Our Prestigious Fellowship Program
A letter to our potential fellowship candidates:
We believe the formal education of a hand surgeon is a daunting task; the field is enormous, ranging from the fingertips, across the wrist, elbow, and shoulder joints, to the brachial plexus, bringing together all aspects of orthopedic, neurosurgery, and plastic surgery in this single, extremely important area of the body. We believe that the experience a fellow will receive during the very short 12-month training period is best supplied through a multidisciplinary approach, involving a healthy number of committed educators with varying specialty interests and expertise. The importance of this one year of fellowship training cannot be overstated.
We believe strongly the best postoperative training in hand surgery is provided from a private practice base. Each hand fellow begins his/her year of postgraduate training not as PGY-6 resident, but as an associate of Hand Surgery Associates of Indiana, Inc.— our umbrella corporation. As far as our patients, support staff, and the community-at-large are concerned, Hand Surgery Associates of Indiana, Inc., consists of 17 doctors working together to take care of our very large and diverse patient population.
The fellowship experience at Indiana Hand to Shoulder Center is contemporary. Not only is every fellow didactically instructed on the fine nuances of practical, clinical hand surgery, and rehabilitation, but also each is taught the spectrum of contemporary issues with which he/she must deal after completing the fellowship and joining an institutional or private hand surgery practice. Extensive lectures and experience, in addition to the spectrum of clinical responsibility our fellows have in helping manage the complexities of our busy hand practice, make our graduating hand fellows some of the best-prepared hand surgeons in the United States.
Sincerely,
The Physicians of Indiana Hand to Shoulder Center
Research
The Indiana Hand to Shoulder Center's team of board-certified orthopedic surgeons and Fellows are committed leaders in conducting and participating in clinical research programs related to all aspects of the entire upper extremity. Through these research efforts, we have been able to improve overall patient care as well as our clinical outcomes. Our surgeons and Fellows continually participate in the development and invention of new prosthetic devices, cutting-edge surgical techniques, and state-of-the-art treatment solutions.
Some of our research efforts include:
- Development of elbow replacemen
- Assisting with development of new internal fixation devices for fracture care
- Investigation of better options for treatment of wrist arthritis
- Investigation of treatments for nerve compression syndromes
- Participation in studies looking at new treatments for Dupuytren's contracture
- Assisting in developing devices used for treatment of radius fractures
- Development of safer and more innovative uses of wrist arthroscopy
- Evaluation of treatments for basilar thumb arthritis
- Evaluation of treatments for tendon ruptures and repairs
Education
Dedication to teaching and providing higher education to other physicians and healthcare professionals is the epicenter of Indiana Hand to Shoulder Center's vision.
Our multi-disciplinary postgraduate fellowship education program for hand and upper extremity is currently one of largest of its kind in the world.
Indiana Hand to Shoulder Center sponsors and conducts the Association for the Study of Internal Fixation Resident and Fellow Course in Indianapolis each year. This annual course is offered to our fellows, Indiana University School of Medicine residents and other individuals interested in internal screw and plate fixation of fractures in the hand and wrist.
For more than 20 years, we have been conducting "Hand Care: Clinical Approaches to Rehabilitation for the Upper Extremity," a bi-annual meeting geared toward occupational therapists, physical therapists, physicians, and nurses with a special interest in hand rehabilitation. This national meeting is recognized as one of the leading hand therapy conferences in the country.
Our surgeons also regularly conduct continuing education workshops, seminars and cadaver labs for physicians, athletic trainers, EMTs, paramedics, and workers' compensation professionals.
Indiana Hand to Shoulder Center established a Ruth A. Lilly Library to support research and education relating to surgery of the hand, wrist, elbow, and shoulder. This library is used by our physicians and fellows, orthopedic residents and medical students. It houses over 1,100 books pertaining to the upper extremities, microsurgery, plastic surgery, sports medicine, and general orthopedics, as well as 200 teaching videos/DVDs. We also subscribe to 24 journals and have access to thousands of others through our database systems. We employ a part-time research librarian with a degree in library science who has organized a complete reprint file consisting of over 12,000 articles.
