It's a GREAT clerkship or residency choice IMO.
They graduate the program with about 2-3 times their required numbers... lots of surgery. There was usually around 5-20 cases going on every day, and they take 4 residents per year. Most cases are just the resident and the attending scrubbed in. The exceptions are big RF cases or cases at North Shores hospital with the main attendings; those ones will maybe have 2 residents scrubbed... and possibly a student scrubbed or observing. You will be exposed to a great mix of elective cases from the private practice attendings as well as adequate trauma case volume that the younger attendings bring from the many StJohn hospital system ERs. You see good variety of surgical pathology and different procedure selections since there are so many attendings.
This is one of the oldest pod surg residencies in the country... tons of history. The North Shores hospital is small with a 10 bed ER, but ambulances in the area know the program has a good rep and take tons of F&A minor and intermediate level trauma there (lacs, sprains, fractures, DM wounds, etc). The program has a ton of attendings, and the vast majority (maybe all?) are fully RF certified. The attending staff is a good mix of old and young docs; many are StJohn alumni and some from other programs. StJohn is one of the bigger hospital systems in Detroit (other big systems are DMC, Henry Ford, and Beaumont)... StJohn has many hospitals, surg centers, clinics, etc on the east side of the city. Since I clerked there in June, I got to attend the graduation dinner, and there is a very nice sense of camaraderie among StJohn attendings. Many grads of the program stay in the area and take jobs or partnership working in group practices with fellow alumni.
One thing that will jump out there is really good resident chemistry. They find smart residents who gel together well. I saw that at all of the MI programs I visited (StJohn, DMC, and Oakwood). Everyone at StJ has a sense of humor. StClaire Shores and Harrison township are nice suburbs to the northeast of Detroit. They are safe towns, and there is fun stuff to do by yourself or with family/friends (restaurants, beaches, malls, zoo etc). CME allowance is good, residents get free food, and overall salary+benefits package is among the best in the country when you take into account the low cost of living in south Michigan.
Research is supported and encouraged, but not much is formally required - aside from an ACFAS poster for each third year resident. The library is great. The director, Dr. Wertheimer, has a rep of being tough to work with, but I thought he was a great teacher. He pimps externs, but it's with the intention of teaching. He jokes around and is sarcastic, but it's all in good fun. He works with both ABPS and COTH, and he is also one of the designers of Residency Resource (the computerized logging site that 90+ percent of PMS residencies use). Since he invented the logging system, you can be sure that their numbers are 100% legit... no misrepresenting B cases as C, no breaking down cases (triple arthrodesis = 1 procedure, not 3), etc.
As for downsides of StJohn North Shores, there honestly aren't many. The program will not take marginally qualified candidates, so if you match there, you know that you will be working with good co-residents. In years where there was a low student:residency ratio or StJohn doesn't get a ton of interest for whatever reason, they will let spots remain unfilled instead of taking just anyone in the scramble. StJohn North Shores Hospital is a very small hospital, and that does mean that resident training on inpatient management is a bit slim compared to some other PMS-36s based in larger teaching hospitals. When on pod service, you only have to round on inpatients at North Shores. Still, you have IM, ID, gen surg, etc etc rotations at the larger StJohn hospitals and will learn medical management just fine. A lot of time/gas driving from hospital to hospital and to surg centers is a downside, but trust me when I say that you will run into this problem at any PMS36 that gets high surgical numbers. StJohn also has in-house call, but I view that as a plus... it gives you time to read, and you learn more since you get to the ER or an inpatient room right away when there's an issue.
StJohn North Shores was one of my favorite clerkships. They provide free food, free housing, and you don't even really need a car (I had one, but you could ride with the residents). I saw a lot of neat cases (ankle fusion, talar fx, a few ankle fx, etc), and I got to do a lot as a student (suture, see patients in the ER, help out in clinic, etc). I will definitely be going to the interview, and I will probably rank this program very highly for residency match. IMO, the biggest strengths are surgical volume and good diversity (elective, trauma, peds, DM, etc), great resident chemistry, many attendings, and good location/salary for family. Like the other Michigan programs I saw, there is not much wasted time. You go in, do surgery, a bit of academics, and get home (or on call if it's your night).
Further info:
http://www.stjohn.org/podiatryresidency/description/ (salary figures not updated... see link below for those)
http://www.casprcrip.org/html/casprcrip/pdf/Dir_Pgs/0231.pdf
*...edit to add: the program is pretty open about their numbers if you want to see their graduating resident surgical logs firsthand. I'm sure the director will provide them for you if you visit or maybe even just email and ask.
