New2Midwest said:
I just figured I would give my opinion re: this issue as I am a resident at Wash U. First off, I think it is crazy to rank programs as everyone knows that coastal programs (in general) get more press-yet not always for the best reasons (dude, there's a beach right near the hospital). The bottom line is go to a place where you feel you can thrive, where you can get along with your peers and what is good for you (and your family). I interviewed at all the big name places in the northeast (ny and boston)-I was top of my class and had 99 percentile on step I and II. So, I had my options but I chose wash u because of several reasons: friendly, intelligent, and driven housestaff (that motivate each other to get the most out of residency), world renowned medical, surgical and specialty residency and fellowship programs (there is not a weak link in this institution), huge surgical volume (every imaginable surgery is performed here), crazy sick patients (operating on patients with an EF of 10% with AS is not a rarity here but it sure does build skills and character), and a huge academic foundation for your learning. Great city for families but the single folks have fun too... I totally didn't think that I would end up in St. Louis but I am really glad I did. All replies/PM's are welcome-hope this helps...
I would totally agree with the above assesment. Personally, I am finishing my CA-1 year and have really enjoyed it. I think that the teaching and people here are great (and I came from a general surgery residency: I knew absolutely nothing about anesthesia on before I started and felt like I was brought up to speed relatively quickly). BTW, we just had our ACGME site visit this year and were recertified with 0 deficiencies.
We do have quite a few attendings from England, who come over and do a 1 year block with us here, but i have found most of them to be quite interested in teaching, they are never malignant, and found it useful to be taught from the perspective of somebody trained outside of the US system.
As a CA-1, I have averaged approximately 2 -3 times / month during my general OR rotations. Absolutely no call / weekends during the first 6 months. Call q4 during OB anesthesia, but you average approximately 45 - 50 hours / week during that rotation (the call person arrives at 1500 and works until 0700 the next morning). Call is q4 during the ICU months and can be very tough because of the acuity of the patients, but attendings are great and I felt that the rotation was very rewarding. The other rotations that I have done this year are: ambulatory surgery, where I averaged approximately 2 interscalene / axillary blocks per day and peds: no call as CA-1.
I would say that our programs personally compares very well to any other program out there. The only downside (if you could call it that) would be living in St. Louis. It simply cannot compare to New York, Boston, Chicago, LA, etc. in terms of nightlife and social activities, but there are definite advantages to it also. For me, there is definitely enough nightlife to satisfy me. Also, when i started here in Anesthesia, I traded my 750 sq. foot 1 BD/BA condo in chicago, for a 3000 sq. 3 BD / 2.5 BA home in a pretty nice area of st. louis.
The bottom line is that if you think that you are interested in WashU, I would definitely schedule a visit here. As you will find out on the interview trail, after a while, every single hospital starts looking the same and you begin to realize that you are going to be trained relatively well at any large academic program. Our chairman talked to us before this past year's match and told us that the match is really a "personality" match more than anything and that once invited to an interview we were simply looking for people that would fit in here.
