Orthopaedic Surgery Program Overview

The orthopaedic surgery residency at Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC, is a comprehensive and widely respected program with the primary goal of graduating well-rounded, highly competent orthopaedic surgeons. It is the training program affiliated with the nationally renowned Atrium Health Musculoskeletal Institute, which brings together faculty from Atrium Health and OrthoCarolina.

Five residents are admitted annually through a highly selective process administered by the NRMP. The orthopaedic surgery residency consists of four full orthopaedic clinical years and one multidisciplinary internship year. The residents work with board-certified, fellowship-trained specialists from all orthopaedic subspecialties in a one-on-one mentorship training model. Attending faculty come from diverse backgrounds, which provide a large variety of perspectives from which residents can learn the aspects of both private practice and academic orthopaedic surgery.

The program's educational philosophy stresses that the best environment for learning clinical medicine is achieved with one patient, one attending, and one resident. There is a large clinical volume with residents actively participating in 300-500 cases during each clinical year. Graduated autonomy in the operating room and pre- and post-operative planning phases is granted so that at the end of residency, each resident is competent in all subspecialty areas.