Academic Curriculum
The education opportunity is provided by rotations that occur within four hospitals. The primary institution being Tripler Army Medical Center. The PGY-1 year is spent entirely at Tripler Army Medical Center with the exception of one month which is at University of Hawaii Queen’s Medical Center on the Trauma Surgery Team. Our interns start the year early in June with an Orthopaedic Boot Camp during which we go over basic casting techniques, suturing, and principles of fixation. All 3 interns are on the Orthopaedic Service in July for Intern Basic Training. During that month, our chief residents go through all 16 of the ABOS Surgical Skills Modules for PGY-1 Residents. Throughout the remainder of the first year, interns are given a broad exposure with services that are a part of our multi-disciplinary team (Plastic Surgery, Vascular Surgery, ICU, ER, Anesthesiology, and MSK Radiology).
The PGY-2 year is the first full year of orthopaedics. This year is spent at Tripler Army Medical Center where the residents work 1:1 with sub-specialists and begin to demonstrate autonomy on rotations. Rotations are typically 2 months in duration and the goal is for each junior resident to spend 2 months on each sub-specialty rotation prior to the end of their PGY 3 year.
Our PGY-3 year is focused on trauma as we prepare residents to begin taking senior call a PGY-4. During the PGY-3 year, the residents spend 4-6 months at Tripler Army Medical Center rotating on any specialty that they missed during the first 2 years. Our residents then begin a 4 month trauma rotation at the University of Hawaii, Queen’s Medical Center. In addition, our residents have the opportunity to spend 2 months at the Shriner’s Hospital Honolulu where they can participate in outreach clinics in locations such as Yap, Somoa, and Fiji.
Our residents in the PGY-4 year are ready to assume the role of senior resident. Residents who are interested in a fellowship after rotating on the various sub-specialties may apply at the beginning of the PGY-4 year. We expect increased autonomy during this year. Our residents spend 4 months in Texas at both the Dallas Children’s Hospital and the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital. The TSRH has been phenomenal in providing mentorship for our residents on research projects during that rotation. Upon returning, our residents may spend 6 weeks at Kaiser Permanente in Honolulu where they can participate in high volume community based trauma in addition to Level I trauma rotations at the Tulane University Medical Center in New Orleans.
At that start of the PGY-5 year, our residents already demonstrate competence and assume the role of leaders and teachers. The year is spent predominately at Tripler with 2 months spent at the Queen’s Medical Center in a high volume adult reconstruction practice which hones their skills prior to graduation. As chief residents, they run the resident academics, monitor the resident call schedule, and mentor the junior residents.