I'm doing my internship as part of the UCSF Categorical program right now, so I have yet to start the real fun of being a CA-1, but I will offer you the insights I have.
For starters, I would say I have not observed anything resembling "malignancy". My definition of malignant (of which there are several, I'm sure) is having a poor and borderline-adversarial relationship between attendings and residents and amongst the residents themselves. The attendings I've already worked with in the ICUs and seen in the OR while on surgery rotations are nothing short of fantastic (again, this is only based on the experience I've had thus far). They are not only great teachers, but nice people who also happen to remember my name and say hello every time they see me (again, I'm an INTERN in a program that has 80+ people between all four years). That means something to me.
Our program director is top-notch, and along with the education director (also a top-notch guy) works tirelessly to improve not only the education, but the quality of life for the anesthesia residents. Even down to the always friendly residency coordinator, I have yet to meet a member of the department who is not friendly and happy to be there.
The department goes to great lengths to find ways to make the residents' lives more comfortable and liveable in an expensive city like SF, which I find to be indicative of how much the department cares about the residents.
There are a lot of great CA-1s/2s/3s I've met so far this year and for the most part they are people I would not only be happy to work with professionally, but also go out for drinks with and hang out outside of work.
As far as work hours, I don't have the exact number, and if it's important to applicants you should check with the PD, but I believe the average was about 65 hours per week (with the ICU months making that number higher than it would otherwise be). It's certainly none of the 100+ hours/week stuff that was happening in years past. And again, I will add the caveat that this is my understanding from talking to other residents and paying attention when I get information - if you want "official" specifics you should talk to someone involved in the application process. Regarding days off and such, one of the chief residents was telling me that he works "3-4" weekend days a YEAR. Compare that to your fellow Medicine residents who are essentially Q4 call (or worse) for all three years with no more than 4 days off a month. It kind of makes it difficult to complain too much about the workload. And don't even get me started about the misery our surgical colleagues endure for the duration of their residencies...
If anyone has any questions about the intern year, feel free to contact me, but for now I will say that it is DEFINITELY much better than it appeared on the sample schedule we got when I interviewed. It is definitely not cush, but I've already had the opportunity to work with some amazing residents in other departments and have learned a ton! I've forged lasting relationships with both attendings and residents in other departments that will no doubt be beneficial in the coming years.
Good luck to all who are going through this process right now, I remember how stressful it was last year!
