Kentucky Programs

[aearums]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Long time lurker, opened an account to ask a question. My wife and I are considering Kentucky as an option for residency so I wanted to know if anyone had any updated information or opinions on the programs at UK or UofL. Thanks in advance for anything you have to offer.

 

[Gern Blansten]

I hear outstanding things about Kentucky. I hear it is a solid program. I don't know much about Louisville, good or bad.

 

[kazuma]

I agree, Kentucky is an amazing program. It's very resident friendly and they have a large variety of cases. The department leadership is composed of faculty that enjoy teaching and they seem to be true resident advocates. You can't go wrong with UK.

 

[chessknt]

UK interview was awesome, one of the best dinners and a free hotel. Also got the feel of a very solid program.

 

[Dwindlin]

I'll echo what was said about UK, like UT it got put near the bottom of my list simply because I was interested in programs with larger class sizes.

I'll add that I was very pleasantly surprised with Louisville. Program seemed solid (cardiac especially seemed excellent), residents I met were all great. Department appeared responsive and supportive. I'll preempt this last statement that I was born and raised in the mid-west and I like it here. Louisville is a nice mid-western city. Lot of things to do, and interesting things happening frequently. Even if your not a horse race fan (I am not) derby week is a blast and Thunder Over Louisville is the largest fireworks display in the western hemisphere and is pretty impressive to see. If Louisville a major coastal city? Hell no, and personally I wouldn't have liked it as much if it were, but I know many mid-western programs get dinged for this reason.

 

[GasOrBust]

Interviewed at UK this past fall. Like everyone else, I loved the program. The PD, Randy Schell, is a very family-oriented guy and is 200% about resident education; I got the impression that he really goes to bat for his residents. Didactics are very strong. (I think every morning around 0600 or 0630.) Some might even say overkill, but he seemed very receptive to always making changes based on resident feedback. They even have an "education specialist" employed in the department. Residents were all nice and happy. Seemed to get along well and take care of each other. It seemed like every single one came to the interview day lunch. Good moonlighting opportunities. Intern year seemed pretty nice. I think they only have two fellowships (pain and critical care), and I don't know anything about the quality of these. Chairman was in the process of retiring. I ended up ranking it very highly. Almost put it #1, but my wife really didn't want to go to Lexington. Sooo...happy wife, happy life.

Didn't interview at Louisville.

 

[tima]

Is there an advantage to joining a program with a larger class size?

I'll echo what was said about UK, like UT it got put near the bottom of my list simply because I was interested in programs with larger class sizes.

I'll add that I was very pleasantly surprised with Louisville. Program seemed solid (cardiac especially seemed excellent), residents I met were all great. Department appeared responsive and supportive. I'll preempt this last statement that I was born and raised in the mid-west and I like it here. Louisville is a nice mid-western city. Lot of things to do, and interesting things happening frequently. Even if your not a horse race fan (I am not) derby week is a blast and Thunder Over Louisville is the largest fireworks display in the western hemisphere and is pretty impressive to see. If Louisville a major coastal city? Hell no, and personally I wouldn't have liked it as much if it were, but I know many mid-western programs get dinged for this reason.

 

[BobBarker]

It's easier to deal with call when you have somebody flake out and you have much more anonymity. Also, better nationwide networking.

 

[chessknt]

The class size differences are usually on the order of 2-4 people per year (ie 12 vs.16) for most programs, so not huge medicine level numbers.

 

[Dwindlin]

The class size differences are usually on the order of 2-4 people per year (ie 12 vs.16) for most programs, so not huge medicine level numbers.

My class is 26 🙂

But we also cover everything. No mid-levels at any of the 5 sites we cover.

 

[Camel]

Greetings! I am one of the upcoming chiefs at UK. Obviously, I am biased (hence the disclosure of this fact); however, I was told before coming that UK is one of the best programs in the region for education and have found no fault in this statement. If you have any questions, let me know and I will do my best to reply!

Some main points:
-great educational program (we employ a masters-level director of education... in this economy, our department sees value in having someone on staff whose only role is education of residents and helping with research, etc.)
-great people (my resident colleagues are amazing people and our residents get institution-level awards at a rate much higher than expected for our relative number of residents compared to all of the residents in the hospital)
-attendings are fantastic (care about education, care about residents as people and as anesthesiologists... when we had our 3 kids in 1 year, I had attendings bring us meals and boxes of diapers and toys, etc.)
-our leadership is exceptional, our department's standing in the hospital is well-respected

There are tons of other reasons, but hopefully I will get to talk to you about them at your interview!

Regards!

 

[CrazyJake]

UKs educational commitment is unreal with great lectures-teaching.
In this changing environment, this is becoming harder and harder to find.

I really like my program (considered to be very good) but often wish I was at UK.
Dr. Schell is very impressive.

Goodluck.
CJ

 

[Reciprocity79]

I was really impressed with UK's program and PD when I interviewed last year. I particularly liked how they split up the first year and tailor it towards anesthesia through all four years instead of having to slug through a traditional prelim or TY spot.

Only reason I didn't rank them higher is because I have an interest in pediatric anesthesia and they lack a peds fellowship.