Medical Students

Orthopaedic Surgery Elective Rotations at the University of Virginia are available to interested Phase 2 (MS3) and Phase 3 (MS4) medical students. Phase 2 (MS3) medical students are assigned to one sub-specialty service for the duration of the 2 weeks that you rotate with us while the typical 4 week fourth year rotation is divided into 2 week blocks on two of our subspecialty services. Requests to rotate on a specific subspecialty or with a specific faculty member will be considered, but not all requests may be possible. Further details about the ACE – Adult Orthopaedics rotation may be found in the University of Virginia School of Medicine Handbook.

Information about our Phase 2 (MS3) Rotation is linked here, while a UVA Student Handbook For Orthopaedic Surgery geared toward Phase 3 (MS4) and visiting students was put together by our resident staff.

Students rotating on Orthopaedic Surgery will receive an email from David Craig prior to the start of the rotation with details about the rotation including the assigned subspecialty service and the housestaff on that service.  Students should contact the listed housestaff to obtain more information about where and when to meet as well as the student’s expectations.   Rotations start on Monday morning, and if not instructed otherwise, students should report to the 1st Floor of the University Hospital Moss Auditorium at 6:15AM for Fracture Conference.

Students will be expected to participate in clinics, surgeries, didactics, rounds, and call responsibilities during their rotation.  During a 4 week fourth year rotation, students are expected take overnight call with the residents one Friday/Sunday combination and one Saturday, and then 2 other nights during the month. Please work together with the other rotation students to make up a schedule and then forward it to David Craig.

The University of Virginia Department of Orthopaedic Surgery adheres to ALL DUTY HOUR RESTRICTIONS as defined by the University of Virginia School of Medicine Curriculum Committee.  Please note that medical students who rotate on Orthopaedic Surgery must abide by these duty hour restrictions.  Faculty and residents may not be aware of the student call schedule and thus it is the student’s responsibility to ensure that they meet the guidelines as defined by the University policy.  If at any time you feel pressured to violate this policy, please notify Dr. Chhabra (Dept Chair), Dr. Gwathmey (Program Director), Dr. Keith Bachmann (ACE Director), Dr. Aaron Freilich (Clerkship Director), or David Craig so we can address the situation immediately.

A helpful website for interpreting musculoskeletal radiographs is linked here.