Hand Surgery Fellowship
Curriculum and Didactics
- Surgeries
Hand surgeries are performed at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital and Roanoke Ambulatory Surgery Center. Surgical categories include post-traumatic reconstruction; treatment of congenital, paralytic, arthritic, infectious, neoplastic and other acquired conditions affecting the hand, wrist, forearm, elbow and shoulder; and peripheral nerve/brachial plexus injuries.
- Outpatient Care
The Carilion Clinic hand surgery outpatient clinic is located at the Institute for Orthopaedics and Neurosciences (ION), where the hand surgery fellow is involved in the care of a wide variety of upper extremity patients. ION is grounded in a shared vision of collaboration and a team-based approach to healing. The occupational hand therapy assessment unit at ION, teamed by seven certified hand therapists, provides the fellow with intimate exposure to cutting-edge hand therapy treatment, including constantly evolving splinting and recovery protocols, wound care and scar management, complex regional pain syndrome treatment modalities and more.
- Sports Medicine
Interested fellows are able to participate in the hand care of athletic injuries related to local schools and local colleges in liaison with our orthopaedic Sports Medicine section.
- Training Centers
The Hand Surgery fellow will have access to the educational features of the postgraduate training center and anatomy lab at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine as well as Carilion's Center for Simulation, Research and Patient Safety. Research projects within the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery are available, as well as projects with the Virginia Tech School of Engineering and the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute with clinical applications.
- Simulations include: Flexor Tendon Repair, Image-Guided Kirshner Wire Placement, Wrist Arthroscopy, Skin Graft and Microsurgery
- Cadaver Labs include: Brachial Plexus/TOS, Shoulder, elbow, Forearm, Hand, and Finger
- Teaching Opportunities
The hand fellow will be able to participate in teaching the Carilion Clinic/Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine residents, students and visiting residents and visiting students from other medical schools through bedside instruction and formal didactic lectures.
- Hand and Upper Extremity Conference
Topics include:
- Anatomy Hand/Wrist/Elbow Exam
- Extensor Tendon Injuries of the hand
- DRUJ/TFCC injuries and Treatment
- Ultrasound in the hand and upper extremity
- Wrist Arthritis
- Caring for children with hand and orthopaedic injuries: Basic principles and how children are different
- Flexor Tendon Injuries-Repair and Reconstruction
- Elbow Dislocations, Instability and Contracture
- Thumb CMC Arthritis
- Upper Extremity Tendinopathies (trigger digits, deQuervains, Lateral Epicondylitis)
- Billing and Coding in Hand Surgery
- Proximal Interphalangeal Joint Fracture Dislocations/Phalangeal fractures
- Carpal Instability
- First Webspace Coverage Options & regional hand flaps
- Distal Humerus Fractures
- Tetraplegic hand
- Arthritis, hand and finger (not including wrist or thumb)
- TMR
- Dislocations and Ligament Injuries of the hand
- Principles of microsurgery
- Small Joint and Wrist Arthroscopy in Hand Surgery
- Management of hand malignant skin cancers
- Benign bumps and tumors of the hand
- Ethics and Professionalism in Hand Surgery
- Hand Vascular Insufficiency/Chronic Ischemia
- CRPS and Factitious Disorders
- Forearm fractures
- Hand Infections
- Dupuytren's disease
- Base of Thumb/Gamekeeper’s/Thumb RCL Injuries
- Uncommon nerve compressions of the hand and upper extremity
- Nerve transfers
- Phalnges/Metacarpal fractures
- Scaphoid fractures
- Wrist arthritis,post traumatic to inflammatory;treatment options
- Perilunate Fractures
- Radial Head Arthroplasty
- What is new in Hand Surgery 2024?
- Distal Radius Fractures
- Peripheral Nerve Injury-Repair and Reconstruction
- Brachial Plexus Birth Palsy
- Brachial Plexus Injury: Adult
- Thumb CMC arthritis
- Congenital Differences
- Cerebral Palsy,hand and upper extremity
- DRUJ Replacement
- Burns,Hand and Upper Extremity
- Finger replantation
- Department Conferences and Meetings
- Shoulder and Elbow Conference – First Monday of every month from 6:00-7:00pm
- Peer Review Meeting – One Wednesday per month from 6:30-8:00am
- Plastics Hand Conference – Every Wednesday from 6:30-7:30am
- Hand Surgery Pre-Op Conference (Fellow) – Every Friday from 6:15-7:15am
- Hand Journal Club – 3rd Monday of every month from 5:30-6:30pm
- Hand Section Meeting – Monthly or Bi-Monthly on Wednesday from 6:30-7:30am
- Special Conferences and Activities
- ASSH 78th Annual Meeting – Toronto, Canada (October 2023)
- Guatemala Mission Trip (February 2024)
- Guest Lectures:
- Visiting Professor, Dr. Jay Ericson, Seattle, WA, "Ehler's Danlos in the Upper Extremity" (Virtual)
- Visiting Professor, Dr. Thomas Fischer, Indiana Hand Center, Indianapolis, IN, "Complex Wrist Injuries"
Evaluation
The fellow meets quarterly with the program director to assess progress and achievement of goals throughout the year. In addition, the fellow has an assigned faculty adviser who can also provide comprehensive educational advice and personal support.
To ensure that the hand fellow acquires adequate knowledge and develops sound technical skills, the fellow’s performance will be monitored carefully during the course of the fellowship. After each clinical rotation, the fellow will be formally evaluated by the supervising faculty member. In addition, the fellow will regularly evaluate the faculty to ensure that the educational needs of the fellow are being met.
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