"I'm a resident at Loyola and yes we are on probation. I'm a long time poster here, but I had Arch post this for me because I'd prefer to keep my anonymity. I think it's better than someone creating an account with one post and not having any legitimacy, but who knows.
The reason we were put on probation was "service over education". Mainly that related to relief of CRNAs and a poor educational curriculum. We never broke duty hours, but there were a lot of times where you'd wait around to relieve a CRNA at 5. In addition, the quality of our lectures wasn't great and you were often pressured to go set up your room rather than attend. The atmosphere is excellent here and the department is well-respected around the hospital. There were no malignancy concerns that led to the probation.
Although we were in fact put on probation, that's actually led to some good changes here. They got rid of the CRNA relief thing and so you no longer have to sit around and wait if you are not on-call. They've also hired more attendings and CRNAs in an effort to further smoothen out the schedule.
In addition, they've added an hour on Wednesday's for educational activity which is protected and you get a late start or your attending starts your case. They've also changed who is in charge of the curriculum and they're revamping the entire lecture series, with more of a focus on ITE and written board prep. So now we have a Critical Care lecture on Monday mornings (optional attendance), Oral board prep Wednesday morning (also optional), class lecture on one of the other days (they changed it where you usually get a late start now) and the Wednesday lecture.
Overall, I know we're on probation but I don't regret coming here one bit and it appears to have motivated the department heads to make significant changes. I ranked Loyola #1 and I would come back here again if given the chance. The pathology that you'll see here is excellent and most residents meet their numbers by the end of CA-2 year. CV surgery is really big here and you get experience with all sorts of hearts. Plus we're a Level 1 trauma center and a major transplant center so you'll get more than enough exposure to large cases. You also do an entire month of blocks and you can get upwards of 200 blocks easily. Didactics and education need improvement, but hopefully those changes will kick in.
Honestly, if you want a program where you're going to be clinically sound and able to do any sort of case, then Loyola will give you that. You're going to have to do some reading on your own, but I knew that coming in and preferred to go to a place that gave me the ability to deal with anything since I know I have the ability to self-study.
If anybody has any questions, please don't hesitate to ask."
