Program Review Plea

[bigdan]

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Residents/Med Students:

Hi. I know there are past reviews of anesthesiology residency programs floating around, both here and at Scutwork.com. I write to ask you to please post a review of your residency program either here (less anonymous) or on Scutwork.com (arguably more anonymous). While there's a reasonable amount of info out there, anything you guys post now would be up to date and current - and a big help to the current applicant pool.

As some of the "State of the Forum" threads have alluded to, this online community has been a tremendous resource for most of us regulars, and so I ask the residents and med students (and hell, the attendings too, if you're out there) to share their thoughts on their respective programs as they see things currently. SDN has done a great job of walking me thru things since before applying to medical school, and I'd like the great info to continue.

I can offer nothing back, other than my thanks and the promise I will add to the info once I am in residency next year.

Thanks!

dc

 

[bigdan]

Okay, really quickly here, *bump*, again - pleading on my knees.

dc

 

[climbingdocs]

Did rotation there. Nice, helpfull attendings, and residents. Work hours seem longer then average (per residents) but haven't really heard any complaints. It is a categorical program and the hospital where PGY-1 is done is nice, I think they spend 6 months on IM with q5 call (did internal med there with anesthesia interns). For the first 3 months of CA1 they have so called vapour camp which are 6am lectures for firsties. At the end of intern year your last month is anesthesia rotaiton, so when you start you are eased into CA-1. Program director is new, got appointed in August but really he has done PD job for a while. Really nice, down to earth guy. Seems like the big dudes care about mental health of their residents too. 😀 Overall I really liked it. PM me with any questions.

 

[TheSandMan]

Residents/Med Students:

Hi. I know there are past reviews of anesthesiology residency programs floating around, both here and at Scutwork.com. I write to ask you to please post a review of your residency program either here (less anonymous) or on Scutwork.com (arguably more anonymous). While there's a reasonable amount of info out there, anything you guys post now would be up to date and current - and a big help to the current applicant pool.

As some of the "State of the Forum" threads have alluded to, this online community has been a tremendous resource for most of us regulars, and so I ask the residents and med students (and hell, the attendings too, if you're out there) to share their thoughts on their respective programs as they see things currently. SDN has done a great job of walking me thru things since before applying to medical school, and I'd like the great info to continue.

I can offer nothing back, other than my thanks and the promise I will add to the info once I am in residency next year.

Thanks!

dc

Is scutwork even still alive. I tried posting a review 2 years ago and nothing came of it. I've heard the same thing from a couple of others.

 

[bigdan]

I think it is still alive - maybe on its death bed, but the last updates were posted in late July.

Feel free to post your reviews here! (Please)

dc

 

[bigdan]

Climbing: Thanks for getting the ball rolling.

Here's my first contribution: Stony Brook (Long Island, NY)

18 ORs and building more. Decent physical plant, CTICU and ER on same floor as ORs but all others are an elevator ride away. 3 L&D ORs.

Schedule: Now a 4yr program only; the 1st year in medicine seems rough. Bread and butter mainly for first year, cardiac and peds introduced in second year. SICU hours are by far the worst, and Chair/PD are active in addressing this often-voiced resident concern. OB q3 call, but nice little rotation sends the precall guy home super early (12 noon at times). Residents not on call are to be out of ORs promptly at 5 pm, as per decree of Chair. Local legend has it that he's come out of his office to take over cases at 5 pm in order to get residents out.

Faculty: Generally very good; there are both "teaching" and "non-teaching" faculty, so there are attendings that just do cases and don't have residents. Chair (Dr. Glass) is one of the classiest human beings I've met ever...seems to have a BUNCH of political capital within the hospital and medical school. PD is very funny and personable - it's his first year with the title but he'd done it for a while at Miami before coming to SB. He wrote the Board Stiff series of review books.

Drawbacks: Entire ENT department disbanded, so big ENT cases have left main ORs - I have no idea if "routine" ENT is still being done at the (very busy) ASC. Also, for the city lovers, it's near-ish NYC, but is, very clearly NOT in NYC.

dc

 

[loveumms]

penn state

20 ORs in the main OR

4 ORs in the south which cater to short cases

We also cover:
MRI/CT scanner
Endoscopy
Bell suite: sicker patients who need GI or pulm procedures go
Neuro Star: interventional neuro

Schedule: Typically 6am-5pm. Sometimes earlier, sometimes later. Depends on what rotation you are doing ... hearts you need to get there earlier, endo/mri you can get there later.

PROS:

- Four year program. This means you get anesthesia experience in your first year. This is a huge advantage since by the end of your 'intern year', you will be confident running a basic anesthetic ... and often feel confident running a more complex one too. They have also changed the schedule so in your CA-1 year you do peds and CT.

- Residents chip in to help each other out and I would say at least half of the residents put Hershey as their first choice meaning they are happy to be here. There is somewhere around 55-60 residents total and we are pretty close group. Everyone is friendly and willing to go the extra mile. An example ... the other night I was on call and had a difficult case to start. My fellow call residents were all in the room to help me start and they gave me breaks whenever I need it. They could have been sleeping in the call rooms but instead they were helping me.

- The department gets respect from other departments. The four year program means we rotate through other departments which allows those departments to get to know us and as a result most departments respect us.

- Our attendings. We have many attendings who are very active in the anesthesia arena. Not only are they big names with lots of publications but they are also great teachers. Education is a big priority here.

- Program director has his finger on the pulse of the residency. He listens and cares about the resdients and is always seeking ways to improve the department.

Drawbacks: there really isn't much I can think of. The only thing I would say is maybe location. I don't have any kids and my husband and I like to go out to dinner, museums, clubs, ect. harrisburg isn't far but, it also isn't a real city. Luckily, Baltimore/Philly/NYC are close. Its a great place to raise a family though. Houses are affordable. If you are an outdoor person there are great trials/hiking.