About the Program

Clinical Responsibilities:

The working year is defined as August 1 to July 30 inclusive. Fellows will be expected to be present during the time period stipulated on their contracts.

Fellows are expected to be on duty during normal business hours ( 6:30 a.m. - 6:00 or 6:30 p.m. ) unless they are on pre-approved travel, vacation or research time. Fellows absent on approved leave will be responsible for obtaining coverage for any inpatients for whom they are responsible, notifying their attending surgeon that they will be away on leave, and attempting to obtain cross coverage for surgical and outpatient responsibilities.

A fellow's clinical responsibility will be one of graduated independence in terms of patient evaluation and management. It is the policy of the orthopaedic surgery fellowship program that all fellows be appropriately supervised during their patient care responsibilities. This requires an attending surgeon be actively involved in the care of all patients on the orthopaedic sports medicine service.

Fellows are instructed and expected to contact the attending physician with regard to any patient on this service. Attendings will be present in all outpatient clinics for supervision of patient care except in "fellow" clinics where follow-up of known cases may be performed without supervision, and during walk-in sports clinics held on weekends during football season .

In addition, fellows will cover sports teams and games without direct supervision. Fellows will be assigned a college athletic team and conduct weekly injury clinics. The attending is required to be present for all operative procedures performed with the exception of emergency room and related trauma cases (orthopaedic sports medicine fellows take trauma call as attendings in the Department). All sports related cases requiring surgery will be done in conjunction with an attending. This participation is important not only in the context of patient care and administrative responsibility, but also to fulfill the mission of the educational program. In any case where the attending surgeon allows a fellow to perform a procedure in their absence, that attending is to remain available should the fellow require assistance.

There is no formal first call. There is no night call associated with the Sports Medicine Fellowship Program.

Educational Conferences:

The orthopaedic surgery teaching conference schedule and the sports medicine conference schedule will be distributed every six months. These educational conferences are considered mandatory.

Sports Medicine Fellowship Examination:

The fellows take the Sports Medicine Fellowship Exam developed by the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine. This is mandatory with no exceptions.

Fellow Research:

Fellows are required to participate in research and scholarly activity with the faculty. There is faculty and staff support for this work, including a dedicated research nurse who will assist with grants, human subjects approvals, etc. Fellows are given a full day per week during their regular rotation for research and scholarly activities.

Research design follows a template which has been developed for both resident and fellow research projects. This takes the fellow from conception of the project to its completion on a step by step basis. A copy of these guidelines is appended.

Attending Evaluation of Fellow Progress:

The fellowship program director meets with each fellow quarterly to review his work in the previous two rotations and to gain insights into the fellow's evaluation of the rotation as a method of enhancing his or her educational experience. In preparation for these quarterly meetings, evaluations are completed by both the attendings and the fellows and held in a confidential file.

Because the fellowship program is one year in duration, there is no opportunity for "promoting" a fellow at year's end. However, using feedback from attending, quarterly reviews, and the completion of clinical and research responsibilities, the fellow is deemed to have completed his year's work. A summative letter is prepared for graduating fellows indicating their competency to practice independently and is kept on file in the Program office.

Benefits:

Vacation, Sick Leave, Maternity/Paternity Leave:

The University of Arizona provides 22 working days per year as vacation. Accrued vacation time must be used during the 12 month academic year and shall not be carried forward to subsequent academic years. A calendar will be kept in the program coordinator's office to sign up for approved time away. This will be on a first-come, first-served basis. All time away must be approved in writing by the program coordinator, the rotation attending, and the fellowship director. It is the fellow's responsibility to notify the program coordinator of requested leave. It is the fellow's responsibility to notify the clinic nursing staff of their anticipated leave. See Appendices.

Fellows will accrue one sick day per month during their fellowship training. No accumulated sick leave compensation shall be paid to the fellow upon completion of the fellowship program.

Maternity/paternity leave shall be granted to fellows who are in need of such leave. All requests are to be made to the program director. You will use vacation and sick days for paid leave. Unpaid medical leave may be granted for a period not to exceed six months. The fellowship training program may require extension to fulfill board certification requirements.

Meetings/Travel:

Elective Meetings:

• The Department will fund a maximum number of two nights per out-of- town meeting.
• Three weekdays away from the medical center will be allowed for each out-of-town meeting at which a paper, poster or exhibit is presented without being charged as vacation time. Meetings in which the fellow does not participate as a presenter will be counted as vacation time (required meetings excluded).