NEWS AND UPDATES • FALL 2014news

Beaumont is No. 1 in Michigan for orthopedic surgery, among top 10 nationwideThe recent top U.S. News & World Report ranking for Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak was great news to Jeffrey Fischgrund, M.D., the hospital's chief of orthopedic surgery.

“It just validates what we've been working toward all along,” Dr. Fischgrund said. “As we continue to improve, our standard of care is among the best in the nation.”

In July, the magazine named Beaumont, Royal Oak the top Michigan hospital, and ranked the orthopedic department first in the state and ninth nationally. This marks the magazine's 25th year of evaluating nearly 5,000 U.S. hospitals in 16 adult specialties. According to magazine’s website, patient

safety and hospital reputation were a few of the many factors considered.

Dr. Fischgrund attributed the hospital's success to a continued focus on improving patient outcomes, combined with an emphasis on building research infrastructure.

“We have a lot more of our physicians out at the podium, presenting research,” he said. “I think that helps people to notice Beaumont orthopedics. When you couple that with the number of surgeries performed at the hospital each year, which is among the highest in the nation, Beaumont is really a destination.”

Only 3 percent of the hospitals reviewed by U.S. News & World Report achieved national rankings this year. Beaumont, Royal Oak has spent 20 years on the list. Orthopedics placed highest among 10 nationally ranked Beaumont specialties; other recognized specialties included diabetes and endocrinology (#16), gastroenterology and GI surgery (#20), pulmonology (#22), geriatrics (#24), cardiology and heart surgery (#25), neurology and neurosurgery (#35), nephrology (#37), urology (#42), and gynecology (#44).

Dr. Fischgrund notes the hospital will not rest on its laurels; it continues to recruit quality physicians and perform leading-edge research.

“There's always room for improvement,” he said, “and I think we're poised to improve every year.”

ORTHO

“As we continue to improve, our standard of care is among the best in the nation.” – Jeffrey Fischgrund, M.D.

After nine months of construction, the Marcia and Eugene Applebaum Surgical Learning Center at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak re-opened this summer as the Marcia and Eugene Applebaum Simulation Learning Institute, thanks to another significant gift from the Applebaum family.

Director of Operations Diane Schuch-Miller said the renovation, which expanded the facility's footprint from 4,900 to 7,500 square feet, prompted the name change. The Institute originally opened in 2006.

“We are one of the first simulation and medical education centers in the country,” Schuch-Miller said, “and the 11th to be accredited by the American College of Surgeons.”

Practicing physicians, fellows, residents, medical students and others come to the institute to practice techniques related to many types of procedures–from tying suture knots in simulated skin, to working with a $90,000 mannequin that mimics human reaction to medications.

“We are equipped to take care of the learning needs of all those audiences,” Schuch-Miller said.

Most of the institute's cadaver labs are geared toward orthopedic procedures, from spine to sports medicine. “We can get any kind of tissue, and we have three mock operating rooms that are fully equipped,” Schuch-Miller said.

In addition to training Beaumont staff, the institute hosts vendor labs, during which Beaumont surgeons serve as teachers for physicians from around the country and the world.

“It's a great way to promote our orthopedic surgery program and facilitate surgeon education,” Schuch-Miller added.

The Applebaum Simulation Learning Institute's community outreach also includes participation in the Perry Outreach Program, which inspires young women to become leaders in the fields of orthopedic surgery and engineering. Named in honor of Jacquelin Perry, M.D., one of the first women to enter the field of orthopedic surgery, the program reaches more than 1,000 young women nationally every year.

Through the Perry program, Beaumont hosts high school students, who must submit a detailed application that includes an essay about their interest in the program and long-term goals. Those selected spend time working side-by-side with women surgeons, who show them the field is not just a “boys' world,” Schuch-Miller said.

Rather than cadavers, students train with synthetic bones and joints. They are supervised by surgeons and engineers, “so they can run the drills without running any more risk than they would working in their kitchens.”

“It's a program we're very proud to host,” Schuch-Miller said. “They are so motivated to be here.”

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Top: Sports medicine surgeons from across the country participate in a training session at the Applebaum Simulation Learning Institute.

Middle: The state-of-the-art facility enables physicians, students and others to practice numerous different surgical techniques.

Bottom: Educational sessions in the Applebaum Simulation Learning Institute are an important component of Beaumont's orthopedic surgery residency program.

ORTHO NEWS l 248-551-1467

Expanded Applebaum Simulation Learning Institute advances orthopedic education

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The Doctors WiaterYou might not realize it when you request an appointment, but if you want to see “Dr. Wiater, the orthopedic specialist at Beaumont,” you’re going to have to specify which Dr. Wiater. Four of the physicians in the Beaumont Department of Orthopedic Surgery are Wiaters.

Dr. Jerome Wiater, who has been a Beaumont orthopedic surgeon since 1972, set such a great example while raising his seven children that three of his sons followed in his footsteps and joined him in the field.

“It’s been a great experience,” he says. “I bask in their glow.”

A lot of people ask him if he gently nudged his children to go into what has turned out to be the family business.

“I don’t know if there’s an answer outside of the fact that I tried not to be a coercive parent,” he says. “My wife and I encouraged education and independent thinking.

“I very much enjoyed my practice and career, and the people I’ve associated with, and the quality of the hospital’s medical care and fiscal management. It’s been a good place for me to be and perhaps that example contributed to their decisions.”

That’s the reason that his eldest son, J. Michael Wiater, M.D., joined his father as an orthopedic surgeon in 1999. Then along came Patrick in 2002. And Brett followed in 2013.

When asked if he ever considered going into a different line of work, Michael quickly says, “No. I knew from a young age that I was interested in science. And medicine and science go hand-in-hand.”

Speaking about his father, he says, “He was an excellent role model. He loved what he did, which was a positive influence. But he never tried to persuade any of us to follow in his footsteps. We did that on our own. He was just happy doing what he did, which was all the persuasion we needed.”

Not everyone would like the thought of working with family members, but the Wiaters enjoy it, Michael says. “There’s never been a conflict,” not even friendly spats over sports team rivalries.

He adds that there are “only ups, and no downs” to practicing with his dad and brothers. “If anything, there are many upsides in that we are willing to do anything for each other. You never

feel like you’re offending them or imposing anything on them because they’re family.”

Dr. Michael Wiater said that not every patient realizes that there are multiple Dr. Wiaters, but those who do know think it’s novel.

While these three sons joined their father in practicing orthopedic surgery, three of their four siblings also chose to pursue careers related to health care. Bridget is a radiologist at Beaumont. Timothy is a self-employed physical therapist in Birmingham, and the youngest, Brianne, studied to be a veterinarian.

One son, Christian, is the outlier, a writer who splits his time between Michigan and Los Angeles.

And all of that makes Dr. Jerome Wiater a very proud father. He adds of the sons he gets to see at work most every day, “What’s very heartening is to see these brothers working together.”

ORTHO NEWS l ORTHOPEDICS.BEAUMONT.EDU

New micro-CT equipment adds capabilities to research labWhen it comes to research, small is the next big thing.

At least that is true of some of the work in the Orthopedic Research Laboratory in Beaumont’s Research Institute, where researchers are using a new micro-CT scanner to help develop leading-edge treatment that will benefit patients for decades to come.

The main benefits of the micro-CT scanner over a standard, clinical CT scanner are the size (the micro-CT scanner is small enough to fit on a desktop) and perhaps more importantly, the massively improved resolution. A typical scanner allows analysis of

items as small as 500 microns, half a millimeter. But in the micro-CT scanner, researchers will be able to see things that are just four microns, less than the width of a human hair.

continued on page 4

L to R: Patrick Wiater, M.D., Jerome Wiater, M.D.,

J. Michael Wiater, M.D., and Brett Wiater, M.D.

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We appreciate your support

Orthopedic research projects

at Beaumont are funded through

a combination of charitable gifts,

peer-reviewed grants and industrial

sponsorships. If you would like

to consider making a charitable

contribution in support of a specific

area of orthopedic research, or to

help underwrite the purchase of

equipment used in research projects,

please contact John Lewandowski

in the Beaumont Foundation

at 248-964-8172 or via email at

john.lewandowski@beaumont.edu.

Editors: Rachel S. Rohde, M.D.

Erin A. Baker, M.S.

Jeffrey S. Fischgrund, M.D. Chairman, Department of

Orthopedic Surgery

orthopedics.beaumont.edu/publications

ORTHO NEWS l 248-551-1467 l ORTHOPEDICS.BEAUMONT.EDU

Micro-CT equipment continued from page 3

For an

appointment with

an orthopedic

surgery specialist,

please call

248-551-1467.

That improved resolution will enable clinicians to do an even more detailed analysis on bones, and on failed implants.

“The micro-CT allows us to do a higher level and quality of preclinical research,” Kevin Baker, Ph.D., director of the Orthopedic Research Laboratory, said. “Within the Beaumont Department of Orthopedic Surgery, research plays an enormous role. Our residents and fellows are expected to complete significant research before they graduate, so we have 50 or 60 projects going on at all times.”

Not many orthopedic research programs have this type of equipment, Baker adds, and it will help the lab remain one of the country’s premier research facilities.

“This has been on our wish list for about five years. In December, the Beaumont Research Institute generously granted approximately $250,000 to help us purchase the equipment,” Erin Baker, M.S., a research engineer in the lab, said. “We had been sending out the research specimens that required micro-CT to other places. We received the new scanner in January, and it has been running nonstop.”

More important than what it will do for researchers, the new scanner will ultimately benefit patients.

“It will be really beneficial when we do analysis of implants,” in the lab’s implant retrieval program, Erin Baker said. Since 2005, the lab has collected nearly 10,000 implants.

“Especially with polyethylene implants, we can see inside the actual component to observe and measure cracking, and we do not have to destroy the implant in the process,” she says. “Most labs have to cut implants to look at them under a microscope. We won’t have to do that.”

The lab can then use its findings from nondestructive testing in its reports to the FDA and in research studies that find ways to build better implants that are less likely to fail, adds Kevin Baker.

The micro-CT will also help them evaluate new biomaterials and implants that are developed in the lab, he says.

“Biomaterial development is really the next generation,” Erin Baker adds. “When we’re researching things like regenerating cartilage, we can come up with new therapies that will impact patients 10, 20 or even 30 years from now. These are materials we're creating now that will hopefully be used in the future.”

Distance map of polyethylene reverse total shoulder liners scanned in micro-CT, showing distribution of wear induced during wear simulation tests.