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More than half of patients admitted to most trauma centers have musculoskeletal injuries - fractures and dislocations, and nerve, tendon, and soft tissue injuries. Providing optimal care for these patients is an essential task for all trauma centers and trauma systems. In North America, the definitive musculoskeletal care provider is an orthopaedic surgeon.All orthopaedic surgeons are not equally prepared to care for patients with serious injuries. Subspecialization within orthopaedics has led to significant advances in treatment of musculoskeletal conditions of all kinds. The care of serious injuries, and of severely injured patients with (frequently multiple) musculoskeletal injuries has become an orthopaedic subspecialty area. While orthopaedic surgery residency training and board certification offer a general level of knowledge about the evaluation and treatment of skeletal trauma, they do not provide the orthopaedic generalist, or subspecialist in another field, with all the skills required for care of the seriously injured. Fellowship training in orthopaedic traumatology prepares an orthopaedic surgeon for a career that focuses on the definitive care of serious injuries.
MH-TMC is the only hospital in Houston/Harris County that provides continuous call coverage by fellowship-trained orthopaedic traumatologists.
In addition to treating acute musculoskeletal injuries, our fellowship trained orthopaedic traumatologists also treat the complications of these injuries and of their treatment. This includes fractures that do not heal (nonunions) or that heal in the incorrect position (malunions), infections, stiffness, and instability.
