i did a visiting elective at pitt a few months ago and i was supposedly on the "malignant srevice", the gi surgery service at presby. the attendings worked the intern pretty hard, but i never felt that they behaved in a condescending, short, or malignant fashion. all of them were very nice and for the most part forgave the intern for any mishaps.
from what i could tell, the intern who was running the service would work about 14 hours a day, with call i think every other weekend, with night float. (and i do mean running the service, there was also a chief and a 2 but i never saw the 2 and the chief was always in the or). the intern was never in the or, but the chief was doing TONS of cases. all of them were at home by 7pm each night, with exceptions of course for long cases. so this appeared to be as bad as it gets at pitt.
otherwise, from brief interactions with residents at m&m and other conferences, all were basically pretty happy and enjoyed their time at pitt. as far as attendings go, the 5-6 i met were incredible--incredibly intelligent, fun to be around, very laid back, but taught only minimally (at least to me, a fourth year med student).
unfortunately i cancelled my interview at pitt, though, but only because it was intensely academic (the chief told me if i didnt plan on doing AT LEAST 2-3 years of research then i shouldn't apply) and i personally would prefer a community program...
hope this helps!
