Purpose To prepare the primary care physician assistant for a career in Orthopaedic Surgery.

Objectives

Provide hands on training in the manipulative reduction of fractures and dislocations of the upper and lower extremities. This will include the use of skeletal and skin traction, splinting and casting as the situation warrants.

Provide extensive experience in the triage, evaluation and treatment of all orthopedic emergencies, injuries and diseases.

Provide surgical first assist training in order to advance technical skills for the many and varied orthopaedic procedures.

Familiarize the resident with common musculoskeletal disorders found in office practice and the types of treatments available.

Curriculum

The program curriculum Includes integrated lectures by staff Physicians, Physician Assistants, and guest lecturers which coordinatte with scheduled reading assignments.
Case presentations are daily during morning x-ray rounds and weekly during grand rounds. Curriculum also includes: written exams, oral quizzing, reading and interpretation of x-rays, and chart reviews.

Program Description

The Orthopaedic Surgery Physician Assistant Residency Program (OSPAR) is a joint effort of Arrowhead Regional Medical Center’s department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Arrowhead Orthopaedics. The Department of Orthopaedic Surgery is affiliated with Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Western University of Health Sciences, and Toro University. We provide clinical and surgical training to Hand Fellows and Orthopaedic Residents as well as Medical and Physician Assistant students.

The OSPAR program is an intensive clinical and didactic training experience with an emphasis in orthopaedic emergency and trauma. This program incorporates lectures from Orthopaedic staff Physicians and Physician Assistants with clinical training specific to Orthopaedic trauma and surgery. The Resident will gain competency in evaluation and treatment of trauma patients, orthopaedic office procedures, evaluation and care of the outpatient orthopaedic patient, and in first assisting the surgeon with all orthopaedic procedures.

The Resident will rotate through the operating room, inpatient wards, outpatient clinics, and will evaluate and treat orthopaedic consults in the emergency/trauma room. The Resident will also be utilized to help train students, family practice interns, and emergency medicine interns rotating through the Orthopaedic Department. This is a full time twelve month training program that requires an average of 70 hours per week, plus an additional three weeks of orientation. In addition, a benefit package including a stipend, health and life insurance, textbooks, meal allowance, and vacation time are provided. Medical equipment and housing are the resident's responsibility.

The Arrowhead Orthopaedics staff consists of eleven full-time, board certified Orthopaedic Surgeons with sub-specialties in the following areas: hand and upper extremity, pediatrics, spine, lower extremity, total joint replacement, sports medicine, orthopaedic trauma, foot and ankle and plastics.

Arrowhead Regional Medical Center is a level II trauma and teaching hospital, located at the foot of the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California. ARMC has 370 beds and receives trauma patients from the largest single county in the United States. In addition to the 250 operative cases performed monthly by the Orthopaedic Department, we also have daily outpatient clinics that average 1,200 patient appointments per month.

This program offers a certificate of completion with up to fifty CME credits authorized through AAPA.

Applications

Applications are accepted year-round with interviews being held in January and June. The fall class begins October 1 and the spring class begins April 1. Each class is preceded with three weeks of supervised orientation.

Download

Click here download the application.

Contact us for your application!

Heidi R. Turpen-Folks, PA-C
Director
P.O. Box 8520
Redlands, CA 92375
Tel: 909-580-6330
email: turpenh@armc.sbcounty.gov 


Julie Mabry
OSPAR Coordinator
P.O. Box 8520
Redlands, CA 92375
Tel: 909-580-6353
Fax: 909-580-6369
email: mabryj@armc.sbcounty.gov