The Plastic Surgery Foundation
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Grants We Funded

Grant applicants for the 2024 cycle requested a total of nearly $3 million dollars. The PSF Study Section Subcommittees of Basic & Translational Research and Clinical Research evaluated more than 100 grant applications on the following topics:

The PSF awarded research grants totaling over $650,000 dollars to support more than 20 plastic surgery research proposals.

ASPS/PSF leadership is committed to continuing to provide high levels of investigator-initiated research support to ensure that plastic surgeons have the needed research resources to be pioneers and innovators in advancing the practice of medicine.

Research Abstracts

Search The PSF database to have easy access to full-text grant abstracts from past PSF-funded research projects 2003 to present. All abstracts are the work of the Principal Investigators and were retrieved from their PSF grant applications. Several different filters may be applied to locate abstracts specific to a particular focus area or PSF funding mechanism.

A Hand Surgery Curriculum for Plastic Surgery Residents

Principal Investigator
Kim Bjorklund MD

Year
2019

Institution
The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital

Funding Mechanism
ACAPS/PSF Research Grant

Focus Area
Education, Hand or Upper Extremity

Abstract
The ability to diagnose and manage hand injuries on call is an essential component of plastic surgery residency. Providing trainees with these fundamental skills to treat patients from the inception of their training is critical to safe and effective patient care. The purpose of this study is to design and implement a hand surgery curriculum that prepares plastic surgery residents to safely and effectively diagnose and manage acute hand surgery problems encountered on adult and pediatric hand rotations. After completion of the curriculum, residents will demonstrate proficiency in knowledge and clinical skills, as demonstrated by acceptable scores on knowledge and clinical skills tests. They will utilize appropriate history taking, physical examination, and interpretation of diagnostic and radiographic studies to formulate accurate differential diagnoses and treatment plans for common hand call consultations. 15 Ohio State University plastic surgery residents will participate in an 8 week hand surgery curriculum which will be designed and implemented by 6 faculty hand surgeons. A full day boot camp focused on 8 key acute hand injury topics will include didactic lectures, case based clinical scenarios and instruction and practice with casting and splinting techniques. Following the boot camp, PSEN hand trauma online modules will be completed by residents on a weekly basis. An upper extremity anatomy session will be employed to provide procedural instruction with skills practice for common procedures encountered on call. At the end of 8 weeks, residents will undergo a short didactic review session followed by a clinical skills exam using standardized patients with faculty hand surgeons as examiners. A half day refresher boot camp will take place 6 months later to help with learning decay. Primary outcome measures include performance on knowledge and clinical exam tests before and after the curriculum. Secondary outcome measures include resident satisfaction with the curriculum and relationships between clinical and knowledge performance, resident demographics, prior experience, and self-confidence. Expected outcomes include the implementation of a hand surgery curriculum that effectively teaches plastic surgery residents the clinical skills and knowledge necessary to diagnose and manage acute hand consultations encountered on adult and pediatric hand rotations.

Biography
Kim Bjorklund, MD, is a member of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Hand Program at Nationwide Children's Hospital and is an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University. Dr. Bjorklund also serves as the Director of the Brachial Plexus Program. She received her medical degree and completed residency in Plastic Surgery at the University of Manitoba, Canada. Prior to joining Nationwide Children's, she completed Pediatric Plastic Surgery and Pediatric Hand and Upper Extremity fellowships at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, as well as a Hand and Microsurgery fellowship at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. She has also completed a Masters of Medical Education through the University of Cincinnati and the Surgical Education Research Fellowship through the Association of Surgical Education. Dr. Bjorklund specializes in pediatric hand and upper extremity surgery, with a focus on neonatal brachial plexus palsy, congenital limb differences and reconstruction following trauma or disease. Specific research interests in surgical education include resident assessment and curriculum development for plastic surgery residents.