​Hospital del Trabajador—ACHS—Santiago, Chile

Center description:

Hospital del Trabajador’s Spine Surgery Unit is part of one of the biggest Traumatology and Orthopedics department in Chile. With over 40 attending subspecialty fully trained orthopedic surgeons. Weekly, the unit has three surgery days with one or two operating rooms assigned as needed.

Most frequent pathologies:

Trauma, Degenerative

Procedures:

336 per year

• Degenerative: 240 per year
• Trauma: 80 per year
• Infection: 8 per year
• Deformity: 8 per year
• Tumor: 0 per year

 

Fellowship types:

Observership, Short-term, Associate Fellow

Language requirements:

English, Spanish

Vacancy per year

Observership: 1 per year
Short Term: 3 per year
Associate fellow: 1 per year

Fellowship start:

Associate fellow: May
Short Term: April, July, November
Observership: Anytime

Special Conditions:

"Special Conditions:
Foreign Fellows must validate their diploma in the Chilean International Relations Ministry, according to the following description:

Title Validation:
* Applicants with graduation in Equador, Colombia, Uruguay or Brazil have an automatic validation.
* Applicants graduated in Bolivia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua or Peru must take a qualification exam at the University of Chile.
* Applicants graduated in others countries should validate their title in University of Chile and must apply for an evaluation process, which can take up to a year.

For further information, please access the link below:
http://www.chileatiende.cl/fichas/ver/2461 

Contact:
Josefina Bascuñan Arellano - Chief of the Teaching & Research Department of the Hospital del Trabajador
Email: jibascunana@achs.cl

Program Characteristics:

Objectives

To train an orthopedic surgeon or neurosurgeon in the whole management of the spine pathology.
The fellowship will give to the sub-specialist theoretic concepts and practical skills in the diagnosis and treatment of the spine pathology, with a solid knowledge of basic sciences related to the spine.

Methodology

1. Clinical practice
Daily round to hospitalized patients with residents and medical students of the spine unit.
Clinics with the surgeon-in-charge of the fellowship, once a week.
Weekly round with the whole spine unit (team of ortho-spine surgeons, psychiatrist, psychologist, rehabilitation specialist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, social worker, and nurse)
Weekly spine unit meeting (on Monday), where the group reviews the cases done the week before, discusses complex cases and plans the surgery for the coming week.
Elective surgery: the fellow will participate as a scrub-in assistant in the surgeries of the spine group. Depending on his or her skills and complying with medico-Legal subjects: he or she can also operate some patients, always assisted by the surgeon-in-charge of the fellowship or one of the staff spine surgeons.
Emergency surgery: the fellow could be called at any time when a case that requires emergency surgery is admitted to the hospital. The fellow will participate in the evaluation of the patient as well as in the surgery, the same as in programmed surgery as an assistant or surgeon.
Six weeks in the spine unit of children orthopedic department, devoted to the management of spinal deformities.

2. Research
The fellow will participate in the clinical research of the Spine Unit. During the fellowship at least two papers in which the fellow has participated must be submitted to the Chilean Orthopedic Annual Congress, and then for publication.

3. Academic
The fellow must prepare at least two reviews during his or her fellowship. Those monographs will be programmed to be presented orally in the weekly orthopedic department meeting. The fellow must prepare monthly seminars or presentations with the column team.

4. Other activities
The fellowship considers 10,5 months dedicated to adult spine pathology and 6 weeks to children deformities (Recife AO Spine Center).
For 4 weeks, during the afternoon from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM the fellow will do a rotation in the MRI unit.
For 4 weeks, during the afternoon from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM the fellow will do a rotation with the EMG-specialist of the spine group.

5. Evaluation
The fellow will be evaluated by spine surgeon-in-charge together with the staff surgeons of the spinal unit, at 6 months and again at the end of the year of the fellowship.