Orthopedic Surgery Residency

Through one-on-one rotations with fellowship-trained faculty, our "mentorship" model provides residents with the optimal training environment, allowing for appropriate supervision, resident-specific education and continuity of care. Except for the trauma service, residents are essentially never “double-scrubbed”—they get to sharpen their clinical decision-making and develop a deep bag of operative tricks by learning directly from the faculty, even as junior residents. The rotation schedule creates a balanced experience with rotations in all subspecialties, including at least two rotations in the major orthopedic subspecialties of trauma, total joint replacement, sports, pediatrics, foot & ankle, and hand.

All of our rotations take place at one of three locations: Baylor Scott and White Medical Center, McLane Children’s Hospital, and the Central Texas Veterans Affairs Hospital (VA). These three campuses each sit less than 2 miles away from each other, making the commute to work convenient.  The proximity promotes resident camaraderie by allowing the entire team of residents to spend time together every day.

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PGY-1

PGY-1 interns spend half the year on general surgery rotations and half the year on orthopedic rotations:

General

• Musculoskeletal radiology (1 month)
• Plastic surgery (1 month)
• Pediatric surgery (1 month)
• Surgical intensive care (1 month)
• Surgical Skills Curriculum / Research (1 month) - interns follow a surgical skills course designed by the residents and faculty to introduce them to all manner of basic surgical skills. From suturing to microsurgery, from arthroscopy to external fixation, interns are taught the fundamentals by senior residents and faculty over the course of this month. In addition, the interns are given dedicated time to begin developing their own research project.
• Orthopedic:
• Orthopedic Trauma (3 months) - the intern is primarily responsible for seeing consults throughout the hospital. At the beginning of the year, the intern primarily assists the on-call PGY2. As the year progresses, the intern gradually gains more autonomy is decision-making as his or her knowledge and skills grow.
• Orthopedic Surgery at the VA (3 months) - the intern operates every single day. This rotation is one of the hallmarks of our early operative experience.

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PGY-2 through PGY-5

These years are composed of four rotations per year, each lasting three months. The rotation schedule is designed to enable residents to experience the majority of rotations during both lower-level and upper-level years.

Rotations are structured as a “mentorship model.” Residents spend between 6 weeks and 3 months with a single faculty member on each rotation. Whether to clinic or to the operating room, you go where your attending goes. We believe this arrangement builds strong rapport and facilitates resident education, graduated responsibility, and continuity of care. 

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PGY-2

While the call schedule is outlined on a separate page, the PGY2 year is the time when residents fulfill the vast majority of their primary call responsibilities. To that end, the PGY2 rotation schedule is designed to give PGY2 residents exposure to the subspecialties that make up the majority of the consults they will see on call.

• Pediatrics
• Hand
• Spine
• Trauma

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PGY-3

• Joints
• Trauma
• Sports
• Foot and Ankle/Research

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PGY-4

• Orthopedic Oncology
• Joints
• Pediatrics
• Foot and ankle

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PGY-5

During the VA rotation, the chief is responsible for running the operating room each day under the supervision of the VA faculty (not listed on this webpage). The VA caseload primarily consists of trauma, sports, hand, and joints cases. This rotation is an excellent opportunity for each chief to hone their operative skills as a general orthopedic surgeon. Chiefs often point to their experience at the VA as proof they are ready for general practice, whether they are doing a fellowship or not. 

• Trauma chief
• Sporta
• Hand
• VA chief