rotations. Starting this year, all blocks are roughly 2 months long.

You will work with each of our world-class hand surgeons during the hand rotations – this is a mentorship style rotation where you'll be paired with one attending for a month each. There are daily education conferences and weekly joint conference with Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. The hand fellows complement the service and do not negatively impact the resident rotations (given the paired mentorship model). Additional cases with residents working with fellows without senior attendings only add to the resident surgical experience. 

You will see all new consults in the Rhode Island Hospital Level 1 Trauma Center Emergency Department and on the floor, learning the essentials of early management such as fracture reduction, skeletal traction, and casting/splinting. You will quickly become an expert in radiographic interpretation and case presentation at the daily "Trauma Board" conference where all consults are presented.

This is a rotation that works as a "service model" given there are more attendings than residents. You'll be in the offices, as well as the operating room. There is a weekly indications conference reviewing the previous week's cases.

Mentorship style rotation with Dr. Arcand working with him in OR and office. You’ll also work with other sports surgeons Drs. Belanger and Marcaccio in the OR.

This is a mentorship model block. Dr. Cohen performs primary as well as complex hip and knee reconstruction surgeries. You'll have early exposure to the anterior approach to the hip. There is a monthly joints conference where you'll give a presentation.

PGY-3

The PGY-3 year increases the breadth of exposure in the subspecialities and builds clinical and technical skills.

A service style rotation where you’ll be exposed to all aspects of orthopaedic trauma. This is a highly operative rotation as a PGY-3.

This rotation will allow you to develop independent thinking in the clinic and autonomy in the operating room as you help take care of the nation’s veterans.

Mentorship style rotation with Dr. Owens working with him in the OR and office. Cases vary from common sports surgeries to complex cartilage and ligament reconstruction procedures. For additional surgical experience, you’ll also cover other sports surgeons in the OR.

This is a service-based model rotation with Drs. Daniels, Kleinhenz, Kuris, and Basques where cases are split between the PGY-3 and PGY-5 on service. There are multiple service specific educational conferences, including weekly indications conferences, imaging review, and combined conference with the Department of Neurosurgery.

Basic science and clinical research projects are available. This rotation will also allow you to start to prepare for your formal resident research project and your grand rounds talk (given once by all PGY-4 residents).   

Mentorship style rotation with Dr. Barrett. You’ll work primarily with the direct anterior approach for primary hip arthroplasties but see all necessary primary and revision approaches for hip and knee arthroplasty. There is a monthly joints conference where you’ll give a presentation.

PGY-4

The PGY-4 year allows the resident to begin acting as “Chief” on certain services and continue to progress the operative and clinical experience.

Mentorship style rotation with Dr. Blankenhorn with additional operative time with Dr. Hsu.  You will be in the operating room and in the office setting. Weekly indications conference includes with preparations of ‘Case of the Week’ (COW) presentations.

Mentorship style rotation with Dr. Hulstyn with coverage of Professional and Collegiate games and Brown Sports Clinic. A weekly sports medicine conference and case review are part of this block.  For additional surgical experience, you will also cover other sports surgeons in the OR.

Service model where you will focus on some of the more sophisticated pediatric procedures. You’ll be involved with a variety of pediatric procedures: scoliosis cases with Dr. Eberson, pediatric sports surgeries with Dr. Cruz, and  pelvic and femoral osteotomies with Dr. Schiller.

You will work with each of our world-class hand surgeons during the hand rotations – this is a mentorship style rotation where you’ll be paired with one attending for a month each. There are daily education conferences and weekly joint conference with Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery. The hand fellows complement the service and do not negatively impact the resident rotations (given the mentorship model). Additional cases with residents working with fellows without senior attendings only add to the resident surgical experience. 

Rotating mentorship model where you switch off between mentors Drs. Green and Paxton with the Shoulder & Elbow fellow – leaving you with no overlap with the fellow. A weekly conference and case review are part of this block. You’ll be involved in shoulder replacement, rotator cuff repairs (open and arthroscopic) and a variety of reconstruction procedures.

Basic science and clinical research projects are available. This rotation will allow for protected time to finish your formal resident research project and presentation of your grand rounds talk (given once by all PGY-4 residents).                                                                         

PGY-5

The Orthopaedic Chief year brings additional clinical and administrative responsibilities.

As the chief on service, you’ll be in charge of running the service. You operate with a large degree of autonomy under the supervision of the trauma fellows and attendings. You also set the OR schedule and assign coverage amongst the residents. This rotation is a great preparation for the early surgical independence of the trauma fellowship.

You’ll run the orthopaedic service at the VA hospital, indicate surgical cases from the clinic with the ability to consults on a variety of faculty subspecialists.

You’ll be working one-on-one with Dr. Terek and be heavily involved with orthopaedic oncology and total joints cases. Dr. Terek prefers the anterolateral approach to the hip for reconstruction.

On this mentorship-model rotation with Dr. Antoci, you'll see all the approaches to the hip, but work primarily with the posterior approach. You'll also be the de facto chief resident of the Total Joint Service and arrange case coverage for the PGY2 and PGY 3 with the other arthroplasty surgeons including Drs. Cohen, Froehlich, and Barrett.

This new popular rotation allows time to shape your educational experience.  This time can be used to circle back and work with previous mentors if they are not covered by other residents, gain experience working with other uncovered attendings in the practice at Brown, or to arrange international away rotations.

This is a service-based model rotation with Drs. Daniels, Kleinhenz, Kuris, and Basques where cases are split between the PGY-3 and PGY-5 on service. There are multiple service specific educational conferences, including weekly indications conferences, imaging review, and combined conference with the Department of Neurosurgery.

PGY-6: Sixth-Year Trauma Fellowship

After completing their Chief Resident year (PGY5), our trainees spend another year at Rhode Island Hospital as Orthopaedic Trauma Fellows.

Learn more
Meet the Department

Meet the Department

Meet the faculty and residents advancing Orthopaedic practice and research locally, nationally, and globally.

Clinical Faculty Teaching Faculty Residents
Brown University
Providence RI 02912 401-863-1000

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Clinical Rotations