I remember the first year they were recruiting residents. I had a really stellar 4th year student that I recommend we rank highly, and then she ranked Beaumont #1 because they told her she would be able to direct her own learning experience and pick her own rotations. Her dream at that time was to do pediatric anesthesia and I wonder if she ever got to go. That's the problem with a no-name program, if you're going for the competitive fellowship programs it may be harder to get interviews and match. So I would ask them during your residency interview how much of their graduating class went straight to private practice vs. going into fellowship, specifically Cardiac or Pain which I think are the 2 most competitive specialties.
Hi Agast. I graduated in the Class of 2016 (the third class to go through). The first class had two female residents, both did peds fellowships (one at Hopkins, one at Ohio State), and then both came back and joined Beaumont as staff anesthesiologists. That first class also had one guy who did dual ICU and cardiac fellowships (both at Cleveland Clinic I believe), and one guy who did a pain fellowship. One joined a private practice and the remaining member of that class joined an academic practice without having completed a fellowship.
The next year, two people did fellowships (one cardiac, one pain) and the remainder went directly into practice.
Of my class, four of us did fellowships (one peds, one pain, two ICU; one at Northwestern in Chicago and one at Ohio State). The others went into private practice. Several members of the class are planning to come back and join Beaumont staff. Of those who return to Beaumont after fellowship, most have family ties in the area.
I also ranked Beaumont number one for residency; the ability to self-direct my experience also appealed to me. The current residents are still shaping the program, rotations get added or taken away every year based on feedback. Outside rotations are allowed. Didactics were a little weak, especially at first, but were making progress toward the end of my residency. Written board pass rate is good.
Case volume is ridiculous; you learn to be quite efficient. There are a lot of cardiac, thoracic, neuro, and vascular cases to do. Residents always get priority for those. Peds is mainly bread and butter (I did an outside elective to broaden my exposure during residency) but there is a new-ish craniofacial surgeon who really brings the syndromic kids in, and Beaumont also has one of the world's premier pediatric retinal surgery programs, so we got a good mix of complex premature patients transferred there specifically for eyes. There are no pediatric cardiac or transplant services though. OB volume is quite high.
Regional anesthesia is one area where the program really shines. I believe my classmates and I averaged about 400-600 blocks over four months of straight up regional experience. I felt like the pain rotations were really strong too.
The program director is super charismatic and really sold the program to me when I was a medical student. He does a nice job of making things happen for his residents, getting those who want to be involved in research involved, and protecting the residents from occasional single-attending ire and/ or political drama.
There weren't many times I had to work a weekend other than liver call. Also I went to ASA all three CA years. Despite not working weekends, your case numbers are high due to busy weekdays and higher clinical efficiency than many other centers (faster turnovers and surgeons, et al). I would pick the program again.
