For Medical Students

Third year medical students have the opportunity to rotate through orthopedics as part of their surgery rotation. We encourage students to spend additional time with us as fourth year students if they are interested in pursuing an orthopedic residency or have interest in the musculoskeletal system.

During their third year, medical students will have the opportunity to learn the basics of the physical exam of the extremities, observe fracture care in the emergency room, participate in seeing patients in the outpatient clinics, and observe surgery in the operating room. At the end of the rotation, all students should be able to perform a basic musculoskeletal exam, and to be comfortable with the terminology involved in describing fractures as seen on x-ray.

Fourth year medical students are invited to spend 2-4 weeks working on the orthopedic services at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and St Peter’s University Hospital. Students spend approximately 70% of the rotation in the hospital and 30% in the outpatient offices with full-time and volunteer faculty. Emphasis is placed on physical diagnosis, applied anatomy, and basic clinical decision making. Students have the choice of rotating on the Trauma, Joint Reconstruction, Pediatric, and Sports/Hand services or all of the subspecialities. Daily assignments are made by the chief resident and strong consideration is given to a student's particular interests.

Student responsibilities include attending daily morning rounds and all conferences. Students will be assigned 1-2 patients at a time to follow clinically from pre-op to discharge. Active participation in all clinical and operative procedures is encouraged. Students will have the opportunity to experience operative orthopedics across a broad sampling of subspecialities. At the conclusion of the rotation, students will give a 10 minute presentation on an interesting case or other topic selected by the student. An opportunity to take night call will be available in order to understand resident on call responsibilities. This opportunity also allows the student to spend one-on-one time with the on call resident. There are no formal weekend responsibilities for students on the orthopedic service. In the past, students performing well during their visiting rotation have been given strong consideration during the residency application process.

Admission to RISE is highly competitive.

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