West Coast Anesthesiology

[Offshore]

Hi Everyone. I was wondering how people felt about the anesthesiology programs on the West Coast. It was my impression that the truly outstanding programs in terms of caseload, academics, research, faculty, and overall reputation would be limited to a relatively short list. Schools such as UCSF, Stanford, UCSD, and Univ of Washington would be in this category. My advisor and many other residency directors I spoke with have stated that traditionally UCSF has been the pre-eminent location for anesthesia training in the West, if not the entire U.S. Personally, I was very impressed with the caliber of their program. It seemed head and shoulders above the rest. Thanks for any input. I'm also curious how those of you who interviewed at both UCSF and other top programs in the East felt compare them. I did not attend those interviews.

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[gassman]

Hi. I interviewed at, among others, UCSF, MGH, Brigham, Hopkins. UCSF -- Truly outstanding program. Maybe a little weak in regional, but they are upfront about it. One drawback is that the residents cover so many hospitals that their call can be brutal-- moreso than if you are covering one main hospital. Of the other programs I went to, I liked MGH a lot also. Regional no longer a glaring weakness there, and the place is absolutely filthy with brilliant people. I never got the maignant vibe that everyone always associates with MGH; the residents seemed happy. Great case load; better, I thought, than B&W or Hopkins (currently a little week in thoracic #s). I feel that both programs suffer a little from having minimal CRNA involvement-- you get to do EVERY buttpuss/I&D and EVERY MAC case/eyeball case. But still-- both are terrific programs. Additionally, UCSF's program director is a great human being.

p.s.-- I heard from several students at UW that it aint nearly what it used to be. I have no personal knowledge of this, however.

 

[navs]

As far as eminence goes and trying to stay on the west coast for private practice after residency then I'm sure u can't go wrong with any of those programs u mentioned, and obviously USCF is the best of those and probably out of the whole country!!

Good luck.

 

[Sandpaper]

While I don't think Mayo in Rochester Minnesota is West Coast, there were quite a few West Coast folks there during my interview day. It's funny to read the postings about anesthesia on this forum and never hear Mayo mentioned. In my opinion, next to Mount Sinai, it is perhaps the cushiest place, hands down. Great case loads, very benign call schedules, the ORs are phenomenon, great chairman and program director, and you work with the best in the world. Sure Rochester sucks, but damn, they let you go down to Jacksonville and Scottsdale 18 months out of the 36 and set you up while you're in those places. The network is unbelievable also. The program director put up a map of the US and the only state where they don't have an alumni is South Carolina. It was probably the best program I visited.

 

[Blocks rock]

Did anyone interview at Virginia Mason? What are your impressions about the program? I'd really like to live in the West and it seems like they have a great mix of regional and general cases, despite what many state about it only having good regional.

 

[John90210]

I am not a resident at Stanford. They have many great residencies, but anesthesia is not one of them. Besides political turmoil between staff at their two main hospitals, they also have a weak case load (compared to other top programs) and use their residents mainly as a labor force. Regional is lacking, (again, compared to top programs) complicated OB is weak, and peds experience is deminished by low volume and fellows taking cases. The program has the benefit of being in a great location and being a great institution, etc. Training is not up to par with UCSF, or UCLA, for example. Besides UCSF,UCLA most other California programs are a bit on the weak side and provide poor peds/ob/regional in general, compared to other not so well known programs in the country, such as WashU in St. Louis, or MCOW, U Alabahma. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Sevo]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Offshore:
•Hi Everyone. I was wondering how people felt about the anesthesiology programs on the West Coast.•••••UCSF is considered the best West Coast program with UCLA running second, purely on reputation.

I didn't interview out west at all, but I've also heard that the Oregon program isn't all that bad. The U of W program is considered to be fairly malignant and the UCSD program a lot weaker now than in the past.