Family Friendly Programs

[lefou]

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I am an M4 looking at Anesthesia programs and here is a list of what I would like to see in the "perfect" (for me) program:

Non-malignant Teaching environment, where attendings, residents work together.

Access to adequate training/exposure to a variety of cases without being over-demanding.

City or location anywhere in the US where it would be friendly to residents with families.

I know this is a general list, but I am interested in any responses/suggestions you might have.

 

[BobBarker]

OU
Scott and White
Kentucky
UTMB

 

[Mman]

You might also want to look strongly at programs that utilize a night float system instead of call. IMHO it is a lot easier to work around that schedule (say a week of nights every 6 months) than several call shifts per month.

 

[Coastie]

I think hopkins is widely considered to be the program which best fits your description

I am an M4 looking at Anesthesia programs and here is a list of what I would like to see in the "perfect" (for me) program:

Non-malignant Teaching environment, where attendings, residents work together.

Access to adequate training/exposure to a variety of cases without being over-demanding.

City or location anywhere in the US where it would be friendly to residents with families.

I know this is a general list, but I am interested in any responses/suggestions you might have.

 

[Idiopathic]

I felt like Hopkins would be tough on residents with families because of the commute, and no moonlighting

 

[okayplayer]

OU
Scott and White
Kentucky
UTMB

2nd S&W, I loved that program. Super family friendly. Happiest residents I met on the interview trail.

 

[jennyboo]

Although it doesn't occur to most MS4s (who somehow mistakenly believe that "family friendly" must mean small intimate programs where everyone knows your name), I usually tell people that if you are looking for a family friendly program, pick a big hospital with a large number of ORs to cover and lots of residents and/or CRNAs.

The reason is that a larger organization is better able to absorb such irregularities as unexpected absences due to illness, or family leave. Imagine... if you are one of 12 residents vs one of 70 residents, which program will miss you more if you need (God forbid) to be gone for a while?

 

[Jeep23Guy]

2nd S&W, I loved that program. Super family friendly. Happiest residents I met on the interview trail.

S&W and San Antonio are both super family friendly...likely the most in TX. Just about everyone at S&W is married and most in SA are married with kids.

 

[ASA6]

In my interviews it seemed like UVA was a very family friendly place to do residency.

 

[shaz8901]

I heard that OHSU fits your description.

 

[Idiopathic]

mayo jacksonville was the most "resident friendly" program i went to, it would stand to reason that they would be family friendly as well i guess

 

[michigangirl]

I had a six month old and was pumping (TMI?) and nursing at the time I started CA-1 year at Hopkins. It sucked, because coming from a peds residency where I was used to being able to disappear for 15 minutes here and there without it being a big deal, now I was relying on someone to come get me out to pee, eat and pump. BUT...I think being at a big program as OP stated makes a difference for being able to absorb the stuff that comes up for people with families. Anesthesia, by virtue of what it is, is a hard residency for people with families because of the lack of flexibility, but large numbers makes that easier. I can't count the number of women who got pregnant during various years of residency while I was there, there were many. And it wasn't a big deal.

Not sure if you're male or female but it really doesn't matter. Bottom line, at a big place like Hopkins if daycare called at 1 p.m. and said my kid has a fever and needs to be picked up and my husband was unavailable (unusual), they would figure out a way to get me out immediately. The two times CA-1 year I had noone to pick my kid up at 6:30 when daycare closes because my husband was out of town, I let the coordinator know early in the day and they had a backup plan in case my cases went over. The caveat to all of this is my husband is uber-understanding, accomodating, and has a job and boss who thankfully are very flexible (he's a lawyer). I couldn't do this otherwise without a live-in nanny. Also, I was careful not to to take advantage.

The downside of a place like Hopkins where there are lots of cases and lots of acuity is that you often don't know what time you're going to get done or relieved. Granted its rare to get done after 5:30, it was hard not knowing. I've heard things are tons better now with the new call system they have-- so a talk with a recent resident (I'm three years out) is in order.

My best friend in the program (a guy) had three kids and he made it. But his wife was also a part-time nurse who pretty much stayed at home.

I'm glad to answer any other questions if you want to PM me.

 

[jennyboo]

Bumping up my main point again because there are way too many program suggestions in this thread that simply say "The residents seem so happy!"

Resident happiness does not equal family friendliness. Niceness does not equal flexibility.

Flexibility for things like sick days, unexpectedly needing to pick up kids, doctors appointments, family leave, etc don't just happen because people are nice and happy at the program. For a program to be really able to absorb the inefficiencies of losing a resident for a day or a few weeks to family reasons, it needs to be a large program (lots of residents) or to have a large number of anesthetists (lots of CRNAs). Choose a program where you won't really be missed if you disappear for a while. Examples:

- If you call in sick, it's no big deal because they can always rearrange the 100-odd people in the OR and around that day to cover your room.
- If you have a death in the family and need to go away for a week or two, your co-residents won't be pissed that you're gone.
- If you screw up your left hand/arm and can't do a laryngoscopy, they can rearrange bodies and send you to preop or pain clinic for a month.

If there are enough people that your co-residents don't suffer while you're gone, then you won't have to deal with those naysayers who keep posting crap like, "It's really inconsiderate to your fellow residents to take pregnancy leave." As if they really think they should have a say in the matter.

Don't rule out big programs at hospitals that sound tough. My residency had 70+ residents and a glaring reputation for being non-friendly. It's the most family friendly arrangement I've ever worked in.

 

[pillowhead]

I think what others have said about finding a large program with lots of residents and anesthetists is key. The few times I've had to come in late or leave early because of pregnancy related things have not been too difficult because I am in a large program that is not 100% reliant on residents. That said, my program has a pretty tough call schedule (no night float, always 24-26 hrs, no coming in late the day you are on call) and is definitely high acuity (major transplant and trauma center). So like others have said, don't rule out a "hard" or very academic program because you are afraid it won't be family friendly.

Find a program that has some flexibility in rotations (most probably do). Being able to do pain in my last month of pregnancy for example benefits both me because I am not stuck in the OR desperately needing to pee and dealing with the physical difficulties of the OR. But is also benefits the program because I am fully functioning pain resident taking the full amount of pain home call and doing all the usual procedures and rounds without them having to make any special arrangements like they would have to if I were in the OR. A family friendly program should recognize stuff like this.

Also flexibility and maturity on your part are key. Don't abuse the system. Try to book yours or kids doctors appointments on post call days in the afternoon so no one has to accommodate your schedule (I'm always the last patient of the day at my OB office). On the occasional times that's not possible (seeing a specialist with a tight schedule or needing to be npo for AM tests), ask the person who makes the schedules what day would be good for you to come in late--some days have more people around or less OR cases than others. Work hard in general and go above and beyond in your daily work and then when you need some special treatment, people will be far far less likely to complain and more wiling to work with you.

 

[amyl]

scott and white is probably the most family friendly residency there is. dartmouth seemed pretty friendly as well.

 

[ASA6]

scott and white is probably the most family friendly residency there is. dartmouth seemed pretty friendly as well.

I second mayo-jacksonville. I bring it up because it is a small program, only 4 residents per class. But when I interviewed, one of the seniors mentioned how a plus of the program is that they have so much staff physicians and CRNAs that they dont really rely on the residents to run the OR's. So you can take your vacation days 1 at a time if you want, which translates into if you need to stay home with your kid or leave early they might be able to accommodate. No idea if thats true or not, just going off what one resident said during my interview.

 

[Mista Suprane]

- If you call in sick, it's no big deal because they can always rearrange the 100-odd people in the OR and around that day to cover your room.
- If you have a death in the family and need to go away for a week or two, your co-residents won't be pissed that you're gone.
- If you screw up your left hand/arm and can't do a laryngoscopy, they can rearrange bodies and send you to preop or pain clinic for a month.

👍 to the OP --> these are the most accurate points i have seen on this thread; this is EXACTLY what you should be looking for in a program.

Hopkins definitely fits this bill. As a current chief, it is usually quite easy for me to organize the rearrangement of a day when someone needs a day off for a family emergency reason; with 75+ residents and 15-20 CRNAs working on any given day, there are multitude of OR resources available that the necessary changes are seamless. Even a few days off are hardly even noticed by the attendings who are responsible for determining the staffing of the daily OR schedules, much less co-residents.

All three of our previous years chief residents had multiple children at home, one had four kids under the age of 10. If they can make it work, you will be able to as well.

I don't know who mentioned a difficult commute, but the northern suburbs of Baltimore actually have a reasonable commute for a city of this size. The southern ones as you head to DC can get dicey, yet we still have residents (some with families and small children) who make the 45-60 min trip daily without issues.

On a somewhat related note, this is a really friendly program overall. We have our problems like every program, but we are a overtly social and collaborative group (mostly because we have TIME to be) and as you can imagine, we take care of the sickest of the sick from day 1 CA-1 year, so there is no doubt we can handle anything coming out of here. Any program that has a monthly department sponsored happy hour (been going on for over a decade) is worth a look. 🙂

 

[Bertelman]

Hopkins definitely fits this bill. As a current chief, it is usually quite easy for me to organize the rearrangement of a day when someone needs a day off for a family emergency reason; with 75+ residents and 15-20 CRNAs working on any given day, there are multitude of OR resources available that the necessary changes are seamless. Even a few days off are hardly even noticed by the attendings who are responsible for determining the staffing of the daily OR schedules, much less co-residents.

Same could be said for programs with 15-20 residents and 75 CRNAs.

 

[Mista Suprane]

Same could be said for programs with 15-20 residents and 75 CRNAs.

As far as daily scheduling, yes. But with regards to the resident call schedule, maybe not.

 

[outfitter]

UAB is definitely a family friendly program and you can do alot of moonlighting. The majority of residents in the program have kids.