With interviews started in full force, I just wanted to put out a brief review of our program here in Oklahoma. Personally, I think we have one of the best programs in the country and I'm extremely proud of what we have going here. I know it's too late to apply this year to OU, but hopefully this can be used in the future as a reference to OU as well.
Residents:
We take 3 residents a year. No preference to school/coast. We always have a great group of guys that take care of each other. We all do our jobs and take care of business so we don't have much drama at all. Almost all of us have wives and kids so we do actually have a life outside of residency. I can't stress how nice it is to go through a residency program with guys you trust.
Rotations:
First year: 6 months anesthesia, 2 months Medicine (Cardiology/Pulm), 4 months OMS
Anesthesia rotation is great. 4 months adults, 2 peds. We run our own room very early and get thrown into the fire. Great relationship with anesthesia residents and attendings. Medicine rotation is typical. Nothing exciting.
Second Year: 4 months OMS, 4 months Gen Surgery, 4 months private OMS rotation at Baptist hospital
Baptist hospital rotation is great because you get in the OR early as a 2nd year with the private OMS guys and get great exposure. It's great to just be in the OR and start seeing more orthognathic/TMJ/Pathology cases. Honestly, you end up holding sticks most of the time, but still great exposure.
Gen Surgery is typical. Plenty of exposure to things you'll never do again. 1 month of Trauma ICU, 1 month of Trauma days, 1 month of Trauma nights, 1 month of Peds surg.
Third Year: 4 months on Dr. Sullivan service, 4 months on Dr. Smith service, 4 months on Trauma service
Fourth Year: Same
Dr. Sullivan's service is a very busy 4 months of orthognathic/TMJ cases. We get tremendous exposure to orthognathic cases. We cut half the case with Dr. Sullivan with the third year cutting the maxilla and the fourth year cutting the mandible. It's almost standard to have "triple-doubles" on Mondays (LeFort/BSSO x 3 patients). We learn to be fast and efficient with almost all cases less than 2 hours. I would put our numbers up against most any program in the country. I would guess Dr. Sullivan does around 150 orthognathic cases a year, but with the summer we just had, I would expect that number to easily increase.
Dr. Smith's service is a busy 4 months of mostly cleft exposure. Everything from primary lip to palate repair to pharyngeal flap to alveolar cleft to orthognathic surgery. Dr. Smith owns clefts in Oklahoma and has a busy enough practice to support a fellow. Dr. Smith is extremely well-known in the community as the go-to for clefts. Dr. Smith encourages us to be involved in CL/P in the future and believes that CL/P is an OMS procedure. Again, great exposure that you don't get at many places.
Trauma service is busy enough. You aren't swamped with POS all day long, but you get plenty of business. We split trauma with ENT/Plastics q3. First and second year residents on service take primary call with third and fourth year backups. While on trauma service, you also have responsibilities in the clinic and get most of your dentoalveolar experience here with the 3rd and 4th year guys doing mostly sedation 3rds and implants.
Didactics:
Path lecture every other week. Thursday afternoon learning sessions and Friday morning radiology review sessions. In my first years, I felt like we lacked a little in the didactic side of the training, but Dr. Smith's fellows have been great in teaching and requiring more from us. That being said, no one is going to hold your hand and make you read either. We still take primary responsibility for our continuing education.
I could give you mountains more of information, but I am a resident which means I don't have time to write you a longer book.
OVERALL:
Strengths: Residents, Facilities (clinic is definitely the nicest that I saw on my interview trail and acts like a private practice; not a free point and pull clinic), Surgical experience (really what matters most), Cost of living in Oklahoma is spectacular
Weaknesses:
Cosmetics: Little to none. Can shadow outside "Facial Cosmetic" guys in the community if interest is there.
Cancer: None. Some may not see that as a weakness.
Again, I'm thrilled to be a resident here and would put my training up against most in the country, especially in core OMS. We have fun, train hard and enjoy being here. My one piece of advice when going on interviews is to see if you notice that the residents enjoy being around each other. Most people can't fake that.
Our interview date is coming up in January. We look forward to meeting everyone there. It's always a good time for all of us. Good luck.
Residents:
We take 3 residents a year. No preference to school/coast. We always have a great group of guys that take care of each other. We all do our jobs and take care of business so we don't have much drama at all. Almost all of us have wives and kids so we do actually have a life outside of residency. I can't stress how nice it is to go through a residency program with guys you trust.
Rotations:
First year: 6 months anesthesia, 2 months Medicine (Cardiology/Pulm), 4 months OMS
Anesthesia rotation is great. 4 months adults, 2 peds. We run our own room very early and get thrown into the fire. Great relationship with anesthesia residents and attendings. Medicine rotation is typical. Nothing exciting.
Second Year: 4 months OMS, 4 months Gen Surgery, 4 months private OMS rotation at Baptist hospital
Baptist hospital rotation is great because you get in the OR early as a 2nd year with the private OMS guys and get great exposure. It's great to just be in the OR and start seeing more orthognathic/TMJ/Pathology cases. Honestly, you end up holding sticks most of the time, but still great exposure.
Gen Surgery is typical. Plenty of exposure to things you'll never do again. 1 month of Trauma ICU, 1 month of Trauma days, 1 month of Trauma nights, 1 month of Peds surg.
Third Year: 4 months on Dr. Sullivan service, 4 months on Dr. Smith service, 4 months on Trauma service
Fourth Year: Same
Dr. Sullivan's service is a very busy 4 months of orthognathic/TMJ cases. We get tremendous exposure to orthognathic cases. We cut half the case with Dr. Sullivan with the third year cutting the maxilla and the fourth year cutting the mandible. It's almost standard to have "triple-doubles" on Mondays (LeFort/BSSO x 3 patients). We learn to be fast and efficient with almost all cases less than 2 hours. I would put our numbers up against most any program in the country. I would guess Dr. Sullivan does around 150 orthognathic cases a year, but with the summer we just had, I would expect that number to easily increase.
Dr. Smith's service is a busy 4 months of mostly cleft exposure. Everything from primary lip to palate repair to pharyngeal flap to alveolar cleft to orthognathic surgery. Dr. Smith owns clefts in Oklahoma and has a busy enough practice to support a fellow. Dr. Smith is extremely well-known in the community as the go-to for clefts. Dr. Smith encourages us to be involved in CL/P in the future and believes that CL/P is an OMS procedure. Again, great exposure that you don't get at many places.
Trauma service is busy enough. You aren't swamped with POS all day long, but you get plenty of business. We split trauma with ENT/Plastics q3. First and second year residents on service take primary call with third and fourth year backups. While on trauma service, you also have responsibilities in the clinic and get most of your dentoalveolar experience here with the 3rd and 4th year guys doing mostly sedation 3rds and implants.
Didactics:
Path lecture every other week. Thursday afternoon learning sessions and Friday morning radiology review sessions. In my first years, I felt like we lacked a little in the didactic side of the training, but Dr. Smith's fellows have been great in teaching and requiring more from us. That being said, no one is going to hold your hand and make you read either. We still take primary responsibility for our continuing education.
I could give you mountains more of information, but I am a resident which means I don't have time to write you a longer book.
OVERALL:
Strengths: Residents, Facilities (clinic is definitely the nicest that I saw on my interview trail and acts like a private practice; not a free point and pull clinic), Surgical experience (really what matters most), Cost of living in Oklahoma is spectacular
Weaknesses:
Cosmetics: Little to none. Can shadow outside "Facial Cosmetic" guys in the community if interest is there.
Cancer: None. Some may not see that as a weakness.
Again, I'm thrilled to be a resident here and would put my training up against most in the country, especially in core OMS. We have fun, train hard and enjoy being here. My one piece of advice when going on interviews is to see if you notice that the residents enjoy being around each other. Most people can't fake that.
Our interview date is coming up in January. We look forward to meeting everyone there. It's always a good time for all of us. Good luck.
