Recommended Programs

[badgas]

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Could some people recommend good programs for us new 4th years pondering which programs might interest us? Which programs have good teaching/faculty, good all around training/caseload/etc? Which are the workhorse programs and which give you time to read? Any recommendations on which programs to avoid like the plague? Before you say www.scutwork.com, I'm posting this because I want to hear current opinions. The comments on scutwork tend to be pretty darn old with many dating back to 2000. Thanks a ton!

 

[me454555]

I'm a 4th year also but I have a feeling you won't get much of an answer here. The majority of anesthesia programs are probably very strong and will give you good training Most people will only be able to tell you about their programs and their opinion might be different from yours. Just apply to a bunch and see what fits you best.

 

[Dr. J?]

I don't buy the argument that all anesthesiology programs are good.

Come on, there has to be some dogs out there. It may not be a normal distribution, but I'm sure there is some distribution.

I'm sure those of us who will be applying for the next cycle would love to hear the opinion of applicants from last yr; or current residents of a program or current attendings of a program who may have comments on its condition (ok, so the latter is highly unlikely).

Anyway, pay it forward folks....the young grasshoppas appreciate.

 

[badgas]

I'm a 4th year also but I have a feeling you won't get much of an answer here. The majority of anesthesia programs are probably very strong and will give you good training Most people will only be able to tell you about their programs and their opinion might be different from yours. Just apply to a bunch and see what fits you best.

If that's the approach you want to take, then more power to you. I personally would still like to hear from people about what they've heard and what they think of their own program. Why do you talk to residents on an interview? Probably to hear what they have to say about their program.

 

[burntcrispy]

I just graduated so I can tell you about some of the programs.

First, what area are you looking at? Alot of it has to do with where you want to live, then find a good program in that region. There are great programs all over the US. As far as which is better than the other once you get into the big name programs, it's all personal preference.

Think about:
1. what region of US would you like to live
2. what specifically do you want in a program as far as training. For example regional experience varies widely among programs so if you're into blocks and whatnot some programs are better known for this than others.
3. do you want to have to do away rotations or stay at one site? some programs send you away for peds, cards, neuro,etc while other programs have enough surgeries to allow all of the rotations in house.
4. what type of resident environment do you want: at some programs the residents are as tight as brothers (and sisters) and at others the resident hardly know one another.
5. You looking for a big name power program or a solid program which will give you good training but no snob factor.

If you give more specifics on what you're looking for you are more likely to get some responses. There are alot of guys here that just finished the process so someone here has most likely interviewed or has info on most any program you can think of.

 

[DrRobert]

Will be starting this year but my impressions are still kind of fresh from the interview season.

My opinions are based on the program only. Location is a personal preference, so it's not worth commenting on.

I'll add more as I get time.

UPMC

Academic reputation: arguably in the top 10
Strengths: OB at Magee Women's Hospital and Peds at Children's Hospital
Weaknesses: none
Caseload quantity and quality: since the surgery program is also arguably top 10, there is no case you won't see here
Resident friendly environment: 10/10
Moonlighting: allowed after your CA-1 year in house
Average work hours per week: 50-60
Didactics: better than average

Will prepare you for an academic or private practice career. I could not find a weakness in this program - everything was worldclass.

CWRU

Academic reputation: probably in the top 20
Strengths: Peds at Rainbow Babies
Weaknesses: don't remember any that stand out
Caseload quantity and quality: better than average
Resident friendly environment: 10/10
Moonlighting: excellent in house opportunities
Average work hours per week: 50-60
Didactics: average

Will prepare you for an academic or private practice career - but most choose private practice. Overall very solid.

 

[badgas]

Will be starting this year but my impressions are still kind of fresh from the interview season.

My opinions are based on the program only. Location is a personal preference, so it's not worth commenting on.

I'll add more as I get time.

UPMC

Academic reputation: arguably in the top 10
Strengths: OB at Magee Women's Hospital and Peds at Children's Hospital
Weaknesses: none
Caseload quantity and quality: since the surgery program is also arguably top 10, there is no case you won't see here
Resident friendly environment: 10/10
Moonlighting: allowed after your CA-1 year in house
Average work hours per week: 50-60
Didactics: better than average

Will prepare you for an academic or private practice career. I could not find a weakness in this program - everything was worldclass.

CWRU

Academic reputation: probably in the top 20
Strengths: Peds at Rainbow Babies
Weaknesses: don't remember any that stand out
Caseload quantity and quality: better than average
Resident friendly environment: 10/10
Moonlighting: excellent in house opportunities
Average work hours per week: 50-60
Didactics: average

Will prepare you for an academic or private practice career - but most choose private practice. Overall very solid.

Awesome post! Thanks a lot. This was the kind of thing I'm looking for... but with more participants who are fresh off the interview trail. Maybe if enough respond it can be added to the FAQ section. Keep em coming please!

 

[DrRobert]

Awesome post! Thanks a lot. This was the kind of thing I'm looking for... but with more participants who are fresh off the interview trail. Maybe if enough respond it can be added to the FAQ section. Keep em coming please!

You can't get any fresher than me. I was in this year's interview group. 😎

 

[DrRobert]

Another one:

U. of Chicago

Academic Reputation: arguably in the top 10
Strengths: CCM and Peds at the new Children's Hospital
Weaknesses: none that stand out, maybe OB
Caseload quantity and quality: rumors that residents do not get enough clinical exposure and have trouble getting their numbers. also rumors that there occasionally can be two residents in one room. they don't have that many ORs for such a huge medical center
Resident friendly environment: 9/10
Moonlighting: very little in house opportunities
Average work hours per week: 55-65
Didactics: excellent

Will prepare you for an academic or private practice career. Another very solid program with arguably the happiest residents in Chicago, mostly secondary to the work hours.

 

[Mman]

Academic Reputation: arguably in the top 10

Why don't we just make a list of the 25 programs that are all arguably in the top 10 and the next 50 that are all arguably top 30.

I'll start with the some of the top 10s: BWH, MGH, Hopkins, Penn, Columbia, Duke, Florida, UAB, Michigan, Baylor, Stanford, UCSF, Washington, Northwestern, Chicago, Wisconsin, Pitt, etc.

Apologies to the other top 10s I inadvertently didn't rattle off the top of my head

 

[badgas]

Why don't we just make a list of the 25 programs that are all arguably in the top 10 and the next 50 that are all arguably top 30.

I'll start with the some of the top 10s: BWH, MGH, Hopkins, Penn, Columbia, Duke, Florida, UAB, Michigan, Baylor, Stanford, UCSF, Washington, Northwestern, Chicago, Wisconsin, Pitt, etc.

Apologies to the other top 10s I inadvertently didn't rattle off the top of my head

Oh please don't start the prestige debate now. We need to hear about all programs. Preferably NOT top 10, as those programs are reviewed ad nausem. How about all the NOT top 10s for the other 95% of applicants.

 

[Trisomy13]

Why don't we just make a list of the 25 programs that are all arguably in the top 10 and the next 50 that are all arguably top 30.

I'll start with the some of the top 10s: BWH, MGH, Hopkins, Penn, Columbia, Duke, Florida, UAB, Michigan, Baylor, Stanford, UCSF, Washington, Northwestern, Chicago, Wisconsin, Pitt, etc.

Apologies to the other top 10s I inadvertently didn't rattle off the top of my head

My impressions of a few of these:

MGH-
"It's MGH"
It's hard to not feel important walking around at MGH as a candidate, and I believe that you will see pretty much *everything* there, and have the opportunity to do tons of research and be a highly respected academic as well as clinician. Arguably one of the "true" top ten.
Boston is fun. Boston is cold. Boston is expensive.
Work hours were explained to us as long, and sometimes very long. We were shown a histogram of hours/week and the right tail trailed out past 80. How this occurs, I am not sure. The explanation we were given was vague - "sometimes this happens in the ICU months". The more time I spent there, the more the glamour wore off, and the reality of cramped recovery rooms and residents babysitting patients in the OR set in. This was confirmed by our tour guide. But... it's MGH. Honestly, I'd look past the "deficiencies" (long hard hours - which are not necessarily a bad thing) if you are set on a brand name program. Snob factor? Didn't get it from the faculty, or from most of the residents, but from a few for sure. Location is the main factor that dropped it to the middle of my list.

UAB -
One of my highly ranked programs, although location was again an issue. Incredible hospital setting, beautiful ORs, approachable faculty (although aren't they all on interview day?), and the residents seemed genuinely happy to be there. No wanting for cases of any kind from what I understand. Birmingham supposedly has a run-down part of the city, but I must have only seen the good side. Sunny and pretty, smaller city.
Strong reputation, perhaps more so in the South but I suspect this is changing. Research seemed to be not as plentiful at MGH, but definitely a possibility if one is interested.


UF -
Rubbed me the wrong way so I will keep this brief. Faculty seemed like good people, smart, pleasant. Residents came across as overworked. More than one came across as short-tempered or at least humorless at the lunch during the interview. The hours are known to be long, but with the benefit of most weekends off, so it supposedly evens out. Strong simulator experience. Strong reputation, etc etc. My personal take was that if I wanted to go to a workhorse program, I'd go to one where people seemed a little more genuine.


I strongly second Dr.Robert's assessment of both CWRU and UPMC, from personal and vicarious experience, respectively.

 

[cchoukal]

Another one:

U. of Chicago

Academic Reputation: arguably in the top 10
Strengths: CCM and Peds at the new Children's Hospital
Weaknesses: none that stand out, maybe OB
Caseload quantity and quality: rumors that residents do not get enough clinical exposure and have trouble getting their numbers. also rumors that there occasionally can be two residents in one room. they don't have that many ORs for such a huge medical center
Resident friendly environment: 9/10
Moonlighting: very little in house opportunities
Average work hours per week: 55-65
Didactics: excellent

Will prepare you for an academic or private practice career. Another very solid program with arguably the happiest residents in Chicago, mostly secondary to the work hours.

I'm an intern at U of C and have never heard of 2 residents in one room (1 resident and 1 fellow at times...). The addition of the peds hospital has significantly added OR capacity. It seems like they keep adding to the projected number of peds ORs, and there is supposed to be a new surgery tower completed by 2010. Presently, there is intra-departmental paid work in a psychomotor research lab, but I don't know if anyone moonlights outside the dept.

 

[FlacoFlo]

I too am fresh off the interview trail and will try my best to recollect some of the highs and lows of a few of the programs I visited.

I agree with the above posts about CWRU and Pitt. I believe Pitt is a very strong program. Sure it doesn't have the rep of some of the other places but they ranked 3rd in Anes. NIH research dollars and it seemed that their senior residents were very confident in their clinical skills. At the same time Pitt as a city usually has a love/hate opinion among candidates.

Clev. Clinic- I spent a month completing a visiting rotation here so I was able to get an in-depth view of the program. Seemed like a program trying to move up the rep ladder, esp with Roizen coming in as the new chair. I thought that the clinical caseload seen here was very diverse and no lack of any kind of surgical procedures. In the midwest, CC has a good reputation and many of their residents get into the fellowships they desire or go into lucrative private practices. However, they recently moved all the OB over to a neighboring hospital so residents now go over there to get that training. I thought the residents did not seem stuck up and were very confident. However, this is a very big residency program (take 30 res./yr.) so it is easy to get lost in the crowd if ur not an outgoing person. In regards to work hours, they are one of the harder working residencies and avg around 50-60 just because of the surgical case volume. There is an SRNA school there but it was not a problem for the residents whatsoever.

Northwestern- Interviewed here. The reputation may not be as good for research as U of C but they definitely dont lack any surgical volume. In fact, it has a reputation of one of the hardest working residencies avg. prob around 60hrs/wk. They have huge cardiac, neuro, and OB numbers. Also the regional here is very strong. Depending on how you view it, they have at least 7 months of ICU during their residency. Some of the downsides IMHO are the fact that due to their location (Mich. Ave.) their traumas are some CEO who broke his ankle at the local Bally's playin raquetball. And the ICU months but if you like ICU then its cool. Residents due to clinical workload also seemed very confident in their skills and many go into private practice. And Chicago is a tough area to get a job in so many of the Chi residencies have a heads up on the good jobs.

Whewwww- I'll post more later but I am sure there are plenty more SDNers who are fresh off the interview trail. Hope this helps!!!

 

[DrRobert]

Why don't we just make a list of the 25 programs that are all arguably in the top 10 and the next 50 that are all arguably top 30.

I'll start with the some of the top 10s: BWH, MGH, Hopkins, Penn, Columbia, Duke, Florida, UAB, Michigan, Baylor, Stanford, UCSF, Washington, Northwestern, Chicago, Wisconsin, Pitt, etc.

Apologies to the other top 10s I inadvertently didn't rattle off the top of my head

I already started a thread about program tiers awhile back, listed what I thought were the top 10 and 20 programs, and it turned into a pissing contest. These topics are up for huge debate and it can get tiresome. 😴

 

[DrRobert]

Northwestern- Interviewed here. The reputation may not be as good for research as U of C but they definitely dont lack any surgical volume. In fact, it has a reputation of one of the hardest working residencies avg. prob around 60hrs/wk. They have huge cardiac, neuro, and OB numbers. Also the regional here is very strong. Depending on how you view it, they have at least 7 months of ICU during their residency. Some of the downsides IMHO are the fact that due to their location (Mich. Ave.) their traumas are some CEO who broke his ankle at the local Bally's playin raquetball. And the ICU months but if you like ICU then its cool. Residents due to clinical workload also seemed very confident in their skills and many go into private practice. And Chicago is a tough area to get a job in so many of the Chi residencies have a heads up on the good jobs.

As someone with inside knowledge about this program I would mostly agree with your assessment. There is not a weakness in this program anymore. CCM and Pain are not the strongest, but I definitely would not consider them weaknesses. I would put NW up against any program in the country when it comes to clinical experience - Peds, OB, Cardiac, and Regional are about as strong as it gets.

I disagree with the work hours - this is one of the hardest working programs in the country and morale is low among residents; 70-75 hours/week is more accurate.

 

[burntcrispy]

Yeah, lets just list them as strong/popular programs instead of top 10. Oh, and about Baylor, everybody from Tx knows its the weakest program in Texas. It has a big name for their medschool and some other residencies but their anesthesia is below par. Also, they have some of the most unhappy residents around. You really have to watch what you get when it comes to big names.

 

[burntcrispy]

Some programs I went to.

UTSW
Academic Reputation: Good rep in Texas and getting better every year. The chairman, Bill Johnston, is very energetic and pro resident. He's done alot with the program and is successfully trying to make it one of the best in the country
Strengths: Its the only anes residency in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. They see every case imaginable and alot of them.
Weaknesses: none that stand out
Caseload quantity and quality: Residents there work hard. They are not shy about this and will tell you about this during the interview. I went for a second look and the CA1 I was following said she was putting in about 75 hours/wk. When you're in Parkland hospital the call is q4. Like I said, they see the most challanging cases and you are exposed to them early.
Resident friendly environment: The residents I spoke with said that it was a good environment. I had some classmates who claimed that they found some disgruntled residents but that was not my experience. If you look hard enough you will probably find disgruntled residents in almost any program.
Moonlighting: very little in house opportunities
Average work hours per week: 70/wk but depends on which service you are on.
Didactics: good. They don't have as many lectures as some programs because their chairman doesn't believe in lecturing the residents to death.


UT-Houston
I can't say much about this program. On the interview day we all sat around a big room together and took turns being interviewed. I only met 2-3 residents and they mainly sat around talking to each other. They are in a transition with an interim chairman who was brought in to "clean things up". They are supposed to have a decent caseload but that is just "hear say" as they didn't mention much about the program on my interview day.

Scott and White
Academic Reputation: Known as a small program geared toward getting you ready for private practice. There is not much research going on there. Some residents go into fellowships but the majority go straight to private practice.
Strengths: Regional. They have some of the best regional training that I saw on the interview trail.
Weaknesses: Small program. The town is very small. If you go in as a single guy you are likely to leave that way.
Caseload quantity and quality: The caseload there is on the lighter side. I don't know if this is because of numbers or that the residents there just don't work as hard. There are lots of CRNAs there and the residents take the better cases and CRNAs take the rest. The program is very cush. Call doesn't start until 3pm with next day off. ICU call was home call. The residents say this may be changing.
Resident friendly environment: 10/10
Moonlighting: some in house opportunities
Average work hours per week: 55-60
Didactics: don't remember but they are known to have the highest inservcie exam scores in Texas. The residents there have lots of time off to read.

UTMB
Academic Reputation: very strong
Strengths: Teaching.
Weaknesses: not enough peds, hearts or neuro. The residents have to do away rotations in Houston for cards and neuro and go to Corups Cristi for Peds.
Caseload quantity and quality: adequate.
Resident friendly environment: 10/10 The residents there are a very tight group and faculty/resident relationship is excellent.
Moonlighting: In house moonlighting. 50/hour after 4:30pm.
Average work hours per week: 55-65
Didactics: excellent. There are lectures every morning Mon-Fri before the cases start.

Wake Forest
Academic Reputation: arguably in the top 10
Strengths: Regional and Cardiac
Weaknesses: none that stand out
Caseload quantity and quality: I don't remember specifics about this but they seem to get exposure to all types of cases.
Resident friendly environment: 9/10
Moonlighting: I don't remember this either but there were several moonlighting opportunities
Average work hours per week: 55-65
Didactics: excellent

UAB
I agree with the above post. If you can get over living in Birmingham it is a very tough program to beat. They have some of the best in house moonlighting around (60/hr after 3pm and sevaral home call opportunities). The facilities there are just awsome. The ORs are brand new and have all of the "bells and whistles". They just got a new chairman and the residents I spoke with said they met with him while he was interviewing for the position and they all thought he was great. I saw no weaknesses to speak of.

hope this helps.

 

[fakin' the funk]

Any feelings on the Univ of California programs?

 

[SleepIsGood]

Hey BadGas

I'm not sure if you know this but there's a thread from back in Nov---?? called "interviews' or something like that. People have talked about the programs both pros/cons,etc as they finished their interviews. There's also a similar thread from last year as well. I think you may find that helpful since the 'comments' on those will be a lot more 'fresher'.

Plus, dont forget, now that everyone's in a residency already, there maybe some 'selection bias'.

FYI 👍

 

[jennyboo]

Dig around in the FAQ that's a sticky thread on this forum -- there is a link to a thread about "top programs" which is somewhat debated, but very helpful for applicants to get an idea of what range the program is in.

I spent a month at a couple of very strong academic programs, and when I asked the residents there what other programs they would strongly recommend looking at, the unequivocal answers were Duke and Mt Sinai. Both of these programs were described as "very, very nice" (whatever that means). I interviewed at both and agree with what they loved about these programs. Even if you weren't considering them before (I certainly wasn't that interested in moving to Durham, NC), you should definitely look into them -- you might find them compelling despite any geographic problems you might have. Beth Israel Deaconess in Boston is also reputed to be a "nice" program that isn't really considered best of the best, but appears to have reasonable work hours and relatively content residents; it's a Harvard program that's probably moderately but not steeply competitive. For what it's worth, MGH has a scary interview process with confrontational questions and occasional pimping, but in truth the residents seem happy and the faculty are friendly and very devoted to teaching -- so it's worth considering this program more closely despite rep.

 

[Mman]

I already started a thread about program tiers awhile back, listed what I thought were the top 10 and 20 programs, and it turned into a pissing contest. These topics are up for huge debate and it can get tiresome. 😴

Apparently my sarcasm was missed. I'm just pointing out that speaking about the "academic reputation" of a program when you are reviewing it is pointless. There are probably 30 programs that consider themselves "top 10" etc.

 

[chicamedica]

OP, your question is a tough one to answer simply because as I discovered in the application process, a good program is highly dependent on what kind of career path you want to take. the "top 10" should actually be stratified into something like "top 10" for regional, "top 10" for those wanting to go into private practice, "top 10" for peds, "top 10" for for OB, "top 10" for those looking into academics, "top 10" for research (this also stratified according to specific research interest), "top 10" for CCM, etc. So it really does make sense that there are way more "top 10" programs than just 10.

So let us know what kind of a career you envision for yourself and we might be able to be a little more helpful in answering your question.

 

[bubalus]

Too many peple get hung up on going to a top 10 or #1 program, as if a #11 or #40 program can't train you well. When I was applying, I picked programs based on geography--where my wife and I (in that order) wanted to live. It worked for me. There are plenty of good, solid programs that can train you to be a good/great anesthesiologist even though they don't have the cachet of MGH. That doesn't mean they're all perfect or that they all have everything. My program doesn't get much penetrating trauma, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. We have some exceptional strengths in other fields, and we do well on boards. I'm confident I will be very well trained when I'm done, and I'd rather be where I'm at than MGH, Hopkins, or UCSF. I've got a comfortable life, sweet house, and a happy wife. As long as you study hard, work hard, and don't go to a truly crappy program (on probation, can't make numbers, failing boards, all of which should be pretty easy to figure out on interview day) you should come out fine.

 

[badgas]

Ok I suppose I should redirect this post a little bit. Since there is a lot of arguement about who is the best, I'd like to hear about who is the worst. Which programs are on probation? And if a program is clearly on it's way to being off probation (WVU) then what is the harm in going there? I'm planning on choosing based largely on location and whether the program overworks you or not. I need a program that allows some reading time. That being said, which programs are the bottom of the barrell?

 

[VentdependenT]

do a search for program reviews or interview reviews. there is tons of info on there.

some of my favorites in the fray:
Virginia Mason
U Iowa
U Michigan
UIC

 

[Painter1]

i'm not doing anesthesia but I would recommed thinking twice about usc or university of southern california. may wanna save your airfare to check out another program. my friends that went to SC got into stanford, davis, and ucla--they wouldn't be caught dead going to their own anesthesia program. too many SRNAs, no regional blocks, all FMG faculty, and uptight program director and chair.

 

[drrosenrosen]

Ok I suppose I should redirect this post a little bit. Since there is a lot of arguement about who is the best, I'd like to hear about who is the worst. Which programs are on probation? And if a program is clearly on it's way to being off probation (WVU) then what is the harm in going there? I'm planning on choosing based largely on location and whether the program overworks you or not. I need a program that allows some reading time. That being said, which programs are the bottom of the barrell?

There's a whole thread on it below, but USF is on double secret probation and possibly even had their program cancelled. I interviewed there based on location without knowing much about it, and it was awful. Every resident I talked to said "Don't come here. Don't know if the program will survive. I'm looking for another program," etc. So, avoid USF at all costs.

 

[teamtoofys]

I'm a brand new CA-3 at Columbia and I can throw in my two cents on the progam, which has been very good to me thus far. I just put together this essay for the dept website, which I have cut and pasted onto here. Midway through my CA-1 year our PACU was turing into an ICU and patients were waiting for PACU in the OR and some residents were getting pissed. We got to the administration and they fixed the problem based on our complaints. Now our cardiac program is exploding while every other program in NY state is losing volume. It's an exciting and unique place to be right now, check on the essay below. A little tiny bit biased in the positive light, since I posted it on the dept website, but what can I do. 😀


Man! 5:45 comes early. I rub the sleep out of my eyes and hustle to the bodega for a coffee and a banana. Yet again, the deli guy fails to recognize me. I walk to the Spring Street station stop and just catch the uptown A to 168th. Despite the smell of stale urine and the unpredictable nature of public transit, the subway is something I have really come to embrace. It’s a tranquil retreat from the chaos of the New York City, a short break to relax, read a few articles, and visualize my plan for the first case.

I start my case on time at 0730 and by 0900 it’s time for my coffee break. For fifteen minutes I am free to do as I please without the beeping of the pulse-ox monitor or the surgeon asking for the table up for the sixteenth time. Naturally, I gravitate to the lounge for my second coffee. A few of the attendings are sitting in the lounge, so engaged in their discussion that they barely notice that I have walked in. The topics that are discussed in the lounge are always interesting, anything from the size of the prawns in Mozambique to the best place to ski in the Alps. One aspect of our program that I have truly enjoyed is the diverse backgrounds of our faculty. Our attendings hail from South Africa, India, Israel, Germany, England, Armenia, Greece, Lebanon, Bulgaria, just to name a few. Needless to say, it makes for interesting discussions during your coffee break.

I return to my room fully caffeinated and we start our next case. My attending and I discuss the remaining cases for the day, hoping for the best, but planning for the worst. As a CA-3, my focus has shifted to planning an anesthetic as if it were my case alone, and presenting a careful and thorough anesthetic plan to my attending. Most of the attendings assume that I have become proficient in most of the technical aspects of the case. The emphasis as a CA-3 lies in developing a knack for anticipating the critical aspects of the surgery and tailoring the anesthetic to the comorbidities of the patient.

The CA-3 year at Columbia has been particularly gratifying for me, it’s been a sort of homecoming. After a CA-2 year of mostly subspecialty rotations, I am now returning to the attendings that trained me as a CA-1. As a CA-3 team captain, I get the opportunity to manage the board, cover the PACU, and carry the stat intubation pager. My year is also partly comprised of elective months including cardiac, peds, pain, OB and ICU. One of the conveniences that exists at Columbia is that all of the subspecialty rotations are all under one roof, and the transition from one rotation to the next is generally seamless.

Another unique aspect that I have really appreciated is the freedom I was given to make my own schedule. Dr. Wood and the rest of the administrative staff always are encouraging residents to pursue their interests within anesthesia, whatever they may be. I was encouraged to pursue my interest, which was in international anesthesia. As a CA-2, I had the opportunity to join a pediatric surgical mission to Vietnam. In Vietnam I witnessed heath care like I had never seen it, and I was an active member of a highly motivated and efficient surgical team. The degree of cooperation and communication that existed between team members was beautiful to witness. In September of this year I will be attending another surgical mission to India, and relating my experiences to a committee within the ASA. In October I will be attending the ASA in Chicago and sitting on the committee for Overseas Anesthesia Teaching Programs. In planning these extra-curricular activities, I have been delighted with the support and encouragement I have received from the faculty and administrative staff.

Last but not least is New York City. I can’t say enough about it. With the bizarre schedule that the anesthesia lifestyle can throw at you, it’s great to have a city that can support your every whim 24 hours a day. I feel like the island of Manhattan alone has enough restaurants, bars and theatres to keep me busy for the next three or four lifetimes. There exists an incredible sense of energy among the people who live here, and experiencing this has been very meaningful for me.