Osteopathic Anesthesiology Residency Programs Review

[bigyihoroi]

When I was setting up my audition last year for DO anesthesia, I wish there was a forum that specifically focused on reviews of individual DO anesthesia residency program. Now that I have successfully matched, I would like to create a thread to help out my future DO fellows. There is a total of 13 AOA-approved anesthesiology residencies with 33 spots available to fill. The following are reviews include 5 of the 13 anesthesia sites based on my personal experience as well as information that I gathered from residents in their respective programs:

Riverside County Regional Medical Center, CA

Residents: 5 per year but one spot reserved for its own anesthesia research fellow, so realistically the program takes 4 residents per year

Hospital size: medium size with 493 beds

Volume: high volume with lots of trauma

Attending: total of 6 faculties involved actively in teaching

Cafeteria: food is crappy

Didactics: 30 min of lecture each morning presented by residents; attending occasionally sit in for lectures; simulation training once per month

Pros: Located in sunny SoCal; level 2 trauma center and will likely become level 1 soon; one of the busiest county hospital in the area; lots of ASA 3 and 4 patients; residents are trained to meet ACGME standard; faculties and residents are actively involved in clinical anesthesia research; high degree of autonomy in anesthesia as early as PGY-1; excellent out-rotations for peds at CHLA and cardio at Cedar; excellent fellowship placement in the past (e.g. cardio – USC; cardio – Loma Linda; Critical care – John Hopkins; Pain – Greater Lansing; etc…); will most likely become dually accredited in a year or two

Cons: Minimal teaching by attending; lack of reading time for residents; one of the lowest board pass rate nationwide published by the AOCA but may be inaccurate per PD; calls can be brutal for CA-1 (e.g. 2 consecutive call nights); RCRMC will become one of the major training sites for UC Riverside School of Medicine and thus residency program will likely become dually accredited and DO may have to compete with MD for residency spots.

Rotation: Even though you may not match into this site, Riverside provides excellent training for any rotating students who eventually want to go into anesthesia residency. Students will be actively involved in the pre-op, intra-op, and post-op care of patients. For gunners, show up as early as 6am to set up anesthesia cart in your designated OR and volunteer to take calls on weekend with PD. Interview will be granted as a courtesy if you rotate with them.


Detroit Medical Center/Sinai-Grace Hospital, MI

Residents: 4 per year

Hospital size: medium size with 400 beds and level 2 trauma center

Volume: medium to high volume with lots of sick patients

Attending: 3-4 anesthesiologists on staff but varied when rotating at other DMC sites

Didactic: Will attend lectures with Wayne State Anesthesia residents

Cafeteria: food is crappy

Pros: lots of ASA 3 and 4 patients; very laid back schedule for residents at Sinai-Grace but not necessarily the same when they rotate at other DMC divisions; residents get plenty of time to read and thus their board scores tend to be higher compared to other programs nationwide; cardiac anesthesia in the house; great variety of pathologies; may have a critical care fellowship and possible pediatric fellowship for osteopathic residents in 1-2 years according to PD; residents may get ASA 6 patients, which are rarely seen at other osteopathic training sites

Cons: Located in a ghetto and dangerous neighborhood of Detroit. Attending and residents always warned us to avoid leaving the hospital past 5pm.

Rotation: Do not bother to rotate at this residency program if you have sub-par score on COMLEX level 1! PD will not grant courtesy interview for those who rotate there. Audition is not required to secure an interview here at DMC. However, if you decide to rotate here, just make sure you introduce yourself to Dr. Glass and express interest to apply his residency program but you will unlikely be working directly with him.


McLaren-Greater Lansing (formerly Ingham Regional Medical Center), MI

Residents: 4 per year

Hospital size: small/medium size with 365 beds

Volume: medium to high but no trauma

Attending: total of 6-7 faculties

Didactic: mostly conducted by residents for 30 minutes in the morning; attending rarely involved in teaching; PD provides mock exams for oral anesthesia board once per month

Cafeteria: food is crappy

Pros: High degree of autonomy for senior residents; affiliated with pain management fellowship that will ALWAYS give priorities to their own residents; has a separate hospital for orthopedic cases; residents take home call so they don’t need to be in hospital overnight as long as they stay within 20 min driving

Cons: My first impression of Greater Lansing is that the city seems to be abandoned; no trauma; residents often complained of working long hours from 7am to 7pm; lack of reading time

Rotation: If you are truly interested in anesthesiology but obtained a sub-par or mediocre score in COMLEX level 1, you want to secure an audition early at this program. PD will consider all applicants as long as you pass your board with first attempt (one resident had a COMLEX level 1 score of <410 matched here). However, you must pass all COMLEX 1, 2CE, and 2PE with first attempt prior to submission of rank list. Passing all your boards is particularly important for PD because he accepted students in the past who failed COMLEX 2 multiple times and eventually failed to graduate, which caused him to lose funding permanently for his spots. If you choose to rotate here, try to secure a spot to rotate with PD at his pain management clinic for 2 weeks since you will be directly working with him. Otherwise, rotate at the hospital but make sure you introduce yourself to PD and express interest to his program. Make sure PD likes you if you want to match here.


Heart of Lancaster Regional Medical Center, PA

Residents: varied from 1-2 per year

Hospital size: small size with 144 beds

Volume: low to medium with no trauma

Attending: total of 4 anesthesiologists on staff

Didactic: None but residents joined grand rounds once a week with Penn State Residents at Hershey

Cafeteria: food is pretty good and PD said most likely because it’s a for-profit, private hospital, gotta make your customers happy

Pros: Great attending with great knowledge; some of the friendliest anesthesiologists I have ever met and easy to get along with; residents are not overworked; excellent training site if you like rural setting; Friday is usually a short day with low volume of cases; hospital is beautiful and situated in a very safe and quiet neighborhood

Cons: Small hospital with only 4 ORs; 3 ORs usually run by Nurse Anesthetists and anesthesia residents usually alternate between cases in one OR; mostly orthopedic cases, general surgery, and OB/GYN in the house; out rotation at Good Samartian Hospital but PD said they lost that site a while ago; weak out rotation for trauma and Neuro at Hershey because residents complained that most good cases are reserved for their own Penn state residents

Rotation: Interview will be granted to rotating students as a courtesy. However, rotation is not required to secure an interview here. You won’t be doing much if you tag along with residents, but you will get to do a lot of intubations if you work with nurse anesthetist. Housing is free and provided to students. Make sure the chief nurse anesthetist and PD like you if you want to match here.


McLaren-Oakland (formerly known as Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital), MI

Residents: 2 per year

Hospital Size: small/medium size with 308 beds

Volume: low to medium and level 2 trauma center

Attending: Total of 4 anesthesiologists on staff

Didactic: None by attending but 30 minute small group discussion in the morning daily organized by residents themselves. Either rotating students or residents will present a chapter from an anesthesia textbook.

Cafeteria: Chicken wings are awesome. Food is pretty good overall.

Pros: Level 2 trauma center; Dr. Stoyanovich and Dr. Owen were excellent anesthesiologists and recently added to the team; formerly affiliated with a pain management fellowship by Dr. Khan but temporarily closed since 2012; out rotation for peds at Children’s Hospital of Michigan and cardiac at Flint; high degree of autonomy; former residents landed a job at Kaiser in SoCal and Las Vegas in Nevada

Cons: Only 2 months of OB anesthesia in CA-3 at DMC compared to OB anesthesia throughout CA-1 to CA-3 at other residency programs; McLaren plans to shut down this hospital and move all the staff to a new health care facility since the city of Pontiac is dying

Rotation: Rotating here does not necessarily guarantee you an interview, but you are unlikely to receive any interview if you choose not to rotate here. Students were given orientation packets that covered all the material you will need for other audition rotations in anesthesia.


Feel free to contribute more reviews for other residency programs. If anyone would like to write a different review for one of the above residency programs, feel free to do so.

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[rc4ch]

Which programs did you personally like?

 

[bigyihoroi]

Probably Riverside the most

 

[FutureDO2016]

Can anyone comment on the following programs:

NSUCOM/Larkin Community Hospital - Anesthesiology Residency
Anesthesiology
South Miami FL


Des Peres Hospital - Anesthesiology Residency
Anesthesiology
Saint Louis MO


126123
OUCOM/Doctors Hospital - Anesthesiology Residency
Anesthesiology
Columbus
OH

126144
OUCOM/Grandview Hosp & Med Ctr - Anesthesiology Residency
Anesthesiology
Dayton
OH

126188
South Pointe Hosp - Anesthesiology Residency
Anesthesiology
Warrensville Heights
OH

130298
Oklahoma State University Medical Center - Anesthesiology Residency
Anesthesiology
Tulsa
OK

129291
PCOM/Heart of Lancaster Regional Med Center - Anesthesiology Residency
Anesthesiology
Lititz
PA

 

[DOaz]

Thanks for the review, would love to hear about the others as well.

 

[PeepsLove]

I am a Ca1 now but from memory I'll try and help.
Tulsa: had in the house OB and cardiothoracic cases lots of general minimal ortho cases so chance for blocks are slim, they can do acute regional pain month to help with their blocks. They go out of house to Oklahoma City for peds. They have an outpatient clinic where they do a lot of pediatric ENT cases and Few orthopedic cases. They are attending's are excellent program director is awesome. they actively recruit the residents through a variety of cases OB & cardiothoracic they don't have to be on that rotation to do heart or OB. Lectures are every day they seem to be very well-organized board exam room exam or the exam practical experience plus Oral board experience as well. Rotation is key they generally like to interview people that rotate they have generally two positions per year. Traditional rotating call. They also appear to have a pain management Fellowship Association although I'm not sure if it's still active

Largo: Benefit of this program is its location right next to the beach. The program director makes entirely all the decisions. It is a must to rotate at that facility if you want a chance to be considered. From my recollection they do not do interviews they use the rotation as your interview. They worked hand-in-hand with CRNAs they do in-house cardiothoracic cases they also do a lot of spine cases they tend to get out earlier from what I can remember. they do it out of house obstetrics. There are two hospitals within a close proximity of each other where they work one tends to have a lot more cases than the other the hospital Largo has an excellent cafeteria with a former restaurant owning chef cook the meals. From my perspective this program didn't have the majority or the number of cases as a lot of the other programs too.

Des Peres: Lots of orthopedic cases general cases cardiothoracic cases in the hospital as well as bariatric cases. They have good lectures that were conducted by the residents. They work hand-in-hand with nurse anesthetist. The rotation schedule they let a nurse go first and then a resident then another nurse then resident which seems fair. They can take ICU call to moonlight. They take two residents per year they will interview everybody that rotates I am not sure if they interview people that do not rotate. The cafeteria is great the residents get an unlimited food fund so they can purchase whatever item they feel like. The hospital is located in a great area of St. Louis. No in-house obstetrics and they frequently go to St. Louis University and work with the anesthesia residents there. For the most part the attending's were excellent to work with provided great one-on-one teaching during cases as well as allowing sufficient autonomy. Very easy internship.

Dayton: Very well organized residency program they have two hospitals that they work at Grandview and Southview. Southview is there obstetric hospital where they do obstetrics and OB/GYN surgeries. Grandvue they do a lot of general cases ENT cases when I was rotating there they had neurology cases as well as cardiothoracic cases. They have nurse anesthetist that work there as well often times they are the ones managing the board and making the schedule which can be complicated. They have a traditional rotating call. Didactics were minimal and in my opinion non effective. They do require a nice complex board score for interviews. They do pediatrics in Dayton and they have the ability if desired to go to Columbus Ohio to do trauma and SICU. The area immediately adjacent to Grandview Hospital is very dangerous lots of break-ins shooting stabbings. The cafeteria isn't the greatest quality but they have a physicians lounge with good food that they serve breakfast and lunch with great amenities that is a very nice perk. You do not need to rotate through this program but I would recommend it if you are considering this as a potential residency for you.

Doctors: I am currently a resident at this facility so I am obviously the most familiar with it. The program director changed last year and since then the program has gotten better and better. We offer in-hospital cardiothoracic cases and every month there is a resident on that service. We also do in-house obstetrics as well as in-house regional month which is great because we do a lot of orthopedic cases. On the regional month you will do a significant amount of blocks including interscalene, supra-clav, infra-clav, femoral, popliteal, ax, TAP, epidural/spinal. This is a very heavy orthopedic hospital lots of general as well Fair amount ENT surgery and a good amount of OB/GYN surgery. Didactics are two times per week the program director is almost always present for didactics if not another attending his present. The didactics are coordinated by both the resident and the program director each will present different topics. Medical students are advised to rotate out the program although we will interview and Accept students who do not rotate including our current intern who did not rotate through this hospital. The cafeteria is not great. We take two residents per year. We also rotate through a large level one trauma center in Columbus there we will do SICU we will do Trauma anesthesia but also do general anesthesia and neuro anesthesia. Lts of penetrating trauma. That hospital is a teaching facility for SRNAs and frequently they get the better rooms over the resident. We also do pediatrics at a large children's hospital here in Columbus with OSU residents. The hospital is currently being remodeled several medical floors have already been remodeled. The operating rooms are scheduled to be remodeled starting now and finishing a 2015. This will decrease the amount of operating rooms available meaning that we will probably be staying later than we typically do. Normal working day is 12 to 15 hours 5 days a week. Depending on your room you may do 10 cases a day. There are no nurse anesthetist at doctors hospital therefore the residents get out after all the attending's and then once rooms close residents are allowed to go home. We do not take night call as of now. Our call right now consists of one weekend a month. Intern year is very labor-intensive but I have heard of worsening turn years. If you have low board scores but are a hard worker and program director likes you, you have a good chance of matching at this residency. The program director is currently working to get us availability to do neurology cases at another facility in Columbus as well as the ability to do cardiothoracic at another facility as well.

Please ignore typos, I dictated this on my iPad

 

[PeepsLove]

Tulsa was my #1.

 

[se20001984]

can we sticky these?
i remeber their was an ortho one
really well done

 

[rc4ch]

I'll add my two cents to some of these:


Des Peres:

You absolutely need an audition rotation to even be considered for an interview. Not sure if everyone who auditions gets an interview. A 2 week rotation is suffice. Des Peres has one interview day were they interview everyone in all their programs. You get interviewed by the anesthesia faculty in a 10 people=you setting. This occurs in first Saturday of November. So if you fly here for an audition, expect to come back for the interview. Although if your audition rotation is after this date, they will interview you at the end of the rotation. Just keep reminding the PD about it.

Location: Located in Des Peres outside of St. Louis, this area is extremely nice. Probably a little upscale and very safe. Lots of shops everywhere. I was impressed. I'm from the South Jersey area and if you've been to Cherry Hill, NJ, Des Peres is a nicer version of that.

Other: The residents mentioned that they only do 3 months of OB. No OB call at all at the main hospital. This might be a good thing if you hate OB, but I feel like you need a lot more OB experience especially if you plan to work in a community setting.

 

[PeepsLove]

3.6 science GPA plus an MCAT of 30 or greater to get into allopathic school where scores for osteopath at school are lower. Then four years of medical school with good board scores and great grades USMLE score of 230 or greater if you take the comlex then >600. Try as hard as you can to go traditional allopathic. Simply put, better training. Anesthesia is 4 year residency.

 

[bigyihoroi]

3.6 science GPA plus an MCAT of 30 or greater to get into allopathic school where scores for osteopath at school are lower. Then four years of medical school with good board scores and great grades USMLE score of 230 or greater if you take the comlex then >600. Try as hard as you can to go traditional allopathic. Simply put, better training. Anesthesia is 4 year residency.

Since you encouraged traditional allopathic, did you rank in AOA simply for location purpose?

 

[PeepsLove]

I wasn't nearly competitive enough for allopathic residencies which is why I opted for osteopathic residencies. Don't get me wrong osteopathic residencies will provide you great training to be an excellent anesthesiologist. The difference is in the higher and more specialized areas. Certain osteopathic programs don't get enough numbers like awake craniotomies, pneumonectomies, or transplant.

 

[rc4ch]

I wasn't nearly competitive enough for allopathic residencies which is why I opted for osteopathic residencies. Don't get me wrong osteopathic residencies will provide you great training to be an excellent anesthesiologist. The difference is in the higher and more specialized areas. Certain osteopathic programs don't get enough numbers like awake craniotomies, pneumonectomies, or transplant.

I agree with this completely. You have to be realistic with yourself, your chances, and where you have a chance of ending up.

 

[Apoplexy__]

Great thread. Thank you OP and everyone who contributed so far.

I feel so stupid for asking, but when you say Riverside has some of the lowest scores nationally, you're talking about USMLE Step 3 right? Does that really have an impact on your practice so late in the medical training saga? Everything about Riverside sounded amazing for me until that part.

 

[rc4ch]

Great thread. Thank you OP and everyone who contributed so far.

I feel so stupid for asking, but when you say Riverside has some of the lowest scores nationally, you're talking about USMLE Step 3 right? Does that really have an impact on your practice so late in the medical training saga? Everything about Riverside sounded amazing for me until that part.

No not Step 3. Anesthesia boards. AOBA has 3: Clinical, Oral and Written.

 

[Apoplexy__]

No not Step 3. Anesthesia boards.

Oh ok. After completion of your residency, what parties care what your board scores are? Potential fellowships and partnerships or something?

 

[bigyihoroi]

Great thread. Thank you OP and everyone who contributed so far.

I feel so stupid for asking, but when you say Riverside has some of the lowest scores nationally, you're talking about USMLE Step 3 right? Does that really have an impact on your practice so late in the medical training saga? Everything about Riverside sounded amazing for me until that part.

I can't find the link to the original pdf anymore, but here's a copy of it. As you see, according to the ABOA, osteopathic anesthesia board exam consists of 3 parts: written, oral, and clinical. Riverside has board pass rate of 76.5%, 47.4%, and 75%, respectively from July 08 to June 11. This is lower than national average, which are 93%, 62%, and 93.75%, respectively. However, PD from Riverside (as well as PD from POH) both denied the accuracy of this data. So it's up to you in terms of how you want to interpret these numbers.

Based on what I heard from residents and physicians, you will be board certified as long as you eventually pass all your boards. Most said that you will be applying for fellowship before you have even taken your written so it may or may not play a role in your fellowship application (Correct me if I were wrong ).

 

[rc4ch]

Heart of Lancaster Regional Medical Center:

I'll add more to this one since I rotated their last summer.

Residents: varied from 1-2 per year. They take either PGY 1 or 2 depending on the applicant. This year they told me they were taking 3, two PGY 1 and 1 PGY 2 due to the number of applicants that they really liked this year. This is the only AOA program that I know that will take you as a PGY 2. Not sure about the others.

Hospital: The base hospital is a small, but decent size community hospital. This hospital was built in 2005. It's an absolutely beautiful hospital. They keep it well maintained. No trauma or hearts here, but plenty of OB (most of your calls). 4 ORs, when I was there, the residents didn't share an OR like the OP said. You spend most of your time here as a CA-1. They are affiliated with several hospitals. They pay for your travel and they are only around 30 min away.

Good Samaritan Hospital (which they still are, not sure what the OP was talking about, I was told one of the residents were there and the anesthesiology staff from that hospital does weekends at the base hospital. You do most of your hearts here.

Hershey: residents told me they do SICU, Trauma, Neuro and Peds here. They said they get along well with Hershey's anesthesia residents and have no complaints about cases.

Lancaster Regional Hospital: the residents do regional and ortho cases here. This is the other hospital in Lancaster, owned by the same company as the base hospital. 244 beds.

Volume: Low to medium at the base hospital. Pretty decent at the affiliated hospitals, great at Hershey, but I'm not 100% since I've only been to Lancaster Regional.

Attending: 4 main anesthesiology attendings and I agree with the OP, absolutely outstanding group of guys. Very friendly, friends with one another, residents and staff, helpful, great teachers. Awesome PD. He really loves his program and his residents. Not sure how the attendings are at the affiliated hospitals.

Didactic: Intern year didactics is decent. I'm not 100% with CA 1-CA 3 didactics. One resident told me you pretty much go to the Hershey didactics every day during CA 1. I can't remember about CA-2 or CA-3. Maybe once a week.

Cafeteria: Free, good, decent food. No limit on anything you get.

Area: Let's not kid ourselves, Lititz is located in Lancaster county. Expect a big Amish population, horses, buggies. But its also a beautiful area. Lititz is a great tourist town. Was voted coolest small town in 2013. Lancaster city is 10 minutes away. Of course it can't compare to big cities but it's decent. If you love being in a peaceful, quiet area, then this place is for you. If your a city dweller your going to be very unhappy here.

Pros: Great attendings with great knowledge that you can truly rely on. Beautiful hospital, area, etc. This place has the friendliest people around. All the hospital staff were super helpful. I completely agree with the OP about this place being an excellent training site if your looking for a rural setting. The residents seemed very knowledgeable, very independent.

Cons: Low volume of cases in base hospital. No in house trauma, neuro, or hearts. Only 4 ORs.

Rotation: I recommend doing a rotation here if you are interested. It's not an expensive rotation (free food, free awesome housing) . 2 week rotation is suffice. They interview everyone that rotates. They interview a lot of applicants that did not do an audition. However, the people that auditioned are at the top of the list. They let you do a lot if your interested. You either work with a resident or CRNA. Don't ignore the CRNAs, they have a part in the selection process. All of them were friendly when I was there.

Overall: This place wasn't high on my list before the rotation, but afterwards, it went up. I enjoyed it.

 

[FutureDO2016]

So just to get an idea of how competitive it is...how many apply to each of the 13 programs as there are only roughly 25 DO anesthesia spots in total.

 

[bigyihoroi]

So just to get an idea of how competitive it is...how many apply to each of the 13 programs as there are only roughly 25 DO anesthesia spots in total.

PD from Riverside and Greater Lansing said they both received around 125 applicants this year. Riverside invited 50-60 for interview (audition not required but highly encouraged), whereas Greater Lansing invited about 30 for interview (audition is a must). However, PD from DMC said he received 300 applications and invited around 30 for interview. It's up to you who you wanna believe.

 

[PeepsLove]

I applied to 10 because if I remember right, the price of applications ar billed per 10 applications so sending 3 is the same price as 10.

 

[FutureDO2016]

I'm a M2 right now and so far my preclinical grades haven't been the best, mostly B's and C's...so my class rank is low...will this affect my chances or PD's won't care if I do well on COMLEX...goal: 550 or higher (Might take uSMLE goal-230 or higher)

 

[DrMaximus]

I wasn't nearly competitive enough for allopathic residencies which is why I opted for osteopathic residencies. Don't get me wrong osteopathic residencies will provide you great training to be an excellent anesthesiologist. The difference is in the higher and more specialized areas. Certain osteopathic programs don't get enough numbers like awake craniotomies, pneumonectomies, or transplant.

So I've read that it's harder to find a job being osteopathic boarded as opposed to ABA boarded. Is that true or is the training just better at allopathic programs?

 

[cliquesh]

So I've read that it's harder to find a job being osteopathic boarded as opposed to ABA boarded. Is that true or is the training just better at allopathic programs?

From what I've been told by my mentors, it is harder to find a job as an AOA anesthesiologist mostly because of the lack of trauma and transplant anesthesia at AOA programs. However, just to be clear, you will still be able to find a good job as an AOA trained anesthesiologist, but you will be automatically excluded from some jobs that require ABA certification.

You really ought to go to a big academic center with lots of crazy cases if you want good training.

 

[cliquesh]

I'm a M2 right now and so far my preclinical grades haven't been the best, mostly B's and C's...so my class rank is low...will this affect my chances or PD's won't care if I do well on COMLEX...goal: 550 or higher (Might take uSMLE goal-230 or higher)

I had a high class rank and I was in sigma sigma phi...no PD mentioned it. They only cared about my usmle scores. If your scores are good you will be fine. I did not apply to AOA programs, though.

I'd recommend taking the usmle.

 

[NurWollen]

From what I've been told by my mentors, it is harder to find a job as an AOA anesthesiologist mostly because of the lack of trauma and transplant anesthesia at AOA programs. However, just to be clear, you will still be able to find a good job as an AOA trained anesthesiologist, but you will be automatically excluded from some jobs that require ABA certification.

You really ought to go to a big academic center with lots of crazy cases if you want good training.

I've seen this problem mentioned in conjunction with DO anesthesia programs much more than I have with any other specialty. In other word, it seems doing an AOA residency is more of a hindrance in the job market for anesthesiologists than for other specialties. Any idea why?

 

[cliquesh]

I've seen this problem mentioned in conjunction with DO anesthesia programs much more than I have with any other specialty. In other word, it seems doing an AOA residency is more of a hindrance in the job market for anesthesiologists than for other specialties. Any idea why?

Lack of transplant and trauma, and the lack of complex cases are probably the main reasons. I'm guessing they are lacking peds cases too.

I know nothing about AOA programs, though.I just know community based acgme programs have a hard time getting accredited and maintaining accreditation for the aforementioned reasons.

 

[BobBarker]

Just saw this thread. All of these programs sound absolutely terrible.

 

[DOcandidate2016]

thoughts on a COMLEX 1 score of 536? Do I risk going for an ACGME residency or a realistic goal of AOA/DO program?

 

[CINDIEE]

Thank you for the post!

 

[DOAnesthesia1]

I finished my anesthesia residency at Des Peres in 2007. I loved it. I scored a 236 on step one of the USMLE and was at the 95th percentile on the COMLEX. Some of THE BEST physicians I have ever worked with came from Des Peres. Where you train in medicine is only a part of what makes you a good physician. What matters most is who YOU are. When you do your own reading and are a life-long learner and can take elective rotations if you want neuro anesthesia or trauma you can make a residency that fits your desires. I now work in a similar setting to my residency a regional medical center with little trauma, lots of hearts, OB and healthy pediatrics.

I dropped out of the match and was going to do an allopathic residency at some top programs. No one even applied for the anesthesia spot at Des Peres and it was mine for the taking. It was a hard residency. Lots of call. Lots of volume. I could do 10 nerve blocks a day. I'm a wizard with nerve blocks and frequently teach my allopathic partners different techniques.

I was refused a job I applied for at a major hospital because I did a DO residency. But I didn't want to work at such a big arrogant place anyway.

 

[Helio17]

I finished my anesthesia residency at Des Peres in 2007. I loved it. I scored a 236 on step one of the USMLE and was at the 95th percentile on the COMLEX. Some of THE BEST physicians I have ever worked with came from Des Peres. Where you train in medicine is only a part of what makes you a good physician. What matters most is who YOU are. When you do your own reading and are a life-long learner and can take elective rotations if you want neuro anesthesia or trauma you can make a residency that fits your desires. I now work in a similar setting to my residency a regional medical center with little trauma, lots of hearts, OB and healthy pediatrics.

I dropped out of the match and was going to do an allopathic residency at some top programs. No one even applied for the anesthesia spot at Des Peres and it was mine for the taking. It was a hard residency. Lots of call. Lots of volume. I could do 10 nerve blocks a day. I'm a wizard with nerve blocks and frequently teach my allopathic partners different techniques.

I was refused a job I applied for at a major hospital because I did a DO residency. But I didn't want to work at such a big arrogant place anyway.

Did you find it difficult to find a job though besides the bigger hospital systems?

 

[apr27]

Outside board scores, is there anything else I should be focusing on as an MS1 if I hope to pursue Anesthesiology?

 

[Peterman3412]

Chances of matching into one of these osteopathic anesthesiology residencies with a comlex 1 score of 438?

 

[ToKingdomCome]

Can someone comment on how AOA programs are doing in terms of ACGME accreditation and what their competitiveness might look like? I know Riverside and Lancaster have initial accreditation.

 

[67552931811]

Can someone comment on how AOA programs are doing in terms of ACGME accreditation and what their competitiveness might look like? I know Riverside and Lancaster have initial accreditation.

http://opportunities.osteopathic.or...onid=69FE9BAC0C7AF6A2973E43B31DC6EE27.cfusion

Looks like Largo applied in the past few days because I checked over the weekend and they still hadn't applied. Not sure what's up with sinai grace?

Who knows what % will 'make the cut'. If I had to pull a guess straight out of my proverbialness, I would say that 7-8/11 will be acgme accredited based on my highly scientific way of guessing.

 

[ToKingdomCome]

http://opportunities.osteopathic.or...onid=69FE9BAC0C7AF6A2973E43B31DC6EE27.cfusion

Looks like Largo applied in the past few days because I checked over the weekend and they still hadn't applied. Not sure what's up with sinai grace?

Who knows what % will 'make the cut'. If I had to pull a guess straight out of my proverbialness, I would say that 7-8/11 will be acgme accredited based on my highly scientific way of guessing.

So if a program is pre-accredited, they will be eligible for the acgme match in 2018?

 

[ToKingdomCome]

I hope so. I could use an extra 15-20 available spots for matching

 

[Dr. Death]

So if a program is pre-accredited, they will be eligible for the acgme match in 2018?

Programs that are pre-accredited will be able to recruit residents in 2018, it is my understanding that individual programs can choose which match they participate in until the merger is complete.

 

[abolt18]

As of now, Des Peres is not making the transition. They took their last class last year.

 

[abolt18]

How positive are you on this? Within the past week their status on the aoa opportunities webpage has changed from, "Not Participating in 2017 AOA Match" to "Working on ACGME Application."

Which programs at Des Peres have made the change?

 

[abolt18]

I have no idea. I was just looking at gas. I was surprised that this changed on the webpage cause I thought they were closing (even before you mentioned that a couple weeks back).

EDIT: it seems all 6 programs now have that same "Working on ACGME Application" status. Interesting.

Yeah I've not heard anything about this. My latest updates still confirm the closure. Even FM isn't taking audition students this coming summer/fall. Pretty sure none of them are taking audition students because... Closing. I'll certainly update here if things change.

 

[abc786]

When I was setting up my audition last year for DO anesthesia, I wish there was a forum that specifically focused on reviews of individual DO anesthesia residency program. Now that I have successfully matched, I would like to create a thread to help out my future DO fellows. There is a total of 13 AOA-approved anesthesiology residencies with 33 spots available to fill. The following are reviews include 5 of the 13 anesthesia sites based on my personal experience as well as information that I gathered from residents in their respective programs:

Riverside County Regional Medical Center, CA

Residents: 5 per year but one spot reserved for its own anesthesia research fellow, so realistically the program takes 4 residents per year

Hospital size: medium size with 493 beds

Volume: high volume with lots of trauma

Attending: total of 6 faculties involved actively in teaching

Cafeteria: food is crappy

Didactics: 30 min of lecture each morning presented by residents; attending occasionally sit in for lectures; simulation training once per month

Pros: Located in sunny SoCal; level 2 trauma center and will likely become level 1 soon; one of the busiest county hospital in the area; lots of ASA 3 and 4 patients; residents are trained to meet ACGME standard; faculties and residents are actively involved in clinical anesthesia research; high degree of autonomy in anesthesia as early as PGY-1; excellent out-rotations for peds at CHLA and cardio at Cedar; excellent fellowship placement in the past (e.g. cardio – USC; cardio – Loma Linda; Critical care – John Hopkins; Pain – Greater Lansing; etc…); will most likely become dually accredited in a year or two

Cons: Minimal teaching by attending; lack of reading time for residents; one of the lowest board pass rate nationwide published by the AOCA but may be inaccurate per PD; calls can be brutal for CA-1 (e.g. 2 consecutive call nights); RCRMC will become one of the major training sites for UC Riverside School of Medicine and thus residency program will likely become dually accredited and DO may have to compete with MD for residency spots.

Rotation: Even though you may not match into this site, Riverside provides excellent training for any rotating students who eventually want to go into anesthesia residency. Students will be actively involved in the pre-op, intra-op, and post-op care of patients. For gunners, show up as early as 6am to set up anesthesia cart in your designated OR and volunteer to take calls on weekend with PD. Interview will be granted as a courtesy if you rotate with them.


Detroit Medical Center/Sinai-Grace Hospital, MI

Residents: 4 per year

Hospital size: medium size with 400 beds and level 2 trauma center

Volume: medium to high volume with lots of sick patients

Attending: 3-4 anesthesiologists on staff but varied when rotating at other DMC sites

Didactic: Will attend lectures with Wayne State Anesthesia residents

Cafeteria: food is crappy

Pros: lots of ASA 3 and 4 patients; very laid back schedule for residents at Sinai-Grace but not necessarily the same when they rotate at other DMC divisions; residents get plenty of time to read and thus their board scores tend to be higher compared to other programs nationwide; cardiac anesthesia in the house; great variety of pathologies; may have a critical care fellowship and possible pediatric fellowship for osteopathic residents in 1-2 years according to PD; residents may get ASA 6 patients, which are rarely seen at other osteopathic training sites

Cons: Located in a ghetto and dangerous neighborhood of Detroit. Attending and residents always warned us to avoid leaving the hospital past 5pm.

Rotation: Do not bother to rotate at this residency program if you have sub-par score on COMLEX level 1! PD will not grant courtesy interview for those who rotate there. Audition is not required to secure an interview here at DMC. However, if you decide to rotate here, just make sure you introduce yourself to Dr. Glass and express interest to apply his residency program but you will unlikely be working directly with him.


McLaren-Greater Lansing (formerly Ingham Regional Medical Center), MI

Residents: 4 per year

Hospital size: small/medium size with 365 beds

Volume: medium to high but no trauma

Attending: total of 6-7 faculties

Didactic: mostly conducted by residents for 30 minutes in the morning; attending rarely involved in teaching; PD provides mock exams for oral anesthesia board once per month

Cafeteria: food is crappy

Pros: High degree of autonomy for senior residents; affiliated with pain management fellowship that will ALWAYS give priorities to their own residents; has a separate hospital for orthopedic cases; residents take home call so they don’t need to be in hospital overnight as long as they stay within 20 min driving

Cons: My first impression of Greater Lansing is that the city seems to be abandoned; no trauma; residents often complained of working long hours from 7am to 7pm; lack of reading time

Rotation: If you are truly interested in anesthesiology but obtained a sub-par or mediocre score in COMLEX level 1, you want to secure an audition early at this program. PD will consider all applicants as long as you pass your board with first attempt (one resident had a COMLEX level 1 score of <410 matched here). However, you must pass all COMLEX 1, 2CE, and 2PE with first attempt prior to submission of rank list. Passing all your boards is particularly important for PD because he accepted students in the past who failed COMLEX 2 multiple times and eventually failed to graduate, which caused him to lose funding permanently for his spots. If you choose to rotate here, try to secure a spot to rotate with PD at his pain management clinic for 2 weeks since you will be directly working with him. Otherwise, rotate at the hospital but make sure you introduce yourself to PD and express interest to his program. Make sure PD likes you if you want to match here.


Heart of Lancaster Regional Medical Center, PA

Residents: varied from 1-2 per year

Hospital size: small size with 144 beds

Volume: low to medium with no trauma

Attending: total of 4 anesthesiologists on staff

Didactic: None but residents joined grand rounds once a week with Penn State Residents at Hershey

Cafeteria: food is pretty good and PD said most likely because it’s a for-profit, private hospital, gotta make your customers happy

Pros: Great attending with great knowledge; some of the friendliest anesthesiologists I have ever met and easy to get along with; residents are not overworked; excellent training site if you like rural setting; Friday is usually a short day with low volume of cases; hospital is beautiful and situated in a very safe and quiet neighborhood

Cons: Small hospital with only 4 ORs; 3 ORs usually run by Nurse Anesthetists and anesthesia residents usually alternate between cases in one OR; mostly orthopedic cases, general surgery, and OB/GYN in the house; out rotation at Good Samartian Hospital but PD said they lost that site a while ago; weak out rotation for trauma and Neuro at Hershey because residents complained that most good cases are reserved for their own Penn state residents

Rotation: Interview will be granted to rotating students as a courtesy. However, rotation is not required to secure an interview here. You won’t be doing much if you tag along with residents, but you will get to do a lot of intubations if you work with nurse anesthetist. Housing is free and provided to students. Make sure the chief nurse anesthetist and PD like you if you want to match here.


McLaren-Oakland (formerly known as Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital), MI

Residents: 2 per year

Hospital Size: small/medium size with 308 beds

Volume: low to medium and level 2 trauma center

Attending: Total of 4 anesthesiologists on staff

Didactic: None by attending but 30 minute small group discussion in the morning daily organized by residents themselves. Either rotating students or residents will present a chapter from an anesthesia textbook.

Cafeteria: Chicken wings are awesome. Food is pretty good overall.

Pros: Level 2 trauma center; Dr. Stoyanovich and Dr. Owen were excellent anesthesiologists and recently added to the team; formerly affiliated with a pain management fellowship by Dr. Khan but temporarily closed since 2012; out rotation for peds at Children’s Hospital of Michigan and cardiac at Flint; high degree of autonomy; former residents landed a job at Kaiser in SoCal and Las Vegas in Nevada

Cons: Only 2 months of OB anesthesia in CA-3 at DMC compared to OB anesthesia throughout CA-1 to CA-3 at other residency programs; McLaren plans to shut down this hospital and move all the staff to a new health care facility since the city of Pontiac is dying

Rotation: Rotating here does not necessarily guarantee you an interview, but you are unlikely to receive any interview if you choose not to rotate here. Students were given orientation packets that covered all the material you will need for other audition rotations in anesthesia.


Feel free to contribute more reviews for other residency programs. If anyone would like to write a different review for one of the above residency programs, feel free to do so.

Hi, I was wondering if you/anyone could kindly provide information on how prepare for these rotations. Any specific recommended reading for anesthesia rotations etc? Thanks!

 

[apr27]

Hi, I was wondering if you/anyone could kindly provide information on how prepare for these rotations. Any specific recommended reading for anesthesia rotations etc? Thanks!

IMO, you don't need to do much. Show up early, ask thoughtful questions, look engaged, and be cool. Additional reading could include secrets or that Stanford pdf. Nothing too crazy. If you want to look like a star, you could be the essential chapters in baby miller or MM. YMMW of course. If you read those texts, it may help you stand out in later aways and if you have an exam associated with your rotation.

 

[RoadNurse33]

Hi, I was wondering if you/anyone could kindly provide information on how prepare for these rotations. Any specific recommended reading for anesthesia rotations etc? Thanks!

I did a two week rotation at a home institution to prep me before my first audition next week and my doc would assign me various subjects to read about and we would discuss it the next day. My school had an online subscription to Morgan and Mikhail's Clinical Anesthesiology so I would read that at night and get my basic info. Then the next day while sitting in the lounge refreshing my memory I reviewed the topics in the Handbook of Clinical Procedures of Mass Gen. I purchased the clinical procedures book and that thing is money. When an emergent case popped up I would skim the pertinent chapter quickly and it was a lifesaver.

 

[deleted1051873]

Accepted student for class of 2024: how do you all feel about the DO/MD residency merger happening this summer? How do you all feel about the new pass/fail system for boards?

My primary interest (while I am young) is anesthesia, & while I acknowledge being a DO is a slightly more difficult path into specializing, I plan to remedy this early by getting pre-clinical shadowing during summers/winter breaks (if possible). Do you all have any other recommendations to try to get ahead & build a stronger application/good LORs?

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

while I acknowledge being a DO is a slightly more difficult path into specializing, I plan to remedy this early by getting pre-clinical shadowing during summers/winter breaks (if possible). Do you all have any other recommendations to try to get ahead & build a stronger application/good LORs?

Kill Step 2 and do research. Shadowing won't do anything for your app.