Here is a review I posted last year about IU after rotating there. Also I copied and pasted a pretty accurate review off scutwork from '07.
IU has a great program with a lot of history. Dr Stoelting was the chair until he retired. As for the residency it is one of the largest in the country with 23-24 residents in each class but there is definitely no shortage of cases. There are no CRNAs or AA and the residents rotate between 4 main hospitals on basically one gigantic medical campus. They also do a month of hearts at Methodist Hospital a few miles away.
The hours and call schedule vary depending on the different sites. As a general rule most residents put in 60-65 hrs/wk taking 4-5 24 hrs per month. A normal day goes from about 630am-500pm. Hours are usually longer at Riley (the childrens hospital) and less at Wishard(the county hospital) and the VA.
The clinical exposure at UI amazing...tons and tons of transplants, neuro and peds. I was told that regional used to be lacking but they hired a couple new faculty who almost exclusively do regional cases. A prior complaint was that residents spent to much time at the children's hospital but now the most any one resident will spend at Riley is 6 months. That still may be a little more than some like but it is definitely an improvement.
All didactics are stacked on Weds morning. They include the usual...M&M, case reviews, board review etc.
The faculty for the most part are great and the residents seem very happy. Like every place there are a few people that seem disgruntle but I think everyone would admit their training was top notch.
The PD is incredible. A very honest and up-front guy. You will always know where you stand with him for better or for worse. As for the question about IU being an "inbred" program, it is true most of the residents are from IU but they also have a med school class of like 350. Every year there are handful of people from all over including DOs.
As for the city, it's Indianapolis. A clean, cheap, family friendly place. I'm not much into the scene but they must have pretty good nightlife based on the kind of trouble the Pacer's players get into.
Overall 👍👍
SCUTWORK:
Schedule
Typical day starts at 0645. You set up the room and go see the patients at day surgery by 0700. Cases start at 0730 usually. There are two one-hour lectures starting at 0630 on every Wednesday morning so all cases at all locations are delayed to start at 0830. This program is one of the largest in the country as well as being the busiest program. There are 5 hospitals that you rotate through.
*** Indiana University Hospital ***
Workload is moderate to slightly heavy. 19 ORs. No scutworks. You will typically get 2-3 long cases (mostly cancer patients) each day and stay until call person or late person takes over at 1600. 3 call persons and 2 late persons. One of the call person will stay in-house. Other call persons and late persons may go home as ORs wind down. Occasionally it become crazily busy and you need to stay doing the cases until 1900-2000 even you are not on call/late.
*** Riley Children's Hospital ***
Workload is heavy. 12 main ORs, 4 Ambu ORs, 1 MRI, 1 cath lab, 1 angio. No scutworks. You will typically get three to nine short, rapid turnover cases all day. There are only 1 call person and 2 late persons despite this heavy workload so usually you have to stay late until 1800-1900. You get only 30 min lunch break a day and you keep working all day otherwise.
*** Wishard Memorial Hospital ***
Workload is moderate to light. You typically get 2-4 short cases a day and will be done by 1600. The schedule becomes very light every once in a while and you could take off by 1500. 2 call persons and 2 late persons. This is a Level 1 trauma hospital so call night could be brutal sometimes. Some scutworks like turning over the anesthesia machine yourself, re-stocking your anesthesia cart, because they don't have any anesthesia nurses here.
*** VA hospital ***
Workload is very light. You will get 2-3 short cases and will be done by 1500 usually. 1 call person and 1 late person. No scutworks. You usually sleep well on call nights 95% of the time.
*** Methodist Hospital ***
You will rotate this hospital for only one month for cardiac anesthesia rotation. Workload is very light. You will get 1 open-heart case a day and will be done by 1300 and you may take off. No calls. No scutworks.
Teaching
Generally the faculties at this programs are very good. Their fund of knowledge is excellent and are always happy to teach you. Most of the staff will leave the room as soon as the induction is done and come back once or twice during the case. They usually are not present for emergence. One of the weakness of our program used to be the quality and quantity of formal lectures. Our new chaiman Dr. Butterworth is working hard to improve this issue. The lectures used to focus on written board exam only and guraduating residents have always felt they are not ready for oral exams. Dr. Butterworth is trying hard to put more stress on oral exam preparations. One of the strength of this program is there are so many faculties, residents and med students always around you that you will have plenty of chance to discuss/teach anesthesia topics each other. I am a lazy resident and I barely studied 30 min a day avarage sitting at my desk throughout my residency but I have been at top 30 percentile on my last two in-training exams. You will learn by just being there! *** University Hospital *** We have always been wondering why there are so many faculties with odd personalities here. But you can get along with them once they come to know you. They are generally nice to you. They will not teach you unless you ask questions, but they know very well. *** Riley Hospital *** Except one or two faculties, they are all nice. Since this place has so many cases and the turnover is so quick, faculties do not have enough time to teach you at the bedside. They staff you upon induction and leave, snoop in once or twice during the case and then sometimves come back for emergence. Their fund of knowledge is, however, excellent. You ask a question, they will be happy to teach you anything. *** Wishard Memorial Hospital *** Staffs here are all super-nice. They are heavy on regional blocks because this hospital have lots of trauma ortho cases. You see faculties discussing about anesthesia with residents in the OR hallways all the time. They love to teach. *** VA hospital *** Best teaching staffs. They are super-nice. Section director here has mandated that each faculty should make at least one 15 min mini-lecture at bedside everyday to every residents. *** Methodist Hospital *** Methodist hospital is basically a place for private practice anesthesiologists. They usually don't have anesthesia residents and there are only 2 residents rotating this service at a time. One of the several cardiac anesthesiologists will be with you all day and teach you step by step even if you know nothing about cardiac anesthesia. But again, they are private practice docs so they all have their own biased ways of setting up the anesthesia and you are forced to do that way. I mean, not as flexible as real educational hospitals, but it is okay.
Atmosphere
This is one of the biggest anesthesia residency in this country. We have more than 25 residents in each class, total of above 75 residents. Surprizingly, almost half of the graduating med students from Indiana University applied to our program last year. Med students usually know very well about the residency programs at their own medical school. This proves how good our program is. Despite being busy sometimes, residents are very happy, always helping each others. There are some stinky faculties but this happens everywhere in the real life. Every hospital have resident break room, Wishard being the best and Riley being the worst (You don't need a breakroom at Riley anyway because you are going to bust your ass there). This program has constantly taking 3-4 FMGs every year and some are full-blown board-certified anesthesiologists in their own contries. You will learn a lot from them about what they do in other countries. We do have life after the work. Most of the time you will be able to leave the hospital by 1600-1700. You can go shopping, take care of your family, dine out, go watch games and events. Indianapolis is not too small, not too big city. Many residents and staff live in the Nothern suburbs of Indianapolis where crime rate is very low, have good schools, taking 30-40 min to commute.
Conclusion
*** What stands out in this program compared to others? The volume of anesthesia experience you will get. We do not have CRNAs so you will get tons of tons of cases ranging from bread and butters to high-ends. Transplant service at Indiana University is one of the top-notch department in this country. They usually finish liver transplant in 4 hours with EBL of only 400! At least one organ transplant case a day. *** What are the drawbacks? Little experience in cardiac anesthesia, regional anesthesia cases. They are sufficient enough to fulfill ACGME requirements but you don't get sufficient experience to become confident enough. Dr. Hasewinkel and Dr. Mitchell at Wishard hospital are trying hard to increase the number on regional blocks and the cases has significantly increased since last year. *** Would you feel prepared once finished? Definately. I can start working at any place I want to. *** Would you choose this program if you had to reapply? Yes. This program is old and has tradition, but is still evolving and I can see lots of improvements since Dr. Butterworth came here. *** Any other pertinent positives and negatives about this program? It's not about the program but I hated the hostile attitude of Riley nurses. *** What do most of the graduates end up going into? 4-5 residents will do Pain fellowship, 1 going to pediatric anesthesia. Others will go to private practice. Indiana is one of the doctor's-heaven states. They are finding jobs in the rural towns in Indiana state. Starting salary ranges 300K-500K. No inquiries, please.
