Orthopedic Sports Medicine Fellowship Curriculum

The purpose of Baylor College of Medicine Orthopedic Sports Medicine Fellowship is to provide sufficient clinical and research exposure. This prepares the fellows for a career as a sub-specialist in sports medicine surgery. The fellow will have an extensive clinical experience with all aspects of athletic injuries, with special emphasis on the knee and shoulder. A yearly caseload with over 2,000 operative arthroscopic surgeries, ligament repairs, and reconstructive procedures provide ample hands-on experience.

There is an extensive office experience in the follow-up of surgically treated injuries, and in their non-operative management. Rehabilitation is emphasized and fellow participation is strongly encouraged.

Each fellow will have experience with professional, local high school sports teams coverage.

The fellow’s clinical responsibilities are focused on assisting and performing sports medicine procedures at Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center at McNair Campus, Texas Children’s Hospital, and the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The primary clinical responsibility for ward management falls to the fellows on these services, or to the attending staff positions. The fellows are supervised by attending orthopedic surgeons who are faculty members in Baylor College of Medicine’s Joseph Barnhart Department of Orthopedic Surgery.

Fellows participate actively in the operating room either as first assistant or surgeon under direct faculty supervision. They also participate in the sports medicine weekend call schedule, but are not primarily responsible for managing the inpatient services. In very unusual circumstances, such as serious illness, the fellow may be asked to take call or perform ward duties.

Fellows are expected to attend designated practices and games of appropriate athletic teams which will include local universities and assigned high school teams.

Private offices and hospital clinics.

All patients, diagnoses and procedures computer coded.

The fellow is responsible for patient care of the participating physician in the sports medicine service, and supervision of resident patient care.

Primarily arthroscopic and open repair/reconstruction.

• Video programs and cadaver dissections.
• Sports Medicine and Lower Extremity Library.
• Fellow may develop personal slide library by videoing major surgical procedures.
• All equipment provided.
• Each fellow is given a set book fund allowance for the program year.

Conferences/Lectures (Local and Didactics)

Attendance is required at the following:

• Sports medicine case conferences (weekly)
• Orthopedic grand rounds (weekly)
• Visiting lectureships

Conferences/Seminars (National Meetings)

Fellows are given an annual conference and trip allowance to use at the fellow’s discretion. There are several national meetings for the fellow to utilize this funding. There are also a number of industry sponsored courses that fellows will be permitted to attend at the program director’s discretion.

• AOSSM Annual Meeting
• AAOS Annual Meeting
• AANA Annual Meeting

This program strongly encourages research activity. Each fellow is required to complete a publishable research project during the period of his or her fellowship, and submit a paper for publication to a referred journal.

Research projects are available in either laboratory-based or clinically-based fields directly related to the field of interest to the fellow. All projects are performed under the supervision of each fellow’s research mentor, whom is actively involved with the fellow in all phases of his or her investigational studies. Additional oversight is provided by the committee for fellow research.

A research manuscript must be completed and acceptable for submission to a journal for publication. Fellows are required to prepare and make a formal presentation to the orthopedic faculty at the department graduation scientific program and also present at the sports medicine fellowship graduation program each year.