Help Rank These Places

[ADT]

Alright all, the interviews are in, no more cancelling/adding. I'd love to hear peoples thoughts on ranking these places (they are all good, so take this with a grain of salt, just curious about others opinions).

1. Hopkins
2. Univ. of Pittsburgh
3. Penn
4. Brigham& Womens
5. Mayo-Rochester
6. Dartmouth
7. Beth Israel Deaconess
8. Penn State
9. Cleveland Clinic
10. Case Western
11. Michigan
12. UT-San Antonio
13. UT-Southwestern

Please, any thoughts will be helpful, just trying to get a bit of a discussion about the pluses minuses of these programs. Here are my thoughts so far on the interviews I have had, not their reputation:

Case Western : very happy residents, great moonlighting built into program so many residents bank big (doubling salary not unheard of), nice facilities, very laid back interview. Seemed weak on Cardiac/Thoracic (all good cases go to Cleveland Clinic?, even admitted to by program director). New regional rotation, so these numbers should improve.

Cleveland Clinic: Not at all impressed with this place. I know that it is top notch, the place for CT, but all in all the interviewers and program director seemed uninterested in any of the candidates, such that they simply needed to interview us to form a rank #. Gorgeous facility, huge. Residents seemed unhappy- ie when I asked an upper level how her experience was thus far her reply was "We work hard." (discouraging, Im not lazy, and expect to work during residency, but if this is all she could muster, that says a lot to me). New Chairman, Dr. Roizen, big guy, seems visionary, may change things quite a bit, too early to say thought, just started last year.

UT- San Antonio: Home program, nothing bad to say.

Penn State: Very impressed with this place. Great residents, great location, rural with great cost of living coupled with great caseload. All fellowships. All the faculty I met were very approachable and interested. Program director- Dr. Kimatian, very energetic and passionate about the 4 yr program (which I think is a big plus, 6 mos of Anesthesia year one, all the clinical base requirement co mingled through the 4 years- seemed more like a cohesive 4 year program as opposed to 1 year of non Anesthesia and 3 years of Anesthesia).

Id love to hear others thoughts on the reputation/ ranking on the other above programs and job prospects/fellowships post residency. These are all I have interviewed at so far. Thanks.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DrDre']

Ah, the first of many of its kind!

Not to be too much of a jerk but this is all about you.

One person's MGH is another's USF (Just examples, guys. Don't flame on this)

There is subjectivity in the ranking of programs and this doesn't even address personality and fit.


There are wonderful progs where you will not like the residents or staff at all.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[chicamedica]

I'm also curious regarding the difference in research opportunities among Hopkins, Penn, and Brigham anesthesia. I know they are all considered strong, but any nuances (e.g. in terms of the subject emphasis of the research, opportunities for phd as junior faculty, ease to get involved as a resident, funding). It's really hard to get a feel for this just from researching the website or even from interview day.

p.s. no offense to my fellow applicants, but obviously this is a question directed at current residents or faculty, NOT current applicants unless you've done a visiting month there and can speak with more insight.

 

[Etomidate]

Alright all, the interviews are in, no more cancelling/adding. I'd love to hear peoples thoughts on ranking these places (they are all good, so take this with a grain of salt, just curious about others opinions).

1. Hopkins
2. Univ. of Pittsburgh
3. Penn
4. Brigham& Womens
5. Mayo-Rochester
6. Dartmouth
7. Beth Israel Deaconess
8. Penn State
9. Cleveland Clinic
10. Case Western
11. Michigan
12. UT-San Antonio
13. UT-Southwestern

Please, any thoughts will be helpful, just trying to get a bit of a discussion about the pluses minuses of these programs. Here are my thoughts so far on the interviews I have had, not their reputation:

Case Western : very happy residents, great moonlighting built into program so many residents bank big (doubling salary not unheard of), nice facilities, very laid back interview. Seemed weak on Cardiac/Thoracic (all good cases go to Cleveland Clinic?, even admitted to by program director). New regional rotation, so these numbers should improve.

Cleveland Clinic: Not at all impressed with this place. I know that it is top notch, the place for CT, but all in all the interviewers and program director seemed uninterested in any of the candidates, such that they simply needed to interview us to form a rank #. Gorgeous facility, huge. Residents seemed unhappy- ie when I asked an upper level how her experience was thus far her reply was "We work hard." (discouraging, Im not lazy, and expect to work during residency, but if this is all she could muster, that says a lot to me). New Chairman, Dr. Roizen, big guy, seems visionary, may change things quite a bit, too early to say thought, just started last year.

UT- San Antonio: Home program, nothing bad to say.

Penn State: Very impressed with this place. Great residents, great location, rural with great cost of living coupled with great caseload. All fellowships. All the faculty I met were very approachable and interested. Program director- Dr. Kimatian, very energetic and passionate about the 4 yr program (which I think is a big plus, 6 mos of Anesthesia year one, all the clinical base requirement co mingled through the 4 years- seemed more like a cohesive 4 year program as opposed to 1 year of non Anesthesia and 3 years of Anesthesia).

Id love to hear others thoughts on the reputation/ ranking on the other above programs and job prospects/fellowships post residency. These are all I have interviewed at so far. Thanks.

1. BWH
2. JHU
3. Mayo
4. UPenn
5. UTSW
6. everything else

 

[chicamedica]

1. BWH
2. JHU
3. Mayo
4. UPenn
5. UTSW
6. everything else

Why brigham first? isn't cardiothoracic and trauma like non-existent there? I'm just curious, what besides the Harvard name makes Brigham so strong?

 

[blocks]

JHU
UPenn
BID
BWH
Mayo
UTSW
UMich
etc



Just my opinion.

 

[ether]

Hi all,

Good luck to all on the interview trail. Just wanted to drop my 2 cents from some close info. from my best friend who is finishing up at the Brigham this yr.

He agrees they don't do much trauma at all. He says that is fine though since trauma is basically consists of being up all call night just dumping blood products in the pt. Not much thinking and learning is what he said. His opinion is if u want trauma go somewhere else.

Cardiac and thoracics are a plus though. For cardiac there volume is stable even though many in New England has gone down with the new drug eluding stents, they are stable though likely secondary to the volume of valves they do. He said even one of the cardiac fellows came from MGH because their volume is down.
As for thoracics they do as much as anybody. The proof being they have a seperate ICU just for Thoracics alone (not included with the cardiac folks) and a separate stepdown thoracic ICU!!

Take it for what it's worth. Peace out.

 

[ADT]

What about Pittsburgh? From what Ive been told, this is a first tier program, with very few weaknesses, apart from the name brand. Thoughts?

 

[Etomidate]

What about Pittsburgh? From what Ive been told, this is a first tier program, with very few weaknesses, apart from the name brand. Thoughts?

I don't think so. Have also heard some rumblings about malignancy there.

 

[Trisomy13]

I don't think so. Have also heard some rumblings about malignancy there.

the rumblings i here coming from upmc generally come from teh IM and surgery residents. they have a reputation as a fairly cush anesthesia residency, with a caseload wanting for nothing. top notch hospitals, many firsts in transplant surgery and critical care, a childrens hospital and women's hospital. i'd rank it higher up with the big boys, but i am from the area and likely to be biased.

 

[Tenesma]

Brigham has a great Thoracic exposure and decent cardiac.... the problem with cardiac is that the numbers are down nationally.... and therefore that usually means the fellows will end up doing more cases than the residents...

Trauma.... Who needs trauma??? Of course it is fun as a CA-1 seeing all the adrenaline in the room... But trust me, trauma kills you and precipitates hair loss... I can sum up trauma
1) Put in the large bore IV that the ER guys couldn't get in
2) Hook up a rapid infusion system (i love the belmont) to a few large bore IVs
3) Get a lot of blood/ffp into the room and have a CA-1 check all the blood and draw ABGS, have another CA-1 pour RBC/FFP/Saline into rapid infusor
4) Titrate Pressors
5) tell the surgeon to cross-clamp the aorta few times
6) pray that the surgeons can either fix the problem or pack and transport to SICU before the coags really get out of whack....
7) keep an eye on the ICP...

How many of those do you need to do on call? i don't think you need that many if your program can offer you 1) liver transplants 2) double lung transplants 3) giant cardiac cases (ie: BIVADs are kinda like a trauma minus ICP) 4) big giant whomps (hemi-pelvectomies, four-point disarticulations, anterior-posterior-anterior thoraco-lumbar-sacral fusions, etc...)

 

[Idiopathic]

Keep UTSW right where you have it

 

[ADT]

I have heard from several faculty that in Anesthesia circles, Pittsburgh is easily top ten, if not top five...Just a thought, everyone has their own opinions. (Maybe it is because I have family in the area, and now that I have interviews at a number of top places, I am trying to rationalize making a choice to come to Pittsburgh...)

 

[NoodleIncident]

Does it really matter whether or not it's top ten? You'll get good training at any accredited program so just relax and go where you think you'll enjoy living and learning. By the way, I recently interviewed at our home program and it wasn't too shabby at all.

I have heard from several faculty that in Anesthesia circles, Pittsburgh is easily top ten, if not top five...Just a thought, everyone has their own opinions. (Maybe it is because I have family in the area, and now that I have interviews at a number of top places, I am trying to rationalize making a choice to come to Pittsburgh...)

 

[keysersoze]

I was wondering, do you guys think I'd be better off going to one of the 23 Top Ten programs, one of the 12 Top Five programs, or one of the 47 Top Twenty programs? Also, what are my chances of making sure that all my interviews are among the 93 out of 129 total programs that are in the Top Half?

Hehe, just kidding here, but the chairman at one of the programs I just visited alluded to this same kind of thinking. The "top" programs are usually thought of as being ranked in terms of their prestige within the field, and as such I'm amazed at some of the programs that people include as being in the mythical Top Ten. In the end the only Top Ten that matters is your rank list Top Ten, and if you're like me at all, prestige is not the most important factor in helping to decide where my best training will be realized.

Good luck to everyone on the trail! It seems like most everyone is looking at really great places. They are all easily in the top 129 Top One Hundred programs.

 

[quark]

the rumblings i here coming from upmc generally come from teh IM and surgery residents. they have a reputation as a fairly cush anesthesia residency, with a caseload wanting for nothing. top notch hospitals, many firsts in transplant surgery and critical care, a childrens hospital and women's hospital. i'd rank it higher up with the big boys, but i am from the area and likely to be biased.

I don't think that the anesthesia residency is malignant at all. I work hard in the OR, but still have lots of free time to study or spend with the family. Great attendings who love to teach. No complaints about the case load. Pretty good call schedule...on call days during the week you don't come in until 3 pm and out the next day by 7 am; 24-hour call only on weekends at Childrens and Presby. Overall, pretty satisfied with the residency program.