Review Summary

100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Times	0	0	0	14	5
Rating	1	2	3	4	5

Add your own Review!

PGY4 Overall Rating: 23-Aug- 2001 Teaching: Atmosphere: Research: Schedule For a junior the work day starts at 05:00, or less if you know all the patients. Rounds with the team are at 06:15. Conferences are at 07:00 2-3 times a week. No, Saturday conferences! Then it's to the OR for the good stuff. See consults as the Junior, round again on your ICU patients and the floor people, be ready to sign out around 16:00-17:00. Go home, unless you're on call. Teaching Grand rounds and M&M are the best conferences. Dr. Medich (CRS, Cleveland Clinic trained) runs the M&M and he really takes the teaching to a new level. There is a basic science conference every Wednesday AM that is hosted by a different attending lecturer. Evening conferences (16:00-17:00) are for the respective teams, vascular, oncology, breast, etc. and these give the Juniors and Interns a chance to present patient historys and films. This is a good oppurtunity for the lower levels to hone their skills before being thrust into M&M as a Senior. The specialty attendings also give good teaching and feedback during these more informal evening conferences. Atmosphere Your fellow cadre of residents are your best friends. Especially your respective graduating year and the year below you. Upper levels can be more business like, but overall they are good guys. The Seniors are always approachable about inter-residency problems and even problems outside the hospital. The overall residency is seen as a team concept and the other residents are always ready to switch call or cover a case for you. Attendings are friendly and approachable. They care about their patients and make an effort to round with the entire team and do teaching. The hospital is nice and some areas like the trauma ICU are very new. IV teams do all the blood draws and IV starts which will saves residents alot of grief. There is a new "million dollar" OR 22 for laparoscopic cases. The toys in that room are unbelievable. They have flat screen monitors for the case, digital cameras on overhead handles, and a 42" plasma screen. Life does go on outside of residency, but the weekends are the primary time you will get to kick back with your buds. The strip district is a good place to sip a few micro-brews with your friends. The new ball park has revolutionized the downtown nightlife. You can walk across the bridge to a cool martini bar after the game. Enjoy! Conclusion The primary stand out in this program is the operative experience. Let's face it, that is what we signed on for. Residents graduate as technically gifted surgeons who can handle any situation or "big" case with confidince and skill. We are exposed to a lot of Whipples, billiary surgery, hepatic resections, high level colon cases, and endocrine surgery. There are no fellows here, ie. no one to steal your case when you hit fourth and fifth year. Our high level laparoscopic experience is currently light, but that will change as they are recruiting a big wig laparoscopic attending. We have the new OR, and lots of USSC grant money as a draw for the new staff. Other than UPMC the other programs in town, Mercy, West Penn, etc. are a joke when they compare the level of difficulty and shear volume of cases done here. I am definitely glad I matched at AGH.

PGY3 Overall Rating: 23-Aug- 2001 Teaching: Atmosphere: Research: Schedule Typically I show up at around 5:30 to pre-round. We sign in as a team around 6:30. The OR's start at 7:30. Generally get home around 6:30, sometimes later and sometimes earlier depending on the rotation. Our Junior Resident call is only five or six times per month, so we wind up working around 100 hours per week. The program tries to get us as many days off as possible -- if you're not on-call on a weekend day, you don't have to come in. Since this is a private hospital, there really isn't any scutwork like drawing labs or transporting patients. Teaching We have a busy, but not overwhelming, conference schedule, with no conferences on Friday's or weekends. Atmosphere The resident's here all seem to get along well. The hospital has excellent facilities and is in a convenient location. The attendings are all here because they enjoy teaching, and we get along well with them. I currently have a life -- although nver as much time as I would like! Conclusion This program is an excellent blend of the variety and acuity of cases of a major tertiary care center in a private hospital. It really is the best of both worlds. We finish with as many, or more cases, as residents from university programs, we have medical students rotating here, and we have some faculty who are well known nationally in a variety of sub-specialties. As a non-university program we have a better call schedule, less scut work, and a more "laid-back" faculty. I did my internship at a major university program and came here for the rest of my training. I'll be as well, or better trained, clinically and have a much easier time of it. Our graduates go to good jobs or get the fellowships they want. They are community surgeons and on faculty at residency programs. For these reasons, I consider this as among the best surgery residencies in the country. I wouldn't go anywhere else.

PGY4 Overall Rating: 23-Aug- 2001 Teaching: Atmosphere: Research: Schedule Typically 100h/wk with 2-4 days off a month. Call is usually q4 or q5. As an intern its q3 or q4. Teaching Faculty are very approachable and are not malignant. Conferences are kept Monday through Friday and are your typical surgical conferences. Atmosphere This is not a malignant program at all. You're expected to work hard and be conscientious. The attendings are very supportive and appreciative of the residents in general. The work environment is good and the hospital does its part by taking care of the residents (I have eaten and parked for free every day of my residency so far) Conclusion The diversity and volume of cases sets this program apart from most. You will know how to operate at the end of a residency here. The one drawback is, there isn't much time to read, so you really have to be disciplined about a regular self study program. The formal didactic teaching rounds are sporadic as compared to a unversity program, but the intraoperative teaching makes up for that. Yes, I would come here again if I were to reapply.

PGY4 Overall Rating: 23-Aug- 2001 Teaching: Atmosphere: Research: Schedule My typical day usually has me at the hospital about 6 a.m., seeing all of my patients (approximately 10) by 7 a.m., and going to the operating room. I usually am involved in about 4 cases a day with supervision from an attending. I am on call in the hospital about once every 5 days. The workload is appropriate as I usually go out after work at least once a week. The ancillary staff is excellent minimizing scut work. We usually do not have to start our own I.V's, NG tubes, transport patients, etc. Teaching Each service has teaching rounds in some form. Our M&M conference is used as an oral boards review which is very helpful. We have weekly review lectures by our faculty for the written boards. Atmosphere I would say this program has some of the happiest residents in the country. We eat lunch daily with most of our attendings, and also have social events with them. I have made sure that I have a life outside the hospital, as I have many hobbies which need my attention besides medicine. Conclusion The best part of this program is the camaraderie. Although we work hard and take pride in working hard, we also know how to have fun. Many residents once finished go directly into practice, but we have also placed residents into almost every subspecialty fellowship available. The flexibility of this program is what originally attracted me, and I would apply here again if the situation arose. The only negative that has come up is that we do not have a minimally invasive director currently. Although we do all the current proceedures, we were previously spoiled by having a leader in the field on staff here. We are currently looking for his replacement.