Forum Members PMSR/RRA Residency Reviews

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motorboy said:
Have to pick externships for this year and while I want to be a well rounded podiatrist, I hope to goto a program that is heavy on trauma. Any residencies y'all recommend that I goto? Would hopefully like to either be in the tristate area, Los Angeles, or Florida (near Miami). TIA!
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Which tristate area? Where im from thats KY, OH and IN…
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"Hello. Does anyone know how the residency program at Montefiore is? Thank you."

@Mum Please keep all residency related inquires as a reply to this thread.

Please consider clicking through, and reading, the stickied threads.
You can also use the search function on upper right hand corner to narrow down more programs by name.

Thank you.

Last time I saw them at a residency fair years ago, the guy who was selling it was really proud of how they train their residents with clickers like a dog trainer does. He swore it was the greatest thing since sliced bread and that they did the same thing while training their residents in the OR.
 
Any reviews on Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit? Could not seem to find any. Thanks!
 
PodDude12345 said:
Any reviews on Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit? Could not seem to find any. Thanks!
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There are tons... one of the oldest 3yr programs in the country and hundreds of alumni, multiple clerks any given month.
If you truly can't find any info, PM me and I can give you a few SDN members or dozens nationwide to chat with or go shadow. The program itself is very accessible and responsive, and they can put you in touch with current residents also.
 
Weirdy said:
"Hello. Does anyone know how the residency program at Montefiore is? Thank you."

@Mum Please keep all residency related inquires as a reply to this thread.

Please consider clicking through, and reading, the stickied threads.
You can also use the search function on upper right hand corner to narrow down more programs by name.

Thank you.

Last time I saw them at a residency fair years ago, the guy who was selling it was really proud of how they train their residents with clickers like a dog trainer does. He swore it was the greatest thing since sliced bread and that they did the same thing while training their residents in the OR.
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Is this real
 
Weirdy said:
"Hello. Does anyone know how the residency program at Montefiore is? Thank you."

@Mum Please keep all residency related inquires as a reply to this thread.

Please consider clicking through, and reading, the stickied threads.
You can also use the search function on upper right hand corner to narrow down more programs by name.

Thank you.

Last time I saw them at a residency fair years ago, the guy who was selling it was really proud of how they train their residents with clickers like a dog trainer does. He swore it was the greatest thing since sliced bread and that they did the same thing while training their residents in the OR.
Click to expand...
And they say you can't teach old dogs new tricks.
 
Hi, is there any new updates regarding the Baltimore residency program?
 
I am considering University of Arizona / Banner Health in Tucson. Does anyone have any information on this residency program? I haven't been able to find any mention of it.
 
TeamPlantaris said:
I am considering University of Arizona / Banner Health in Tucson. Does anyone have any information on this residency program? I haven't been able to find any mention of it.
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There used to be a VA program in Tucson. The website for the program you describe states they've been around since 2013. Perhaps they've changed leadership structures or locations or something. I cannot say. There was a review of the VA Tucson program in 2017. The surgical training didn't sound impressive, but its been 7 years so who can say.
 
heybrother said:
There used to be a VA program in Tucson. The website for the program you describe states they've been around since 2013. Perhaps they've changed leadership structures or locations or something. I cannot say. There was a review of the VA Tucson program in 2017. The surgical training didn't sound impressive, but its been 7 years so who can say.
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There is still a VA program in Tucson which is listed separately in the clerkship website.
 
TeamPlantaris said:
There is still a VA program in Tucson which is listed separately in the clerkship website.
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Its interesting. CPME's website lists both programs, but AACPM only lists the Tucson VA.

The non-VA program shows 0/3/3 for its resident cohort approval size.

The Arizona podiatry school is one of the co-sponsors of the program. If you tag Dr. Jensen on here he'll probably reply to you.
 
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heybrother said:
Its interesting. CPME's website lists both programs, but AACPM only lists the Tucson VA.

The non-VA program shows 0/3/3 for its resident cohort approval size.

The Arizona podiatry school is one of the co-sponsors of the program. If you tag Dr. Jensen on here he'll probably reply to you.
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@Dean’s Chat
 
TeamPlantaris said:
I am considering University of Arizona / Banner Health in Tucson. Does anyone have any information on this residency program? I haven't been able to find any mention of it.
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I know of a resident who matched into a pretty good program who got fired from said program for being lazy and terrible... ended up coming here.
 
TeamPlantaris said:
I am considering University of Arizona / Banner Health in Tucson. Does anyone have any information on this residency program? I haven't been able to find any mention of it.
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I rotated there when I was a student a few years back. At the time it was only a clerkship. No residency.

It was actually my favorite of all the rotations I did. Would have been top choice if they opened that year. To my knowledge they have still not opened the residency.

Very tight relationship with vascular surgery. Orthopedics department is pretty strong over there so most traumas would be through them. Overall I would say the training is great for most of real world podiatry and hospital limb salvage type of stuff. Might only be missing out on major elective rearfoot surgeries. Will still do them but probably less than 10 total ankles per year.

At the time the director was different and a couple of staff have changed. Not sure how the new guys might have changed things.
 
I have taken the liberty of updating the previous Gundersen review to reflect more up to date information.

Given the broad discussions in regards to ROI on this forum, I would recommend that you investigate the training provided by this program and the benefits provided to residents. This program is in a low cost of living area without being in a corn field. Check out the residency webpage (link below) to view the HIGH compensation, subsidized housing, great benefits, and numerous perks. The residency allows you to be three years ahead financially, while still having solid training.

Program Name: Gundersen Health System, La Crosse, Wisconsin

General Program/Hospital Info: Gundersen Medical Center (now part of Emplify Health) is a regional academic medical center and tertiary care center. It serves as the Western academic campus for the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. There are over 100 residents/fellows at Gundersen at any given time. Importantly, there is no orthopedic residency, so all foot/ankle cases can be covered by podiatry residents.

Attendings: Program has 8 core podiatry attendings (3 fellowship trained and one non-operative). Other main faculty include 3 fellowship trained orthopedic trauma surgeons and 1 fellowship trained pediatric orthopedic surgeon. The residents also work closely with general medicine teaching teams, vascular surgery, infectious disease, plastic surgery, among many other service lines.

Residents: There are a total of 6 residents (two per year).

Didactics: Education includes book club, journal club, grand/radiology rounds, dry labs, wet labs, industry labs, and the yearly Western Wisconsin Foot and Ankle Symposium. The system has an onsite surgical training lab (link below). Residents have cadaver specimens onsite for training. This allows for labs akin to ACFAS courses several times a month.

OR Experience: Residents receive training in trauma, Limb salvage, forefoot reconstruction, and rearfoot reconstruction. Required surgical numbers are typically met early to mid second year.

Clinic Experience: Residents are able to have continuity of care seeing patients pre-op in clinic, perform the cases, and are able to follow post-operatively. This provides added strength to the program as residents are competent in appropriate work-up and are comfortable with identification/management of complications.

Research Opportunities: This is a significant opportunity for research. Residents have access to a research department with coordinators, medical writers, and statisticians. There is in-house IRB and compliance. Residents typically graduate with some combination of poster presentation, manuscript presentation, and/or publication.

Lifestyle: The lifestyle of residents is well rounded. There are post-call days and wellness days. Resident housing is on campus and allows for cheap, safe, and close housing.

Pros: Very balanced program. High surgical volume (significantly higher than previous years) with full access to orthopedic trauma and pediatric orthopedic specialties. Residents are paid well with subsidized housing and great benefits.

Cons: Not really a con, but residents are expected to be well read. There are more academics than some programs. This does require effort, however it will pay off when ABFAS/ABPM board cert comes around.

Overall Conclusion: Underrated due to location. This program provides solid training and allows better ROI on podiatry investment due to compensation/perks.

Location: La Crosse, Wisconsin is located directly on the Mississippi river with the hospital and residency less than 2 blocks from the river. La Crosse is home to the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse and Viterbo University. This gives the area a college town atmosphere. La Crosse has ample nightlife with one of the highest bar per capita ratios in the country. There are multiple breweries and a distillery. The area has a growing collection of foodie establishments. Ample outdoor activities are available (hiking on bluffs, river walks, water sports, hunting/fishing, ect).

Links:
Podiatric Medicine & Surgery Residency
Integrated Center for Education (ICE House)
Explore the La Crosse Region - ExploreLaCrosse
 
People stopped posting for some reason after the job out look saturation debate.

Gonna ask people to stop being selfish and post your reviews

You can post them anonymously by submitting your reviews to myself or Dexter.

And I'm not talking about random admins who make temporary accounts to post glowing reviews about their own programs or overly pessimistic students who post the same answer for every section.

Post real reviews. Call out the good and the bad. Do your fellow students a favor. Stop being greedy and keeping that information to yourself.
 
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^^concur, this thread and this type of info is the best there is.

Were were lucky at Barry that nearly all 4th year students annually would finish clerkships at calendar year end and soon after CRIP would type up reviews of all their clerkship programs (anonymously) and give the aggregate book to 2nd years (about to pick clerkships) at a nominal cost. It'd cover probably half the programs which were decent quality - some a few times over. Then, you could look at older editions for more info also.

This thread can be just like that.
 
Are there any good programs in Florida? I am interested in applying to programs in Florida in the near future, as I have heard very little about them.
 
FuturepodpersonDPM said:
Are there any good programs in Florida? I am interested in applying to programs in Florida in the near future, as I have heard very little about them.
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JFK Medical is a good one that comes to mind. But do reach out to your seniors for a list.
 
MortonExtension said:
UF Jax does a lot of trauma as of like 5 years ago. Not sure what it’s like now
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I externed there and they had zero traumas that month. I had friends who externed there other months, same for them. They advertise as a program that's big on "trauma, sports medicine", however me and my friends didn't get any experience regarding that.
 
AdrenalineJockie said:
I externed there and they had zero traumas that month. I had friends who externed there other months, same for them. They advertise as a program that's big on "trauma, sports medicine", however me and my friends didn't get any experience regarding that.
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Were there plentiful high quality recon cases that would suggest they would perform sports med/trauma well?
 
any insight on these programs? hennepin, rush, loyola, osf, DMC, university of louisville
 
pod2pod said:
any insight on these programs? hennepin, rush, loyola, osf, DMC, university of louisville
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Rush review from 5-6 years ago. I liked the attendings. I think the director is different now than when I externed. It was rumored to be a “boys club” and it was. But as far as training you would get there…. When I externed years ago I only scrubbed with the podiatry attendings. I feel like when they did cases with ortho which was frequent the residents may not have done much. It was a lot of clinic at the oak park location at the time. I think if you’re an average-above average student you can do better. I’d only pick that program if you have to stay in Chicago.

Things may have significantly changed since my experience though.
 
FuturepodpersonDPM said:
Are there any good programs in Florida? I am interested in applying to programs in Florida in the near future, as I have heard very little about them.
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HCA JFK, HCA Northwest, Orlando, maybe Bethesda all seem to run the show in FL. There's so many programs in south FL I'm sure things have changed some.. Northwest with Dr MacGill probably has the best culture of them, JFK could be best surgical training in the state, old director is gone and they've got some young faculty. Problem is a sizeable chunk of it is retracting in the big cases. Culture is pretty intense like Orlando, do some things old school. East Orlando has great attendings/surgical numbers, has been very popular forever but def comes with some baggage (tough personalities, atrocious 1st year hours) I knew so many people that wanted to rotate there but when it came down to it, had no interest in matching there.

UF recently had their best attending just leave the program to take a new job...
 
heybrother said:
Were there plentiful high quality recon cases that would suggest they would perform sports med/trauma well?
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I'm not sure why the program is considered sports med/trauma heavy. I saw 1 ankle dislocation in the ED (only trauma during my month) and majority of the surgical cases were bunions/hammertoes
 
MortonExtension said:
Rush review from 5-6 years ago. I liked the attendings. I think the director is different now than when I externed. It was rumored to be a “boys club” and it was. But as far as training you would get there…. When I externed years ago I only scrubbed with the podiatry attendings. I feel like when they did cases with ortho which was frequent the residents may not have done much. It was a lot of clinic at the oak park location at the time. I think if you’re an average-above average student you can do better. I’d only pick that program if you have to stay in Chicago.

Things may have significantly changed since my experience though.
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15 years ago the program was practically only academics and clinic.
 
Hi, any insights on Jefferson Einstein in Philly, Ascension St Joseph in Chicago
 
ccvvbj said:
Hi, any insights on Jefferson Einstein in Philly, Ascension St Joseph in Chicago
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I’ll comment on Einstein Philly. I graduated from there a few years ago so it’s a bit of a biased review and maybe outdated.

I liked it there and I got good training. Very small program, 1 resident per year. They take H1B students but prefer not to (just like every program that takes H1B students). You are basically on call the entire time although call is light and you can usually round after cases or find time during lunch. You do tons of forefoot elective cases, tons of wound care/amps, plenty of elective ish rearfoot (Achilles/brostrum/kidner/flatfoot), very little rearfoot trauma (poor relationship with ortho). I maybe did 10 ankle fractures? No ankle fusions or TAR.

Not for you if: you want lots of trauma, you aren’t self motivated, you don’t want to drive around to several different hospitals/surgery centers per week (sometimes per day).

If you want to do normal podiatry stuff and do tons of decent cases then it’s great. Good attendings, generally a positive culture. Just fyi the attendings aren’t hospital employees they’re all private clinics, which isn’t a bad thing but it does mean that the program is less structured. You kind of end up creating your own experience. Scrub in to all the cases you can, build good relationships with the pod and ortho and vascular attendings, perform well on off service rotations and you well come out it well trained.
 
deleted285117 said:
I do know they have a new director. A couple of the new attendings I know personally and are great.
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Atlanta VA has completely turned itself around. New director and multiple younger, dynamic attendings and rotations with well-rounded exposure to all aspects of podiatry.
 
Hi, any information on Ohio programs: Cleveland clinic, Cleveland clinic/ Oklahoma, mercy st Rita, etc
 
siamesesquared said:
Atlanta VA has completely turned itself around. New director and multiple younger, dynamic attendings and rotations with well-rounded exposure to all aspects of podiatry.
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Wanted to know more about Atlanta VA?
 
Submitted Anonymously!!

Program Name: Kaiser Foundation Hospital (Oakland, CA)

General Program/Hospital Info: Trauma heavy program. Coverage includes SF, Oakland, and DSA (Walnut Creek, Dublin, Antioch)

Attendings: King (PD), Pollard, Dickinson, Ford, Castellucci, Kane, Collman, Gentile, etc.

Residents: 3 per year

Didactics: Heavy, 2-3 academic sessions during the week. 1 evening academic session in person, 1-2 zoom meetings with student/resident/guest presentations. One of the attendings at Oakland would deliver a powerpoint to the residents at lunch.

OR Experience: For students - you will scrub cases all day every day during the month. There was clinic mixed in, but the main focus of the program was the OR. Residents/students would frequently be seeing patients and run to the OR between appointments.

Clinic Experience: Help with various attending’s clinics.

Research Opportunities: Numerous. All of the attendings are well published in major journals (JFAS, etc.)

Lifestyle: work hard play hard mentality. Residents would hangout for drinks/food after the weekly evening academics. The Bay Area is one of the prettiest area of the country, and is a walkable city. If you are single, there’s plenty of life in the city (esp. SF). If you have a family, there are great areas for raising kids as well (Walnut Creek, DSA area).

Pros: ALL foot/ankle trauma goes straight to Podiatry. Heavy surgical emphasis including Charcot, recon, TAR, etc. Didactics and literature are second to none.

Cons: no ‘resident clinic’ from what I experienced, but the clinic experience is there. As with any large metro, there are areas you want to avoid in Oakland.

Overall Conclusion: The best overall program I visited. The Bay Area is very nice, I think you’d have a tough time finding a better program to train at.
 
Submitted Anonymously!!
Program Name: Swedish (Seattle)

General Program/Hospital Info: Numerous hospitals scattered throughout Seattle. First Hill location primarily.

Attendings: Hale (PD), Higashi, Alexander, Ngan, Christensen, etc.

Residents: 2 per year

Didactics: Cadaver lab, journal club. Residents are asked to teach and prepare lectures to give to students during the month.

OR Experience: As a student this is the main experience. You split cases between your co-externs as the group sees fit. I usually scrubbed one to three, maybe four cases per day ~3 days per week. Otherwise you’re off for self-study or experiencing the city.

Clinic Experience: one 1/2 day of resident clinic each week. Otherwise students aren’t required to see clinic patients. Residents attend clinic throughout Seattle as their schedule allows.

Research Opportunities: didn’t hear much on this. I’m sure there are numerous opportunities as the attendings are well published here. Not the focus from in my limited exposure to the program.

Lifestyle: the student experience is not reflective of the resident lifestyle (as to be expected). You have a lot of days off as a student to experience Seattle. The on-call resident is very busy spending long hours in the hospital. This was entirely difficult to gauge due to the discrepancy between resident/student schedules. The residents were friendly to each other but didn't seem to spend time together outside of the hospital.

Pros: trauma heavy. Numerous well-known attendings. Residents seemed prepared when given the opportunity to cut. As with most programs, attendings may or may not pass the blade. Seattle is an exciting city and beautiful for parts of the year. Plenty of time as a student to explore.

Cons: some of the residents were legitimately terrified of one of the attendings.

Overall Conclusion: A solid program that will give you high quality training. Are they what they were 10-20 years ago? I’m not sure. The case volume was lower than expected during my month.
 
Submitted Anonymously!!
Program Name: UF Jacksonville

General Program/Hospital Info: UF Shands (downtown Jax) is the primary location. Cover clinic and cases at North and at the Director’s clinic as well.

Attendings: Piraino (PD), Anderson, new hires

Residents: 3 per year

Didactics: table rounds every week to run the list and do board style questions. Early morning academic session for resident powerpoint presentation of a topic. Resident/Attendings would give lectures during clinic for the student on service.

OR Experience: bread and butter cases primarily mixed in with dirty cases. The PD will do ~1 TAR/month. Trauma wasn’t as heavy as stated in previous threads with 1 fibula fx being the only ankle I saw.

Clinic Experience: Lots of clinic both at Shands, North, and the directors clinic. Residents did everything and seemed comfortable managing patients.

Research Opportunities: A fair amount from what I experienced. Many of the residents were preparing presentations and posters during my month for conferences. Research opportunities are there.

Lifestyle: The residents seemed closer than many programs I visited. They would frequently invite students out for activities. If you enjoy warm Florida weather, you can’t beat the location. On-call residents were usually very busy handling the pus cases, but otherwise seemed happy.

Pros: location. Bread and butter cases.

Cons: Roukis left UF (the most published attending at UF). Not as trauma heavy as was stated historically.

Overall Conclusion: A solid program that would give you adequate training in managing diabetic patients and the bread and butter surgery you need for a career in Podiatry.
 
I will comment on Swedish and Kaiser SF. I externed at both. I know many graduates from both.

Swedish review was little light in my opinion. In fact I don't even agree with it. When I externed at Swedish the students spent a lot of time with the residents and were constantly scrubbing surgeries. If we were not in resident clinic or scrubbing surgeries then the residents would take us to the library and hammer us. Swedish also has weekly academics that students go to. It also as student presentations that they need to complete. Swedish has a pretty extensive faculty, unless things have changed, where they can scrub with up to 20-25 different attendings. Lastly they added a foot and ankle orthopedist to the residency experience that residents were scrubbing with at one time.

As for Kaiser SF I felt the review was rather accurate. It really is a great program and was started by Swedish Alumni. The program is as advertised. Work hard play hard. Lots of cases. Lots of variety. City is phenomenal. The program was phenomenal. I loved it there.

As for what graduates do after residency is a little different story. Most Swedish graduates in recent years have stayed in the Seattle area and joined private practices in the area. Some have left the area completely and joined MSGs, hospitals and ortho groups. Some have gone onto fellowship.

Most Kaiser graduates stay in Kaiser. If that is your goal then this would be the program to do. For me to go through all that training and education to settle for a Kaiser hospital job only making 275K in a high cost of living area is a big let down. I have not seen many Kaiser SF graduates leave the system and make big waves. I've seen very few if any join ortho groups or join hospitals outside of California. If they are not working for Kaiser then they are working for Sutter or some other California based hospital group making decent money but having a lot of it get burned with taxes and high cost of living. That would be something I would not consider very rewarding but if that is for you then go for it.
 
heybrother said:
This is part of a big news event that is occuring in Pensylvania. Essentially a private equity group bailed out of a hospital and its caused a bankruptcy that is killing all the residencies at the associated hospital. Podiatry just happens to be one of the impacted specialties.
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This sounds like hahnemann again
 
Aeki said:
I’ll comment on Einstein Philly. I graduated from there a few years ago so it’s a bit of a biased review and maybe outdated.

I liked it there and I got good training. Very small program, 1 resident per year. They take H1B students but prefer not to (just like every program that takes H1B students). You are basically on call the entire time although call is light and you can usually round after cases or find time during lunch. You do tons of forefoot elective cases, tons of wound care/amps, plenty of elective ish rearfoot (Achilles/brostrum/kidner/flatfoot), very little rearfoot trauma (poor relationship with ortho). I maybe did 10 ankle fractures? No ankle fusions or TAR.

Not for you if: you want lots of trauma, you aren’t self motivated, you don’t want to drive around to several different hospitals/surgery centers per week (sometimes per day).

If you want to do normal podiatry stuff and do tons of decent cases then it’s great. Good attendings, generally a positive culture. Just fyi the attendings aren’t hospital employees they’re all private clinics, which isn’t a bad thing but it does mean that the program is less structured. You kind of end up creating your own experience. Scrub in to all the cases you can, build good relationships with the pod and ortho and vascular attendings, perform well on off service rotations and you well come out it well trained.
Click to expand...
Thank you
 
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