ORTHOPEDIC RESIDENTS TRAINED DIFFERENTLY THAN NEURO RESIDENTS IN SPINE? WHAT? (Orthopedics This Week)
Confusion in the Ranks: Variability in Spine Training Amongst Orthopedic and Neurosurgery Residents
Alan Daniels, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at Brown University, isn’t comfortable with the variability that currently exists in residency training for spine surgeons. He tells OTW, “As opposed to, say, otolaryngologists or urologists, who have only one training pathway, spine surgery specialists have two. There are both orthopedic surgery residency and the neurosurgical residency pathways, each with their own strengths and weaknesses for training spine surgeons. Orthopedic trainees who specialize in spine surgery follow residency with a dedicated spine fellowship, whereas neurosurgery trainees often go directly to performing spine surgeries after residency. What makes this situation problematic is that some residency programs provide inadequate spine training. There is so much variability in the training for spine surgeons, and a lack of standards outlining adequate training for spine surgeons. This leads to a situation where some surgeons may be inadequately trained, and patients an...
