Univ. Louisville General Surgery

[Johnny Cash]

Ok Everyone....need your input.


What did you think of Univ. Louisville's General Surgery program if you interviewed there this year.


I know it has a reputation as being very malignant, and a "tough" program. Nonetheless, I've heard residents coming out of this program really can handle just about anything thrown at them.

Dr. Hiram Polk has built a great program there from what I can see. Anyone a resident out there (or have a friend who is a resident out there) care to offer their input.


Johnny Cash
The Man In Black

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[droliver]

I trained there for surgery & loved it. Talking to people who recently finished training from all over @ my recent oral certifying exams, I felt like I had alot better background then most of them. There really wasn't anything I hadn't seen or done & this is definately not the case when you poll around the country.

 

[Astroman]

True, I was only there for one day. But, it just seemed like it wouldn't be much fun to train there. Sure, the finished product may be good, but at what expense? A LOT of residents finish from A LOT of programs that can handle just about anything thrown at 'em...

Though I have friends in Lexington that say Louisville is a great city. And a lot of U of L students stay there...

 

[shag]

I enjoyed my interview day there, though Dr. Polk gave an OMFS resident a really hard time during ICU rounds because he wasn't wearing a tie. "If you are going to come to my rounds, you wear a tie like everyone else!"...

I'm also interested in the program, and sometimes I think that Dr. Cheadle?s wife's cooking alone might be worth bumping their program a couple of spots to the top of my list.

My Louisville pro and con list:

Pros:
- Students on the interview trail want to stay
- Residents seemed sincere when they said that they were happy most of the time.
- 4 weeks of vacation, especially for those now pushing for a 60 hr work week 🙂
- Plenty of bread and butter cases
- Center for Advanced Surgical Technologies
- They match qualified females (i.e. they make a conscious effort to avoid gender discrimination)
- Now Hiring NP's to help with floor work, though they admit that they haven't found the best way to integrate them
- Limited blood draws and patient pushing
- Dr. Polk encourages you to get additional degrees (MBA, MPH, JD, Ph.D., etc.), several of which you can do and still graduate in 5 yrs
- "You can do one year of research; two if you are slow or stupid... Unless you want a Ph.D., which residents have obtained after 2 years in the lab"
- Did I mention food at the Cheadle?s'?
- Molly Burke-Poole's (coordinator) energy is contagious!

Cons:
- Dr. Polk is stepping down in the spring of '05... Though I have a feeling he will stir the pot for years to come 🙂
- Surgery is strong at UoL, but non-surgery services are relatively weak.
- Gyn rotation


Obviously, I have many more pros than cons in this abbreviated list so UoL appears to be a really good program to me.

 

[Astroman]

Guess what shag, I was there that same day, too (!)... And that was a new Plastics ATTENDING that Dr. Polk came down on during rounds (per my resident tour guide later)... not a resident. Makes you wonder....