Fellowship Training

Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship

Program Description:

 

The Saint Louis University Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship consists of five major rotations: (1) the ambulatory sports medicine clinic; (2) team physician responsibilities at the high school, collegiate, and operational levels; (3) faculty development/didactics; (4) operative orthopedic surgery; and (5) continuity clinic in Family Practice or Pediatrics.

In order to accomplish the goals associated with these rotations, all sports medicine residents share the same experience in the ambulatory sports medicine clinic and in the faculty development program. The residents, however, have unique exposures to operative orthopedics and team physician responsibilities.

The goal of the ambulatory sports medicine clinic is to assist the resident in acquiring the skills and knowledge commensurate with a primary care sports medicine specialist. Specifically, the clinic provides resident exposure to preparticipation examinations, exercise prescription, medical problems related to exercise participation, and ambulatory orthopedics. The resident is also expected to acquire the following skills: joint aspiration and injection; orthotic fabrication; shoeware analysis; video gait analysis; proper utilization of bracing; exercise stress testing; compartment pressure testing; and submaximal VO₂ testing.  In addition, the resident is asked to function as a teacher.  As teaching skills are acquired, the resident mentors medical students and primary care residents.

The metropolitan Saint Louis area provides superb opportunities for sporting event coverage. Fellows will be assistant team physicians for Saint Louis University and McKendree College and will function as the primary physicians for local high schools. Throughout the year, the sports medicine fellows will also be integral in medical coverage and planning of mass participation events, such as the Lewis and Clark Marathon; the Saint Louis Marathon; Saint Louis Ruggerfest (rugby tournament); Illinois and Missouri Special Olympics; the Saint Louis Gymnastics Classic; NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Final Four; NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships; NCAA Division I Ice Hockey Final Four; and the Missouri Valley Basketball Tournament.

The goals of the faculty development and didactic program are to instruct the sports medicine resident in primary care sports medicine. This is accomplished through a four-hour period of didactic lectures each week. The resident also participates in the Saint Louis University Family Practice Residency Program’s faculty development program. This program is designed to prepare the sports medicine graduate to move directly into a teaching role in family practice or pediatrics. The resident will acquire those skills necessary to teach in small groups, prepare lectures, critically appraise the literature, and perform primary care research. Each resident designs and completes a research project and meets weekly with his assigned research mentor with a final goal of submission for presentation and publication prior to the completion of training. Additionally, the residents will receive monthly didactic instruction in exercise physiology.The didactic program is optionally supplemented by a one-week rotation in skeletal radiology and updates in ACLS, BLS, ALSO, NRP, PALS and ATLS, dependent upon the individual needs of the resident.

The operative orthopedic experience is designed to give the resident direct exposure as a first assistant in the operating room. This experience, which is supplemented by a weekly half-day clinic with an orthopedic surgeon, is to assist the resident in acquiring superior orthopedic assessment skills, increase knowledge of pertinent clinical anatomy, improve skill in the use and interpretation of diagnostic imaging, and improve understanding of indications for surgical interventions. This rotation additionally allows the resident to build a "team-oriented" relationship with an attending orthopedic surgeon. This experience is supplemented with clinical correlations in anatomy using cadaverdissections.

The experience in the Family Practice or Pediatrics Clinic will maintain continuity with the resident’s principal specialty. Each sports medicine resident will participate in one-half day per week continuity clinic. Family practice trained residents will attend patients at the Saint Louis University Family Practice Residency Program, while pediatric trained residents will attend patients at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital Pediatric Residency Program.

Purpose of the Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship

Our purpose is to train primary care specialists in the unique aspects of sports medicine.  Trainees will maintain competence in their primary specialty but will have expertise in medicine as it applies to the exercising individual.  They will be clinicians, consultants, teachers, and directors of primary care sports medicine residency training programs.  They will be knowledgeable about the unique needs of athletes and will approach their care both from an individual and a systems based approach.

Fellowship Eligibility

This 12 month fellowship is available to physicians who have successfully completed a residency in Family Practice or Pediatrics.  It is directed under the auspices of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Saint Louis University School of Medicine and will be limited to 2 fellows per year, selected on a competitive basis. The fellowship may be offered to those board certified in Internal Medicine, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation or Emergency Medicine at a later date.

For further information, please contact program director, L. Tyler Wadsworth, M.D. at lwadswor@slu.edu.

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