I am a Cleveland Clinic anesthesiology resident. There are several things that I complain about on a daily basis to anyone who will listen - I think a lot of us like to complain -, but I am also satisfied that I signed up for this program knowing full well what it meant and that I am receiving exactly that.
Re: forced rexing. Our surgical resident colleagues
when we complain about our hours; they cant understand it since we are at least getting paid extra ($60/hr as mentioned in other responses). Perhaps if we only had 20 or less ORs to run in general anesthesia we would need less folks to work, but with over 40 ORs just for general anesthesia we require a larger workforce. Again, at least we are getting paid for our time past 1700. Note- this is only applicable to our months in the General ORs. Our other rotations have much more predictable and often shorter - hours.
Re: slave work force what residency is not slave labor? I think most residents in all specialties consider themselves cheap labor given our salaries and the hours that we work (even with averaging less than 65 hrs/wk).
Re: Nurse supervision in PACE Clinic The nurse manager runs the office. The Attending Anesthesiologist oversees the residents regarding patient care and management. We get 30 minute lunches just like in the ORs.
Re: Nurse case preference neuro, vascular and ENT have always been areas of contention. After this complaint a year ago, there was an investigation into the case distribution and it was found that the majority of large neuro and vascular cases go appropriately to CA2-3s and less are given to CRNA/SRNAs. However, the number of large vascular cases is decreasing as the number of endovascular surgeries increase.
Re: Program Director- Our PD is rarely if ever in the ORs. He is mainly in the PACE clinic pre-anesthesia clearance clinic and the PACU. As attending for these locations, he directly supervises residents.
Re: OB this is usually thought of as one of our favorite rotations because it is generally thought of as a pleasant environment that is less stressful and less hours that the general ORs we get Non-clinical Reading days during this rotation
! Many CA3s elect to take an extra month of OB.
Re: Huron this is our trauma rotation a 1-month rotation as a CA3 that is a work in progress. I cannot speak to the personalities or characters of the attendings.
Re: Program Administrator- She is demanding of respect, and has a lot of influence because she has been in her position for years. However, residents who took LOAs this year had broken bones and family emergencies. Our resident who left did so to be with her family with the support of the PA and PD.
Re: cherry-picking residents- Residents who are not in the General ORs are typically more likely to come to the lunches and the dinners because their hours are lighter and they do not need to be relieved from the ORs to get lunch. Interns are also more likely to come to the lunch because again they do not need to be relieved from the ORs. Even with over 100 residents, it can be challenging to get residents to come to the dinners simply because they have lives outside of residency and would rather spend their non-working hours on a Sunday night living them. Residents who arent happy with the program are even less likely to sacrifice extra time to promote it.
CCF program - We have a large caseload in the general ORs. We work hard in the general ORs, but often our hours are less outside of the general ORs (M-F 40hrs/wk with 3-5 overnight calls on other rotations like Pain (4 months), SICU (4 months), PACE/PACU (4 months), OB (2-3months)). Our internship may be one of the nicest out there with most of the rotations being 40hrs/wk or less with no call.
Many of us are enthusiastic about our new Chair, Dr. Brown, who appears very interested in the issues that have been raised over the last few months. We are hopeful that some of the systemic problems are not only being investigated and evaluated, but will also be resolved. Nonetheless, if you dont want to work a lot during the CA years, dont come to CCF.