SUNY upstate in Syracuse

[swisscheese4me]

any info about the anesthesiology program here? how is the residency program? I go to Suny buffalo but I have family in syracuse so i'm very interested in this program.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[chmd]

Don't know much about SUNY Syracuse but I heard there was an interesting private group up there. Maybe a recent AMC conquest but not sure. Seems like they get a lot of good cases rather than the university.

 

[776880]

I interviewed there. The program was almost exclusively FMGs and morale seemed low. Extremely weak cardiac...only 1 cardiac surgeon in the whole hospital and the residents said it was a big struggle just to get the bare minimum required numbers. Pretty weak OB...They send you out to the Brigham (Boston is 4 hrs away) for a month to learn the ropes and then you do a month with the PP group in town and that's it. No transplants. SICU senior is always a surgery resident so weak ICU experience for anesthesia residents. Low board pass rate (~50%). When I interviewed, they were also having leadership difficulties as the previous chairman was fired for embezzlement.
If you're interested in the area, I really liked the program in Rochester, NY and my friend really liked Albany's program but I didn't interview there so I can't comment.

 

[dabillskid]

I interviewed there. The program was almost exclusively FMGs and morale seemed low. Extremely weak cardiac...only 1 cardiac surgeon in the whole hospital and the residents said it was a big struggle just to get the bare minimum required numbers. Pretty weak OB...They send you out to the Brigham (Boston is 4 hrs away) for a month to learn the ropes and then you do a month with the PP group in town and that's it. No transplants. SICU senior is always a surgery resident so weak ICU experience for anesthesia residents. Low board pass rate (~50%). When I interviewed, they were also having leadership difficulties as the previous chairman was fired for embezzlement.
If you're interested in the area, I really liked the program in Rochester, NY and my friend really liked Albany's program but I didn't interview there so I can't comment.

I can agree with all of this as I also interviewed there. I will also add the PD had a different style of interviewing as he interviewed you as a group while you were waiting for your individual interviews. It was a little awkward answering personal questions in front of other people who were interviewing. I did however really like the chairman on my one-on-one interview. All attendings I interviewed with said the same thing. Cardiac is way down, hard to hit numbers and they are working on it. However, they lost a lot of the cardiac cases to a private group and are having a hard time getting cases.

Some other PROs: met a lot of friendly attendings. Residents seem to be very good clinically. They get their fellowships. They are a large trauma hospital for central NY.

I also interviewed at U of Rochester and liked it a lot more. Rochester is midway between Buffalo and Syracuse so this puts you closer towards your family. About an hour away from Syracuse. Rochester all around sounded like a great program from my interview with them.

 

[aaarrrggggg]

Upstate Pros

• Heavy and diverse case load, good trauma experience
• Beautiful new children's hospital (~5years) with dedicated Peds OR (no in-house fellowship though)
• Brand new cancer center with state of the art everything (~less than 1 year)
• Awesome OB rotation at Brigham and Women's, program puts you up in a condo for that month. Subsequent OB experience at a local community hospital, about 3 OB months total
• Program just started a cardiac rotation at the local cardiac-heavy hospital, plus an opportunity to travel to the Cleveland Clinic for cardiac if so inclined
• Pretty good multidisciplinary pain fellowship program that preferentially accepts Upstate residents (5 spots per year)
  
• Super cheap to live. Like, really cheap.
• Family friendly area
• Beautiful parks and lakes (nearby cazenovia and finger lakes)
• PD is a nice guy and seems to care about education
• They give you an iPad & yearly education money

Upstate toss-ups

• Potentially easy to stand out (pro) because the quality of your co-residents is typically low (con)....
• IMG friendly (good if you're an IMG.... can be good if you're an average USMG [see above])
• "Sink or swim" educational culture
• You work a lot - probably double acgme case requirements. So you'll get comfortable with cases and setting things up quickly, but you will be spending more than the required time in the OR
• Average amount of call. Light at first, then about two weekends a month
  
• You do a "regional" rotation where you spend the entire month doing all regional blocks for the main OR. You'll get good at blocks during that month, but you'll get hardly any experience with them prior to that rotation (which is in your third year)
• TONS of snow. Could be a plus if you really like the snow, but after about 7 months of it, you might find yourself missing the good ol' bare dirt. You should probably spring for that attached garage. And if you don't have AWD, don't live on (or near) a hill

Upstate Cons

• In-house group petty, gossipy, and mean, even to each other. Care nothing about your education. Some are nice, some are fine, some are straight up nasty and treat you like garbage.
• Residents treated as low-paid labor. Hell or high water (or 7 feet of snow), you'll be working. Sometimes they keep extra on-call people from going home just in case something comes in. That's right - you'll be there all night, doing nothing, on the off chance an emergency comes in (god forbid the attending do anything while waiting for you to get to the hospital.) This phenomenon is attending specific... but there are a fair amount of lazy, good for nothing attendings
• You won't get time off to study for your basic exam or ITEs. But! The group has to let you out of the OR prior to 7pm the night before your big test.... so you won't roll out of the OR into the testing center. Hallelujah.
• Not many CRNAs - you'll be relieving them at 330, and working most days until 7 (or later) during main OR months
• No transplants
• PD doesn't stand up for resident interests, more concerned about not stepping on toes. Pretty ineffectual overall.
• No encouragement or guidance for research...especially if it takes away from your ability to provide free labor to the private group
• Low-yield lectures. Prepare to study your ass off at home on your own
• Low boards pass rate (50%)
  
• Definitely a small town social scene. Apart from the shopping mall, not a ton of stuff to do. Summer is short, not that it matters much since you'll be working until 10pm every night anyway - caseloads increase and the workforce is cut by a third in July (CA-1s don't start working until September)

Summary
This program has all the ingredients for an above-average residency experience - new facilities, including in-house Peds, Pain Clinic, and Cancer center. They send you to some great outside rotations too, where you have a chance to network with world-class physicians (BWH for OB [required], Cleveland Clinic for cardiac [optional]). Rotations outside of the main OR tend to be pretty solid and fair. Unfortunately, the private anesthesia group basically runs the program in the main OR, and they couldn't care less about your educational experience. You are free labor for them. Period. They even keep residents from going to weekly lectures on occasion. Some go as far as to treat you like a slave on an interpersonal level - calling you 29 minutes into your lunch break to ask you where you are. Combined with the never-ending winter, resident morale tends to suffer in even the cheeriest of residents. It's a shame, because the program has all the trappings of a desirable residency experience.

Interestingly, when the PD (an intensivist) visits to the OR, the residents seem to get out of work early that day..... hmmmm.......

Residents may be miserable, but they are well-trained. You can get fellowships, especially the in-house pain program. IMG friendly, didactic and research unfriendly.