Does anyone have any info about this program? All the reviews from scutwork is from 2006 and I know they have big controversy back then but since then they have hired new chairman and just wondering what the program is like now. I couldn't find good information on it
UCI anesthesia
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Zeev Kain is brilliant and has really whipped the program into compliance with the ACGME from what I've heard. I talked to him at a journal club that he was the guest speaker of when I was a resident: not knowing what their caseload is like, it sounds like a small program with a lot going for it. Sorry to be vague, but it's been too long since that conversation for me to speak to the specifics of their department.
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Where do the residents go for peds? Last time I heard the big children's hospital in Orange County was covered by a private group that didn't have a great relationship with UCI. Do the residents have to trek to CHLA?
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Hey there!
I am a current resident at UC Irvine and can shed a little light on our program. Since the hiring of our new Chair, Dr Kain the department and residency have been very stable and has taken some very big steps forward. We are currently in the middle of a 5 year (max) ACGME accredidation of our program. I can only attest to what goes on at UCI as I have not trained anywhere else, but I am receiving excellent training.
Our training is well rounded in the subspecialities, especially since this past year we started rotating at Kaiser Sunset (in Los Angeles for which the department provides housing) for our second month of hearts in the CA-2 year. Traditionally the in-house numbers for cardiac are low hence the off-site rotation. In the last 6 months we have also seen a large bump in Neurosurgical cases including tons of open aneurysm clippings. As for peds, the numbers here at UCI are low, hence going to CHLA for 2 months during CA-2 year gives us the necessary pediatrics numbers. Plus it allows us to mingle with the folks at CHLA for those interested in fellowship there (we matched 2 or our current CA-3s at CHLA for fellowship 2013-14). As of now we do not rotate at CHOC, and I am not aware of a timeframe for when (or if) we will. But I can assure you despite the distance going to CHLA is a well liked rotation by all of the residents.
In previous years hours would range 45-55, and lately that has increased to 55-65/week with the increased OR volume and additional surgeons recently recruited. The residents here all work hard, but are a pretty close group, at 10-12 per class. And since things changed to a categorical program 3 years ago the familiarity with the program, the people, and the system makes for a smooth transition into CA-1 year.
I hope that gives you a little more information on our program.
I am a current resident at UC Irvine and can shed a little light on our program. Since the hiring of our new Chair, Dr Kain the department and residency have been very stable and has taken some very big steps forward. We are currently in the middle of a 5 year (max) ACGME accredidation of our program. I can only attest to what goes on at UCI as I have not trained anywhere else, but I am receiving excellent training.
Our training is well rounded in the subspecialities, especially since this past year we started rotating at Kaiser Sunset (in Los Angeles for which the department provides housing) for our second month of hearts in the CA-2 year. Traditionally the in-house numbers for cardiac are low hence the off-site rotation. In the last 6 months we have also seen a large bump in Neurosurgical cases including tons of open aneurysm clippings. As for peds, the numbers here at UCI are low, hence going to CHLA for 2 months during CA-2 year gives us the necessary pediatrics numbers. Plus it allows us to mingle with the folks at CHLA for those interested in fellowship there (we matched 2 or our current CA-3s at CHLA for fellowship 2013-14). As of now we do not rotate at CHOC, and I am not aware of a timeframe for when (or if) we will. But I can assure you despite the distance going to CHLA is a well liked rotation by all of the residents.
In previous years hours would range 45-55, and lately that has increased to 55-65/week with the increased OR volume and additional surgeons recently recruited. The residents here all work hard, but are a pretty close group, at 10-12 per class. And since things changed to a categorical program 3 years ago the familiarity with the program, the people, and the system makes for a smooth transition into CA-1 year.
I hope that gives you a little more information on our program.
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ETT911, I take it from your 2009 postings that you are an MD/PhD currently at Yale?
Either way, you seem to be heavily focused on who is Chair, why they stepped down, and the repercussions of said Chair leaving on the state of a given residency program. In all honesty, these things do not matter as much as you think they do. The world of academic medicine is full of politics. It is like the Game of Thrones with these chairs. Meanwhile, the lives of the commoners are only slightly altered, if not at all.
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I've heard through the academic faulty that there is an interim chair and that he is on "sabbatical" but not coming back as chair. No clue what the reason though, but he is still active in the anesthesia community and presented at the recent California society of anesthesiology meeting Fall 2015
check out: https://www.linkedin.com/in/znk2016
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A friendly reminder from the moderator staff to please keep things professional--discussing the current state of the chair at a program is fine, but unsubstantiated speculation is generally unprofessional and won't be allowed.
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Hello!
I am a current resident at UCI Anesthesia and can give some updates about my program for incoming applicants this year. There have been a lot of things said on SDN about UCI Anesthesia that are exaggerated and some outright false. Most of the info you are getting from SDN is from one person’s opinion after they spent a day interviewing and some didn’t even interview or apply here. The purpose of this post, however, is not defend or explain administrative events that have happened at UCI in the past, but more to provide current information for applicants interested in applying to UCI Anesthesia.
Main Location: Orange, California.
Current Department Chair: Scott Engwall, MD
Current Program Director: Kyle Ahn, MD
Website: www.anesthesiology.uci.edu
Accreditation: Full 10-year ACGME accreditation until year 2021
Categorial or Advanced?: We have 10 Categorical Residency Spots + 1 Combined Pediatric/Anesthesia Spot. We have no advanced spots. There are no OR fellows at UCI to compete with you for cases in the OR. When there is an interesting case, residents are doing it. You should always inquire about places that have a lot of fellows because this often means that the fellows are doing the advanced cases while residents are watching/shadowing.
Hospitals and rotations throughout residency:
UCI Douglas Hospital (Orange, CA) - Main OR, Cardiac Anesthesia, Neuro Anesthesia, Regional/Acute Pain, OB Anesthesia, SICU, PSH; MICU/NICU (Optional); Medicine Wards, ER (Intern Year)
Children’s Hospital of Orange County (Orange, CA) - Pediatric Anesthesia
UC Irvine Pain Clinic (Irvine, CA) - Chronic Pain
Long Beach VA Hospital (Long Beach, CA) - SICU, MICU, Medicine Wards (Intern Year)
Long Beach Memorial Hospital (Long Beach, CA) - OB Anesthesia; Surgery and High Risk OB (Intern Year)
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA)- Pediatric Anesthesia
Kaiser Sunset (Los Angeles, CA) - Cardiac Anesthesia
The good: Although many people on SDN criticise the fact that we rotate at multiple hospitals, it actually is a good thing. It definitely does not mean you get worse training. There are many benefits to rotating at multiple hospitals. This includes making connections in the community since you get to work with many different attendings at multiple hospitals and see multiple different styles of anesthesia practice. This is highly beneficial when you are looking for fellowships and jobs. It also provides exposure to many different anesthesia systems and workflows that you would not have known about if you only train in one place.
The bad: Some of these rotations are far from home. Our department does provide an apartment to stay at for free while we are doing our LA rotations, but it can still be a pain being away from home. If you don’t like going to multiple hospitals, UCI may not be the right fit for you.
Didactics: We have a very special way didactics are done at UCI. Once every 4 weeks for each resident class, we are excused from clinical duties completely (No Clinical duties, No call day of didactics, No call the night before) to attend a full day of didactics also known as “4U”. Didactics include lectures, oral board review, simulation, ultrasound curriculum and guest speakers. There are good and bad things to doing didactics this way.
The good: There are no daily morning or afternoon lectures, which means you do not need to wake up an hour earlier to attend morning lectures or stay later to go to lectures. You also get to hang out as a class after every 4U session since no one is on call. This creates a natural time where your class can bond and really get to know each other as, in general, anesthesia is a pretty independent field. This is one reason why residents come out of UCI with long lasting friendships and not just resident acquaintances. Overall, the residents have very positive feedback about our didactic system as it provides a relaxing day to learn and hang out, and also it does not interfere with daily workflow in the ORs.
The bad: You must do independent studying throughout the month as you don’t have daily lectures to keep you on track. Retention rate of all the information presented at 4U may be variable as there is often a lot of information presented at one session. That being said, most residents do very well on the ITE every year.
Hours: We work on average 55-65hrs a week while on Main OR. 24 hour calls begin 1-2 months after you start CA-1 year. Call teams usually consist of 1 Senior, 1 Junior, 1 OB resident, and 1 Supervising attending. We take call about 1-2 times per week on average. UCI Anesthesia is very serious about duty hours. I have never violated the 80hr work week rule while on an anesthesia rotation. If you happen to stay late, you will always have the 10hr break rule in between shifts. All 24 hr call days are followed by a 24hr post call period. Overall, I would not call UCI a “cush” anesthesia program because there are plenty of programs that work less than us. We are somewhere in the middle in terms of hours worked.
Resident Incentives: Step 3(~900), Ipad, and CA Licensing (~$1000) paid for during Intern Year . Starting CA1 year, $500 a year of Ed Funds with $115 of Meal money per month. Extra Ed Funds if you score well (>50th percentile) on the ITE. $2000 of traveling expenses if presenting at a conference.
Unique Rotations:
1. France Cardiac Rotation in Lyon. Fully paid for by the department.
2. Opportunities for International trips while getting ABA Residency Credit.
3. Robust Ultrasound Curriculum integrated throughout our residency.
4. Perioperative Surgical Home.
5. Plenty of opportunities to do research.
Perioperative Surgical Home (PSH): If you have heard anything about PSH, you probably know that UCI Anesthesia has one of the few functioning PSHs. That being said, not everyone at UCI (or even at the ASA for the matter) believes in the PSH. We currently have a PSH rotation in every year beginning intern year. Some aspects of the rotation is ABA required stuff such as PACU, and Pre-op clinic. Other parts of the rotation include rounding on Surgical Home patients in the hospital and following up on their post-operative course. While at UCI, you will learn about what a PSH is and if you want to, you can get involved. What I like to compare PSH to is any other rotation throughout your anesthesia residency, such as OB or ICU. You may not use it throughout your career or like it, but it is part of your training at UCI. Frankly, many of our graduates get jobs because they have exposure to the PSH and it makes you marketable in the future because it makes you unique.
Where have our graduates gone in the past couple years for fellowship?
Please refer to this website: http://www.anesthesiology.uci.edu/education_residency_graduates.shtml
As seen from this list, we send residents to excellent Fellowship programs. For example, Duke and Texas Heart, are regarded as some of the best Cardiac Anesthesia Fellowships in the nation.
A short list of the many southern california private practice groups that hire from our graduate pool:
Good things about our program:
The people at our program are amazing. Our relationship with our attendings is very casual and there is no malignancy whatsoever. The resident classes are very cohesive and teamwork is emphasized due to the nature of our daily workflow. Our workplace environment is very relaxed and fun. There is very little hierarchy medicine here. We get good exposure to all anesthesia subspecialties and really have no problems with numbers as the UCI case volume has really gone up over the years (in fact the program wants to add more anesthesia residents). We do very well in the job market in southern california and people that have come from out of state have gotten jobs back in their home state. I could go on with good things but I think this post is long enough already.
Bad things about our program:
If you are looking for a place that does liver, lung, cardiac transplants, you will not have exposure to these procedures during your time here. The only transplants we do are kidneys. That being said, there are actually very few places outside of major academic centers that do these procedures and even in those places they will require you to do some training before you join their transplant services. If your goal is to be extremely proficient at transplants by the time you come out of residency, UCI is not for you. But in reality, anesthesia is becoming more and more specialized as there are even organ-transplant fellowships appearing. Our Peds volume is weak at our main campus since it is not attached to a children’s hospital. However, we now rotate at both CHLA and CHOC and have no problems getting numbers. We also do not have much elective time during our CA3 year since our program is relatively small and they do need the residents to staff the Main OR.
In the end, ask yourself what is right for you. The ultimate goal of residency is to prepare you for your practice. Think about where you want to practice in the future and what you want to do. I have absolutely no regrets in coming to UCI and am very happy here. I feel that my training is more than adequate and I do not feel disadvantaged when applying to fellowship (if anything I got all the interviews I wanted). We rotate with residents from programs all over southern california at the outside hospitals and we don’t ever feel inferior. You will also make long lasting connections at this program and will not just be a number here. Hope all this information helps!
UCI Resident
I am a current resident at UCI Anesthesia and can give some updates about my program for incoming applicants this year. There have been a lot of things said on SDN about UCI Anesthesia that are exaggerated and some outright false. Most of the info you are getting from SDN is from one person’s opinion after they spent a day interviewing and some didn’t even interview or apply here. The purpose of this post, however, is not defend or explain administrative events that have happened at UCI in the past, but more to provide current information for applicants interested in applying to UCI Anesthesia.
Main Location: Orange, California.
Current Department Chair: Scott Engwall, MD
Current Program Director: Kyle Ahn, MD
Website: www.anesthesiology.uci.edu
Accreditation: Full 10-year ACGME accreditation until year 2021
Categorial or Advanced?: We have 10 Categorical Residency Spots + 1 Combined Pediatric/Anesthesia Spot. We have no advanced spots. There are no OR fellows at UCI to compete with you for cases in the OR. When there is an interesting case, residents are doing it. You should always inquire about places that have a lot of fellows because this often means that the fellows are doing the advanced cases while residents are watching/shadowing.
Hospitals and rotations throughout residency:
UCI Douglas Hospital (Orange, CA) - Main OR, Cardiac Anesthesia, Neuro Anesthesia, Regional/Acute Pain, OB Anesthesia, SICU, PSH; MICU/NICU (Optional); Medicine Wards, ER (Intern Year)
Children’s Hospital of Orange County (Orange, CA) - Pediatric Anesthesia
UC Irvine Pain Clinic (Irvine, CA) - Chronic Pain
Long Beach VA Hospital (Long Beach, CA) - SICU, MICU, Medicine Wards (Intern Year)
Long Beach Memorial Hospital (Long Beach, CA) - OB Anesthesia; Surgery and High Risk OB (Intern Year)
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA)- Pediatric Anesthesia
Kaiser Sunset (Los Angeles, CA) - Cardiac Anesthesia
The good: Although many people on SDN criticise the fact that we rotate at multiple hospitals, it actually is a good thing. It definitely does not mean you get worse training. There are many benefits to rotating at multiple hospitals. This includes making connections in the community since you get to work with many different attendings at multiple hospitals and see multiple different styles of anesthesia practice. This is highly beneficial when you are looking for fellowships and jobs. It also provides exposure to many different anesthesia systems and workflows that you would not have known about if you only train in one place.
The bad: Some of these rotations are far from home. Our department does provide an apartment to stay at for free while we are doing our LA rotations, but it can still be a pain being away from home. If you don’t like going to multiple hospitals, UCI may not be the right fit for you.
Didactics: We have a very special way didactics are done at UCI. Once every 4 weeks for each resident class, we are excused from clinical duties completely (No Clinical duties, No call day of didactics, No call the night before) to attend a full day of didactics also known as “4U”. Didactics include lectures, oral board review, simulation, ultrasound curriculum and guest speakers. There are good and bad things to doing didactics this way.
The good: There are no daily morning or afternoon lectures, which means you do not need to wake up an hour earlier to attend morning lectures or stay later to go to lectures. You also get to hang out as a class after every 4U session since no one is on call. This creates a natural time where your class can bond and really get to know each other as, in general, anesthesia is a pretty independent field. This is one reason why residents come out of UCI with long lasting friendships and not just resident acquaintances. Overall, the residents have very positive feedback about our didactic system as it provides a relaxing day to learn and hang out, and also it does not interfere with daily workflow in the ORs.
The bad: You must do independent studying throughout the month as you don’t have daily lectures to keep you on track. Retention rate of all the information presented at 4U may be variable as there is often a lot of information presented at one session. That being said, most residents do very well on the ITE every year.
Hours: We work on average 55-65hrs a week while on Main OR. 24 hour calls begin 1-2 months after you start CA-1 year. Call teams usually consist of 1 Senior, 1 Junior, 1 OB resident, and 1 Supervising attending. We take call about 1-2 times per week on average. UCI Anesthesia is very serious about duty hours. I have never violated the 80hr work week rule while on an anesthesia rotation. If you happen to stay late, you will always have the 10hr break rule in between shifts. All 24 hr call days are followed by a 24hr post call period. Overall, I would not call UCI a “cush” anesthesia program because there are plenty of programs that work less than us. We are somewhere in the middle in terms of hours worked.
Resident Incentives: Step 3(~900), Ipad, and CA Licensing (~$1000) paid for during Intern Year . Starting CA1 year, $500 a year of Ed Funds with $115 of Meal money per month. Extra Ed Funds if you score well (>50th percentile) on the ITE. $2000 of traveling expenses if presenting at a conference.
Unique Rotations:
1. France Cardiac Rotation in Lyon. Fully paid for by the department.
2. Opportunities for International trips while getting ABA Residency Credit.
3. Robust Ultrasound Curriculum integrated throughout our residency.
4. Perioperative Surgical Home.
5. Plenty of opportunities to do research.
Perioperative Surgical Home (PSH): If you have heard anything about PSH, you probably know that UCI Anesthesia has one of the few functioning PSHs. That being said, not everyone at UCI (or even at the ASA for the matter) believes in the PSH. We currently have a PSH rotation in every year beginning intern year. Some aspects of the rotation is ABA required stuff such as PACU, and Pre-op clinic. Other parts of the rotation include rounding on Surgical Home patients in the hospital and following up on their post-operative course. While at UCI, you will learn about what a PSH is and if you want to, you can get involved. What I like to compare PSH to is any other rotation throughout your anesthesia residency, such as OB or ICU. You may not use it throughout your career or like it, but it is part of your training at UCI. Frankly, many of our graduates get jobs because they have exposure to the PSH and it makes you marketable in the future because it makes you unique.
Where have our graduates gone in the past couple years for fellowship?
Please refer to this website: http://www.anesthesiology.uci.edu/education_residency_graduates.shtml
As seen from this list, we send residents to excellent Fellowship programs. For example, Duke and Texas Heart, are regarded as some of the best Cardiac Anesthesia Fellowships in the nation.
A short list of the many southern california private practice groups that hire from our graduate pool:
- Hoag Hospital
- St. Jude Medical Center
- St. Joseph Medical Center
- Kaiser (Multiple locations throughout california)
- Long Beach Memorial (Saddleback Anesthesia Group)
Good things about our program:
The people at our program are amazing. Our relationship with our attendings is very casual and there is no malignancy whatsoever. The resident classes are very cohesive and teamwork is emphasized due to the nature of our daily workflow. Our workplace environment is very relaxed and fun. There is very little hierarchy medicine here. We get good exposure to all anesthesia subspecialties and really have no problems with numbers as the UCI case volume has really gone up over the years (in fact the program wants to add more anesthesia residents). We do very well in the job market in southern california and people that have come from out of state have gotten jobs back in their home state. I could go on with good things but I think this post is long enough already.
Bad things about our program:
If you are looking for a place that does liver, lung, cardiac transplants, you will not have exposure to these procedures during your time here. The only transplants we do are kidneys. That being said, there are actually very few places outside of major academic centers that do these procedures and even in those places they will require you to do some training before you join their transplant services. If your goal is to be extremely proficient at transplants by the time you come out of residency, UCI is not for you. But in reality, anesthesia is becoming more and more specialized as there are even organ-transplant fellowships appearing. Our Peds volume is weak at our main campus since it is not attached to a children’s hospital. However, we now rotate at both CHLA and CHOC and have no problems getting numbers. We also do not have much elective time during our CA3 year since our program is relatively small and they do need the residents to staff the Main OR.
In the end, ask yourself what is right for you. The ultimate goal of residency is to prepare you for your practice. Think about where you want to practice in the future and what you want to do. I have absolutely no regrets in coming to UCI and am very happy here. I feel that my training is more than adequate and I do not feel disadvantaged when applying to fellowship (if anything I got all the interviews I wanted). We rotate with residents from programs all over southern california at the outside hospitals and we don’t ever feel inferior. You will also make long lasting connections at this program and will not just be a number here. Hope all this information helps!
UCI Resident
- Joined
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- 1
Anyways
What you hear about Kain is true. Speculation aside Scott is a great chair. As a former attending what you hear is true and don't know why the residents say it's not. Maybe because they are ignorant of the truth , but then again they shouldn't even speculate that the truth is false. Sorry to offend said resident.
QUOTE="Anesthesia101, post: 17713471, member: 765869"]Hello!
I am a current resident at UCI Anesthesia and can give some updates about my program for incoming applicants this year. There have been a lot of things said on SDN about UCI Anesthesia that are exaggerated and some outright false. Most of the info you are getting from SDN is from one person’s opinion after they spent a day interviewing and some didn’t even interview or apply here. The purpose of this post, however, is not defend or explain administrative events that have happened at UCI in the past, but more to provide current information for applicants interested in applying to UCI Anesthesia.
Main Location: Orange, California.
Current Department Chair: Scott Engwall, MD
Current Program Director: Kyle Ahn, MD
Website: www.anesthesiology.uci.edu
Accreditation: Full 10-year ACGME accreditation until year 2021
Categorial or Advanced?: We have 10 Categorical Residency Spots + 1 Combined Pediatric/Anesthesia Spot. We have no advanced spots. There are no OR fellows at UCI to compete with you for cases in the OR. When there is an interesting case, residents are doing it. You should always inquire about places that have a lot of fellows because this often means that the fellows are doing the advanced cases while residents are watching/shadowing.
Hospitals and rotations throughout residency:
UCI Douglas Hospital (Orange, CA) - Main OR, Cardiac Anesthesia, Neuro Anesthesia, Regional/Acute Pain, OB Anesthesia, SICU, PSH; MICU/NICU (Optional); Medicine Wards, ER (Intern Year)
Children’s Hospital of Orange County (Orange, CA) - Pediatric Anesthesia
UC Irvine Pain Clinic (Irvine, CA) - Chronic Pain
Long Beach VA Hospital (Long Beach, CA) - SICU, MICU, Medicine Wards (Intern Year)
Long Beach Memorial Hospital (Long Beach, CA) - OB Anesthesia; Surgery and High Risk OB (Intern Year)
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA)- Pediatric Anesthesia
Kaiser Sunset (Los Angeles, CA) - Cardiac Anesthesia
The good: Although many people on SDN criticise the fact that we rotate at multiple hospitals, it actually is a good thing. It definitely does not mean you get worse training. There are many benefits to rotating at multiple hospitals. This includes making connections in the community since you get to work with many different attendings at multiple hospitals and see multiple different styles of anesthesia practice. This is highly beneficial when you are looking for fellowships and jobs. It also provides exposure to many different anesthesia systems and workflows that you would not have known about if you only train in one place.
The bad: Some of these rotations are far from home. Our department does provide an apartment to stay at for free while we are doing our LA rotations, but it can still be a pain being away from home. If you don’t like going to multiple hospitals, UCI may not be the right fit for you.
Didactics: We have a very special way didactics are done at UCI. Once every 4 weeks for each resident class, we are excused from clinical duties completely (No Clinical duties, No call day of didactics, No call the night before) to attend a full day of didactics also known as “4U”. Didactics include lectures, oral board review, simulation, ultrasound curriculum and guest speakers. There are good and bad things to doing didactics this way.
The good: There are no daily morning or afternoon lectures, which means you do not need to wake up an hour earlier to attend morning lectures or stay later to go to lectures. You also get to hang out as a class after every 4U session since no one is on call. This creates a natural time where your class can bond and really get to know each other as, in general, anesthesia is a pretty independent field. This is one reason why residents come out of UCI with long lasting friendships and not just resident acquaintances. Overall, the residents have very positive feedback about our didactic system as it provides a relaxing day to learn and hang out, and also it does not interfere with daily workflow in the ORs.
The bad: You must do independent studying throughout the month as you don’t have daily lectures to keep you on track. Retention rate of all the information presented at 4U may be variable as there is often a lot of information presented at one session. That being said, most residents do very well on the ITE every year.
Hours: We work on average 55-65hrs a week while on Main OR. 24 hour calls begin 1-2 months after you start CA-1 year. Call teams usually consist of 1 Senior, 1 Junior, 1 OB resident, and 1 Supervising attending. We take call about 1-2 times per week on average. UCI Anesthesia is very serious about duty hours. I have never violated the 80hr work week rule while on an anesthesia rotation. If you happen to stay late, you will always have the 10hr break rule in between shifts. All 24 hr call days are followed by a 24hr post call period. Overall, I would not call UCI a “cush” anesthesia program because there are plenty of programs that work less than us. We are somewhere in the middle in terms of hours worked.
Resident Incentives: Step 3(~900), Ipad, and CA Licensing (~$1000) paid for during Intern Year . Starting CA1 year, $500 a year of Ed Funds with $115 of Meal money per month. Extra Ed Funds if you score well (>50th percentile) on the ITE. $2000 of traveling expenses if presenting at a conference.
Unique Rotations:
1. France Cardiac Rotation in Lyon. Fully paid for by the department.
2. Opportunities for International trips while getting ABA Residency Credit.
3. Robust Ultrasound Curriculum integrated throughout our residency.
4. Perioperative Surgical Home.
5. Plenty of opportunities to do research.
Perioperative Surgical Home (PSH): If you have heard anything about PSH, you probably know that UCI Anesthesia has one of the few functioning PSHs. That being said, not everyone at UCI (or even at the ASA for the matter) believes in the PSH. We currently have a PSH rotation in every year beginning intern year. Some aspects of the rotation is ABA required stuff such as PACU, and Pre-op clinic. Other parts of the rotation include rounding on Surgical Home patients in the hospital and following up on their post-operative course. While at UCI, you will learn about what a PSH is and if you want to, you can get involved. What I like to compare PSH to is any other rotation throughout your anesthesia residency, such as OB or ICU. You may not use it throughout your career or like it, but it is part of your training at UCI. Frankly, many of our graduates get jobs because they have exposure to the PSH and it makes you marketable in the future because it makes you unique.
Where have our graduates gone in the past couple years for fellowship?
Please refer to this website: http://www.anesthesiology.uci.edu/education_residency_graduates.shtml
As seen from this list, we send residents to excellent Fellowship programs. For example, Duke and Texas Heart, are regarded as some of the best Cardiac Anesthesia Fellowships in the nation.
A short list of the many southern california private practice groups that hire from our graduate pool:
Good things about our program:
The people at our program are amazing. Our relationship with our attendings is very casual and there is no malignancy whatsoever. The resident classes are very cohesive and teamwork is emphasized due to the nature of our daily workflow. Our workplace environment is very relaxed and fun. There is very little hierarchy medicine here. We get good exposure to all anesthesia subspecialties and really have no problems with numbers as the UCI case volume has really gone up over the years (in fact the program wants to add more anesthesia residents). We do very well in the job market in southern california and people that have come from out of state have gotten jobs back in their home state. I could go on with good things but I think this post is long enough already.
Bad things about our program:
If you are looking for a place that does liver, lung, cardiac transplants, you will not have exposure to these procedures during your time here. The only transplants we do are kidneys. That being said, there are actually very few places outside of major academic centers that do these procedures and even in those places they will require you to do some training before you join their transplant services. If your goal is to be extremely proficient at transplants by the time you come out of residency, UCI is not for you. But in reality, anesthesia is becoming more and more specialized as there are even organ-transplant fellowships appearing. Our Peds volume is weak at our main campus since it is not attached to a children’s hospital. However, we now rotate at both CHLA and CHOC and have no problems getting numbers. We also do not have much elective time during our CA3 year since our program is relatively small and they do need the residents to staff the Main OR.
In the end, ask yourself what is right for you. The ultimate goal of residency is to prepare you for your practice. Think about where you want to practice in the future and what you want to do. I have absolutely no regrets in coming to UCI and am very happy here. I feel that my training is more than adequate and I do not feel disadvantaged when applying to fellowship (if anything I got all the interviews I wanted). We rotate with residents from programs all over southern california at the outside hospitals and we don’t ever feel inferior. You will also make long lasting connections at this program and will not just be a number here. Hope all this information helps!
UCI Resident[/QUOTE]
Anyways
What you hear about Kain is true. Speculation aside Scott is a great chair. As a former attending what you hear is true and don't know why the residents say it's not. Maybe because they are ignorant of the truth , but then again they shouldn't even speculate that the truth is false. Sorry to offend said resident.
QUOTE="Anesthesia101, post: 17713471, member: 765869"]Hello!
I am a current resident at UCI Anesthesia and can give some updates about my program for incoming applicants this year. There have been a lot of things said on SDN about UCI Anesthesia that are exaggerated and some outright false. Most of the info you are getting from SDN is from one person’s opinion after they spent a day interviewing and some didn’t even interview or apply here. The purpose of this post, however, is not defend or explain administrative events that have happened at UCI in the past, but more to provide current information for applicants interested in applying to UCI Anesthesia.
Main Location: Orange, California.
Current Department Chair: Scott Engwall, MD
Current Program Director: Kyle Ahn, MD
Website: www.anesthesiology.uci.edu
Accreditation: Full 10-year ACGME accreditation until year 2021
Categorial or Advanced?: We have 10 Categorical Residency Spots + 1 Combined Pediatric/Anesthesia Spot. We have no advanced spots. There are no OR fellows at UCI to compete with you for cases in the OR. When there is an interesting case, residents are doing it. You should always inquire about places that have a lot of fellows because this often means that the fellows are doing the advanced cases while residents are watching/shadowing.
Hospitals and rotations throughout residency:
UCI Douglas Hospital (Orange, CA) - Main OR, Cardiac Anesthesia, Neuro Anesthesia, Regional/Acute Pain, OB Anesthesia, SICU, PSH; MICU/NICU (Optional); Medicine Wards, ER (Intern Year)
Children’s Hospital of Orange County (Orange, CA) - Pediatric Anesthesia
UC Irvine Pain Clinic (Irvine, CA) - Chronic Pain
Long Beach VA Hospital (Long Beach, CA) - SICU, MICU, Medicine Wards (Intern Year)
Long Beach Memorial Hospital (Long Beach, CA) - OB Anesthesia; Surgery and High Risk OB (Intern Year)
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA)- Pediatric Anesthesia
Kaiser Sunset (Los Angeles, CA) - Cardiac Anesthesia
The good: Although many people on SDN criticise the fact that we rotate at multiple hospitals, it actually is a good thing. It definitely does not mean you get worse training. There are many benefits to rotating at multiple hospitals. This includes making connections in the community since you get to work with many different attendings at multiple hospitals and see multiple different styles of anesthesia practice. This is highly beneficial when you are looking for fellowships and jobs. It also provides exposure to many different anesthesia systems and workflows that you would not have known about if you only train in one place.
The bad: Some of these rotations are far from home. Our department does provide an apartment to stay at for free while we are doing our LA rotations, but it can still be a pain being away from home. If you don’t like going to multiple hospitals, UCI may not be the right fit for you.
Didactics: We have a very special way didactics are done at UCI. Once every 4 weeks for each resident class, we are excused from clinical duties completely (No Clinical duties, No call day of didactics, No call the night before) to attend a full day of didactics also known as “4U”. Didactics include lectures, oral board review, simulation, ultrasound curriculum and guest speakers. There are good and bad things to doing didactics this way.
The good: There are no daily morning or afternoon lectures, which means you do not need to wake up an hour earlier to attend morning lectures or stay later to go to lectures. You also get to hang out as a class after every 4U session since no one is on call. This creates a natural time where your class can bond and really get to know each other as, in general, anesthesia is a pretty independent field. This is one reason why residents come out of UCI with long lasting friendships and not just resident acquaintances. Overall, the residents have very positive feedback about our didactic system as it provides a relaxing day to learn and hang out, and also it does not interfere with daily workflow in the ORs.
The bad: You must do independent studying throughout the month as you don’t have daily lectures to keep you on track. Retention rate of all the information presented at 4U may be variable as there is often a lot of information presented at one session. That being said, most residents do very well on the ITE every year.
Hours: We work on average 55-65hrs a week while on Main OR. 24 hour calls begin 1-2 months after you start CA-1 year. Call teams usually consist of 1 Senior, 1 Junior, 1 OB resident, and 1 Supervising attending. We take call about 1-2 times per week on average. UCI Anesthesia is very serious about duty hours. I have never violated the 80hr work week rule while on an anesthesia rotation. If you happen to stay late, you will always have the 10hr break rule in between shifts. All 24 hr call days are followed by a 24hr post call period. Overall, I would not call UCI a “cush” anesthesia program because there are plenty of programs that work less than us. We are somewhere in the middle in terms of hours worked.
Resident Incentives: Step 3(~900), Ipad, and CA Licensing (~$1000) paid for during Intern Year . Starting CA1 year, $500 a year of Ed Funds with $115 of Meal money per month. Extra Ed Funds if you score well (>50th percentile) on the ITE. $2000 of traveling expenses if presenting at a conference.
Unique Rotations:
1. France Cardiac Rotation in Lyon. Fully paid for by the department.
2. Opportunities for International trips while getting ABA Residency Credit.
3. Robust Ultrasound Curriculum integrated throughout our residency.
4. Perioperative Surgical Home.
5. Plenty of opportunities to do research.
Perioperative Surgical Home (PSH): If you have heard anything about PSH, you probably know that UCI Anesthesia has one of the few functioning PSHs. That being said, not everyone at UCI (or even at the ASA for the matter) believes in the PSH. We currently have a PSH rotation in every year beginning intern year. Some aspects of the rotation is ABA required stuff such as PACU, and Pre-op clinic. Other parts of the rotation include rounding on Surgical Home patients in the hospital and following up on their post-operative course. While at UCI, you will learn about what a PSH is and if you want to, you can get involved. What I like to compare PSH to is any other rotation throughout your anesthesia residency, such as OB or ICU. You may not use it throughout your career or like it, but it is part of your training at UCI. Frankly, many of our graduates get jobs because they have exposure to the PSH and it makes you marketable in the future because it makes you unique.
Where have our graduates gone in the past couple years for fellowship?
Please refer to this website: http://www.anesthesiology.uci.edu/education_residency_graduates.shtml
As seen from this list, we send residents to excellent Fellowship programs. For example, Duke and Texas Heart, are regarded as some of the best Cardiac Anesthesia Fellowships in the nation.
A short list of the many southern california private practice groups that hire from our graduate pool:
- Hoag Hospital
- St. Jude Medical Center
- St. Joseph Medical Center
- Kaiser (Multiple locations throughout california)
- Long Beach Memorial (Saddleback Anesthesia Group)
Good things about our program:
The people at our program are amazing. Our relationship with our attendings is very casual and there is no malignancy whatsoever. The resident classes are very cohesive and teamwork is emphasized due to the nature of our daily workflow. Our workplace environment is very relaxed and fun. There is very little hierarchy medicine here. We get good exposure to all anesthesia subspecialties and really have no problems with numbers as the UCI case volume has really gone up over the years (in fact the program wants to add more anesthesia residents). We do very well in the job market in southern california and people that have come from out of state have gotten jobs back in their home state. I could go on with good things but I think this post is long enough already.
Bad things about our program:
If you are looking for a place that does liver, lung, cardiac transplants, you will not have exposure to these procedures during your time here. The only transplants we do are kidneys. That being said, there are actually very few places outside of major academic centers that do these procedures and even in those places they will require you to do some training before you join their transplant services. If your goal is to be extremely proficient at transplants by the time you come out of residency, UCI is not for you. But in reality, anesthesia is becoming more and more specialized as there are even organ-transplant fellowships appearing. Our Peds volume is weak at our main campus since it is not attached to a children’s hospital. However, we now rotate at both CHLA and CHOC and have no problems getting numbers. We also do not have much elective time during our CA3 year since our program is relatively small and they do need the residents to staff the Main OR.
In the end, ask yourself what is right for you. The ultimate goal of residency is to prepare you for your practice. Think about where you want to practice in the future and what you want to do. I have absolutely no regrets in coming to UCI and am very happy here. I feel that my training is more than adequate and I do not feel disadvantaged when applying to fellowship (if anything I got all the interviews I wanted). We rotate with residents from programs all over southern california at the outside hospitals and we don’t ever feel inferior. You will also make long lasting connections at this program and will not just be a number here. Hope all this information helps!
UCI Resident[/QUOTE]
Anyways
