Choosing a program

[bauber]

On surgical months some places do subspecialty signout, some do general signout, some have a multi day system for grossing and previewing, others do not. Every program says their way is the best. In the end it probably doesn't matter too much, but can anyone provide some insight as to which training methods they feel are most effective? This really isn't a huge factor in making my rank list, but I feel like it should hold some weight.

Also, if you did or are doing your residency away from family (how far?), how often did/do you visit them? Do you feel like you have/had ample chances to do so? This is the more important question for me. My top two choices are a 2.5 hour plane ride versus a full day of travel to home.

Sorry for all the questions, it's a big decision for me.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[mlw03]

Try the search feature. This has been discussed before (general vs subspecialty signout). I don't know any program that think their program is best, rather what works for them. There are pros and cons of both. I do not think it should be a factor.

As to visiting family, if you're more than a few hour drive away, don't expect it to happen often. I grew up in Florida, residency in Ohio. I saw my family 2-4 times per year between my flying down and their coming up. For me that was fine. But between call, studying, and the time, don't expect to be flying halfway across the country every 3rd weekend. Not going to happen.

 

[KCShaw]

There's family and there's family. If we're talking about a wife and young children then it's going to suck greasy grimy gopher guts, unless you want a divorce anyway and don't like your children/don't care if they don't know or like you, or are very Very VERY (over)confident in being able to pull it off for 3-4 years and then quite possibly not be able to get a job where they live. Most people can live without having to see the rest of their family every few weeks, but I guess that's a personal choice. I agree it would be very difficult, and expensive, to try to fly back every weekend you're off while also keeping up with study.

I agree there are pros & cons to most surg-path schedules. In low volume places there's no point splitting up grossing & sign-out over 2-4 days, although personally I think a grossing day, a preview day (or most of a day), and a sign-out day are preferable -- less mental shifting of gears, more focus on fewer things. Specialty vs general sign-out is an ongoing debate, and the value probably depends more on the quality of the teaching, the surrounding complimentary/aggravating factors, and what works best for a given person than it does on whether you only sign out GI cases today or this week or this month. That said, I personally prefer focused/specialty sign-outs, again because of less mental shifting of gears and more focus on fewer things (I say that having been exposed to a mixed system -- some specialty months doing just neuro, liver/renal, heme, etc., though mostly general).