NYU Langone Introduces Spine Pajama Lecture Series

Every Tuesday and Friday you can find the orthopedic fellows, residents and professors at New York University Langone Health (NYULH) in their pajamas. Well…we embellish.

Jeffrey A. Goldstein, M.D., chief of spine service-education and director of Spine Fellowship at NYU Langone, explains, “Our distinguished visiting instructors typically must travel in order to deliver their lectures. Now, with our Spine Pajama Lecture Series, professors can deliver lectures from the comfort of their own homes, while trainees can be home as well…even in their PJs if they wish.”

“Even prior to Covid-19 we were doing WebEx meetings, so this just pushed us to do all virtual meetings. And rather than having residents, fellows, and attendings crammed into a conference room, we have transitioned to Zoom.”

With travel on hold for most everyone, the NYU Langone Spine Pajama Lecture Series fits the needs of visiting professors quite well. It also fits in nicely with the budget. Dr. Goldstein notes, “In the past I had to search for funding, but that is no longer an issue. Typically, these visiting professors fly in the night before, which cuts into their day, and then between their lecture and traveling they ‘lose’ the following day as well.”

And the pajama idea? “Since our conferences typically occur at 7am one of the staff said, ‘We should do the meetings in our PJs—which no one has.”

Thus far, the feedback is thumbs up. “Our colleagues are thrilled that we are keeping up our educational program. We have invited our neurosurgical colleagues and if the residents are not doing Covid coverage they can participate as well. Some of our speakers to date include Dr. Dan Sciubba from Johns Hopkins, who gave a talk on spine tumors, and Dr. Richard Hoston of Southwest Scoliosis Associates, who discussed spine economics. And Dr. Alex Vaccaro, president of the Rothman Orthopaedic Institute, is scheduled to speak on validating spine exams via telemedicine.”

“If it were not for Covid we would never have had the impetus to do something like this. Now we have a platform that allow us to expand and bring in even more visiting professors.”