Curriculum

Overview

The Corewell Health orthopaedic residency program features a comprehensive, hands-on educational experience across the 8 core orthopaedic subspecialties: foot & ankle, hand, joint reconstruction, pediatrics, spine, sports, trauma, and tumor. Clinical competency and technical skills are refined through bio-skill labs, cadaveric dissections, didactics, and journal clubs.

Rotation breakdown by year of training

Second Year:

• 3 months of: Beaumont Taylor (General Orthopaedics), Trauma, and Pediatrics
• 2 months of Joint Reconstruction
• 1 month of Night float

Third Year:

• 2 months of: Foot & Ankle, Hand, Tumor, and Sports Medicine, Spine
  
• 1 month of: Night Float, and Research

Fourth Year:

• 3 months of: Joint Reconstruction, Pediatrics
  
• 2 months of: Trauma, Spine, and Sports Medicine

Fifth Year:

• 3 months of Beaumont Taylor (General Orthopaedics)
  
• 2 months of: Elective (1-month blocks), Foot & Ankle, Hand, Trauma 
  
• 1 month of Research
  

Evening and weekend call scheduling

First/third year:

• Saturday call– 1 PGY 1’s and 1 PGY 3
• Night float – 1 PGY 1 and 1 PGY 3

Second year:

• Weekend call – 2 PGY 2’s
  
• Night float – 2 PGY 2’s
  

Fourth/fifth year:

• Back-up call
  

Night Float

• Sunday – Thursday 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
  

Weekend call

• Friday 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. and Sunday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
  

Saturday call

• Saturday 8:00 a.m. to Sunday 8:00 a.m.
  

Core academics and educations

Clinical and surgical training is enhanced by a rigorous comprehensive didactic program.

Morning Didactics

• Monday
  • Fracture Conference – Bi-weekly review of trauma cases with an emphasis on radiographic interpretation, evidence-based management, and operative management.
  • Spine Conference – Bi-weekly fellow-led didactics reviewing common spine pathologies and management.
• Tuesday
  • Resident/Attending lectures – Weekly lecture-based series reviewing common topics encountered in the orthopaedic setting.
  • Bio-Skills – Hands on learning centered on physical exam maneuvers, casting techniques, saw-bone simulations, and surgical skill refinement. Sessions are held in the nationally recognized Applebaum Surgical Simulation Center.
• Wednesday
  • Subspecialty Conference Day – Attending and fellow-led lectures, case-based learning, and journal clubs.
• Thursday
  • Anatomy Prosections – Weekly prosections led by second-year residents with a strong emphasis on anatomical relationships, surgical approaches, and clinical relevance.
• Friday
  • Interesting Case Conference – Weekly review of unique orthopaedic cases presented in classic Socratic method. These scenarios seek to refine critical thinking and case management among residents.

• Grand Rounds - Monthly conferences and case-based discussions featuring nationally recognized, guest speakers from across the country. 

Supplemental education

Journal clubs

Residents participate in many journal clubs throughout the year. Most notably, each month a residency-wide journal club is held at a local restaurant to discuss new, landmark studies. Additional subspecialty journal clubs may also be held on a monthly or biweekly basis.  Through these academic discussion with the faculty and their colleagues, residents become facile at critically appraising the scientific literature and applying it to their surgical acumen.

Arthroscopy wet lab sessions

Faculty-led, arthroscopy sessions on utilizing cadaveric extremity specimens. Sessions help familiarize residents with the use of arthroscopic cameras, tools, implants and techniques.

Anatomy week

A week-long session where residents work alongside with orthopaedic faculty to practice various surgical approaches and procedures on cadaveric specimens. In this low-risk and safe environment, residents obtain a fully hands-on experience to learn the critical thinking and surgical techniques to achieve reproducible surgical outcomes. Previous sessions have included total hip arthroplasty, intramedullary femoral nail placement, total shoulder arthroplasty, distal radius plate fixation, trigger finger releases, and more.