Resident vs. Fellow Surgical Education: Where Should They Learn How to Operate?

Much discussion surrounds the essentials of orthopaedic surgical education, as residencies and fellowships change and evolve. New frameworks and programs issued by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS) are shaping the future of orthopaedic surgical training.

Face Off: Fellowship Site Visits

Patrick B. Wright, MD

Online dating makes it sound like finding your soul-mate is only a click away. Smiling faces of beautiful, successful, and funny people are ready to make each other happy forever. So, how exactly do you know they are who they say they are? By meeting in person, asking questions, and getting to know the person behind the image. Believe it or not, that same process applies to fellowships.

The Role of Sex in the Evaluation and Management of CRPS

Erica Giles, BSc; Cordelia W. Carter, MD

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is an incompletely understood sequela of orthopaedic trauma in which the predominant feature is pain that is out of proportion to the degree of the inciting injury. Multiple terms have been used to describe CRPS in the past, including reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), Sudeck’s atrophy, and causalgia. Similarly, different classification systems have been used to characterize CRPS, and the diagnostic criteria continue to evolve.

Tips for Dealing with the Drug-seeking Patient

Michael R. Marks, MD, MBA; Donna Phillips, MD; David Halsey, MD; Andrew Wong, MD

Physicians often lack training in communications skills that would enable them to navigate challenging patient encounters effectively. “Difficult” patients have specific obstructive behaviors that make it hard to establish a successful doctor-patient partnership and can result in strong negative emotions in the physician.

Using Local Injections for TKA Pain Management

Mary Ann Porucznik

Recently, AAOS Now received two separate reports from surgeons who are using a local injection of liposomal bupivacaine to control pain after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). In both cases, the surgeons report improved pain management, shorter hospital stays, and reduced costs. “Compared to the vast surgical advances in TKA, the evolution of approaches to postoperative pain management has been slow,” said Roger H.

Whatever Happened to Squeaky Hips?

In recent years, squeaking hips have been reported in some patients with total hip arthroplasties using hard-on-hard bearing surfaces. So what exactly is the squeaking hip phenomenon? Javad Parvizi, MD, FRCS, provides the following insights: Squeaking is purely a bearing surface–related problem, with no adverse effect on the remaining structures around the hip.