VCU Anesthesiology

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Doc2Dr

Doc2Dr

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Any info on VCU anesthesiology? I interviewed there recently and didn't get the impression their residents are very happy. Wanted to see if anyone had a different experience/opinion.
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I had the exact opposite opinion. About 15 of them showed up to the dinner. All very friendly and excited to be there. Good city, good work hours, faculty seemed very friendly.
 
As a current anesthesia resident at VCU, I apologize if you got the impression that the residents were unhappy while on your visit. Perhaps you may have been in the January 14th interview group and if so, for many different reasons our turn out at dinner wasnt as great as for the others. However, like the previous poster mentioned, we had very good attendance at most of the dinners (I personally went to 8 of the 10) which attests to the fact that our residents have the time to attend, care about the program, and care about attracting strong applicants to the program. We have a very strong clinical experience, amiable attendings, tolerable surgeons, and our didactics are not overkill. Richmond is a wonderful city with many things to do for fun. Our hours and benefits are also a very nice perk. I am extremely happy to be an anesthesia resident at VCU and would be happy to answer any questions you have. I consider this program to be a pretty well kept secret in this region of the country.
 
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Thanks for your feedback. It wasn't that any of the residents had something bad to say, but I also didn't hear those superlatives you get used to hearing on the interview trail. I liked Richmond and thought the program had good things to offer. Just wanted to make sure there wasn't something I was missing.
 
Does VCU have a minimum step 1 score that is used to screen potential applicants?
 
anesdv said:
As a current anesthesia resident at VCU, I apologize if you got the impression that the residents were unhappy while on your visit. Perhaps you may have been in the January 14th interview group and if so, for many different reasons our turn out at dinner wasnt as great as for the others. However, like the previous poster mentioned, we had very good attendance at most of the dinners (I personally went to 8 of the 10) which attests to the fact that our residents have the time to attend, care about the program, and care about attracting strong applicants to the program. We have a very strong clinical experience, amiable attendings, tolerable surgeons, and our didactics are not overkill. Richmond is a wonderful city with many things to do for fun. Our hours and benefits are also a very nice perk. I am extremely happy to be an anesthesia resident at VCU and would be happy to answer any questions you have. I consider this program to be a pretty well kept secret in this region of the country.
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My experience at VCU was great. Big turnout at the dinner and lunch the next day. I also considered it to be a hidden gem type program. The residents were extremely happy and they had an awesome balance of hours +moonlighting. I saw both spectrums where one resident did practically no moonlighting and was out everyday at 3-4, and others that did tons of ICU work and made killer money. I dont remember the details of their "getting paid extra past 5" moonlighting system but I remember it was so good that residents were discouraged from talking about it out loud because they were worried about upsetting the surgical residents that were paid nothing extra for staying past 5. Shapiro seemed like a cool PD and Butterworth is a big name that Im sure can help out with fellowships. Richmond is also a very neat and extremely affordable city. Close to DC and close to the beautiful chartlottesville wine region, the location is great. I would be extremely happy to match there.
 
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The chairman, Dr. Butterworth, is an awesome guy, well known among PDs and chairmen. LOR from him was probably the reason I got a solid CT fellowship spot.
 
Wouldn't send my worst enemy to the VCU anesthesiology residency program. Avoid at all costs unless you are a CRNA. The CRNAs run the entire program.
 
this place sounds like a dumpster fire unless Greg2011 is just trolling it. He seems like a current or recent grad from there? Any other recent VCU grads out there able to corroborate?
 
I'm happy to talk about VCU anesthesia if anyone wants to PM me. Didn't end up ranking it super high, but happy to discuss. Looks like some posts got deleted.
 
This is out of VCU and featured on their home page for their CRNA program.

nafa-va.org

NAFA - Nurse Anesthesiology Faculty Associates | VCU

Nurse Anesthesia Faculty Associates (NAFA) provides high quality CRNA conferences and continuing education opportunities for anesthesia providers.
nafa-va.org nafa-va.org

Click on the link and you’ll see it’s been renamed Nurse ANESTHESIOLOGY Faculty Associates. Disgusting that VCU allows this.
 
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GaseousClay said:
this place sounds like a dumpster fire unless Greg2011 is just trolling it. He seems like a current or recent grad from there? Any other recent VCU grads out there able to corroborate?
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Former resident. Just being honest. Don't believe if you don't want to! Good luck.
 
Greg2011 said:
Former resident. Just being honest. Don't believe if you don't want to! Good luck.
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The NAFA stuff is well documented. That makes me more mad at the administration than anything.

But you come in here, create an account all of yesterday and resurrect years-old posts about VCU just to trash them. Whats your play there? i had a mixed bag with my own residency but your current and future success honestly are in some ways tied to its standing as a program.

Having a really strong, nationally-ranked CRNA program isn’t ideal but it isn’t the end-all - see Baylor in Houston.

I personally have had good experiences with Their recent residency grads and feel like they churn out a strong product. It certainly isn’t as strong as UVA but isn’t exactly a slouch,either.
 
Greg2011 said:
Wouldn't send my worst enemy to the VCU anesthesiology residency program. Avoid at all costs unless you are a CRNA. The CRNAs run the entire program.
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You could have said something before rank lists were due!! :cryi:
 
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Greg2011 said:
Wouldn't send my worst enemy to the VCU anesthesiology residency program. Avoid at all costs unless you are a CRNA. The CRNAs run the entire program.
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Sheesh man... why the unprovoked attacks on VCU? Someone hurt you?
 
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Ugh as if I didn't have enough doubts about my rank list after submitting

VCU definitely had its downsides, chief among them being Butterworth leaving and increasing work hours, but I still felt like it was one of the stronger programs out there and the residents were a great group of people. I got the impression no one was bothered by the SRNAs and they mostly got cases no one else wanted. Really didn't get a bad vibe in that sense at all.
 
AdmiralChz said:
This is out of VCU and featured on their home page for their CRNA program.

nafa-va.org

NAFA - Nurse Anesthesiology Faculty Associates | VCU

Nurse Anesthesia Faculty Associates (NAFA) provides high quality CRNA conferences and continuing education opportunities for anesthesia providers.
nafa-va.org nafa-va.org

Click on the link and you’ll see it’s been renamed Nurse ANESTHESIOLOGY Faculty Associates. Disgusting that VCU allows this.
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this is truly unsettling though
 
If you are considering VCU you really should look at UVA. Although you definitely work hard as a resident and call is full of cases like liver transplants, hearts, sick kids there were no SRNAs when i was there and the residents are given the most interesting cases, all the blocks, etc. I definitely got my ass handed to me on several nightfloat call weeks but i learned a **** ton from faculty and it has prepared me well for private practice.
 
zero0 said:
Ugh as if I didn't have enough doubts about my rank list after submitting

VCU definitely had its downsides, chief among them being Butterworth leaving and increasing work hours, but I still felt like it was one of the stronger programs out there and the residents were a great group of people. I got the impression no one was bothered by the SRNAs and they mostly got cases no one else wanted. Really didn't get a bad vibe in that sense at all.
Click to expand...

Where's Butterworth going? Retiring or going to another institution?
 
AdmiralChz said:
This is out of VCU and featured on their home page for their CRNA program.

nafa-va.org

NAFA - Nurse Anesthesiology Faculty Associates | VCU

Nurse Anesthesia Faculty Associates (NAFA) provides high quality CRNA conferences and continuing education opportunities for anesthesia providers.
nafa-va.org nafa-va.org

Click on the link and you’ll see it’s been renamed Nurse ANESTHESIOLOGY Faculty Associates. Disgusting that VCU allows this.
Click to expand...
and what kind of name is that? faculty associates? do they just try to put whatever sounds like a doctor into the name?
 
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gaspasser786 said:
Where's Butterworth going? Retiring or going to another institution?
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No idea but I remember during the interview I straight up asked him if I should be expecting any changes in leadership and he said he had "no plans on leaving anytime soon". Unless him leaving was completely unexpected by him and everyone else, it kinda left a bad taste in my mouth
 
nimbus said:
What’s unsettling about it? It’s CE for CRNAs by CRNAs.
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The VCU CRNAs are rumored to be more militant and insufferable than average because of the prestige of the program. Although I didn't witness any of this personally, it's a little concerning.
gaspasser786 said:
Where's Butterworth going? Retiring or going to another institution?
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Retiring at the end of the academic year. Well-deserved but a definite loss to the department
 
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