Anyone Know anything about WVU Anesthesia Residency?

[jmdeer]

West Virginia University

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[MountaineerDoc]

West Virginia University

Here is a newletter link from the Dept Chair stating he is stepping down. This was 6 months ago and they haven't posted another newletter since...
http://www.hsc.wvu.edu/som/anesth/news/12072004_files/new_page_1.htm

Additionally, they had a few spots open during this years scramble. I look forward to seeing if anyone else has any scoop on the program.

 

[Frank Rizzo]

First a little background... I have been reading this forum for over two years, but have never registered and thus never posted. I feel I have some valuable info to share, so I registered today.

More info... I graduated from medschool off-cycle, Dec of 2004(I had an extended illness that prevented me from graduating on time, May 2004). Sucked at the time, but ever since match day, i've been playing PS2, drinking beer, and sleeping... not necessarily in that order. Things worked out alright! In other words, what I have to say about the program is from what I seen on my interview day and from what I gathered from the residents there. It is in no way an attempt to flame the program as I have observed others doing to various programs in order to garner themselves an advantage. My interview was mid jan 2004, so stuff may have changed since then(hopefully).

Pre-interview dinner was at Texas Roadhouse. The resident(CA-2) pretty much layed everything out on the table. He wasn't happy. He said that during the past year, the resident workload had become very greuling, to the point that didactics and simulator time were being cancelled due to patient volume. He said a number of attendings had stepped down, as well as the chair. Didactics were minimal due to the workload, and OR teaching was scarce, which he also attributed to the workload. He said the acillary staff was weak... I can go on and on, but he pretty much complained about every aspect of the program. I didn't put too much stock in what he said, at least not until the next day...

Most poorly organized interview day I had ever been on. the coordinator, Mr. Gross, and the program director, Dr. Rosen, did their best, but there was simply too much going on. I got varying answers from residents. A lot of them dogged the program, some of them loved it. Who to believe? At that time the program chair had stepped down, and the show was being ran by the ENT chair. Yes, you read that correctly, the program was not being ran by an anesthesiologist. Dr. Rosen assured me they were actively looking for a new chair, but didn't mention names. One of the residents said that the assistant director at Louisville's program had recently interviewed... Hopefully they have a gasman running the show now. I was told by two different attendings that there was a very good chance that the program would be put on probation in late spring. They both stated two main reasons: 1. work hours and too many complaints to the ACGME about didactics being cast aside. 2. They were carrying a bunch of residents over the total amount that they were allowed to have... BIG No-No. Due to this fact, I believe they only ented 2-3 spots in the match this year. After checking the ACGME site, I see that no decision has been made as of yet concerning accreditation.

I interviewed at 15 total programs due to my goofey graduation date, including 2 community programs. The only program I didn't rank was WVU. Ended up matching at my #1 program, a middle-tiered academic institution in the midwest that is on the up and up.

AGAIN, let me reiterate that this is what I observed in mid jan, hopefully things have changed.

 

[badgas]

First a little background... I have been reading this forum for over two years, but have never registered and thus never posted. I feel I have some valuable info to share, so I registered today.

More info... I graduated from medschool off-cycle, Dec of 2004(I had an extended illness that prevented me from graduating on time, May 2004). Sucked at the time, but ever since match day, i've been playing PS2, drinking beer, and sleeping... not necessarily in that order. Things worked out alright! In other words, what I have to say about the program is from what I seen on my interview day and from what I gathered from the residents there. It is in no way an attempt to flame the program as I have observed others doing to various programs in order to garner themselves an advantage. My interview was mid jan 2004, so stuff may have changed since then(hopefully).

Pre-interview dinner was at Texas Roadhouse. The resident(CA-2) pretty much layed everything out on the table. He wasn't happy. He said that during the past year, the resident workload had become very greuling, to the point that didactics and simulator time were being cancelled due to patient volume. He said a number of attendings had stepped down, as well as the chair. Didactics were minimal due to the workload, and OR teaching was scarce, which he also attributed to the workload. He said the acillary staff was weak... I can go on and on, but he pretty much complained about every aspect of the program. I didn't put too much stock in what he said, at least not until the next day...

Most poorly organized interview day I had ever been on. the coordinator, Mr. Gross, and the program director, Dr. Rosen, did their best, but there was simply too much going on. I got varying answers from residents. A lot of them dogged the program, some of them loved it. Who to believe? At that time the program chair had stepped down, and the show was being ran by the ENT chair. Yes, you read that correctly, the program was not being ran by an anesthesiologist. Dr. Rosen assured me they were actively looking for a new chair, but didn't mention names. One of the residents said that the assistant director at Louisville's program had recently interviewed... Hopefully they have a gasman running the show now. I was told by two different attendings that there was a very good chance that the program would be put on probation in late spring. They both stated two main reasons: 1. work hours and too many complaints to the ACGME about didactics being cast aside. 2. They were carrying a bunch of residents over the total amount that they were allowed to have... BIG No-No. Due to this fact, I believe they only ented 2-3 spots in the match this year. After checking the ACGME site, I see that no decision has been made as of yet concerning accreditation.

I interviewed at 15 total programs due to my goofey graduation date, including 2 community programs. The only program I didn't rank was WVU. Ended up matching at my #1 program, a middle-tiered academic institution in the midwest that is on the up and up.

AGAIN, let me reiterate that this is what I observed in mid jan, hopefully things have changed.

Anyone have any new info that reinforces this? Thanks!

 

[smgilles]

Anyone have any new info that reinforces this? Thanks!

http://www.acgme.org/adspublic/


As you can see WVU is currently on probation....I would avoid it like the plague. Along with any of the other programs on probation.

 

[Trisomy13]

http://www.acgme.org/adspublic/


As you can see WVU is currently on probation....I would avoid it like the plague.

Somewhat irresponsible advice here. While the knee-jerk reaction is to avoid any programs that are on probation, I interviewed at two and ranked them both - WVU being one of them. It helps to ask why the program is on probation and determine if anything is being done to resolve the problems. From my understanding re: WVU, the issues involved not enough dedicated didactic time (additional hours have been integrated), not enough call room space or separate-gender call rooms (brand new call rooms have been constructed), the program was in transition of leadership at the time of review (new chair has been there for about a year now - NOT run by ENT!), etc. You get the point. The last post disparaging the program is outdated. As far as long hours being a problem, that too has apparently changed and the schedule seemed very fair when I last spoke with the residents.

I've already sent a few people PM's making this point about WVU - if you want a university program with down-to-earth people but not the expenses of a large city (Morgantown is a smaller college town), you should interview here and see for yourself. Personally, I thought the atmosphere was more enjoyable at most of the other programs where I interviewed. When it came time to rank, I put WVU ahead of some of the "top ten" programs in Boston, NYC, and the south because I felt strongly that this is a good program that will rebound from probation and make a name for itself.

To that end, I feel the same way about the program at Drexel U (Hahnemann Hospital), also on probation, although Philadelphia vs. Morgantown is a whole other discussion.

 

[jetproppilot]

Somewhat irresponsible advice here. While the knee-jerk reaction is to avoid any programs that are on probation, I interviewed at two and ranked them both - WVU being one of them.
.

I humbly disagree with your logic here.

Bottom line is residency accreditation is out of your control.

And if the program's accreditation gets yanked, you're screwed. No matter how you justified directing yourself to a residency-on-probation, if they get yanked and you're still a lower level resident you'll be scrambling to find a place to finish your residency.

Don't risk the security of your future on factors genuinely out of your control by ranking a residency on probation.

 

[Trisomy13]

I humbly disagree with your logic here.

Bottom line is residency accreditation is out of your control.

And if the program's accreditation gets yanked, you're screwed. No matter how you justified directing yourself to a residency-on-probation, if they get yanked and you're still a lower level resident you'll be scrambling to find a place to finish your residency.

Don't risk the security of your future on factors genuinely out of your control by ranking a residency on probation.

Accreditation is definitely out of my control, of course. I guess I felt comfortable enough with the impression that the program made on me to rank it highly. I also feel confident that if something were to happen and I was left to scramble into another program, I have enough in the way of contacts and CV strength to do so without too much misery - and that's not a boast, that's just the result of years of hard work, sacrifice and determination. Let me qualify this by saying that I am single and have no family to put through a hardship like a sudden move, no absolute geographic preference if push comes to shove, and I do enjoy a bit of a gamble with fate. That's just me.