Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center is a Level I Regional Trauma Center with additional qualifications in Pediatrics. Two aeromedical aircraft are based at our campus for critical care response. The volume of trauma has been steadily increasing; 1200 adult and 250 pediatric trauma admissions will enter the institution this academic year, 96 percent of which are victims of blunt injury.
As an orthopaedic resident, the involvement with trauma begins during the general surgical internship year where two months are spent as an integral member of the general surgery trauma team. During this time, there is extensive involvement in trauma resuscitation as well as Intensive Care Unit management of the trauma patient. Experience in care of the injured child will also be accrued while rotating on the pediatric surgical service as an intern.
The formal experience as an orthopaedic resident in trauma will occur during rotations as both a PGY II and as a chief resident. Additional experience will be gained during on-call in the evenings when trauma incidents become more prevalent. Trauma cases constitute 80 percent of the evening workload. The Orthopaedic Trauma Service is directed by faculty members with fellowship training and special interests in trauma. The service manages all fractures of the pelvis and acetabulum, as well as the majority of complex intra-articular injuries, open fractures with bone loss, fractures of the calcaneus and trauma-related fracture problems. There is an active elective experience in non-unions/malunions and post-traumatic infections. There is ample experience in intramedullary nailing with over 180 long bone fractures treated in this fashion each year. Experience in the Ilizarov method will be obtained particularly during the chief year as treatment for both acute traumatic problems, as well as the management of non-unions, malunions and post-traumatic infections in trauma.
The didactic portion of the trauma experience will occur during the fracture conference each morning at which time injuries from the previous evening will be discussed and plans for further care formulated. A monthly teaching conference by one of the trauma attendings is organized on a two-year cycle to cover major trauma fracture topics such that a resident will be exposed to the complete curriculum twice during their residency. Additionally, the department provides for attendance at both the AO-Basic and Advanced Fracture Courses during the residency.
Each Friday morning, a trauma mortality/morbidity conference is held and administrated by the General Surgery Trauma Service. This multidisciplinary conference is directed at the discussion of all trauma-related deaths and trauma- system concerns. A monthly trauma grand rounds focuses on multidisciplinary trauma problem cases and is accorded category I CME credit.
A trauma database has been recently initiated that will facilitate both retrospective and prospective clinical research. Clinical research projects include optimizing DVT prophylaxis in the multiply injured patient, optimal treatment of severe plafond fractures and the effectiveness of temporary spanning external fixation for severe intra-articular fractures.
For more information regarding Penn State Orthopaedics' residency training program, please email the residency program coordinator at OrthoResidency@hmc.psu.edu.
