Northwestern grumbling

I was wondering if any residents from Northwestern have complaints about the number of hours they put in...was it more than they expected when they entered the program...is it more than you feel is a reasonable amount of hours to get good clinical experience at the expense of time off to study on your own...are the residents still relieving the CRNA's at 3PM and if so, is this going to change? Any indication of the average number of hours worked per week would be appreciated (in fact, any other thoughts on the program that strike you would also be appreciated). I am starting this thread because I am very interested in the program but some of the residents insinuated they may be overworked.

ndstruct said:

I was wondering if any residents from Northwestern have complaints about the number of hours they put in...was it more than they expected when they entered the program...is it more than you feel is a reasonable amount of hours to get good clinical experience at the expense of time off to study on your own...are the residents still relieving the CRNA's at 3PM and if so, is this going to change? Any indication of the average number of hours worked per week would be appreciated (in fact, any other thoughts on the program that strike you would also be appreciated). I am starting this thread because I am very interested in the program but some of the residents insinuated they may be overworked.

Click to expand...

You seem overly concerned about the hours @ NW. I know nothing about NW but I am sure you will find disgruntled residents who feel over worked, everywhere .
The 80 hour rule prevents the abuse of residents time wise.

CambieMD

Abuse of residents in this specialty is truly a rarity as most residents in most programs rarely approach 65-70 hours a week, much less 80. Would like to know about those programs that even approach 65 hours/week.

i was at northwestern, interviewed and then did a 2nd look (spent a day in the ORs). i think the residents there on the whole are happy. grumbling is present, but show me a program that doesn't have some grumbling. they do work more than some programs, but they don't push the 80hr/wk. Northwestern Memorial is super busy, with 30+ ORs, so surprisingly, the workload is the heaviest when you are a CA1 and lightening up much more as you rotate away to do your advance clinicals CA2 and CA3 yr. the department seem to be supportive, the relationship with attendings is varied, some are collegial/chummy, and some are more businesslike. overall, i liked this program, excellent clinicaal with good national rep.

hope this helps

I'm currently a resident at NW and yes there is some grumbling among the residents but that goes for every program. Hours are roughly 65-70/week with 6-7 calls a month but after doing a medicine intern year, I actually look forward to call for the post-call day off (you generally get 3-4hrs sleep on call anyway and more if you're the senior on) with at least 2 weekends off a month. Case-load is heavy especially on the OB, Cardiac, and neuro services, but after doing my peds rotation I realized how much more confident and clinically competant we are as residents compared to the other visiting programs who were actually CA-3s. Yes, we work very hard, we still get enough reading time (you just have to be self-motivated), but I'm pretty sure it'll pay off in the end...as most of my fellow graduated collegues have told me repeatedly since they've finished. If Chicago is your destination...definitely choose either NW or Rush. 😉

CambieMD said:

The 80 hour rule prevents the abuse of residents time wise.

Click to expand...

Yeah... in theory.

-Skip