Overview
Shriners Shriners Children's Northern California’s Pediatric Hand and Upper Extremity fellowship offers in-depth, hands-on exposure to all aspects of pediatric hand and upper extremity care.
For more information, please contact:
Department of Orthopedic Surgery
2425 Stockton Blvd.
Sacramento, CA 95817
Phone: 916-453-2068
Fax: 916-453-2202
Email: ncl-handfellowship@shrinenet.org
Fellow Experience
This fellowship lasts 6–12 months, and focuses on:
- Medical knowledge
- Basic science
- Anatomy of the upper limb
- Hand surgery knowledge
- Patient care
- Information gathering
- Preparation for procedures
- Technical skills
- Organization skills
- Decision-making as it applies to options, timing, psycho-social implications, and overall care of the child
- Interpersonal and communication skills
Prerequisite Training/Selection Criteria
Orthopedic surgeons who have completed either a hand fellowship or plastic surgeons who have completed a hand fellowship are eligible to apply. All qualified applicants are interviewed by each faculty member and ranked according to ability, interest, communication skills, motivation and integrity. The program does not discriminate with regard to sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, disability, or any other applicable legally protected status.
Goals and Objectives for Training
Our program is one of five in the United States and the faculty of these five programs are working together to develop a common curriculum for the Pediatric Hand and Upper Extremity fellowship. Currently, neither of the fields of pediatric orthopedic surgery or hand surgery provide adequate experience in the care of children’s upper extremity problems, which include congenital malformations, trauma and post-traumatic deformities including burns, and neuromuscular conditions (brachial plexus birth palsy, spinal cord injury and cerebral palsy).
We expect our fellow to master the clinical and surgical skills for the management of the child with a complex upper limb problem, through exposure to all aspects of care: assessment and diagnosis (primarily in clinic); management (clinic and in-patient) and surgical planning and technical skill. We expect them to gain competency in teaching orthopedic residents, pediatric orthopedic fellows and hand fellows and we expect them to participate in clinical research activities.
Fellowship training is based on the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) / Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Core Competencies (see below).
Program certifications: No certificate currently exists for Pediatric Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery. Surgery of the Hand is a subspecialty approved by the ABMS and the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS).
Practice-based Learning and Improvement
Fellows will begin the lifelong process of personal continuing medical education and the application to the practice situation. Review of care and outcomes will be done on a routine basis with the goal of improving patient care within one’s practice. This will include:
- Preparation and participation in case discussions where decisions and ramifications of care are assessed
- Awareness of associated and relative morbidity of different treatment options
- Application of what is learned in a conference setting to continually improve knowledge base and patient care
Systems Based Practice: Fellows should understand the continuum of care and their role in managing, not only the acute patient encounter, but also the resources needed to optimize care outcomes. This includes:
- Integration of patient care into the local practice setting with respect to referral patterns, need for, and sequence of pre-operative assessments
- Awareness of the cost of care options being provided; and assumption of stewardship of resources in seeking the best options and value in patient care
- Adherence to “best practices’ per hospital
Teaching Staff
