I am a current resident at Wake, I will give you my thoughts... let me start by overall telling you that I am very happy with my decision and really have enjoyed my time here so far. Great program.
Pros: Very established program, good off-service rotations on which we are well respected and in general appreciated. Off sevice learning is beneficial, with a pretty minimal amount of scut (except OB, but paper type scut is better then cervical scut any day). Trauma all three years off service- intern year help run the trauma codes, 2nd year run the unit, 3rd year help in trauma codes / consults in ED (i.e. no floor responsibility 😀). Lots of ED time. While in ED there is no clear delineation of resident responsibility by year, with the exception of trauma codes being seen mainly by the HOII. So, you get lots of sick patients early and often. Very high acuity facility, lots of trauma, 90% or more blunt. Tons of lines / tubes (but I guess that is probably everywhere). Attendings are incredibly friendly and the vast majority are excellent teachers and clinicians. IMO residents are all very easy to get along with and there are very few people who don't genuinely enjoy each other's company. Good Peds ED experience integrated throughout your residency with some very good attendings that are Peds EM fellowship trained. Great cost of living in Winston.
Cons: Intern year floor medicine and peds. Kinda a drag and note incredibly high yield. However, medicine is on night float system (no call), and you spend 2 wks being night float, during which you may get some tubes / lines and a few really sick pts. I hear strong indications that the Peds floor month will be gone next year, replaced by another Peds EM month. This would be great, as Peds is not that painful (call Q Friday) but neither is it that high yield. High volume / rapid turnover can at time make things a little hectic. We rarely have admitted pt's waiting more then 1 - 2 hours for a bed upstairs, so we turn over really fast. It is great preparation for when you get out in the professional world, as I am sure our pt per hour numbers are well above the national average. As you can imagine though, when you are an HOII with a bunch of sick pts that cycle in and out quickly, it can get tough. 3rd year MICU month is supposed to be pretty miserable, but very high yield.
Love it or hate it: 8 hour shifts- I love it but some people may prefer more days off. I love seeing my fam every day whether I work or not. Winston Salem- smaller city with a slow nightlife. Probably not the most happening place for a single person, but great for families, the majority of people with spouses / kids really love it and consider very strongly staying after residency.
