Orthopaedic faculty trauma call policies: a survey of accredited orthopaedic residency programs

The purpose of the study was to determine the practices and policies for trauma call for orthopaedic faculty at residency training programs. A 2-page survey was mailed to the chairs of 141 nonmilitary, accredited residency programs. Responses were received from 106 (75% response rate). Of the responders, 97 (91.5%) of the programs were associated with a Level 1 trauma center. All faculty took trauma call in 44% of programs. The chair took trauma call in 60% of the programs. In 35% of programs, full-time faculty earned additional compensation for taking call. The source of this compensation for full-time faculty was the hospital alone in 72%. In 32 programs, a per-diem stipend (mean $696, range $100-1,500) was provided. In 59% of programs, there was a specific orthopaedic "trauma team" that took over patient care from other faculty members after call. Thirty-three percent of programs had a policy concerning age when a full-time faculty member went off trauma call. Of these, faculty came off call at age 50 years in 11% of programs; at age 55 years in 29%; at age 60 years in 40%; at age 65 years in 9%; and "other" in 11%. Twenty percent of chairs responded that trauma call adversely affected the chair's ability to recruit new faculty. There was a wide variety of policies concerning orthopaedic faculty trauma call. Additional studies on faculty trauma call are warranted.