There have been a lot of changes over the last decade and most have been positive. I think this program is poised to become more than just a solid place where you can learn anesthesia.
In terms of schedule, a typical day begins by about 6:00am or 6:30am setting up your room depending on if there is a conference that morning (will come in 6am if conference is 6:15). The OR start time is 7:30 am. The exception to this is Monday, which is Grand Rounds (including Journal Club and M&M) and begins at 6am and goes until 8am, with OR start times at 8:30am. So on Monday you will arrive at about 5:40am to set up. You will get a 15 min break in the am, a 30 min break for lunch, and a 15min break in the afternoon (sometimes). The average time that people go home is 5pm. Anytime that you stay after 5pm you earn $50/hr which is awesome. There is plenty of opportunity for those eager to make extra money to do so and for those who like to leave to go home.
There are 2 designated late (CA-1) residents per week whose job is to come in at 11am and give lunches, and then in turn they stay late and get residents and CRNAs out of cases at 5pm (there are also designated CRNAs who are scheduled to leave at 7pm rather than 5pm so not all the CRNAs get to leave early). They also do preops for add-ons and for inpatients scheduled for CRNA's for the next day (we have a preop clinic that does preops for all outpatients). Usually, if its not busy then one of the late residents will go home early(anywhere from 8 to 10pm), leaving the nightfloat upper level resident with the other CA1 until the nighttime CRNA comes at 11pm and the CA1 then goes home. CA1s do not generally take call during the weekdays. There is a CA2 or CA3 that do night float (6pm to 7am so not bad at all) for a week at a time Sunday to Thursday (the weekends have a separate call schedule). As mentioned before, there is a nightime CRNA that comes in at 11pm during the weekdays when the late residents go home. So overnight during the week there is a nightfloat resident and a CRNA. The nightfloat resident carries the code pager and preops any add on cases. The CRNA sets up the room while the resident preops them and discusses with the attending and then the CRNA does the case. The nightfloat resident does any level 1 traumas or big cases that occur at night along with doing any code/floor intubations.
There is a weekend call schedule which is overall not bad and most people average 1 or possibly 2 call weekends per month (meaning that they are on call 1 day during the Fri/Sat/Sun period; not the whole weekend)
CA1s start out in the main OR in July (June if they are categorical and do intern year at MCG) and work 1:1 with senior residents or an attending for the 1st month. By the end of the month they are flying solo with an attending. I think this rapid progression and autonomy is a huge advantage of our program. They will hold your hand if you need it, but unless you do they will let you have a lot of room to breath. By the time you are a senior you can pretty much run the show and attendings have a great amount of trust in the upper levels.
We also begin doing subspecialty rotations later during CA1 year which is awesome and can include anything from CT if the attendings feel you are ready, to peds, chronic and acute pain, OB, SICU, etc. We also do an off campus prison rotation which is a pretty light month that everyone likes. Our main OR includes neuro and ENT so this is considered bread and butter for us. One advantage of this program is that everything is in one hospital so you don't have to go around to many different sites except for the prison. There is talk, however, of sending us to more of a private practice setting so that we can get a chance to experience the pace. We also have a VA attached to our hospital that we used to rotate at about 10 or more years ago. They pulled us out of there because we were being used more for cheap labor and were not being taught much. Since that time there is new leadership at the VA and there is also talk of us going back over to the VA.
We have added several fantastic regional guys over the last few years as well and so we get good block experience during this rotation.
We are a level I trauma facility, and we get a surprising amount of trauma for what you would expect for Augusta, so we get fairly well prepared in that regard as well.
In terms of weaknesses, we used to have a lot more volume of OB. From talking with our seniors, they are still able to get the required number of epidurals, but the volume is not like it used to be. Also, the hours can be intense on rotations such as SICU where it is Q3 or sometime Q4 call. OB can also be hit or miss depending on the night.
Overall, I am very happy here as are my colleagues. There are always some complainers (which coming from surgery, I feel are more prevalent in anesthesia), but overall everyone is for the most part happy.
All residents are given ipads (they are going to ipad minis next because of portability in the OR). These are a tremendous asset as we have probably the most extensive library that you will find of any program out there. We have every major textbook all in portable format for the ipad (baby miller, miller, barash, cote peds, cottrell neuro, stoelting, evidence based anesthesia, Kaplan cardiac, chestnut OB, ICU textbooks, pain and TEE atlases, and just about every other textbook you could want), we also have an immense amount of other resources, ITE reviews, various mp3's, ACE Q's, etc, that many programs may or may not have. We are also given $1500 educational money that can be used on conferences (they pay outside of this fund for any conference we present at) or additional resources.
Our program uses Cerner powerchart for electronic medical record and CompuRecord for intraop. These systems are fairly easy to use and the CompuRecord makes intraop charting very easy.
Lectures and teaching used to be a problem. There is still some room for improvement, but not by much. Currently the didactics include a month long intro for CA's where they go through baby miller during their first month in the OR. The lecture is everday at 4pm and is given by faculty covering a chapter or 2 in baby miller. After this, regular didactics start which include grand rounds on monday 6-8am. On tuesdays and thursdays there are keywords given by residents from 6:15 to 6:45. On wednesdays alternating there is jeopardy style question board questions where the program is split into 3 teams and the winner at the end of the year goes out to dinner somewhere nice. The other wednesdays there is a mock oral board review where the senior residents are grilled in true oral board style while the juniors watch. Also mixed in on various other wednesdays are ACE question review sessions. There are never any lectures on fridays.
The faculty (many of whom are new within the last several years) are really pretty good about teaching. Sometimes you have to be proactive with some attendings, but this is true for any program. There are also a few attendings who will show you their special way to do everything and are very hands on. These few attendings are very smart and teach a lot, but its not always pleasant because they are so anal. There is a huge opportunity for research here at MCG. Several of our faculty and one resident have there own basic science labs with big NIH funding and other grants. Also, the other faculty, especially the CT and ICU faculty are very robust in clinical research. It is therefore very easy to get involved with some kind of project. In fact, our residency program had many poster presentations and abstracts to this years ASA in San Francisco rivaling many programs. Our residency program is very active in local and national politics. We make up a large portion of the residents elected to the GSA, and we even had a resident elected this year as a delegate to the ASA, so we are very involved in what is going on locally and nationally with anesthesiology.
I am coming from a much larger city, but I find Augusta has much to offer. The warm weather suits me well. Here it is October and we are still wearing shorts and t-shirts. The golf is huge here (masters) and we definitely have time to take advantage of some of the beautiful courses (now if only I could jump the fence into augusta national). The southern food here definitely grows on you, just look at peoples' waistlines. My wife is also happy, they have a mall with just about every store that she could want (minus a nordstrom), they even have an Apple store. There are enough restaurants, and there is a lot of activities such as the riverwalk, kayaking down the canal, local fairs, did I mention golf, etc. It may not be as wild with the bar/club scene as some big cities, but there is definitely some fun to be had downtown, as I can attest since I was given the green light a few times by my wife to go out with the guys.
Overall this is more than a solid program with great all around clinical experience, an immense amount of resources, more than decent didactics, and willing faculty. About 12 years or so ago this program was struggling. At that time they brought in a new chair and PD from MGH and over this time they made much progress in turning this place around. We are very close to having a truly top notch program. At this time the administration believes it is time for some fresh perspective in order to bring this program to the next level. Our chair has decided to step down and pursue interests in politics and healthcare reform. As such, we are in the process of selecting a new chair and I am very optimistic of what this program will be able to achieve next. If you come here you can be assured that you will be trained well and there is also a great opportunity to help make the program excellent.
I'd be happy to answer any questions and would encourage people to check us out.
In terms of schedule, a typical day begins by about 6:00am or 6:30am setting up your room depending on if there is a conference that morning (will come in 6am if conference is 6:15). The OR start time is 7:30 am. The exception to this is Monday, which is Grand Rounds (including Journal Club and M&M) and begins at 6am and goes until 8am, with OR start times at 8:30am. So on Monday you will arrive at about 5:40am to set up. You will get a 15 min break in the am, a 30 min break for lunch, and a 15min break in the afternoon (sometimes). The average time that people go home is 5pm. Anytime that you stay after 5pm you earn $50/hr which is awesome. There is plenty of opportunity for those eager to make extra money to do so and for those who like to leave to go home.
There are 2 designated late (CA-1) residents per week whose job is to come in at 11am and give lunches, and then in turn they stay late and get residents and CRNAs out of cases at 5pm (there are also designated CRNAs who are scheduled to leave at 7pm rather than 5pm so not all the CRNAs get to leave early). They also do preops for add-ons and for inpatients scheduled for CRNA's for the next day (we have a preop clinic that does preops for all outpatients). Usually, if its not busy then one of the late residents will go home early(anywhere from 8 to 10pm), leaving the nightfloat upper level resident with the other CA1 until the nighttime CRNA comes at 11pm and the CA1 then goes home. CA1s do not generally take call during the weekdays. There is a CA2 or CA3 that do night float (6pm to 7am so not bad at all) for a week at a time Sunday to Thursday (the weekends have a separate call schedule). As mentioned before, there is a nightime CRNA that comes in at 11pm during the weekdays when the late residents go home. So overnight during the week there is a nightfloat resident and a CRNA. The nightfloat resident carries the code pager and preops any add on cases. The CRNA sets up the room while the resident preops them and discusses with the attending and then the CRNA does the case. The nightfloat resident does any level 1 traumas or big cases that occur at night along with doing any code/floor intubations.
There is a weekend call schedule which is overall not bad and most people average 1 or possibly 2 call weekends per month (meaning that they are on call 1 day during the Fri/Sat/Sun period; not the whole weekend)
CA1s start out in the main OR in July (June if they are categorical and do intern year at MCG) and work 1:1 with senior residents or an attending for the 1st month. By the end of the month they are flying solo with an attending. I think this rapid progression and autonomy is a huge advantage of our program. They will hold your hand if you need it, but unless you do they will let you have a lot of room to breath. By the time you are a senior you can pretty much run the show and attendings have a great amount of trust in the upper levels.
We also begin doing subspecialty rotations later during CA1 year which is awesome and can include anything from CT if the attendings feel you are ready, to peds, chronic and acute pain, OB, SICU, etc. We also do an off campus prison rotation which is a pretty light month that everyone likes. Our main OR includes neuro and ENT so this is considered bread and butter for us. One advantage of this program is that everything is in one hospital so you don't have to go around to many different sites except for the prison. There is talk, however, of sending us to more of a private practice setting so that we can get a chance to experience the pace. We also have a VA attached to our hospital that we used to rotate at about 10 or more years ago. They pulled us out of there because we were being used more for cheap labor and were not being taught much. Since that time there is new leadership at the VA and there is also talk of us going back over to the VA.
We have added several fantastic regional guys over the last few years as well and so we get good block experience during this rotation.
We are a level I trauma facility, and we get a surprising amount of trauma for what you would expect for Augusta, so we get fairly well prepared in that regard as well.
In terms of weaknesses, we used to have a lot more volume of OB. From talking with our seniors, they are still able to get the required number of epidurals, but the volume is not like it used to be. Also, the hours can be intense on rotations such as SICU where it is Q3 or sometime Q4 call. OB can also be hit or miss depending on the night.
Overall, I am very happy here as are my colleagues. There are always some complainers (which coming from surgery, I feel are more prevalent in anesthesia), but overall everyone is for the most part happy.
All residents are given ipads (they are going to ipad minis next because of portability in the OR). These are a tremendous asset as we have probably the most extensive library that you will find of any program out there. We have every major textbook all in portable format for the ipad (baby miller, miller, barash, cote peds, cottrell neuro, stoelting, evidence based anesthesia, Kaplan cardiac, chestnut OB, ICU textbooks, pain and TEE atlases, and just about every other textbook you could want), we also have an immense amount of other resources, ITE reviews, various mp3's, ACE Q's, etc, that many programs may or may not have. We are also given $1500 educational money that can be used on conferences (they pay outside of this fund for any conference we present at) or additional resources.
Our program uses Cerner powerchart for electronic medical record and CompuRecord for intraop. These systems are fairly easy to use and the CompuRecord makes intraop charting very easy.
Lectures and teaching used to be a problem. There is still some room for improvement, but not by much. Currently the didactics include a month long intro for CA's where they go through baby miller during their first month in the OR. The lecture is everday at 4pm and is given by faculty covering a chapter or 2 in baby miller. After this, regular didactics start which include grand rounds on monday 6-8am. On tuesdays and thursdays there are keywords given by residents from 6:15 to 6:45. On wednesdays alternating there is jeopardy style question board questions where the program is split into 3 teams and the winner at the end of the year goes out to dinner somewhere nice. The other wednesdays there is a mock oral board review where the senior residents are grilled in true oral board style while the juniors watch. Also mixed in on various other wednesdays are ACE question review sessions. There are never any lectures on fridays.
The faculty (many of whom are new within the last several years) are really pretty good about teaching. Sometimes you have to be proactive with some attendings, but this is true for any program. There are also a few attendings who will show you their special way to do everything and are very hands on. These few attendings are very smart and teach a lot, but its not always pleasant because they are so anal. There is a huge opportunity for research here at MCG. Several of our faculty and one resident have there own basic science labs with big NIH funding and other grants. Also, the other faculty, especially the CT and ICU faculty are very robust in clinical research. It is therefore very easy to get involved with some kind of project. In fact, our residency program had many poster presentations and abstracts to this years ASA in San Francisco rivaling many programs. Our residency program is very active in local and national politics. We make up a large portion of the residents elected to the GSA, and we even had a resident elected this year as a delegate to the ASA, so we are very involved in what is going on locally and nationally with anesthesiology.
I am coming from a much larger city, but I find Augusta has much to offer. The warm weather suits me well. Here it is October and we are still wearing shorts and t-shirts. The golf is huge here (masters) and we definitely have time to take advantage of some of the beautiful courses (now if only I could jump the fence into augusta national). The southern food here definitely grows on you, just look at peoples' waistlines. My wife is also happy, they have a mall with just about every store that she could want (minus a nordstrom), they even have an Apple store. There are enough restaurants, and there is a lot of activities such as the riverwalk, kayaking down the canal, local fairs, did I mention golf, etc. It may not be as wild with the bar/club scene as some big cities, but there is definitely some fun to be had downtown, as I can attest since I was given the green light a few times by my wife to go out with the guys.
Overall this is more than a solid program with great all around clinical experience, an immense amount of resources, more than decent didactics, and willing faculty. About 12 years or so ago this program was struggling. At that time they brought in a new chair and PD from MGH and over this time they made much progress in turning this place around. We are very close to having a truly top notch program. At this time the administration believes it is time for some fresh perspective in order to bring this program to the next level. Our chair has decided to step down and pursue interests in politics and healthcare reform. As such, we are in the process of selecting a new chair and I am very optimistic of what this program will be able to achieve next. If you come here you can be assured that you will be trained well and there is also a great opportunity to help make the program excellent.
I'd be happy to answer any questions and would encourage people to check us out.
