Residency Information

Sports medicine

About the rotation

The Sports Medicine rotation provides an overview of the prevention and treatment sports related injuries involving both the elite level and recreational athlete.

The new UW Sports Medicine Clinic, integrally situated within the athletic training complex and stadium, provides state-of-the-art, exclusive care to UW's 700 varsity student-athletes. In addition, it is the preeminent referral center for the University and greater-Seattle community and the only academic sports medicine program in the northwest.

This third year rotation in sports medicine is under the supervision of John Green III M.D. who along with Roger Larson M.D., Nancy Kadel M.D., Carol Tietz M.D., Christopher Wahl M.D., and John O’Kane M.D. comprise the core physicians dealing with the University of Washington athletic programs as well as surrounding area high schools. The faculty is board certified and fellowship trained.

These faculty help the resident achieve expertise in preoperative indications, preoperative planning, and performance of procedures dealing with the injured athlete. Reflecting the frequency of injury this rotation emphasizes knee, shoulder, hip and elbow arthroscopy, ligament reconstruction, cartilage restoration as well as the treatment incurred by sports activities.

Clinical duties consist of two day long clinics per week, and two operative days. One day per week is spent on research. The resident on this service does share emergency call with the other residents assigned to the University Medical Center.

Goals & objectives

The resident on this service acquires the skills necessary to evaluate the injured athlete, determine the need for intervention, outline which procedure would best suit the individual and become facile with those procedures that would be performed by a general orthopedist.

While residents obtain exposure to sports medicine throughout the program, one rotation in the third year is devoted exclusively to this subspecialty.

During this rotation, emphasis is placed on managing the inpatient and out patient sports medicine patients in a way that is appropriate and satisfying to the patients, nurses, consulting physicians, and attending surgeons. Residents present the salient points of the week's cases at conferences, participate teaching medical students the basics of sports medicine examination and evaluation while on the sports medicine service.