The hospital is beautiful. It consists of different buildings, and you can walk outside to get to each of them, which means enjoying the beautiful southern California weather.
Service: 2 weeks of Spine, 2 weeks of Major Joint during summer 2005
Spine
The service is basically just 1 attending and 1 chief resident. There are only 2 OR days out of the week, and 3 clinic days. Clinic was useful, and I learned how to thoroughly assess spine problems. The main attending on this service was tough, would pimp on anything under the sun (in orthopedics and outside of orthopedics). The resident on this service was in his last year of residency, and was very helpful and knowledgeable.
Days typically start at 6-6:30 AM with conference. On surgery days, cases start around 7 AM, and goes typically until around 5 PM, with breaks in between. Clinic is located at a separate site, which required some driving. On clinic days, you could be done as early as 3:30 PM, but typically 5 PM. Weekends, I came in just one day to round on one patient, then was done. I was responsible to present one paper per week, and the resident was very helpful in teaching how to critically present a paper.
Pros: great resident, extra time to read, experience presenting research papers
Cons: tough attending, low case load
Major Joint
The service consisted of 2 attendings, 2 chief residents, 1 junior resident, and 1 intern. Weekly schedule: 2 OR days, 3 clinic days. OR days were great, got to scrub in and get right in there to be helpful with retraction, and even participate in the surgery itself. Best cases were the joint replacements. I did not particularly enjoy the cases with scopes, found it unexciting and difficult to appreciate. Clinic was useful, and learned how to perform a thorough knee and hip exam.
Days start 6ish, finish around 5 PMish. I got one full weekend off. Chief resident can be rather tough. Junior resident and intern were great to work with. Attendings were generally nice but can be rather stand offish. I was responsible for presenting one paper per week, which was educational.
Pros: great OR experience, experience presenting research papers
Cons: none really
I only took call a few times, which meant staying late at night in the Cast Room. No overnight call, because they wanted you to be present all day the next day.
People in this department were great, they wanted you to have a good amount of free time to see and enjoy San Diego, which I definitely did
Feel free to contact me with any questions about NMCSD and the Orthopedics Dept.