UW vs. OHSU Anesthesiology

[AnesthUWvsOHSU]

Dear all,

I wanted to hear if anyone had any thoughts about the following 2 anesthesiology residency programs:

1) UW - Seattle
2) OHSU - Portland

I loved both when I interviewed, I thought the faculty and residents I met at both were super-helpful and huge resident advocates. I know I can't go wrong with either. Wondering if anyone knows anything about these programs/cities? (please keep it respectful)

I have no family or location constrictions. In the end I want great anesthesiology residency training, in a great city, with great fellowship/research opportunities (don't we all )

For UW-Seattle, seems to have more international/national recognition, but my concerns are the larger program size and the 4 different hospitals (i.e. how much of a hassle this is)

For OHSU, smaller residency, huge emphasis on resident teaching, like the 1 center with all hospitals linked.

Would appreciate any thoughts. Thank You.

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[DrDre']

At OHSU, they take the mission to educate and develop anesthesiologists very seriously.

Didactics are fine, both intraoperatively and in lectures.

Mentorship and supervision are excellent.

Autonomy develops over the course of the residency. It is not however a place where there is huge autonomy due to medicare rules and a strong ethos to optimize patient care and safety.

Caseload is diverse. Tons of cardiac which remains elusive at other programs.

Regional is excellent. MY only criticism is paucity of non-US guided PNB. Although US is becoming the standard, there are places without them. Also, there are days when someone else is using the US or it is broken!

That said, I have had no problem developing my abilities to do landmark and twitch PNBs.

OHSU is overall an excellent program.

I LOVED that all hospitals were at same location. It makes commuting easy. Many residents bike or run to work.

PDX is a great city. Restaurants are phenomenal.


UW, on the other hand, is considered to also be an excellent program.
I think it has improved markedly but there are still persistent rumors of maligancy, workhorse mentality. It is also a large program which isnt great for everyone. I think middle-sized is best.

Good luck, it's a great career@!

Dear all,

I wanted to hear if anyone had any thoughts about the following 2 anesthesiology residency programs:

1) UW - Seattle
2) OHSU - Portland

I loved both when I interviewed, I thought the faculty and residents I met at both were super-helpful and huge resident advocates. I know I can't go wrong with either. Wondering if anyone knows anything about these programs/cities? (please keep it respectful)

I have no family or location constrictions. In the end I want great anesthesiology residency training, in a great city, with great fellowship/research opportunities (don't we all )

For UW-Seattle, seems to have more international/national recognition, but my concerns are the larger program size and the 4 different hospitals (i.e. how much of a hassle this is)

For OHSU, smaller residency, huge emphasis on resident teaching, like the 1 center with all hospitals linked.

Would appreciate any thoughts. Thank You.

 

[midazme]

Dear all,

I wanted to hear if anyone had any thoughts about the following 2 anesthesiology residency programs:

1) UW - Seattle
2) OHSU - Portland

I loved both when I interviewed, I thought the faculty and residents I met at both were super-helpful and huge resident advocates. I know I can't go wrong with either. Wondering if anyone knows anything about these programs/cities? (please keep it respectful)

I have no family or location constrictions. In the end I want great anesthesiology residency training, in a great city, with great fellowship/research opportunities (don't we all )

For UW-Seattle, seems to have more international/national recognition, but my concerns are the larger program size and the 4 different hospitals (i.e. how much of a hassle this is)

For OHSU, smaller residency, huge emphasis on resident teaching, like the 1 center with all hospitals linked.

Would appreciate any thoughts. Thank You.

UW certainly has the recognition, and is recruiting top faculty from the US and around the world.

You won't feel the larger program size as a problem because of the 4 different sites; however, no one seems to have a problem getting to or working at the 4 sites. This is especially true if you do your intern year here, as you go through those 4 sites then.

The regional experience at the UW is the biggest downside. We do only US-guided blocks, but the overall number of blocks seems to be low. This may be changing in the future, but keep that in mind when making your decision.

 

[gasmd11]

I can comment on UW as i'm currently here..

It is a great program, with lots of high acuity patients. We manage all the trauma from 5 states and have plenty of big cases. I have done over 12 liver transplants, and a handful of heart and lung transplants. While I don't intend on going into transplant anesthesia, i find the experience quite useful.

There are 4 major sites (with 2 or 3 optional sites) which we can rotate through (eg. virginia mason, as well as two private practice settings).

There is plenty of didactic -- every 3rd wednesday is lecture day. As well, there are plenty of morning lectures depending on your specific rotation. Some rotations like OB have dedicated lecture time each morning. A lot of internationally known faculty here with lots of pull in the academic world...

Some of the problems -- some complain about inadequate regional exposure. I think that was an issue with previous classes, but they have brought on a few regional gurus from overseas and we are now convincing the surgeons to let us do more blocks. I have done a little over 150 blocks in 2.5 years of residency, with approximately half of those being catheters.

I feel that with my training, Im very comfortable doing the usual blocks. If I wanted more regional training, I could have used more elective months in regional heavy rotations.

Hope that helps

 

[bogatyr]

Wondering if anyone knows anything about these programs/cities?

Watch the show Portlandia. It's pretty much spot-on.