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chicago programs
- Thread starter mullerian
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Not trying to be an ass, but rather trying to be helpful. If you search, there are numerous threads on these programs, including many recent ones. If you have a specific question, many here can probably answer it for you.
I can tell you about 2 programs I considered:
Rush University: Nice program with friendly residents, a mix of singles and married types, that work very hard. The faculty seemed distant from the residents and the Junior faculty member that interviewed me brought up how hard the residents work here, but that the location and proximity to the city should be an important consideration in my decision, not the work load. The Program Director explained the planned OR expansion to 40 OR's by saying that the hospital realized that they made the most money on surgical patients and hence the drive to expand that service. He also explained that they would be bringing on more top notch surgeons to boost the volume even further in the face of the OR expansion over the next 4 years. He said this will probably require on call residents to do more scheduled night cases so that they can accommodate the anticipated volume. This sounded a lot like what goes on at UCLA, where lots of elective cases get scheduled for early AM hours due to the lack of OR slots. Several residents commented that they liked the program,but that the didn't have the best relations with the administration and I could feel the palpable air of distinction between faculty and residents during my day there. Oh, Rush also gets a lot of Extended Criteria Liver Transplant cases, making those cases even longer and that much more difficult. Rush hasn't filled for at least the last 3 years and I can see why now. Given different leadership and a more in touch faculty, Rush could turn around since they definitely have the clinical component of resident training down.
Loyola Univ: Reputed to be the "hardest working" anesthesia program in Chicago, but I found it to be quite the opposite. Residents did state the have frequently worked past 5, but usually never longer than 7. Interestingly the Chair at Loyola brought up the fact that they were also adding 10 new ORs, but for exactly a different reason than Rush. The Chair said they were looking to expand the number of ORs in order to relieve the load and backlog of cases so that cases finished earlier and thus residents got out earlier as well. I found Loyola to be the most resident resident focused program with some of the friendliest residents. During their reception several approached me before I could even order a drink. There was a higher predominance of married couples, but many of them seemed to be newly married and living in the city and counter commuting. Downtown to Loyola in Maywood is purportedly only 20 minutes door to door in the early AM, but 40 minutes on the way back in the PM. Facilities were newer than Rush and the faculty were considerably more approachable.
Clearly I favored Loyola after my interviews, but I had exactly the opposite thoughts going into it and almost didn't even go for the Loyola interview. I didn't match there, but I would have been very happy there having been a prior resident of the great city of Chicago and finding the residents and faculty to be the friendliest of the programs I interviewed at.
Best of luck and I recommend you make your own assessment of these two programs after interviews. I think NW and UC are also clearly strong, but are far more academic in their approach.
Rush University: Nice program with friendly residents, a mix of singles and married types, that work very hard. The faculty seemed distant from the residents and the Junior faculty member that interviewed me brought up how hard the residents work here, but that the location and proximity to the city should be an important consideration in my decision, not the work load. The Program Director explained the planned OR expansion to 40 OR's by saying that the hospital realized that they made the most money on surgical patients and hence the drive to expand that service. He also explained that they would be bringing on more top notch surgeons to boost the volume even further in the face of the OR expansion over the next 4 years. He said this will probably require on call residents to do more scheduled night cases so that they can accommodate the anticipated volume. This sounded a lot like what goes on at UCLA, where lots of elective cases get scheduled for early AM hours due to the lack of OR slots. Several residents commented that they liked the program,but that the didn't have the best relations with the administration and I could feel the palpable air of distinction between faculty and residents during my day there. Oh, Rush also gets a lot of Extended Criteria Liver Transplant cases, making those cases even longer and that much more difficult. Rush hasn't filled for at least the last 3 years and I can see why now. Given different leadership and a more in touch faculty, Rush could turn around since they definitely have the clinical component of resident training down.
Loyola Univ: Reputed to be the "hardest working" anesthesia program in Chicago, but I found it to be quite the opposite. Residents did state the have frequently worked past 5, but usually never longer than 7. Interestingly the Chair at Loyola brought up the fact that they were also adding 10 new ORs, but for exactly a different reason than Rush. The Chair said they were looking to expand the number of ORs in order to relieve the load and backlog of cases so that cases finished earlier and thus residents got out earlier as well. I found Loyola to be the most resident resident focused program with some of the friendliest residents. During their reception several approached me before I could even order a drink. There was a higher predominance of married couples, but many of them seemed to be newly married and living in the city and counter commuting. Downtown to Loyola in Maywood is purportedly only 20 minutes door to door in the early AM, but 40 minutes on the way back in the PM. Facilities were newer than Rush and the faculty were considerably more approachable.
Clearly I favored Loyola after my interviews, but I had exactly the opposite thoughts going into it and almost didn't even go for the Loyola interview. I didn't match there, but I would have been very happy there having been a prior resident of the great city of Chicago and finding the residents and faculty to be the friendliest of the programs I interviewed at.
Best of luck and I recommend you make your own assessment of these two programs after interviews. I think NW and UC are also clearly strong, but are far more academic in their approach.
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My take:
If you are a woman - Loyola
If you are a man - Rush
If you are a woman - Loyola
If you are a man - Rush
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Just to comment on my program:
I can saddle up to almost any attending and start a discussion with them. Be it about filthy jokes or about clinical scenerios. Its true we are very busy here and attendings can be caught up in the mix but by no means is there an uncomfortable air of contention between attending and resident. At this very moment my attending felt bad he couldn't get me out this am because of a crazy room so he gave me an hour lunch and bought it for me.
As far as the new PD goes the guy is solid. Past head of the ABA. Big time CV anesthesia guy. He just sat down with about half of the residents and a cheif for 2 hours to ask what areas we could improve upon. Everyone was completely frank with him and he in return. It was great. The guy truely cares. We also got new apollo dragers in all the rooms. PHAT machines.
I can saddle up to almost any attending and start a discussion with them. Be it about filthy jokes or about clinical scenerios. Its true we are very busy here and attendings can be caught up in the mix but by no means is there an uncomfortable air of contention between attending and resident. At this very moment my attending felt bad he couldn't get me out this am because of a crazy room so he gave me an hour lunch and bought it for me.
As far as the new PD goes the guy is solid. Past head of the ABA. Big time CV anesthesia guy. He just sat down with about half of the residents and a cheif for 2 hours to ask what areas we could improve upon. Everyone was completely frank with him and he in return. It was great. The guy truely cares. We also got new apollo dragers in all the rooms. PHAT machines.
