University of Rochester - Rochester, NY
I am currently a resident at the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY, so I thought I would give some general info on our program as interviews are in full swing and it's always nice to have an overview of the program from a resident's perspective.
We have 4 and 6 year tracks available at our program. I am in the 4-year track, so I'll limit my post to that, as I'm not intimately familiar with the med school training that the 6-year residents receive. We have two 4-year spots, one 6-year spot, and a variable number of non-categorical intern spots (1-3, depends on the year). We have a recently renovated (within the last 6 months) clinic and resident room that provide a very spacious place to work in our outpatient clinic.
Our residents all get along great and frequently hang out together outside of work. It definitely is a "family" atmosphere where everybody looks out for each other.
We have 4 full-time faculty that staff most of our OR cases, as well as a number of part-time faculty from the community that bring cases to do with the residents. We also have an oculoplastic surgeon attending who takes facial trauma call with us; our chiefs have an opportunity to operate with him as well, which is a unique experience.
Year 1: 5 months with anesthesia (1 month is dedicated to peds anesthesia), 2 month internal medicine, 5 month OMFS
Year 2: 6 months general surgery (including ICU rotations, trauma surgery, etc.), 6 months OMFS
Year 3: 2 weeks research time, 2 weeks with oculoplastic surgery, 1 month with ENT/facial plastics, 10 months OMFS
Year 4: 12 months OMFS
Scope: full-scope OMFS
Dentoalveolar: We run a very busy outpatient clinic that routinely does 200+ IV sedation cases monthly. 1st years and interns are primarily responsible for seeing consults/followups, but also do in-office procedures under local/nitrous. 2nd years will do a mix of local/IV sedation and 3rd/4th years do mostly sedation cases.
Implants: Most of the implants are placed by the chief residents, with a mix of in-office procedures and OR procedures with more extensive bone grafting (ie: hip grafts, ramus grafts, sinus grafts, etc.). Unfortunately there is no dental school or VA to provide straightforward single-implant cases, but our chiefs will still do 50-100 implants each in their final year. As well, our 2nd year residents rotate through a clinic in Rochester General Hospital and will have an opportunity to place a solid number of implants while there. It is really up to the residents to identify as many implant cases as possible in our outpatient clinic, so the number of implants you place is largely determined by your willingness to identify and follow through with these cases.
Cosmetics: most of the cosmetic procedures within the OMFS department itself are mixed in with orthognathic or TMJ cases. We also rotate with a busy ENT/facial plastics service for a month in third year and get experience with a broad variety of cosmetic procedures
Orthognathics: 50-75 cases/year. Plenty of double-jaw cases, multi-piece LeForts, and distraction cases.
Head and Neck Path: benign and malignant pathology, MRONJ, osteomyelitis, neck dissections, everything from small resections to large ablative cases with local, regional, or free flaps for reconstruction. The reconstruction is done by OMFS with plastics for the free flaps, but OMFS is the primary service managing these cases.
Trauma: Strong Memorial Hospital is a level 1 trauma center where we cover facial trauma every 3rd week (other 2 weeks are plastics/ENT). There are no anatomical restrictions, we take whatever comes in. We also cover facial trauma at Rochester General Hospital approximately 2 out of every 3 weeks, but it is a smaller volume center and is a little less busy than Strong in regards to facial trauma call. Interns/1st years/2nd years take the primary call with an approximately q3 call schedule. Between both hospitals, you'll see plenty of everything: complex lacerations, mandibles, midface, nasal, orbital, frontal sinus, panfacial, etc.
TMJ: plenty of arthoscopies, arthroplasties, eminectomies, TJRs, etc. We also do some botox in the outpatient clinic
Overall
Strengths:
- Very balanced case load with a broad scope including malignant pathology
- Great IV sedation numbers
- Wonderful relationship between residents, as well as between residents/faculty
- Program is busy and provides good exposure to all types of procedures without being overwhelming
Weaknesses:
- No associated dental school or VA to provide straightforward implant cases
I am currently a resident at the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY, so I thought I would give some general info on our program as interviews are in full swing and it's always nice to have an overview of the program from a resident's perspective.
We have 4 and 6 year tracks available at our program. I am in the 4-year track, so I'll limit my post to that, as I'm not intimately familiar with the med school training that the 6-year residents receive. We have two 4-year spots, one 6-year spot, and a variable number of non-categorical intern spots (1-3, depends on the year). We have a recently renovated (within the last 6 months) clinic and resident room that provide a very spacious place to work in our outpatient clinic.
Our residents all get along great and frequently hang out together outside of work. It definitely is a "family" atmosphere where everybody looks out for each other.
We have 4 full-time faculty that staff most of our OR cases, as well as a number of part-time faculty from the community that bring cases to do with the residents. We also have an oculoplastic surgeon attending who takes facial trauma call with us; our chiefs have an opportunity to operate with him as well, which is a unique experience.
Year 1: 5 months with anesthesia (1 month is dedicated to peds anesthesia), 2 month internal medicine, 5 month OMFS
Year 2: 6 months general surgery (including ICU rotations, trauma surgery, etc.), 6 months OMFS
Year 3: 2 weeks research time, 2 weeks with oculoplastic surgery, 1 month with ENT/facial plastics, 10 months OMFS
Year 4: 12 months OMFS
Scope: full-scope OMFS
Dentoalveolar: We run a very busy outpatient clinic that routinely does 200+ IV sedation cases monthly. 1st years and interns are primarily responsible for seeing consults/followups, but also do in-office procedures under local/nitrous. 2nd years will do a mix of local/IV sedation and 3rd/4th years do mostly sedation cases.
Implants: Most of the implants are placed by the chief residents, with a mix of in-office procedures and OR procedures with more extensive bone grafting (ie: hip grafts, ramus grafts, sinus grafts, etc.). Unfortunately there is no dental school or VA to provide straightforward single-implant cases, but our chiefs will still do 50-100 implants each in their final year. As well, our 2nd year residents rotate through a clinic in Rochester General Hospital and will have an opportunity to place a solid number of implants while there. It is really up to the residents to identify as many implant cases as possible in our outpatient clinic, so the number of implants you place is largely determined by your willingness to identify and follow through with these cases.
Cosmetics: most of the cosmetic procedures within the OMFS department itself are mixed in with orthognathic or TMJ cases. We also rotate with a busy ENT/facial plastics service for a month in third year and get experience with a broad variety of cosmetic procedures
Orthognathics: 50-75 cases/year. Plenty of double-jaw cases, multi-piece LeForts, and distraction cases.
Head and Neck Path: benign and malignant pathology, MRONJ, osteomyelitis, neck dissections, everything from small resections to large ablative cases with local, regional, or free flaps for reconstruction. The reconstruction is done by OMFS with plastics for the free flaps, but OMFS is the primary service managing these cases.
Trauma: Strong Memorial Hospital is a level 1 trauma center where we cover facial trauma every 3rd week (other 2 weeks are plastics/ENT). There are no anatomical restrictions, we take whatever comes in. We also cover facial trauma at Rochester General Hospital approximately 2 out of every 3 weeks, but it is a smaller volume center and is a little less busy than Strong in regards to facial trauma call. Interns/1st years/2nd years take the primary call with an approximately q3 call schedule. Between both hospitals, you'll see plenty of everything: complex lacerations, mandibles, midface, nasal, orbital, frontal sinus, panfacial, etc.
TMJ: plenty of arthoscopies, arthroplasties, eminectomies, TJRs, etc. We also do some botox in the outpatient clinic
Overall
Strengths:
- Very balanced case load with a broad scope including malignant pathology
- Great IV sedation numbers
- Wonderful relationship between residents, as well as between residents/faculty
- Program is busy and provides good exposure to all types of procedures without being overwhelming
Weaknesses:
- No associated dental school or VA to provide straightforward implant cases
