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- Dec 28, 2008
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I know this time of year, everyone is trying to figure out exactly how they want to fill out their rank list, but I just want to take the time to post a little about my experiences at my OMFS internship so that those of you not fortunate enough to MATCH will be aware of the opportunities available to you. I encourage others in similar positions at GPRs and other internships to do the same.
I am currently an intern at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. Our interns function wholly at JPS hospital, although our program is under the umbrella of the Parkland Residency program with all conference, meeting, and lecture opportunities available to us. We have 3 full time faculty at the moment, each with their own niche. Next year, an additional faculty member will be added.
Our faculty include:
Dr. John Stella: Chairman of the OMFS department at JPS and is an excellent teacher in bread and butter OMFS. Orthognathic treatment planning, organization, and surgical skills along with how to run a private practice are the main things that Dr. Stella will teach you along with overall general patient management.
Dr. Michael Warner works mostly with the residents in the areas of TMJ and facial pain, cosmetics, and salivary gland pathology. Dr. Warner is very knowledgeable in these areas and is a great resource to the interns and residents.
Dr. Herman Kao is a recent graduate of the Parkland residency program Dr. Kao is very much familiar with the challenges of residency and does all he can to show the residents the easy and correct way to approach self-learning and residency as a whole. He also is the main clinic faculty member and covers Facial Lesion clinic and most of our Trauma, cleft, and reconstructive surgery.
Next year JPS will be adding another full time faculty member who will have just completed a 2-year Oncology fellowship. Many of you may know who this person is and know what he brings to the table. Since I have not dealt with this person directly, I will not claim to know what all he has to offer, but I will say that I have heard nothing but good things about this persons surgical skill and desire to teach.
All of our faculty are excellent resources and are very much involved with and concerned about the interns. Each is very much approachable and I would have no problem walking into any of their offices and starting a conversation about just about anything.
Now about the internship itself. The best way I can describe our responsibilities and educational experiences is to walk you through a typical week at JPS.
Monday: All-day Sedation clinic. 3rd molars, Full mouth extractions, difficult pre-prosthetic surgery, etc. We also see consults, follow-ups, and hospital patient follow-ups as needed. But mostly this day is dedicated to our sedation patients. At lunch, we have Orthognathic conference with Dr. Stella where we each present orthognathic surgical workups that we take from impressions through preliminary model surgery and treatment plans. We present these cases formally and discuss treatment options, benefits, risks, etc. This experience is invaluable as far as learning orthognathic surgery from someone who has done over 1,000 cases and published a book on the subject.
Tuesday: Operating Room. JPS has enough trauma, pathology, elective surgery, etc. to fill a full designated OR day each Tuesday. We also operative on Weekends and other days as needed.
Wednesdays: Usually the 5th and 6th year residents are in an orthognathic case with Dr. Stella and the interns cover general clinic (everything but sedations). Wednesday afternoons are Dr. Warners facial Pain/TMJ clinic where we diagnose and treat everything from toothaches to Myofacial pain to true TMJ disorders and neuropathies.
Thursdays: Mornings are Facial Lesion Clinic where we treat everything from moles and lipomas to Squamos cell and basal cell carcinomas. At lunch, Dr. Kao usually has a journal club where we discuss journal articles about various topics.
Fridays are a half-day, usually until about 1pm and is
another full Sedation clinic.
Call: JPS is a level 1 trauma center and you will see the full gamut of craniofacial trauma.
Call is q3 currently for the interns, but next year, JPS will be taking 4 interns so call will probably be q4. Trauma/infections are split every other week with ENT. When on call, but not during a trauma week, your responsibilities are only to manage the OMFS in-house patients and to answer specific referrals to our service. Our operating rooms and Emergency department are all brand new and all imaging is digital. I have been to many programs across the country and can honestly say that I have not seen operating rooms nicer than ours.
 
Benefits: You receive a $1200 moving stipend, a $300 one time allowance to purchase a PDA or Smartphone (we all bought iphones), $50 a month built into your check for your smartphone/PDA, and $1000 education supply allowance with which I bought books. We have a monthly food allowance of about $200 with which no one this year has ever approached. Our resident room is brand new with computers, a nice couch, and laptop.
Fort Worth has a pretty cheap/reasonable cost of living and traffic is not too bad. Dallas is 35 minutes away and between Dallas and Fort Worth, there is pretty much everything you might want in an area to live.
As a dental student, at least for me, no matter how much shadowing and externship experience you have (I did 6), there is still a tendency to feel like an outsider asking for inclusion when interviewing due to your relative inexperience. I cant say that this intern year guarantees myself or my co-interns to MATCH, but I can say that I felt much more confident in my interviews mostly because of the scope of practice I have been exposed to.
As thorough as I have tried to be in my description, I know there will be things I left out and things you will have questions about. Feel free to send me a personal message and I will do my best to answer any and all questions. I also know that many others involved in this program are on SDN and may want to chime in with their opinions and information and I encourage them to do so.
In closing, I just want to add that I feel like this internship has been fantastic to this point mostly because of all I get to do and see. When looking for internships and residencies, I feel that broad scope is very beneficial and I dont think you will find many internships that rival the scope at JPS. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.
If interested in this Internship, Contact Dr. Stella's Residency Coordinator, Holly Portwood at 817-920-6936.
I am currently an intern at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. Our interns function wholly at JPS hospital, although our program is under the umbrella of the Parkland Residency program with all conference, meeting, and lecture opportunities available to us. We have 3 full time faculty at the moment, each with their own niche. Next year, an additional faculty member will be added.
Our faculty include:
Dr. John Stella: Chairman of the OMFS department at JPS and is an excellent teacher in bread and butter OMFS. Orthognathic treatment planning, organization, and surgical skills along with how to run a private practice are the main things that Dr. Stella will teach you along with overall general patient management.
Dr. Michael Warner works mostly with the residents in the areas of TMJ and facial pain, cosmetics, and salivary gland pathology. Dr. Warner is very knowledgeable in these areas and is a great resource to the interns and residents.
Dr. Herman Kao is a recent graduate of the Parkland residency program Dr. Kao is very much familiar with the challenges of residency and does all he can to show the residents the easy and correct way to approach self-learning and residency as a whole. He also is the main clinic faculty member and covers Facial Lesion clinic and most of our Trauma, cleft, and reconstructive surgery.
Next year JPS will be adding another full time faculty member who will have just completed a 2-year Oncology fellowship. Many of you may know who this person is and know what he brings to the table. Since I have not dealt with this person directly, I will not claim to know what all he has to offer, but I will say that I have heard nothing but good things about this persons surgical skill and desire to teach.
All of our faculty are excellent resources and are very much involved with and concerned about the interns. Each is very much approachable and I would have no problem walking into any of their offices and starting a conversation about just about anything.
Now about the internship itself. The best way I can describe our responsibilities and educational experiences is to walk you through a typical week at JPS.
Monday: All-day Sedation clinic. 3rd molars, Full mouth extractions, difficult pre-prosthetic surgery, etc. We also see consults, follow-ups, and hospital patient follow-ups as needed. But mostly this day is dedicated to our sedation patients. At lunch, we have Orthognathic conference with Dr. Stella where we each present orthognathic surgical workups that we take from impressions through preliminary model surgery and treatment plans. We present these cases formally and discuss treatment options, benefits, risks, etc. This experience is invaluable as far as learning orthognathic surgery from someone who has done over 1,000 cases and published a book on the subject.
Tuesday: Operating Room. JPS has enough trauma, pathology, elective surgery, etc. to fill a full designated OR day each Tuesday. We also operative on Weekends and other days as needed.
Wednesdays: Usually the 5th and 6th year residents are in an orthognathic case with Dr. Stella and the interns cover general clinic (everything but sedations). Wednesday afternoons are Dr. Warners facial Pain/TMJ clinic where we diagnose and treat everything from toothaches to Myofacial pain to true TMJ disorders and neuropathies.
Thursdays: Mornings are Facial Lesion Clinic where we treat everything from moles and lipomas to Squamos cell and basal cell carcinomas. At lunch, Dr. Kao usually has a journal club where we discuss journal articles about various topics.
Fridays are a half-day, usually until about 1pm and is
another full Sedation clinic.
Call: JPS is a level 1 trauma center and you will see the full gamut of craniofacial trauma.
Call is q3 currently for the interns, but next year, JPS will be taking 4 interns so call will probably be q4. Trauma/infections are split every other week with ENT. When on call, but not during a trauma week, your responsibilities are only to manage the OMFS in-house patients and to answer specific referrals to our service. Our operating rooms and Emergency department are all brand new and all imaging is digital. I have been to many programs across the country and can honestly say that I have not seen operating rooms nicer than ours.
 
Benefits: You receive a $1200 moving stipend, a $300 one time allowance to purchase a PDA or Smartphone (we all bought iphones), $50 a month built into your check for your smartphone/PDA, and $1000 education supply allowance with which I bought books. We have a monthly food allowance of about $200 with which no one this year has ever approached. Our resident room is brand new with computers, a nice couch, and laptop.
Fort Worth has a pretty cheap/reasonable cost of living and traffic is not too bad. Dallas is 35 minutes away and between Dallas and Fort Worth, there is pretty much everything you might want in an area to live.
As a dental student, at least for me, no matter how much shadowing and externship experience you have (I did 6), there is still a tendency to feel like an outsider asking for inclusion when interviewing due to your relative inexperience. I cant say that this intern year guarantees myself or my co-interns to MATCH, but I can say that I felt much more confident in my interviews mostly because of the scope of practice I have been exposed to.
As thorough as I have tried to be in my description, I know there will be things I left out and things you will have questions about. Feel free to send me a personal message and I will do my best to answer any and all questions. I also know that many others involved in this program are on SDN and may want to chime in with their opinions and information and I encourage them to do so.
In closing, I just want to add that I feel like this internship has been fantastic to this point mostly because of all I get to do and see. When looking for internships and residencies, I feel that broad scope is very beneficial and I dont think you will find many internships that rival the scope at JPS. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.
If interested in this Internship, Contact Dr. Stella's Residency Coordinator, Holly Portwood at 817-920-6936.