Orthopaedics

A significant percentage of family medicine practice involves the identification, diagnosis and disposition of patients with musculoskeletal complaints. Our orthopedics rotations equips you with the skills to address their concerns.

Supervised by an orthopaedic surgeon, you’ll refine your musculoskeletal history-taking skills, understand the roles of orthopaedic care specialists, interact with them and learn when you need to refer and when you should manage you patients’ condition.

You’ll conduct and interpret laboratory tests and understand the techniques of arthrograms, myelograms and arthroscopy.

This experience, which occurs during your second and third years of residency, serves as a base for further training in your family medicine center.

You’ll learn how to:

• aspirate and inject joints
• wrap and tape injuries
• splint
• cast
• reduce dislocations

You’ll learn to diagnose and treat:

• joint pain, swelling and erythema         
• muscular pain, swelling and injury
• minor and major musculoskeletal trauma      
• major long bone fractures
• hand/foot/wrist/ankle fractures                        
• major joint dislocations
• finger/toe dislocations                  
• major tendon injuries
• knee injuries          
• bone and joint deformities
• bone and joint infections                        
• metabolic bone diseases
• musculoskeletal congenital anomalies          
• compartment syndromes
• avascular necrosis
• costochondritis
• bursitis/tendonitis
• pulled elbow
• entrapment syndromes
• Baker’s cyst
• osteoarthritis
• sciatica

Pediatric conditions you’ll diagnose and treat include:

• congenital hip dislocation
• Legg-Calve-Perthes disease
• Osgood-Schlatter disease
• slipped capital epiphysis
• clubfoot
• intoeing

PGY-2 and 3

4 weeks (PGY-2)
4 weeks (PGY-3)