Fellowships

Shoulder and Elbow Fellowship Descriptions

Mark A.  Frankle, MD
13020 Telecom Parkway
Tampa, FL 33367
frankle@pol.net

Fellowship Description

Physicians:
Mark A. Frankle, MD (Fellowship Director)
Mark A. Mighell, MD
Hospitals: University Community Hospital

Hospitals:
University Community Hospital, Tampa General Hospital—Level 1 Trauma Center and St. Joseph’s Hospital

Length:  
1 academic year

Number of Fellows:  
2 fellows per year

Rotations:  
3 month rotations between two Attending physicians over a 12 month period

Organization Description:
The Florida Orthopaedic Institute (FOI) is the largest orthopaedic group in the state of Florida offering experts in every orthopaedic subspecialty.  FOI provides exposure to a high volume tertiary referral practice exclusive to shoulder and elbow reconstruction and fracture management.

The Foundation for Orthopaedic Research and Education (FORE) was founded by the surgeons at FOI in 1999 as part of their commitment to providing world-class orthopaedic care to their patients. The foundation was established as a way to improve the care of patients with musculoskeletal disorders through research and education.
  

FORE is comprised of 4 departments: clinical research, biomechanical research, surgical skills training, and continuing medical education.  Each department is staffed by specialty trained research and educational coordinators, biomechanical engineers, statisticians, faculty supervisors, and departmental assistants.  The FORE campus houses a biomechanical research laboratory for testing orthopaedic devices and materials, as well as a surgical skills laboratory for training fellows and other surgeons on the latest surgical techniques and devices on cadaveric specimens.

Overview:  
The shoulder and elbow fellowship at Florida Orthopaedic Institute provides exposure to a high volume tertiary referral practice exclusive to shoulder and elbow reconstruction and fracture management. With over 2700 new patient visits, 13,000 clinic visits, the fellows are given ample exposure to the entire spectrum of shoulder and elbow disorders, including shoulder arthroplasty, arthroscopy, open reconstruction, fracture management, elbow arthroplasty, arthroscopy, ligament reconstruction and fracture management. The Shoulder and Elbow Fellowship provides an opportunity to participate in over 1,200 cases per year split evenly between arthroscopic and open surgery. The Fellow evaluates patients in two weekly clinics and participates in shoulder and elbow operative cases with the attending surgeons on the Florida Orthopaedic Institute Shoulder Service.  In addition to clinic and surgery, fellows take part in  a weekly 2 ½ hour educational conference with their attending physicians, members of the clinical research team, engineers from the biomechanics department, and a statistician. Also, past fellows regularly join the meeting via web teleconference. During the conference clinical cases are reviewed. Fellows are challenged to identify disease pathology and various treatment options. Clinical research projects are designed and updated, Basic science projects are discussed, various anatomical computer simulations of shoulder anatomy and kinematics are also presented.

This fellowship program has a strong academic focus in that the program requires participation in regular journal club meetings and requires that the fellow complete two research projects, with at least one worthy of submission to the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. Research projects can be either clinical or biomechanical. Fellows are given full access to the biomechanics lab onsite. Each fellow presents a project at the ACCME accredited annual “Fellows Day” conference sponsored by the Foundation for Orthopaedic Research and Education (FORE). Fellows are also required to attend one other ACCME accredited conference (usually the course hosted by the fellowship director) for CME credit.
These requirements provide a tremendous learning experience in terms of evaluating medical literature and research as well as designing an experiment around a research question and hypothesis. The fellow works with the attending physician and Foundation for Orthopaedic Research and Education (FORE) scientists to design the protocol for their research project.  FORE provides the consultation, hardware, software and facilities where the research is to take place. This is a unique fellowship experience because we are not associated with a university system. We are a private practice and do not rely on Medicaid subsidies to support the fellowship. This Program is also unique in that there is no physical distinction between the clinic, clinical research, and biomechanics. The Foundation of Orthopaedic Research and Education is located in the lower level of the main clinical office of the Florida Orthopaedic Institute. This ensures each aspect of the fellow’s education is seamlessly integrated and easily accessible. The fellows work closely with the research staff throughout the length of the project.
By the end of the fellowship year the fellow should have gained knowledge, increased competency and improved performance in:

  • understanding of shoulder/elbow anatomy and biomechanics
  • assessment and management of upper extremity pathologies
  • distinguish between pathological and normal variations
  • obtain medical history
  • develops patient care plans
  • determines appropriate diagnostic tests
  • understand disease processes that benefit from surgical management and the various surgical techniques
  • interpret imaging tests
  • demonstrates interpersonal skills required for patient care
  • competency in repair of soft and bony tissues
  • proper arthroscopic assessment of shoulder/elbow pathology
  • up-to-date with literature
  • attends conference
  • attends journal club meetings
  • Attends at least one ACCME accredited conference
  • Completed clinical research project

Call Schedule: 
The fellow will take general orthopaedic emergency room call for a community hospital (University Community Hospital) 1-2 times each month.
This program is part of the ASES fellow selection process.  Interviews must be completed by the ASES stated date.  The 2 positions will be offered by the match date set by the ASES. 

 

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