Interview reviews

Wow - you've already had your first interview?! Congrats. I haven't applied to SLU but thanks for sharing your experience. I think this will be a helpful thread.

Thanks for the review. I'm curious what the actual interview process was like as well -- how many people did you interview with, were there group interviews, what kinds of questions were you asked, etc. If you have time to add any of this additional info, that would be great. Thanks!

I am glad you both had good interview experiences at SLU. I am a CA-1 there. I will express your wishes about meeting more of us to the attendings. Our ORs have been very busy recently (good for us as we are getting great cases), which means there are fewer "free" residents to stop by and talk. I appreciate the feedback. I think we are a "what you see is what you get" program. The residents and faculty really do get along and enjoy our jobs. And you are right, Statzer is the coolest attending ever!

Good luck and feel free to PM me with any other questions about the program.

Just a little money-saving tip for those of you heading out there. Instead of paying $45 for a cab to the hotel, you can pay about $1.50 for the Metrolink rail system to take you to the Grand stop. Then take the university's free shuttle to the Salus Center hotel. You can do the same for the trip back to the airport.

Hope all is well for you ear-ache, and good luck with your future interviews.

I also interviewed at SLU recently and thought that it was a laid back and resident friendly environment. The one thing that struck me the most was the talk by Dr. Connors, the director of education, who explained his philosophy and method for helping residents passing the boards after CA-3. It really is a great didactic program that they have put together, and he and the rest of the administration seem very serious about putting boards preparation at the top of their priority list. The call schedule seemed too good to be true.
My only reservation was that I wasn't able to meet as many of the residents as I would have liked. It would have been helpful to have been able to meet some more at the dinner.
Overall a good experience.

camkiss said:

I am glad you both had good interview experiences at SLU. I am a CA-1 there. I will express your wishes about meeting more of us to the attendings. Our ORs have been very busy recently (good for us as we are getting great cases), which means there are fewer "free" residents to stop by and talk. I appreciate the feedback. I think we are a "what you see is what you get" program. The residents and faculty really do get along and enjoy our jobs. And you are right, Statzer is the coolest attending ever!

Good luck and feel free to PM me with any other questions about the program.

Click to expand...

Thanks camkiss!

bump.
Anyone been on an interview recently?

First two to comment on

Florida

The overriding theme here is: 1) excellent training, 2) hard work, hard work, hard work, 3) Gainesville = meh


1) I think this could be one of the top 5 programs in the country. Shands is a tertiary referral center and, as such, sees tons of stuff from the southeast corner of USA. All the subspec. are represented and the CA-1s are doing transplants, carotids, etc. early in CA-1 year, one-on-one with an attending. I have been told that after graduating from UF that your job prospects are limitless. Level I trauma for about a year now, I think.

2) Hard work = true 6AM - 6PM days...each resident/attending mentioned how frustrating it can be to have that elective case boarded at 4:30, just when you were thinking you might get out by 5. However, no call (except for on OB), as they employ a night float system. No CRNA support means that residents still get hit with the little stuff when it rolls in, but thats not necessarily bad.

3) Gainesville is not for everybody. Small college town of 150,000 that absolutely dies in the summer time. Very high percentage of physicians to non-physicians, and as such, real estate is pricing higher. If this program were in Tampa or Jacksonville, no doubt it would be very sought after.

Strong pros: Practically invented the anesthesia simulator, original chairman still on staff, his son is current chairman. PD (Dr. Mahla) might be the most hard-working, resident-friendly attending I have met. A huge asset.

Strong cons: No internal moonlighting (yet?), work hours (average 62 logged hours/week), Gainesville (might love it, might hate it).

Vanderbilt

Program's is fairly comparable with that at UF, but I think Nashville has many more resident-friendly places to live, hang out, eat, play, etc. All the attendings at Vandy are very friendly and helpful and some are true geniuses, IMHO. I spent a month here, so I saw a good variety of transplant (3 livers, 2 double lungs), cranis (several open), ortho, regional, etc. In contrast to UF, there is a huge CRNA contingent here, and this is probably my biggest negative about the program, as they are training SRNA's while residents are being trained as well...has to be difficult not to bump elbows every so often. But they do provide a hige service, so I think that it is much more of a benefit to have the 20 or so (?) full-time CRNA here.

Residents are pretty happy and dont seem too overworked. Didactics are strong and the hospital/campus are lovely. Vandy has lots of money and the attendings are all very supportive. Plenty of perks, from what I have heard (book $, others). The chairman currently is an interim chair, and he may or may not remain as permanent chair (likely to remain), but I think he is a big asset, personally. He was very supportive of the students.

Overall, two very good programs that I was very pleased with.

Oklahoma

I was a little surprised here. Apparently this program was near death ~5 years ago. They brought in a new director (ran parts of Baylor, Yale) and she has whipped the program into shape. 16 K cases a year, with strengths being peds and OB (relative to some other progs). Pain fellowship currently with apps for peds and ob anesthesia fellowships. Three main buildings, all connected, with all procedures available (transplants, peds, etc.) One of only two hospitals owned by HCA (Tulane is the other) and Dr. Fitch says this is a tremendous help, as $$$ is pumped into anesthesia from the college, HCA, and the other departments. 8 residents per year, 40 faculty, 12 CRNAs...seems to be a nice mix.

The internship year is tremendous. Ranked by the RRC in the top "2 or 3" transitional years in the country. Interns run the private hospital, all the codes, etc. when on call. Intern year averages 50-52 hours/week (!) as per residents.

Biggest negatives are probably OKC, if you dont like it...it can be boring (small town living in a big city). But, cost of living is excellent. This seems to be a real up-and-comer as far as programs go. I was not prepared to be too impressed, but I was surprised, and pleased, that I went with an open mind.

Coming soon:

UT Southwestern: 11/7
WashU: 12/14
UAB: 11/22
Rush: (Cancelled)
Mayo-Jax: 12/2
JHU: 12/5
UVA: 12/7
Wake: 1/17

Still hope to be able to comment on:

Penn
MGH
Yale
B&W
Duke

Close to giving up on:

Emory
Cornell
Stanford (rejected)
Scott & White
Columbia (rejected)
UCSF (rejected)
Northwestern
Dartmouth
BID
Arizona
Colorado (offered-declined)
SLU (withdrew)

Thanks Idiopathic

Sugar72 said:

Idio - did you already do the "behavioral interview at Vandy?
another q for you - I read a really super negative post about the program in terms of resident attrition rates (lots of CA2's leaving the program)- did you get any kind of feel about that? It sounds like the residents you worked with were pretty happy there.

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Lots of CA2's leaving?? Did not know that. Remeber anything else??

Sugar72 said:

Right after I got my interview invitation there, I did an anesthesiology forum search on Vanderbilt and this thread popped up where the poster just slammed the institution saying that Ca 2's were leaving the program and that when people finished the program noone could get a job in Nashville it was really, really negative. I choose to believe that it was just one unhappy person because I had never really heard bad things about it - they seem to offer residents a lot of perks. Anyway, I just thought I would see what idio thought since it looks like he spent a month there.

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I did hear that about the job market in nashville being a little saturated. However, none of the residents I met seemed unhappy. I didnt hear about any mass exodus of residents, thats for sure.

Scroll up to my first post for Oklahoma interview.

Idio, Northwestern didn't offer me my interview till late november. UIC forgot to call me so I called them and set up my interview in late december...So hang in there because there are plenty more on the way.

Sugar72 said:

VANDERBILT
First off, this department has money coming out of its ears. They put you up in a pretty nice hotel and the restaurant was super delicious. Dinner was with residents - I think 4 residents and their significant others came. The campus is beautiful especially this time of year and Nashville is an easy to live in city with a pretty low cost of living. Residents are all happy and there are a lot of events in the department for socializing. There evidently was a purging of sorts several years ago when they got rid of about 5 residents who were "whiny and lazy".
The lectures are not year specific there are lectures M-Th am and Miller lectures Tuesday pm. Everyone gets out to go to lectures. They have a sim man now that really doesn't get used but they are building a brand new sim lab with a new faculty member who is a sim lab genius - that is supposed to open summer-fall 2006.
Seems like this program is pretty strong in every department. I was really blown away by the facilities and the computerized charting and electronic records are amazing. I was told you will pretty much see everything here - and I believe it. They also have crna and srna's which I like. I like the flexibility of getting the cases I need not 6 million lap choles. They have preop clinic which does the h&p's and put them in the computer so you spend more time during the day running cases and not doing h&p's. I like that too.

THere are both categorical and advanced positions. The categorical intern year is tough from what I could tell - but everyone I talked to said they had no regrets about it. 2 mo surgery, 3 mo IM/MICU (but no clinic), 2 mo critical care(SICU/NICU), 2mo ER, 1 mo Peds, 2 mo Anesthesiology.

The last month of internship is your second anesthesiology rotation and you are paired with a ca3 and an attending and you learn how to run a room. They have a proficency checklist that they check off the items as you get the hang of them and once you run through the list you are on your own - usually ca-1 are running their room about midway through July. The ca-1 that come in after internship get everything in July. I talked to a Ca1 who had just started and he was a little worried about his upcoming ICU month because he had no idea how to run the computer system.

Call is like q3 for about 8 months for internship, then it is 3-4 times a month ca1 on. Call during the week is 3pm to 7am....seems nice to me. Weekend call is 7-7am.

Moonlighting opportunities start ca-2 $60 an hour to run rooms on the weekend for mostly ortho cases. You can also moonlight at the VA once you ahve rotated over there. You get paid $4 q minute for PACU holds too.


So ummm-it was an awful place and noone else should put it on their ROL except me!

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Hey Sugar...care to comment on the "behavioral" interview style there?

Sugar72 said:

Somewhere on this forum is a link to an article that the Vandy anesthesia dept published on their interview and it has an appendix with all of the questions. I think it is in the enormous interview thread. The only questions off of that list that were actually asked of me were describe a situation where you had conflict with someone and how you dealt with it and describe when you had obstacles to overcome. I think it was just much more tempting to ask me about some of my crazy jobs before medical school.

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Thanks! Yeah, I have that article..was just curious what they specifically asked. I had a couple of crazy jobs too prior to med school as well...maybe I'll get the same treatment.

The whole behavioral thing really isnt that bad. Just be yourself, and dont be afraid to say what you honestly feel. The questions are geared towards allowing you to develop the conversation.

No o2

I love sonic youth. How often r u changing your avatar, a 3 hours?

DrDre' said:

No o2

I love sonic youth. How often r u changing your avatar, a 3 hours?

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Yeah, pretty close

Guess I have too much time on my hands. God, I love 4th year! At least I mowed the lawn today--I'm not completely worthless.

Was just in a SY mood today...I get that way sometimes.

For those of you intervieweing at Hopkins there is a new review written by a faculty member and former PD at scutwork.com. Pretty cool to see his opinions.

Interview starts with nice dinner the night before - the residents that came all said that they had no input on the interview, so invited us to ask anything at all. They were all very friendly and inviting, and all of them said they were very happy at Mayo. The interview day starts with an introduction to Mayo by the director, then the group of interviewers split up - one gets the tour, the other gets three thirty minute interviews. Then they reverse the groups and do it again. After all the interviews we went down to the cafeteria for a lunch and talked with more residents we hadn't met yet. The interviews were conversational, with one of the three mainly consisting of personality questions. Every one of the interviewers were pleasant and inviting, none of them seemed malignant in any way.

They put you up in a nice hotel for 2 nights so my wife and I drove the 1.5 hours to get to Minneapolis/St. Paul to see the Mall of America - which is so big it even has several stores dedicated to just selling Mall of America souvenirs! We really liked the area, but we're both from an extremely small town (<1000 people) so it felt a lot like home. Rochester might not have a thriving club scene, but there were plenty of restaurants and several places to go shopping. They have several golf courses, and most of them offer cross country skiing trails during the winter months. The resident that gave our tour said he goes snowboarding in the area nearly every weekend during the winter, so there is plenty to do - as far as I could tell. (I'll admit I've never really liked living in a city, so I am admittedly biased).

Overall a great program; only real weaknesses being Peds that you have to go to Mayo-Jax if you really want an in-depth experience (they do put you up in a pretty sweet place for free with a free car, though). They also offer offsite OB if you want more exposure in a rotation at Wake Forest. They have a pain rotation at Scottsdale where you're apparently the only resident when you're there if you take that option (apparently these are very coveted in the cold winter months). The residents said they have no problem taking the off-site rotations, and Mayo provides an apartment, airfare, and rental car during these rotations - if you choose to take them. The people were very nice and laid back. There seems to be very little scutwork, they NEVER (I believe) have to do preops according to the 5 residents I spoke to; call schedule and daily work hours said to be very good (the 200 CRNAs on staff helps this). Rochester is a pretty nice place to raise a family (very safe, good schools, etc.) - just likely not a great choice for singles......... overall a very strong program with down-to-earth people, nice interview process and good pre-interview dinner. Almost all the residents were married and most had kids. One guy had 6 kids and another had 4, and both said they felt their family life was healthy during residency.

I copied some of this from an earlier review by Dorian Gray in this thread , but edited some to match the feel I got when I was up there. Overall, I was very impressed with Mayo - other programs would have to do quite a bit to overtake them on the top of my list so far.

Right on Jamier! Thanks!

Thanks everybody for the reviews! I'll do my best to contribute regularly to this thread over the next 2 months....got a buttload of 'views coming up

No problem. I know these reviews have helped me make some decisions, and given me things to ask about on interviews as well, so I'll do my best to contribute.

Six of us were interviewed. The morning began with three short (10-15 mins) interviews conducted with either a faculty member or a PGY4 resident. The atmosphere was very relaxed and down to earth. The interviews were enjoyable ‘chats’ with very straightforward questions (why Miami, why anesthesiology, stuff from your personal statement/cv).
We then had a tour of Jackson Memorial, visited their patient simulator, and had a look around the department. After that we crammed into a cab and headed over to South beach where we had lunch in a restaurant with Dr. Gallagher and a couple of the residents. It was fun, Dr. Gallagher is a nice guy and also funny (he has done some stand up comedy in the past).
My overall impression was that this is a really busy, hard working program with plenty of exposure to complex and diverse cases (loads of trauma, they do transplants, lots of OB). It’s a massive program and residents rotate at about seven different sites.
This program has tried hard to place more emphasis on teaching in recent years and is encouraging residents to get involved with research. A couple of the CA-3’s are currently spending 6 months of their final year doing research. Maybe half of the residents go on to do fellowships (some to prestigious programs…MGH etc.).
I would have liked to have spoken to some more residents during the interview day, but I guess they were busy. The third year resident that interviewed and ate lunch with us seemed happy. Miami is a beautiful place to live, and Jackson Memorial serves a diverse population (in addition to the local population, they get patients coming over from Haiti and South America). They offer a clinical base year that is run by anesthesia and involves a mix of Medicine, Surgery and ICU.
Conclusion: The clinical training/exposure is great. There isn’t a huge amount of teaching or research at present, but things are improving. Seems like a good place to train.

WashU (I will try to keep this succinct)

Overall: I loved this program! I would encourage everyone to take a long hard look at it. It has many strengths and few weakness

Interview: Very relaxed and conversational. Dr Evers (chairman) and Dr. Cox did most of the talking. No pimping, presenting, or baiting. I had four interviews that day, one of the interviewers was an incredibly nice chief resident. They gave us a lot of access to the residents and everyone offered me their email address for future questions. Everyone (interviews and residents) were very open and straightforward.

Pluses:
- They do A LOT of things well. Most memorably: Peds, CCM, CT anesthesia, and research.
- They have access to large case volume with complexity (various transplants, trauma, zebras). I have not doubt that you would be prepared for nearly anything coming out of this residency.
- Research. Residents are NOT required to do research, but if you are interested, you can find nearly unlimited opportunities. They were 4th in NIH grant funding in 2004
- For those interested in CCM, the Cardiothoracic ICU (TICU) is closed and run by anesthesia.
- It is also an institution that is not cash strapped.
- BJH/Children’s is a huge, beautiful facility – I think it takes up three city blocks. All your cases are in-house, no need for off-site rotations.
- Fellowships are available. There are plenty of complicated/interesting cases for everyone.
- No call for your first 6 months of CA-1 year.
- Two weekends off/month
- The residents work hard. There did not appear to be any slackers in the group. The camaraderie among staff and residents is very good.
- Well structured didactics & simulation training.
- Excellent program reputation
- St. Louis has a very respectable cost of living (when compared to SF or Boston).

Minuses:
- The residents work hard. It was made very clear this was not a done by 3pm residency. (Not a minus in my book, but perhaps to others).
- It’s a huge facility. Although impressive, it can be overwelming.
- No call the first 6 mo of your CA-1 year (you have to make it up eventually and not as many people taking call the first 6months of the year).
- The one negative that the residents frequently sited was lack of reading time, however, the residency does not have a problem with board pass rates.
- It’s in Missouri. (Again, this may not be a minus to everyone)
- I have personally found that WashU’s reputation is confined to the Midwest, unless you are ‘in-the-know’ or subscribe to US News & World Reports (IMHO).

I also think the recent reviews on scutwork are reflective of the program.

UT Southwestern

First off, they are good, and well aware of it. But they are always trying to improve. Dr. Johnston (chairman) is a research/fellowship driven kind of guy and encourages hard work, reading, and subspecialty training. The faculty are all excellent, and come from all over. Residents do work hard, and are in their own room on the first day of CA-1, and take call the first week. Some residents expressed displeasure at this. I would have to say that the clinical experience at this institution (i.e. number and variety of cases) is on a par with the very best in the country. They have to go outside Parkland for hearts, and overall, CT may be the weakest experience (although they do have two CT fellows approved). OB is likely the best in the country with 19K deliveries a year (rumor that one resident got all the epidurals needed for residency on one 24-hour shift!). All fellowships available, except neuro, and the word is they are working on an 18-month combined CT/critical care fellowship where you can get BC in both TEE and CC.

Pluses: strong faculty, didactics, no shortage of cases and experiences. Dallas is a great city, internal moonlighting available. All spots (15) are 4-year linked spots, and the intern year is supposedly very good.

Minuses: hard work (really a minus?), no real breaking-in period as a CA-1. No anethesia opportunity as PGY-1. Must learn some Spanish to function on most wards. County hospital (may be a plus)

The interview day is very non-stressful. No tour is (for me) as plus, as I find the tours to be a beating. Starts at 830, and over by 200 at the latest. Great pre-interview dinner and hotel is nice as well. Two 30-45 minute single interviews, followed by an exit interview from the chairman. Some application-specific questions, but mainly they just want to see if you are a total tool.

Good luck to all.
Anyone who knows me knows I love Dallas and love this program. Hope my view isnt terribly biased.

ear-ache said:

WashU (I will try to keep this succinct)

Overall: I loved this program! I would encourage everyone to take a long hard look at it. It has many strengths and few weakness

Interview: Very relaxed and conversational. Dr Evers (chairman) and Dr. Cox did most of the talking. No pimping, presenting, or baiting. I had four interviews that day, one of the interviewers was an incredibly nice chief resident. They gave us a lot of access to the residents and everyone offered me their email address for future questions. Everyone (interviews and residents) were very open and straightforward.

Pluses:
- They do A LOT of things well. Most memorably: Peds, CCM, CT anesthesia, and research.
- They have access to large case volume with complexity (various transplants, trauma, zebras). I have not doubt that you would be prepared for nearly anything coming out of this residency.
- Research. Residents are NOT required to do research, but if you are interested, you can find nearly unlimited opportunities. They were 4th in NIH grant funding in 2004
- For those interested in CCM, the Cardiothoracic ICU (TICU) is closed and run by anesthesia.
- It is also an institution that is not cash strapped.
- BJH/Children’s is a huge, beautiful facility – I think it takes up three city blocks. All your cases are in-house, no need for off-site rotations.
- Fellowships are available. There are plenty of complicated/interesting cases for everyone.
- No call for your first 6 months of CA-1 year.
- Two weekends off/month
- The residents work hard. There did not appear to be any slackers in the group. The camaraderie among staff and residents is very good.
- Well structured didactics & simulation training.
- Excellent program reputation
- St. Louis has a very respectable cost of living (when compared to SF or Boston).

Minuses:
- The residents work hard. It was made very clear this was not a done by 3pm residency. (Not a minus in my book, but perhaps to others).
- It’s a huge facility. Although impressive, it can be overwelming.
- No call the first 6 mo of your CA-1 year (you have to make it up eventually and not as many people taking call the first 6months of the year).
- The one negative that the residents frequently sited was lack of reading time, however, the residency does not have a problem with board pass rates.
- It’s in Missouri. (Again, this may not be a minus to everyone)
- I have personally found that WashU’s reputation is confined to the Midwest, unless you are ‘in-the-know’ or subscribe to US News & World Reports (IMHO).

I also think the recent reviews on scutwork are reflective of the program.

Click to expand...

I have a good friend in this program, and based on his opinions this seems to be a pretty accurate post. Obviously, just like most most programs, WashU apparently does a great job "selling" itself. Like my friend said, "Dr. Evers could sell a snowcone to an eskimo." I think this program is a little more malignant and hard-working than you suggest, but your description is what you would expect from a one-day interview. Anyway, while he feels he will get great training at WashU, you can get great training at many other places with a better environment. I decided to decline this interview, partially based on his input and partially because of St. Louis. All of that that being said, still a solid program.

Strong work everyone! Every year during interview season this is in my opinion the strongest and most valuable thread. It helped me a ton last year. There were many things that I forgot to write down after interviews that escaped my mind come rank time. Which reminds me, write everything down after the interviews. By number ten you will never remember the details of #2. If you have already interviewed at a program and you are reading this, write a review and contribute!

Idiopathic said:

UT Southwestern

First off, they are good, and well aware of it. But they are always trying to improve. Dr. Johnston (chairman) is a research/fellowship driven kind of guy and encourages hard work, reading, and subspecialty training. The faculty are all excellent, and come from all over. Residents do work hard, and are in their own room on the first day of CA-1, and take call the first week. Some residents expressed displeasure at this. I would have to say that the clinical experience at this institution (i.e. number and variety of cases) is on a par with the very best in the country. They have to go outside Parkland for hearts, and overall, CT may be the weakest experience (although they do have two CT fellows approved). OB is likely the best in the country with 19K deliveries a year (rumor that one resident got all the epidurals needed for residency on one 24-hour shift!). All fellowships available, except neuro, and the word is they are working on an 18-month combined CT/critical care fellowship where you can get BC in both TEE and CC.

Pluses: strong faculty, didactics, no shortage of cases and experiences. Dallas is a great city, internal moonlighting available. All spots (15) are 4-year linked spots, and the intern year is supposedly very good.

Minuses: hard work (really a minus?), no real breaking-in period as a CA-1. No anethesia opportunity as PGY-1. Must learn some Spanish to function on most wards. County hospital (may be a plus)

The interview day is very non-stressful. No tour is (for me) as plus, as I find the tours to be a beating. Starts at 830, and over by 200 at the latest. Great pre-interview dinner and hotel is nice as well. Two 30-45 minute single interviews, followed by an exit interview from the chairman. Some application-specific questions, but mainly they just want to see if you are a total tool.

Good luck to all.
Anyone who knows me knows I love Dallas and love this program. Hope my view isnt terribly biased.

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Glad you enjoyed my old stomping grounds. Just to add one point, the CT numbers at St. Paul and the VA, the dedicated university CT programs, are low in number (last year 256 hearts) but very high risk CT (transplants, MODS, VADS, etc.). You get rotations at Baylor Dallas and Methodist Dallas where you have access to 1,400 and 400 more hearts respectively. You can do as many or as few as you want on those rotations as they are designed to be CT rotations, but the groups there allow you to do any case you want.

Etomidate said:

I have a good friend in this program, and based on his opinions this seems to be a pretty accurate post. Obviously, just like most most programs, WashU apparently does a great job "selling" itself. Like my friend said, "Dr. Evers could sell a snowcone to an eskimo." I think this program is a little more malignant and hard-working than you suggest, but your description is what you would expect from a one-day interview. Anyway, while he feels he will get great training at WashU, you can get great training at many other places with a better environment. I decided to decline this interview, partially based on his input and partially because of St. Louis. All of that that being said, still a solid program.

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Thank you for your input and counter points. You're obviously correct that my opinion comes from a one day interview through the department's rose colored glasses. I personally have a hard time distinguishing "hard-working" from "malignant". It may have been that I only meet the happy residents, but I did not get the impression that morale was low - although I may certainly have gotten the wrong impression. Anyways, I was very impressed by their commitment to CT anesthesia & CCM.

What I am trying to say is that all of these reviews are highly subjective. They come from one person's opinion during a highly orchestrated, short interaction with the program. However, every opinion you get about a program, whether it is from an interviewee, resident, or PD is SUBJECTIVE. Unfortunately, that is just the nature of the beast.

UTSouthwestern said:

Glad you enjoyed my old stomping grounds. Just to add one point, the CT numbers at St. Paul and the VA, the dedicated university CT programs, are low in number (last year 256 hearts) but very high risk CT (transplants, MODS, VADS, etc.). You get rotations at Baylor Dallas and Methodist Dallas where you have access to 1,400 and 400 more hearts respectively. You can do as many or as few as you want on those rotations as they are designed to be CT rotations, but the groups there allow you to do any case you want.

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I will love doing the crazy stuff, but to support 15 residents, very few of whom will be cardia fellows, you certainly need a good amount of bread and butter cases. Im sure the residents at UTSW get these, but relatively, it seems like a weakness. Glad to hear about the extra rotations, though.

Idiopathic said:

I will love doing the crazy stuff, but to support 15 residents, very few of whom will be cardia fellows, you certainly need a good amount of bread and butter cases. Im sure the residents at UTSW get these, but relatively, it seems like a weakness. Glad to hear about the extra rotations, though.

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It kind of depends on your eagerness and willingness to stay late (you are not forced to on the Baylor or Methodist months except for liver transplants) as you can get quite a few. I finished with 183 CPB cases. I also did a ton of off pump, thoracic, and major vascular cases.

Beautiful hosp. nice ppl/office. someone described the hosp as a 'las vegas hotel" well that's an UNDERSTATEMENT. they set you up at a hotel in Dtown Cleveland. There's a pre interview dinner and a post interview lunch. Usually residents get there at 6:30A and leave anytime b/w 3-6PM. to give you all a picture, there are a few hospitals in the cleveland area supposedly--> there's CWRU Univ hospitals and CWRU metrohealth. Additionally there's Cleveland Clinic Foundation. I have to admit, CWRU seems to be able to hold their own in terms of a great rep in the area. In terms of interviews, you will have 6 different interviews w/ 6 diff attendings.

Pluses
residents seem happy. ppl seem to get along really well. interviews are really laid back (no pimping,etc). if u present at conferences they pay for everything and the time you are there is not taken away from your vacation time. moonlighting is available.

Minuses
i really didnt see one....but they claim that their regionals are on the lower side, but they are improving that starting this year. nevertheless, they are able to get their regional #'s every year. not sure how big they are on research for those of u that are thinking of that....the chief did say that there are a few 'powerhouse' researchers there, but i got the impression that there's not too many.

ThinkFast007 said:

not sure how big they are on research for those of u that are thinking of that....the chief did say that there are a few 'powerhouse' researchers there, but i got the impression that there's not too many.

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Phil Morgan and Marge Sedensky are there - look them up in Miller or Barash. If anyone is gonna figure out how volatiles work, it is going to be them.

PGY2 said:

Phil Morgan and Marge Sedensky are there - look them up in Miller or Barash. If anyone is gonna figure out how volatiles work, it is going to be them.

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i stand corrected...well there ya go.........

Ill echo all the sentiments about Wash U. I was not sold by Dr. Evers, however. I think he felt pressed for time. Or maybe I did too good a job of selling the program for him

Idiopathic said:

Ill echo all the sentiments about Wash U. I was not sold by Dr. Evers, however. I think he felt pressed for time. Or maybe I did too good a job of selling the program for him

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huh?

read: i talked up the program to my interviewers. I was legitimately excited about being there, and I unabashedly told them this.

Not being from Texas, I was pleasantly surprised by this program. Incredibly resident-friendly with friendly residents.

Program-wise: AM didactics. As much teaching as you ask for. Not only is the intern year spread over 2 years so you see the OR early, but it's been tailor-made by the anesthesiology dept -- from what I remember, only a few months of wards, 2 months ICU, more consults. The anesth dept carries some weight in the hospital, and anesth residents won resident of the year and intern of the year. Dedicated block room. Shriners Burns Hospital -- one of only 4 in the country, where you'll take care of some really sick kids. Texas Heart and Methodist for cardiovascular, and some neuro at Methodist as well. The other away elective is peds in Corpus Christi. Overall it seems like you'll see everything you need to. No problem getting numbers.

As for the burning question: you're on an island, where do all the patients come from? There's quite an indigent population, and UTMB also takes care of the prisoners with more complex medical issues.

The interview itself is laid-back. Although a little strange because without a dinner the night before, I didn't really get immersed in the program by the time interviews started after the short presentation.

One tip: The hotel is nice, but breakfast is expensive!

Overall: Nice program that's on it's way up -- they get to add more residents for a total of 14 or 16 (maybe eventually 18) per year. No glaring negatives.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=159701

Its in the FAQ 2 as well...along with lots o' other goodies.

Good luck all ye fledgling anesthesiologists to be.