Hi, can somebody give me some insight on the general surgery residency at the University of Hawaii. Nobody at my medical school knows much about it, and when I emailed the residency coordinator to ask if he could give me the email addresses of some of the residents or give my email to the residents so that we could discuss the program, he flat out refused to provide me with any of their email addresses. I remember reading somewhere that it's usually not a good sign if a residency program doesn't want you to talk about the program with its current residents. So if anybody knows anything about this program (except for what's written about it on scutwork.com) I'd appreciate if you'd let me know, thanks.

The UH program has had a reputation of being a program that is heavy on work and light on educational focus. It is not a very big program so I will be interested to find out what they are planning to do to get in compliance with the 80 hr work week. The last time I spoke to one of their residents (~2 years ago) they were pretty miserable. What that person told me was the plus side was you operated like a fiend, but the downside was that there was no time to read at all.

Haven't heard anything since then, so take this information with a grain of salt.

U of Hawaii in general is a miserable place. I interviewed there for med school (as an out of stater), and it quickly went to the bottom of my list.

The administration was not friendly at all (or knowledgeable for that matter), and their curriculum is downright weird. The hospital did not look very well kept up, either. Cost of living is extremely high, also, especially for what they pay you (in residency).

Just to show you how well thought of they are by people who interview there (for residency), they were one of the only places in the country to have unmatched slots in *ortho*, for goodness sakes.

Unless they really change, or you really need to live in HW, I would look elsewhere.

Originally posted by Toadkiller Dog
U of Hawaii in general is a miserable place. I interviewed there for med school (as an out of stater), and it quickly went to the bottom of my list.

The administration was not friendly at all (or knowledgeable for that matter), and their curriculum is downright weird. The hospital did not look very well kept up, either. Cost of living is extremely high, also, especially for what they pay you (in residency).


BTW, the SOM is becoming more organized, and a lot of new residency/clerkship coordinators have come in. It's true that they've come close to losing accreditation for the entire SOM in the past few years, but I think things are on the upswing. I do understand that many of the clinical teachers don't have very much enthusiasm, or supportive of residents.

anyone know what the prelim. in surgery program is like in Hawaii? I am going into anesthesiology but am thinking it might be nice to spend a year in Hawaii for my PGY1 year

Well if the above is any indication of how hard the residents at Hawaii work, you can be sure the prelim will get scutted off the island. :)

Aloha.

I'm not surprised that the coordinator didn't give out his resident's email addresses to you (hello, confidentiality anyone?) but if you want to inquire in another (better) way, simply forward an email to the program coordinator stating your name, year, contact info etc. and ask them to post it to the resident's listserv. It's their job to do this sort of thing and most are happy to oblige. Another route would be to look up the program on scutwork.com and email any of the residents who've posted a review. Good luck!

Originally posted by UI2003
I'm not surprised that the coordinator didn't give out his resident's email addresses to you (hello, confidentiality anyone


Well, actually it's not really a privacy issue. I can go to a number of web sites of surgical residencies and find e-mails of residents(e.g. here (http://www.surgery.wisc.edu/general/residents/current.shtml)). It's absurd to say that the reason a PD won't give e-mail addresses to applicants is because of a privacy issue. I think that any program that tries that hard to guard access to current residents, is throwing a red flag in your face. If a program is asking you for 5-7 years of your life but is not open enough to allow you to contact the current residents then that is problematic.


. Another route would be to look up the program on scutwork.com and email any of the residents who've posted a review. Good luck!

Scutwork is a neat resource, but to base any big decisions on what these anonymous posters have written is not a great idea. There is no way to know if the poster is really a PGY-4, or an MS-III, or if the posts are really unique,or if some resident is signing in as multiple users. Bottom line: do not accept web sites like scutwork.com as substitutes for talking with residents/attendings at the places where you interview.

personally, i would take it as a bad sign that the program coordinator wouldn't help you get in touch with residents. Very questionable. if you are really interested in living there for whatever reason, go ahead and apply. go interview and decide then.

good luck.