I graduated from Jackson so I will put in my two cents okay five.
Like any program they want to attract good candidates that really want to be there, so make sure to let them know you want to match that they are your first choice. (It would not hurt to send a letter to this effect to the PD before you submit for the match.) They are getting tougher on their step 1 score cutoff as the program has been steadily getting more competitive as its reputation improves. (ACGME just gave another 5 year cycle.) The Chair is highly respected in the academic community and is as much a businessman as he is a doctor, and this has served the program well. He has been very hands on regarding overall quality control and this has been noticeably starting to pay off over the past few years.
As for being a workhorse program, it depends on the rotation. (There are 3 that I can think of.) At the end of your OB month you will be dead, no kidding, but you will have been HANDS ON. Main OR can be tough as well, but the peelout list keeps things fair out at 3:00 one day, there till 7:00 the next. Cardiac is the third sleep killer. They do hearts at three separate locations and again, you will work very long, hard hours. Those are the three really tough rotations. Everything else is hit and miss, but I only felt overworked a few days month during other rotations.
Positives: HUGE case load. The Jackson hospital system is massive and is certainly why it has the largest anesthesia residency in the world. Jackson is also also the #1 liver transplant service in the nation, so along these lines if you want exposure to highly complicated cases by the truckload they are there waiting for you.
Some of the best OB anesthesia training you can get because of two things. Complicated deliveries in the area are referred to Jackson from other hospitals, and an extraordinary average of 30 -40 deliveries occur every 24hrs. Residents work their asses off and get more spinal and epidural numbers than you can imagine. Secondly, Dr. David Birnbach one of the greats who wrote the book on OB anesthesia- has ran OB Anes for many years. His lectures are legendary, but he may be not be doing as many now that he has changed positions.
Trauma: There is no question, and few would argue, there is no place like Jackson for trauma anesthesia. This is perhaps where the Jackson program is most highly regarded. However, you need a little of the Top Gun chest pounding mentality to fit when working in that department.
Lastly, because of the size of the program, the weekly didactics are taken very seriously. As an example, compared to smaller programs, Grand Rounds at Jackson are attended by 90 to 100 residents and dozens of attendings. As a result the main lectures are exceptional most of the time with highly regarded guest speakers frequently giving presentations. Also because of the size, CA1s, 2s and 3s have their own separate weekly lectures. Very few if any other programs offer this feature and I felt it was very helpful in the educational process. (Last year board pass rate was 95% and with 30 residents per class that is saying something. Many of the residents in my class had IST pass scores at the end of CA2 year and several at the end of CA1. )
Negatives: Regional exposure is not what it should be. They are working on it, but the way things are set up residents are simply not getting their numbers during the one month rotation. As a result it is frequently asked for as an elective, but there is not much extra time that can be given so most graduate light.
With such a large program it can be easy to get lost in the crowd, and conversely harder to stand out. It does have certain high-school like qualities as cliques are formed among residents and even attendings. If you get a bad reputation for being lazy, or incompetent, you will have to work VERY hard to overcome it because you wont regularly work with the same people. Of course there is also a certain amount of politics that must be contended with, but I suppose every program could say the same.
Although I worked very hard there, overall I am very satisfied with the training experience I received at Jackson - and I love living in Miami.
If you want to know more feel free to send me a PM.
