GW/Georgetown Anesthesia

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camedstudent23

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Any thoughts on these programs: their reputation, training, work-life balance? Last thread was >10 years ago. The programs are surprisingly low on Doximity (#70, #104), which I know mean very little. But even if the rankings were mostly useless, one would still expect one of the DC programs to be above 50.

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I would like to hear some more in-depth information. A classmate who I talked to briefly who interviewed at GW and he said it seemed decent but wasn't very specific.
 
You are correct that the rankings are mostly, if not utterly, useless. Especially for a site like Doximity, which relies on "reputation" of a program based on the number of people who register accounts from various programs. (Basically, the drive to sign-up was an enormous popularity contest that had hospital administrators begging their physicians to register in order to help their program/hospital/department "look good." http://www.imedicalapps.com/2014/12...-registrations-without-targeting-physicians/# )

I interviewed at both for residency, and was not overly in love with the programs but I'm sure anyone training at either place could become a fine anesthesiologist. I got the sense that the proximity to each other and to other big academic programs (i.e. Baltimore) tended to dilute the case load either hospital saw. They tend to attract good candidates because D.C. is a popular place to live, and if you're hoping to stay mid-Atlantic, GW and GTown are both good choices. The program director at GTown is a nice guy and pretty heavily invested in resident education, and has a lot of interest in preparing for Part I of the Board exam.

Sorry for the vague answers: basically, the rankings don't mean much, but at the same time these programs don't often come up when people talk about "elite" anesthesia residencies (whatever that means). You could do a lot worse than either of the D.C. programs, so check them out if you're interested in the area.
 
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When I come on here and see what most posters say they did in residency, I feel like I went to a ****ty program. When I was in residency and rotated with residents from GW and GT at various sites around DC, I felt very good about my training.
 
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I worked with few former residents who became attendings from both places.

Both middle of the road programs. Draw is obviously location location location.

The former GW guys (and gal) say it's low key. For the most part not malignant.

Georgetown former resident was happy with their training.

Both places won't kill u with hours or workload.

Keep in mind both places are NOT university owned for quite a while. Georgetown is run my MedStar (multi billionaire dollar Corp with multi hospitals in mid Atlantic). GW run by UHS. Another multi billionaire Corp with multiple hospitals.

So there is always a "profit" motive and both have fair share of "ghetto" and "VIP" Patients.

Both places will rotate for some speciality rotations at outside hospitals. Aka Washington hospital center and Children's medical center. Georgetown does peds and GW doesn't. But residents there go to children's. Georgetown doesn't have trauma and GW has trauma 1. But real traumas usually go to inova fairfax or Washington hospital center.

We kind of joke GW has baby trauma 1 (they do have trauma one but vast majority of traumas are at the two main level 1 centers in northern va and DC.
 
Went to Georgetown for medical school, spent a lot of time around the anesthesiology department, though obviously the experience as a medical student vs. a resident can be quite different. One concern I had about the idea of staying was the strong CRNA/SRNA presence and some of my interactions with them, some seemed militant to me. The attendings, especially Dr. Wall (dept chair), Dr. Freeman (residency director), and pretty much everyone I ever worked with as a student were amazing, they are the reason I chose anesthesiology. I didn't want to stay in DC, so it was low on my personal rank list. I think you would get decent training going there, but if you're looking for prestige or some hot shot academic career, you might want to look elsewhere. The residents all seemed very happy there, they were sharp, clinically competent. Most had strong reasons to be in the DC area. It is a great place to live, so if you are interested, definitely give it a look. Washington Hospital Center is kind of the equivalent of a county hospital for the District of Columbia and as a resident, you would spend most of your time there and at Georgetown University Hospital. As someone else mentioned, both are owned by MedStar. I never noticed this to have a negative impact on my med school training from what I could tell. The department itself is designed to function like a private practice embedded within an academic institution, or so I was told by one of the old timer attendings. Call schedule did not seem too ridiculous, but that is just from comments overheard by the actual residents. Not sure if they still do this, but a couple years ago they had short lectures every morning before cases started, some were simple case word reviews put together by the residents, others were case conferences or topics covered by the attendings. For those not from there, the cost of living is pretty high, like any other large metropolitan area. If you have a reason to be there, don't hesitate to check out GTown, I think that overall it is a decent program with a lot to offer the right candidate.
 
Can anyone comment on the competitiveness of these programs? I assume the location makes them a bit more competitive than other mid-tiers?
 
Can anyone comment on the competitiveness of these programs? I assume the location makes them a bit more competitive than other mid-tiers?
Both seem not very competitive.

GWU didn't fill this year, for what it's worth. That doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad program.
 
GT converted from advanced to categorical this year which makes it more appealing to most but I can't speak to competitiveness overall.
 
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