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Studies & Degrees in Traumatological Surgery

Traumatological surgery is the surgical treatment of injuries. The term covers two fields that are organised differently from country to country. In Spain, much of continental Europe and Latin America, traumatology is joined to orthopaedics in one specialty that treats the bones, joints, muscles, tendons and nerves, from fractures and dislocations to joint replacement. In the United States, trauma surgery usually means the care of severely injured patients, often with injuries to the chest or abdomen, by general surgeons with further training in critical care.

In both senses this is a medical specialty, not a first degree. Students first qualify as doctors and then train for several years in hospital. During that training they learn to assess an injured patient, to decide when to operate, to repair fractures and soft tissue, to control bleeding and to follow the patient until function is recovered.

Qualifications and levels

The route always starts with a degree in medicine and continues with specialist training in a hospital. The length and the name of the specialty depend on the country.

  • Spain. The bachelor's degree (grado) in Medicine has 360 ECTS credits, which is six years. Graduates then compete in the national selection exam for specialist training places run by the Ministerio de Sanidad. The official specialty is Cirugía Ortopédica y Traumatología, and its training programme lasts five years. It covers the surgical and non-surgical treatment of congenital, traumatic, infectious, tumoral and degenerative conditions of the musculoskeletal system.
  • United Kingdom. The specialty is called trauma and orthopaedic surgery. After medical school, doctors complete a two-year foundation programme and then apply for specialty training, which takes a minimum of eight years according to NHS Health Careers.
  • United States. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, physicians and surgeons need a bachelor's degree and a four-year medical degree, followed by 3 to 9 years of internship and residency depending on the specialty; subspecialisation adds a fellowship of 1 to 3 years. Trauma surgeons normally complete a general surgery residency and then a fellowship. The accreditation body ACGME lists Surgical Critical Care among the subspecialties of surgery.
  • Short courses. Practising doctors add courses in trauma care. The Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) programme of the American College of Surgeons, introduced in 1978, has been taught to more than 1 million clinicians in more than 80 countries. The Royal College of Surgeons of England runs the two-day Definitive Surgical Trauma Skills course for senior trainees (ST5-8) and consultants.

Other countries use their own systems, with a medical degree followed by a residency or similar postgraduate training in surgery or in traumatology and orthopaedics. Ask each university which qualification it awards and whether the health authority of the country where you want to work recognises it.

Where to study it

The directory lists seven schools for this subject: three in the United States, two in Ukraine, one in Nigeria and one in Russia. They are universities with a medical school, among them Stanford University and Saint Louis University in the United States, Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria, Rostov State Medical University in Russia, and Bukovinian State Medical University and Sumy State University in Ukraine. The Department of Surgery of Saint Louis University has a division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery and a Surgical Critical Care Fellowship, and the Department of Surgery at Stanford also lists a fellowship in Surgical Critical Care.

Specialist training takes place in the language of the hospital, because doctors work with patients every day. Foreign medical graduates normally need their degree recognised and a licence to practise before they can start a residency, so check the rules of the country first.

Careers

Specialists work in hospital emergency departments, operating theatres, intensive care units and outpatient clinics. In the United Kingdom, NHS Health Careers notes that trauma and orthopaedic surgeons may later concentrate on one area, such as the shoulder and elbow, joint reconstruction, children's surgery, sports injury or complex trauma surgery, and that they can teach or do research.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment of physicians and surgeons in the United States to grow 4 percent from 2025 to 2035, about as fast as the average for all occupations. The figure covers all doctors, not only trauma surgeons. In every country the right to practise depends on registration with the national medical authority.

Frequently asked questions

Can I study traumatological surgery as a first degree?

No. It is a specialty for qualified doctors. You first complete a degree in medicine and then specialist training in a hospital.

How long does it take to become a trauma and orthopaedic surgeon in Spain?

The degree in Medicine has 360 ECTS credits (six years) and the specialist training in Cirugía Ortopédica y Traumatología lasts five years, so the minimum is eleven years, plus the time needed to obtain a training place.

Is trauma surgery the same as orthopaedics?

It depends on the country. In Spain and the United Kingdom, trauma to bones and joints is part of one specialty together with orthopaedics. In the United States, trauma surgery is usually practised by general surgeons with a fellowship, and orthopaedic surgeons treat fractures.