Both anterior and posterior surgical approaches to the spine are utilized. Anterior approaches are usually performed by the orthopaedic attending with the orthopaedic residents. This further enhances the residents experience. A wide variety of both posterior and anterior operative approaches and spinal instrumentation techniques are an integral part of the residency experience. Outpatient care is a crucial part of the resident experience.
Residents take an active role in the clinic, performing initial and follow-up patient evaluations.
A thorough understanding of indications for operative and non-operative care is developed. In addition, weekly preoperative indications conferences afford a forum for discussion of surgical indications and techniques. Residents are responsible for organizing this conference which consists of case history presentations along with a review of the pertinent imaging studies of all surgical cases for the following week. Resident responsibility is graduated and progressive. During the PGY II year, the resident is primarily responsible for the inpatient management of the service.