Reviews for Michigan Surgery Residencies

[ankur83]

My fiancee just matched at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. Obviously, it would be great if I matched at the same place but just in case, I'll be applying to pretty much every hospital in Michigan. I wanted to find out people's opinion of the various surgery positions in michigan, with a focus on Providence Hospital, William Beaumont Hospital, MSU at Lansing, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, St. Joseph at Ann Arbor, UMich at Ann Arbor, Wayne State in Detroit, and Henry Ford Hospital. Thanks.

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[ACSurgeon]

My fiancee just matched at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. Obviously, it would be great if I matched at the same place but just in case, I'll be applying to pretty much every hospital in Michigan. I wanted to find out people's opinion of the various surgery positions in michigan, with a focus on Providence Hospital, William Beaumont Hospital, MSU at Lansing, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, St. Joseph at Ann Arbor, UMich at Ann Arbor, Wayne State in Detroit, and Henry Ford Hospital. Thanks.

For what it's worth, a freind of mine at UMich @ Ann Arbor said it was a fairly intense/malignant program.

 

[hobofunk]

William Beaumont: Community hospital with university ties. Mandatory research year. They are planning to become the main hospital for Oakland University's new medical school, which should be up and running in the next few years. Very high volume, but in my opinion low interesting pathology and since they're in the suburbs weak trauma, mostly blunt. They have a very fancy surgical skills center. I don't know if they have any outside rotations, but if they do it's not many.

Henry Ford: Another community hospital with university ties, but located in the heart of Detroit, so trauma is a bit more interesting. Rotate through Children's Hospital for peds. Great chairman, Dr. Dulchavsky. Strong fellowship placement except for peds, but apparently there are current residents who are planning to apply. Also have a nice surgical skills center.

Wayne State University: Academic program, also located in Detroit. They rotate through many hospitals: VA, Children's, Detroit Receiving & Harper, Oakwood, Sinai (maybe getting rid of this?). They have their own burn unit. They seem to be on the downswing in terms of reputation. Out of the 22 people at Wayne State med school that matched into General Surgery, only 1 matched to Wayne. Although I don't share this opinion, they have a reputation of being a mean program. More old school. You would definitely see the best pathology & trauma here.

MSU Lansing: Currently on probation, new program director, new chairman. Rotate between two sites that are 40 minutes away from each other. I don't know much beyond that.

I don't know much about the other programs you asked about. If you have any other questions about the programs I listed, feel free to ask.

 

[Jarfr]

I can comment on Wayne State's general surgery residency from personal experience. I finished several years ago. Like previously described, it is an academic program, although the focus on research and publishing isn't as aggressive as say the University of Michigan. Wayne State University (WSU) produces some pretty good solid general surgeons. You get a great clinical experience which can prepare you for private practice (which is initially where I went after graduation). There is a strong emphasis on trauma, as you will spend a significant portion of your residency at Detroit Receiving Hospital (Level 1 trauma center).

I disagree with the previous comment that it is a "mean" program. Old school, possibly, but there has been a significant introduction of young blood to the staff. I never felt too overworked (even prior to the 80-hr workweek, when I trained).

I also can't comment on the recent match class for surgery interns. For my year, 6 of the 7 gen surg categorical interns were WSU grads. Last year's intern class also had a high percentage of WSU grads.

My last comment is that the program is solid and is no danger of folding or going away. Despite the poor economy in Detroit, WSU has weathered the storm. The Detroit Medical Center was the only medical system in the area to clear a profit in 2008 (according to the Detroit Free Press). The DMC almost closed its doors in 2003, and significantly changed practices. It has been on the up and up ever since. Since >90% of the care at Detroit Receiving is uninsured, I suspect that with mandatory insurance under the new health plan that the hospital will possibly get even more in reimbursements.

My two cents...

 

[45408]

My fiancee just matched at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. Obviously, it would be great if I matched at the same place but just in case, I'll be applying to pretty much every hospital in Michigan. I wanted to find out people's opinion of the various surgery positions in michigan, with a focus on Providence Hospital, William Beaumont Hospital, MSU at Lansing, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, St. Joseph at Ann Arbor, UMich at Ann Arbor, Wayne State in Detroit, and Henry Ford Hospital. Thanks.

Beaumont - six year program (one year of research), just got approved last month for their new med school (Oakland). Extremely high surgical volume (they said they're usually tied with Barnes-Jewish for the second most surgeries in the country, behind the Cleveland Clinic). The PD is Dr. Frikker, who was a really nice guy. The facilities are nice, the ER is gigantic (100 beds). The hospital is pretty immense overall - 1200 beds, I think.

Grand Rapids - really liked this place. Everyone on the interview trail that I talked to had good things to say about it. The "Medical Mile" is a stretch that the main hospital is on, and there are cranes everywhere building tons of new facilities for the hospital, the children's hospital, the Van Andel Institute (most beautiful research building I've ever seen), and a new med school campus for MSU. It really looks like business is booming there. Low cost of living. Nicest hospital I saw out of 13 interviews. It felt like a hotel.

Henry Ford - not as impressed here. I was in a bit of a interview daze at this point, so I don't have a whole lot to say. I agree that Dr. Dulchavsky seems like a good guy. One of my classmates did a month of neurosurg there and then matched there. He said he liked it. The main campus is not in a good area of town, but the new West Bloomfield campus is apparently pretty swank.

St. Joseph's - I heard good things, but I couldn't fit the interview into my schedule.

MSU at Lansing - didn't apply there, but one of my classmates interviewed there and wasn't particularly impressed.

 

[Musashi450]

Busy studying for my step II (...ugh...) so this'll be a brief one but lemme echo the good things said about Grand Rapids. This place is absolutely on the up. I agree that it was one of the nicer facilities I saw on my interviews (in top 3 for sure) and the faculty appeared VERY approachable. This goes especially for the PD who was on of those PDs that did not ring my BS bells and really came off as having the residents back. He is proud of the program and I think rightfully so. Residents gave off a very tight knit group vibe and seemed very happy. This is absolutely a program people should be adding to their list IMHO. Lastly this is one of the few programs that updates its website!! (and its very good) I was very impressed and I'm hoping the addition of the new MSU campus will help put this program even more on the map so that it gets the credit it deserves.

 

[BlondeDocteur]

The PD is Dr. Frikker, who was a really nice guy. The facilities are nice, the ER is gigantic (100 beds).

Now that is unfortunate.

 

[Hail2010]

I recently matched to the Grand Rapids surgery program and am ecstatic as it was my first choice. I would echo all the previous statements about the program, director, and residents as those things were the major factors in how I made up my rank list. The program director is possibly one of the nicest, most genuine surgeons you will ever meet and it's not just on the interview day. I spent 4 weeks there including some OR time with him and he is the real deal. The residents are a great group and have lives that aren't completely consumed by their training due to a schedule that maximizes efficiency. That being said the training is well-balanced and you will see plenty of interesting pathology as GR is the major referral center for the west side of the state. Coming from the west coast I had 3 of my classmates interview in GR for 3 different residency programs and they all ended up ranking it in their top 3 with everyone leaving with the impression that it will soon be the next major center in the midwest as there is so much money invested in the medical industry evidenced by the "medical mile".

Beaumont was another program that made it fairly high on my list. I really enjoyed the residents there and had a great time on my interview day, though I'm sure it had some to do with being a little more relaxed as it was my last interview. The volume of cases is crazy, and there is a ton of support staff to help take care of all the scut work to keep the workload sane. With Oakland University's first medical school class starting there should be an even greater draw for additional academic faculty. It's similar to GR in that it is a very academic program, though operating under the auspices of a community hospital. There is an a required research year if that matters to you.

Wayne State is a different animal than the other two. It is very much more a traditional surgery training program. I loved the chairman and spent some time rotating on his service and saw some amazing oncology cases. The chief of surgical oncology is also a great guy. The main issue for me, however, was that there is such a large slant towards trauma which is not an area of interest for me. If you want to be a trauma surgeon, there is no better place to train as two of the most well-known trauma gurus still operate there. I did get the impression that the chiefs foster an environment where going over the 80 hr work week is expected if necessary and is quite routine. Doesn't really bother me too much though it's certainly something to consider. Probably has a lot to do with minimal support staff leaving a large amount of scut work left for the lower level residents in addition to there being such a high volume of great cases that the chiefs themselves were often operating in the afternoons of their post call days.

These were the only 3 of the programs I interviewed at though I had heard some good things about SJ in AA. Bottom line is that you can't really go wrong with any of these choices in my opinion. All will leave you well trained and capable of pursuing any field of surgery should you choose to subspecialize. Good luck!

 

[dancinjenn]

As a current WSU/DMC intern I can tell you why the number from the WSU graduating class was so low matching into the intern class. It is because there are 5 (yes, I am one of them) Prelim's who matched categorical. I am however a WSU grad...so maybe you could call that 2 people into the Intern class from WSU, just I'm once removed...the redheaded step child per se. This program is where I wanted to be in the first place, and I am glad I matched here.

But many of the Gen surg WSU students matched into good/great places. Henry Ford (x2), St. John's, Loyola, Case, Wake Forest, UC San Francisco, Rush (x2), U of Illinois, U of FL, Summa, Med. Col of Wisconsin, Akron, Grand Rapids, UC Irvine, Beaumont, U of Oklahoma, U of Massachusettes.

I think I hit most of the places as I was scanning the match list. So don't think that the grads got crappy matches just because they didn't end up at the good ol' WSU. People who apply to California probably don't want to stay in the D anyway.

p.s. If you have specific q's about the WSU/DMC ping me with a PM. I'll be as honest as I can.

 

[SocialistMD]

...they said they're usually tied with Barnes-Jewish for the second most surgeries in the country...

You learn something new each day.

 

[ankur83]

bump...i'm applying for away rotations so any information I can get would be much appreciated...