question about some residencies in NJ

[SurgeonX]

how are the general surgery residencies at Monmouth and Morristown?

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[thedrjojo]

how are the general surgery residencies at Monmouth and Morristown?

This is a very broad question, so i'd help to ask exactly what you are interested in knowing about the programs.

I rotated as a 3rd year student at Morristown, interviewed there, and spent 4 weeks with one its its now 4th year residents on a transplant rotation at my school's service (their only off site rotation is 6 weeks transplant at UMDNJ-NJMS)

Morristown itself is a decently affluent (Morris county is most affluent in NJ I believe) area, so you deal primarily with private patients. The hospital itself is beautiful and very busy, with 20 OR's and I believe 4 hybrid OR's (they didn't have them when I was a student, but they did show them to us on my tour during the interview). They also have a pretty extensive clinical skills center with all the modern trainer machines and such.

I think its a 4 or 5 resident a year program, mainly US AMG's but a few US IMG's/Non traditional grads. They have 4 surgical teams that are all very busy, plus night float system and liver experience off site at NJMS in Newark (which was the biggest appeal to me the program offered, which is why I went to NJMS instead of Morristown).

You operate a ton, from the beginning (I was on the vascular service and the intern was getting probably 5-6 cases a week on that service). The attendings range, but overall pretty decent and receptive to the residents. My biggest knock on the program was that because its a private hospital, the attendings are very hands on and do most of their teaching by showing, not necessarily letting the residents do. I remember one EVAR (endovascular aortic repair) where the PGY4 essentially got to hold the wire and close the wound... which was not appealing to me. A gastric bypass with a PGY5, he essentially drove the camera (but he was late to the case and so I actually first assisted for the first 5-10 minutes, so it might have been punishment). The PD is a pediatric surgeon who is amazing, the residents love him, and the one case I observed he allowed the resident to do a pretty decent amount in the case. The Chair is colorectal, very old school, and I didn't have much interaction with him but was not impressed. He has a pretty decent anti-fellowship mentality and thus I felt you might not have that much guidance or support in that journey, which was evident in that 2 of the 4 chiefs really weren't sure what they were going to do (one of the other chiefs did match CT surgery at Pittsburgh though, and the final one I don't recall)

Research is a minimal, they do have some and some residents do do it, but I can't recall if they support you taking time off to do it or just to do it while there. Academics are pretty good, M&Ms are fairly benign, they get some pharm lunches, basic sciences on friday mornings are ok.

Hopefully I was able to answer some of your questions about Morristown. If you have anything else, ask specifically and I can try to answer. I have no experience with Monmonth, however a classmate of mine and fellow resident now, her significant other is a prelim surgical resident there this year, so I might be able to find more information at some point.

 

[SurgeonX]

This is a very broad question, so i'd help to ask exactly what you are interested in knowing about the programs.

I rotated as a 3rd year student at Morristown, interviewed there, and spent 4 weeks with one its its now 4th year residents on a transplant rotation at my school's service (their only off site rotation is 6 weeks transplant at UMDNJ-NJMS)

Morristown itself is a decently affluent (Morris county is most affluent in NJ I believe) area, so you deal primarily with private patients. The hospital itself is beautiful and very busy, with 20 OR's and I believe 4 hybrid OR's (they didn't have them when I was a student, but they did show them to us on my tour during the interview). They also have a pretty extensive clinical skills center with all the modern trainer machines and such.

I think its a 4 or 5 resident a year program, mainly US AMG's but a few US IMG's/Non traditional grads. They have 4 surgical teams that are all very busy, plus night float system and liver experience off site at NJMS in Newark (which was the biggest appeal to me the program offered, which is why I went to NJMS instead of Morristown).

You operate a ton, from the beginning (I was on the vascular service and the intern was getting probably 5-6 cases a week on that service). The attendings range, but overall pretty decent and receptive to the residents. My biggest knock on the program was that because its a private hospital, the attendings are very hands on and do most of their teaching by showing, not necessarily letting the residents do. I remember one EVAR (endovascular aortic repair) where the PGY4 essentially got to hold the wire and close the wound... which was not appealing to me. A gastric bypass with a PGY5, he essentially drove the camera (but he was late to the case and so I actually first assisted for the first 5-10 minutes, so it might have been punishment). The PD is a pediatric surgeon who is amazing, the residents love him, and the one case I observed he allowed the resident to do a pretty decent amount in the case. The Chair is colorectal, very old school, and I didn't have much interaction with him but was not impressed. He has a pretty decent anti-fellowship mentality and thus I felt you might not have that much guidance or support in that journey, which was evident in that 2 of the 4 chiefs really weren't sure what they were going to do (one of the other chiefs did match CT surgery at Pittsburgh though, and the final one I don't recall)

Research is a minimal, they do have some and some residents do do it, but I can't recall if they support you taking time off to do it or just to do it while there. Academics are pretty good, M&Ms are fairly benign, they get some pharm lunches, basic sciences on friday mornings are ok.

Hopefully I was able to answer some of your questions about Morristown. If you have anything else, ask specifically and I can try to answer. I have no experience with Monmonth, however a classmate of mine and fellow resident now, her significant other is a prelim surgical resident there this year, so I might be able to find more information at some point.

Thank you this was very helpful. If anybody knows about Monmouth also that would be great.

 

[ESU_MD]

The best thing about Monmouth is the proximity to the Jersey Shore

 

[Winged Scapula]

The best thing about Monmouth is the proximity to the Jersey Shore

The worst thing about Monmouth is the proximity to the Jersey Shore.

 

[maceo]

The worst thing about Monmouth is the proximity to the Jersey Shore.

that area is one of my favorite areas of all time.. close to NYC(45 minutes) close to philly.. close to beaches and shore.. Just an all around chill place to be and hang.. The jersey shore summer crowd can be over the top.. but if you dont hit too many trendy nightspots you wont have to deal with them. ANd the women where next to nothing in the summer..

 

[Winged Scapula]

that area is one of my favorite areas of all time.. close to NYC(45 minutes) close to philly.. close to beaches and shore..

Those kind of comments always made me laugh - hey its close to X, and close to Y, and "well, there's nothing to do here actually."

Ive spent some time on the Jersey Shore and there are some nice places, I agree. There are a lot of dive places/towns and the show Jersey Shore is not an entirely made up account of the types that hang out there.

I thought Jersey was pretty dirty (as is most of the East Coast) except for Cape May and the Princeton area.

Just an all around chill place to be and hang.. The jersey shore summer crowd can be over the top.. but if you dont hit too many trendy nightspots you wont have to deal with them. ANd the women where next to nothing in the summer..

yeah...not so important to me.