Nellis General Surgery Residency

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HumptyDumptyMil

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Very few posts exists about the new general surgery residency program at Nellis. I'm having difficulty getting in touch with their surgery coordinator. Specifically, I would like to know if the accredidation process is different for the AF positions and the civilian positions. Any insight if AF residents are treated differently than their civilian counterparts, or is it a fully integrated program like Wright Sttate and UC Davis?
I'm mostly concerned about the stability of the AF spots, and would like reassurance that it will not be dropped all of a sudden during my training. Thanks!

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Very few posts exists about the new general surgery residency program at Nellis. I'm having difficulty getting in touch with their surgery coordinator. Specifically, I would like to know if the accredidation process is different for the AF positions and the civilian positions. Any insight if AF residents are treated differently than their civilian counterparts, or is it a fully integrated program like Wright Sttate and UC Davis?
I'm mostly concerned about the stability of the AF spots, and would like reassurance that it will not be dropped all of a sudden during my training. Thanks!

Well, I can't speak to Nellis in particular, but in general, the AF spots for GS at any facility have to be accredited in some fashion (provisionally for new programs, fully for established, etc).

Even if the program goes belly up (and no reason that they would), they wouldn't just drop you and leave you in the cold. The AF has identified a need for X number of surgeons in 5 years, and Nellis is helping to fulfill that number. Without the program, the AF still needs that X number and will work to find you a spot at another program, usually a civilian program. The precedence for this is the Keesler program, which disappeared with Hurricane Katrina. The AF found all of the residents spots at civilian programs at their training level.
 
Very few posts exists about the new general surgery residency program at Nellis. I'm having difficulty getting in touch with their surgery coordinator. Specifically, I would like to know if the accredidation process is different for the AF positions and the civilian positions. Any insight if AF residents are treated differently than their civilian counterparts, or is it a fully integrated program like Wright Sttate and UC Davis?
I'm mostly concerned about the stability of the AF spots, and would like reassurance that it will not be dropped all of a sudden during my training. Thanks!

Hey, I'm an MS4 from USUHS currently rotating out at "Nellis." I quote "Nellis" because most of the training happens at University Medical Center with VA rotations at Nellis. The surgical training is supervised by UMC/University of Nevada Faculty. Currently, there are 2 "preliminary" gen surg interns who are active duty AF. They're treated the same as the other interns. The site visit was just completed a few months ago but UMC won't find out if the AF will grant them the 2 spots they're asking for until October at the earliest. It may be even as late as March. I'm going for the gen surg spot. If you want to visit, you should talk to Ms. Gloria Brown, the clerkship admin. Her contact is: 702-671-2338. There's currently no AF students rotating out here and their program is eager to recruit. Best of luck.
 
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Well, I can't speak to Nellis in particular, but in general, the AF spots for GS at any facility have to be accredited in some fashion (provisionally for new programs, fully for established, etc).

Even if the program goes belly up (and no reason that they would), they wouldn't just drop you and leave you in the cold. The AF has identified a need for X number of surgeons in 5 years, and Nellis is helping to fulfill that number. Without the program, the AF still needs that X number and will work to find you a spot at another program, usually a civilian program. The precedence for this is the Keesler program, which disappeared with Hurricane Katrina. The AF found all of the residents spots at civilian programs at their training level.

Worst case scenario, if a program goes "Tango Uniform" (i.e., Keesler, post-Katrina) they will farm you out to a sympathetic civilian program. Had at least one gen surg resident at my school who was a Keesler orphan.
 
Hey, I'm an MS4 from USUHS currently rotating out at "Nellis." I quote "Nellis" because most of the training happens at University Medical Center with VA rotations at Nellis. The surgical training is supervised by UMC/University of Nevada Faculty. Currently, there are 2 "preliminary" gen surg interns who are active duty AF. They're treated the same as the other interns. The site visit was just completed a few months ago but UMC won't find out if the AF will grant them the 2 spots they're asking for until October at the earliest. It may be even as late as March. I'm going for the gen surg spot. If you want to visit, you should talk to Ms. Gloria Brown, the clerkship admin. Her contact is: 702-671-2338. There's currently no AF students rotating out here and their program is eager to recruit. Best of luck.

There have been recent changes in the UMC program, not for the better according to a resident in the program. Tread carefully.
 
I am one of the Active Duty residents at Nellis. The residency is essentially a civilian residency with full active duty benefits (including pay and time-in-service). Military residents are treated the exact same as their civilian counterparts. Rotations take place primarily at UMC hospital in Las Vegas, with some rotations at Nellis AFB and the VA.
The residency is in a state of "transition" only in that it is expanding from three to five categorical residents per year (approval was recently granted for the fourth spot, and work is now ongoing to increase to five spots). Like any residency there are pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses, so talk to as many people as possible and go for a visit if you can.

For more information visit the University of Nevada's website:

http://www.medicine.nevada.edu/residency/lasvegas/surgery/Military.asp
 
As a general rule a new residency program, especially in a base where you will not have full access to a wide spectrum of general surgery as you would at an established large civilian program.

If its a matter of choice, I would recommend you choose something established as this is the base and foundation for the rest of your career.

I would like to know how much of the training happens at the civilian program. For instance, the program at Wright Patt, had the military residents do one rotation as first years, and then 4 months as a chief resident. So the bulk was at the civilian residency. If the bulk was spent at wright patt, they would have been woefully undertrained, as wright patt is now basically a minimal care hospital except for bariatrics which is doing well.

This is one of my biggest problems with military medicine, especially for highly demanding specialties. There is just not the volume to put out well trained physicians that then go on to hospitals where their skills just atrophy.
 
This residency is far from being a new residency--it has been established for many years, and is thus a "large civilian program." The Air Force just began sending residents to this program last year, making it "new" for the Air Force. The Air Force saw an opportunity when the program decided to expand and asked if its residents could be accepted into the extra slots that opened up.

The Air Force residents are treated exactly the same as the civilian residents. Same rotations, same educational requirements, same expectations. This is really a civilian residency where you get to be on the Air Force's payroll. This means Captain's pay as well as benefits like time-in-service credit and health care. For doing the same amount of work you'll get paid almost twice what your colleagues are making (switches after graduation, of course :).

All residents, both civilian and military, do rotations at the nearby VA and Air Force Hospitals. Currently residents do 3 months with the Air Force and 8 months with the VA. The rest of training is spent at the University Medical Center in Las Vegas. This hospital is staffed by both University and private physicians and surgeons, so residents are exposed to numerous styles of management and technique.

As a resident in this program you can easily reach 1200+ cases by the end of your chief year. Each Chief resident has their own clinic where they see their own patients and choose their own cases, so reaching the 150 required chief cases is easy. In addition, there is abundant trauma and critical care experience to prepare you for military deployments straight out of residency. And with no Ortho, Uro, Neurosurg, or ENT residents to compete with, you won't have to worry about fighting for cases in those fields if you desire them.
 
I realize this is a necrobump but does anyone have recent exposure to this program that can comment on its training quality, case load, resident happiness, etc? Any major changes since NellisSurgery's report in 2011? PMs welcome.
 
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