Louisiana State University (Shreveport)

[Andrew_Doan]

Ophthalmology Residency Program Compendium Table of Contents

Louisiana State University Hospital
1501 Kings Highway
PO Box 33932
Shreveport, Louisiana 71130

http://www.medcom.lsuhsc-s.edu/eye/index.htm

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[ophthoapplicant]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=395874

Jokestr 04-30-07
When I interveiwed at the LSU shreveport program last year I actually liked it. Very high volume and lots of surgical experience. The faculty seemed really cool. Shreveport was maybe not the ideal destination, but if you are looking to try and get in late to a program where u will get good training, I would check it out. Plus, cost of living in Shreveport was very cheap.
Good luck

GuP 05-01-07
Ditto about Shrevport - I spoke with a chief and only good things were said. There is a very high volume of surgeries, awesome faculty, and good camraderie (sp?). Overall, a good prog. if you can get past the location.
Monkey7247 05-18-07
Shreveport grows on you, too. There's a lot more to do here than my interview impressions led me to believe.

 

[monkey7247]

I'm currently a PGY-2 in the LSU-Shreveport Ophthalmology residency and wanted to share some info and my thoughts regarding the program.

I enjoy the program a lot. It is highly clinical with little research opportunities available. High volume, learn by doing. The program encourages autonomy, giving each of the first years 2 exam rooms of our own that we can treat as private rooms. Staff is available at all times, but only see patients that we ask them to. Initially, this was probably every other patient, now maybe every 5th when Medicare patients are included.

It is a smaller program with only 9 total residents. Most of our time is spent at LSU, although as second years we spend 4m at the VA (5 minutes from LSU). 3rd years spend 4m at each of the three hospitals we cover, one of which is in Monroe ~100 miles east. From what i have heard, the Monroe rotation is set up to allow us the experience of running a private clinic. There is an apartment that you can stay in while there that is paid for by the program. I've never been to Monroe myself, but hear that it is a smaller quiet town.

I know first-hand that the clinic volume is high. 1st year is nearly all general clinic. The days early on ran quite long, with us staying until 7-8pm most nights. Now that we've become more efficient, we usually get out between 6-6:30. We start surgeries during our 1st year, but most are minor procedures done in the clinic, such as excisional biopsies, I+Ds, and PRP/YAG lasers. The last Friday of the month, one of the 1st years goes to the OR as primary surgeon with one of our plastics attendings. Granted, that's only 4 times per year, but I promise it picks up. There are also random times when 1st years are tapped to assist in the OR.

The second years split most of their time between sub-specialty clinic rotations and the OR. They each spent 2-3 days/week in the OR, with probably half their cases as primary surgeon and half as assist. Second years help out in the general clinic when they have down time.

3rd year is nearly all surgery, with most clinic time devoted to pre-op and post-op evals. I think they've been graduating these last couple of years with between 200-250 cataracts. Total procedures number somewhere around 600. You won't need to do a fellowship when you leave here, especially since there are no fellows to poach the complex cases.

Regarding fellowship placement, I know that in last years graduating class 2 went on to cornea fellowships and 1 went general. I get the impression that fellowship attainment has not been a problem at this program.

Call is averaged out to q6d split between 1st/2nd years, with 5 out of 6 weekends off. You'll cover LSUHSC and the VA while on call. 3rd years as backup with an attending always available. Plan on getting called in probably every other call, especially if you're covering the weekend.

With respect to the city, Shreveport has grown on me. Initially I was worried because the crime is higher than most places I've lived. I've since learned that only certain areas have this problem. The city overall feels very safe. It's ~50/50 white/black. The population is poorer than I'm used to, with average family income around 40K. Housing is very affordable. I've heard nightlife is pretty good here, but ever since my wife gave birth, we've rarely stayed out past 9pm.

The largest problem that this program has seems to be a problem with Louisiana as a whole: money. The clinic tends to feel understaffed with the techs/nurses and the facilities could use some updating. However, the equipment is all up to date and relatively new.I should mention, we now have an excimer laser to perform refractive surgery in the clinic. I have no idea where the money for that came from.

That's an overview of the program. Feel free to email me nelligan(at)gmail(dot)com if you have any more questions with LSU-Shreveport in the subject line somewhere.

 

[randomdude00]

I got a good impression from Shreveport. The people were friendly, and they get a very high surgical volume. Notes I took:

Positives:

- Good amount of trauma (level 1 trauma center)
- Good camaraderie
- Use of wet labs at ALCON in Dallas (?)
- Program director was very laid back, very informal, seemed to be a good advocate for the residents. He likes to joke around alot.
- 2 hours from Dallas, 4 hours from Houston

Negatives:
- Facilities were old
- Clinic was supposedly very busy, you could stay as late as 7 p.m. working
- Shreveport is kind of a run down city, but not that bad. Wouldn't be the best for a single person but o.k. if you're married. Bad school systems.
- You go away for 4 months to Monroe during your 3rd year.

Undecided:
- Lots of part time faculty
- Didn't seem to be overly academic/research oriented. Very clinical.

 

[pharmjana]

I got a good impression from Shreveport. The people were friendly, and they get a very high surgical volume. Notes I took:

Positives:

- Good amount of trauma (level 1 trauma center)
- Good camaraderie
- Use of wet labs at ALCON in Dallas (?)
- Program director was very laid back, very informal, seemed to be a good advocate for the residents. He likes to joke around alot.
- 2 hours from Dallas, 4 hours from Houston

Negatives:
- Facilities were old
- Clinic was supposedly very busy, you could stay as late as 7 p.m. working
- Shreveport is kind of a run down city, but not that bad. Wouldn't be the best for a single person but o.k. if you're married. Bad school systems.
- You go away for 4 months to Monroe during your 3rd year.

Undecided:
- Lots of part time faculty
- Didn't seem to be overly academic/research oriented. Very clinical.

Okay, just wanted to reply to your thread to clear up some misconceptions about Shreveport...
Actually it is a pretty good place to live (I have been there most of my life and am a product of the public school system and have done really well). Yes there are some bad places to live (or visit) in Shreveport, especially right around the med center. However there are also some great places. Also, there are some really good schools there, you just have to know which ones. I used to teach Kindergarten before going back to school so I have been in many of the schools. My recommendations are:

Elementary--Shreve Island (the only year-round school in Shreveport, basically they go for 9 weeks and get either a 2 week or 1 week break and then go 5 weeks into the summer--usually out by the 1st week in July), Riverside, A. C. Steere, there are also a couple of good magnet schools but you have to be tested to get in and it is often difficult if not entering K to get in (my recs here are: Fairfield, Eden Gardens, and the one everyone thinks is so great, but I disagree, South Highlands)

Middle: Middle Magnet (again have to be tested to get in), Youree Drive Middle

High School: Magnet High, C. E. Byrd (also a magnet school but with all sports), Captain Shreve

There are also several really good private schools.

Also, Shreveport is actually 3 hours from Dallas but it is not a bad drive. Shreveport is really growing and changing and the Med Center is making a lot of changes and additions. If I were critically injured I would want to be taken there and that is what most people in the area say as well.

I hope this helps so people in making decisions about LSUMC-S.

 

[monkey7247]

Wanted to give an update since I wrote my initial review as a PGY-II. This program has only gotten better over the last 2 years. Just wanted to post some surgical numbers, since I just entered my cases yesterday. Since people tend to judge programs by their cataracts:

As of 10/28/09:

Cataracts 240 primary, expect to break 400 by end of year
Total procedures 831

Keep in mind I'm only 4 months into my third year, and the volume for all other procedures is similarly off the charts. I feel like I will be able to handle anything once I'm done here. There are no fellows, so the residents do all the challenging cases. I'm placing toric lenses and also doing most of the steps during PKs.

If anyone is interviewing 10/31, I'll be there. Unfortunately, I will be unable to make the other 2 interview dates secondary to fellowship interviews (cornea). If you have any questions, please email me: nelligan (at) gmail.com

Good luck with interviews, everyone!

 

[monkey7247]

As I come to the end of my residency, I wanted to state how much I enjoyed my time here. Would definitely go here again. Program now takes 4 residents a year.

Since today was my last day operating, I wanted to post my final numbers. Cataracts seem to be how some judge a program. I'm finishing with 415 primary cataracts. Everyone asked about our numbers at interviews, so here they are. I'll post them in the form of the ACGME Operative Minimum Report.

Format for numbers are Operation type/Minimum required/Primary surgeon/Assistant surgeon/total

Cataract 86/415/82/497
Other Cataract 0/58/27/85
Corneal Surgery 3/16/12/28
Strabismus 10/22/4/26
Glaucoma 5/18/11/29
Glaucoma Lasers 9/107/0/107
Retina Vitreous 1/6/23/29
Other Retinal 25/249/3/252
Oculoplastic and Orbit 28/113/14/127
Globe Trauma 4/10/7/17

 

[SoWon]

I received residency training from this institution and would like to provide an update. If given the chance, I would go to this program again for the following reasons:

1) Fantastic surgical training - Heavy surgical numbers. Recent grads graduated with 300-400 cataracts. Surgeries include complex cataract cases, MIGS, torics, premium IOLs. Program director is an amazing surgeon.
2) Good clinic exposure: Lots of in-clinic procedures including lasers and injections. You learn to become very efficient in clinic.
3) Autonomy - resident clinic is essentially run by the residents. You have some autonomy at the VA. When in Monroe, you serve as the sole ophthalmologist for the entire hospital.
However, you always have oversight. The attendings read your notes and are always available. All surgeries are staffed. I cannot stress enough the importance of autonomy with oversight during your residency training! (Of course, you also spend alot of time at the faculty clinic where you learn by watching)
4) Great relationship with drug/surg reps - lots of outings, sponsored guest speaker events, Alcon wet lab every year, reps are always available for questions, instruments, lenses, courses, etc.
5) Educational support - maybe not the best with lectures and grand rounds, but you are provided with BCSC books, board review course in 2nd year, online okap review questions every year, lenses (hand-me downs). If you get a poster or paper accepted at a conference, they pay for your trip. Few residents scored in the 8-90th percentile on the OKAP during my time there.

Of course there are downsides as well, but the pros outweigh the cons. I genuinely believe that this program has trained me well.

PM or reply for any questions.
Good luck!

 

[cubsrule4e]

I received residency training from this institution and would like to provide an update. If given the chance, I would go to this program again for the following reasons:

1) Fantastic surgical training - Heavy surgical numbers. Recent grads graduated with 300-400 cataracts. Surgeries include complex cataract cases, MIGS, torics, premium IOLs. Program director is an amazing surgeon.
2) Good clinic exposure: Lots of in-clinic procedures including lasers and injections. You learn to become very efficient in clinic.
3) Autonomy - resident clinic is essentially run by the residents. You have some autonomy at the VA. When in Monroe, you serve as the sole ophthalmologist for the entire hospital.
However, you always have oversight. The attendings read your notes and are always available.
4) Great relationship with drug/surg reps - lots of outings, sponsored guest speaker events, Alcon wet lab every year, reps are always available for questions, instruments, lenses, courses, etc.
5) Educational support - not the best with lectures and grand rounds, but you are provided with BCSC books, board review course in 2nd year, online okap review questions every year, lenses (hand-me downs). If you get a poster or paper accepted at a conference, they pay for your trip.

Of course there are downsides as well, but the pros outweigh the cons. I genuinely believe that this program has trained me well.

PM or reply for any questions.
Good luck!

Echo these sentiments as a 2013 grad from Shreveport. Agree with all points, but seems cataract numbers may have almost doubled what I had (close to 200). I still maintain relationships with my co-residents, attendings, and even the drug reps despite practicing in Baton Rouge 3.5 hours away. Even coming out of residency, the senior surgeon of my practice was impressed at my phaco time, which is now about 4 minutes for a standard case. You wont get better surgical training.

 

[Nulsdeep]

Current resident here. Everything above is true. I just wanted to add a few points.

1) In regards to the surgical training, you have the opportunity to learn from 6-7 different cataract surgeons for the 350+ cataracts.
2) Fellowship match is always a big topic among applicants. Fellowship matches have never been a problem (previous matches included UTSW, Stanford, MEEI, USF, Tufts, Wisconsin, Mount Sinai, etc for various sub-specialties).
3) Ochsner is now part of LSU-Shreveport, which supposedly will bring more money to all departments including ophthalmology. Recently, we got all new diagnostic equipment including OCT and HVF.
4) Due to above, there are plans to move to a new clinic building.
5) Our co-PD (very bright neuro-ophthalmologist) is very receptive and always looking to improve the program.