How does a thread become 3 yrs old without any useful info
Still my favorite quote of this thread. I know how hard it can be to find information on programs before audition season so I will try and provide you with my perceptions of a few Osteopathic General Surgery programs.
**The programs listed below are places that I feel are of good quality, are worth visiting and will provide the necessary education for an aspiring surgeon. The same cannot be said for all programs. If a program is not mentioned here, I either know very little about them or am declining to comment because what I have to say would not be positive. All to say, this list is a guide, but is in no way exhaustive!**
Doctors Hospital - Columbus, OH
A small hospital located on the West side of Columbus, this program in my opinion represents the highest quality among Osteopathic Surgery programs. Large case volumes, rotations at quality institutions in the largest city in OH, and a supportive teaching environment all contribute to its appeal.
Curriculum: Very rigorous, very organized, and the residents hold each other to a high standard at teaching conferences and text reviews. They move through Sabiston a chapter at a time and hammer home every detail. Their in-service scores (highest in the country despite what other programs might tell you) show it. Regular M&M and inter-disciplinary conferences.
Affiliated Teaching Hospitals: This aspect, in my opinion, sets Doctors apart. They do trauma, SICU, general and vascular surgery rotations at
Grant Medical Center. This is the busiest level 1 trauma center in the state and hosts residents from Ohio State and Riverside Methodist as well. Colon/Rectal, Transplant and general surgery rotations are also done at
Ohio State University. Peds surgery is done at
Nationwide Children's...enough said.
Applicant's note: If you have high board scores, they will give you lots of love. If not..you have an uphill battle ahead of you.
PCOM - Philadelphia, PA
Located in Philadelphia...well, part of the time: this program sticks to the "consortium model" of resident education. Translation - you will be in a new hospital every month, some of them quite far away, with new residents and new attendings that you may or may not have worked with before. Having mentioned this, I must say that I was blown away by the residents here. They are all very sharp, motivated to learn, committed to the program and seemed like a good group of people. The program director, Dr. Sesso is a really great guy and is completely devoted to keeping this program great. If you can handle moving around, this program is definitely worth a look.
Great fellowship matches.
Curriculum: Like Doctors, they have a very organized and comprehensive curriculum. Residents hold each other accountable for the material and they have a very strong showing in the in-service exam every year.
Affiliated Teaching Hospitals Well...listing all 10+ here might be a little expansive, but they also have some amazing affiliations. They send residents to
Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York,
Cooper Hospital in Camden NJ (level 1 trauma), and Reading Medical Center - a busy trauma center in PA that provides a great learning opportunity.
Applicant's note: Like the above, if you have high board scores, they will give you lots of love. An audition here can help you, and they have more spots than most programs which helps. They are trying to diversify from the PCOM student applicant pool.
Mercy Medical Center - Des Moines, IA
Located in Des Moines, a bustling metropolis in the heart of Iowa...well maybe not a metropolis..more like a big town in a state that boasts 99% of its land mass being covered in corn. All joking aside, it is a nice place to live, especially if you have a family coming with you. This program is the
oldest Osteopathic General Surgery program in the country! They have at their disposal an 800 bed hospital, level 2 trauma center (for all intents and purposes it is a level 1..they fly traumas in from 100+ miles away for lack of a closer center! They need a 24hr neurosurg coverage and more research to be dubbed a "level 1"). Anyway, the neat thing about this program is that you have a lot of cases going on, lots of variety, ENT surgeons, Plastic surgeons, vascular, trauma..and it's all at your disposal because they only have a small ACGME FM program to compete with in-house..and they sure aren't in the operating room! Very good track record for fellowship matches.
Curriculum: Good curriculum, very regular teaching conferences, and a good ABSITE review. Attendings are actively involved in these conferences which is nice to see. Room for improvement in this area, but it's head over heels better than the majority of DO programs out there. They are also actively involved with teaching didactics labs at Des Moines University, which is a big draw for some people.
Affiliated Teaching Hospitals: None. They do allow some wiggle room to do a month or two at an outside institution as a sort of "audition" in your 4th/5th year, but otherwise everyone is in house.
Applicant's note: Audition not required, but highly encouraged. The PD here does not really like the concept, but at the same time understands the game that everyone has to play. If given the chance I would recommend a rotation here!
Genesys Regional Medical Center - Grand Blanc, MI
This program brings a very different feel to the table than the previous 3 programs. Their focus is training very technically skilled surgeons that can out operate most everyone coming straight out of residency...and frow what I observed of their chief residents they are without a doubt meeting that goal. I watched their chiefs perform colon resections, thyroidectomies, and nissens at the
beginning of the year..and they were really good! A really rambunctious group of residents that are really good at what they do, and seemed to get along really well. Their call room is great - lots of couches, big TV, a big shark head coming from the wall, talks of a stripper pole being installed at some point down the line (I'm
prettysure they were joking..), you get the idea. They work hard but love what they do.
Curriculum: Not much to mention here..weekly meetings of topic presentations and subjects that the residents are supposed to read. Some are very diligent but it would be easy to slack off if one weren't self motivated.
Affiliated Teaching Hospitals Limited. They are in-house for most of the 5 years. This is fine for the most part because they have very busy services and get great case volume, but the there is no dedicated surgical ICU, they are limited on trauma exposure, and there are few sub-specialty services in-house that provide resident rotations.
Applicant's note: This program is fantastic if you want to be a community based general surgeon. If you can tough out living in Grand Blanc for 5 years you will be really good at what you do. You absolutely must rotate here to be considered for an interview..and they are one of a few programs that now has a minimum board score to even do an audition here..not sure what it is, probably low 500's. Even having rotated here, there were a lot of people turned down for interviews who spent a month on the service. They churn auditioning students out like cattle, often there will be 8-9 students on at a time. They will give you love if you have high board scores, but this is not a necessity.
Botsford Hospital - Farmington Hills, MI
I do not have a lot of information about this program. I didn't rotate here so I was not considered for an interview. From what I am told they are very big on their curriculum, value hard work and dedication, and provide an excellent surgical education for those are willing to work for it. They are very proud of their program and from what I can tell it is very strong and certainly has a reputation in the Osteopathic community. A big draw to this program is their in-house vascular and plastics programs, which give heavy favor to their own applicants.
Arrowhead Regional Medial Center - Colton, CA
This is a busy county hospital that actually covers the largest county (land mass wise) in the entire United States. They get a good deal of trauma coming in from out in the boonies as well as some penetrating stuff, and the patient population ensures that you will see a lot of very sick people. The residents work hard, doing a lot of work that goes along with being at a county hospital but they seem to enjoy the learning experience. It is "parallel" to an ACGME program at the same hospital and they rotate together while at ARMC. I put "parallel" in quotations because it was a bit strange when you stack the programs against one another. The DO program does rotations at Loma Linda (Peds and maybe something else) and Kaiser Fontana (more elective type stuff and a few sub-specialties if I remember correctly), albeit only a few months at these places. The ACGME program spends a LOT more time at Loma Linda for some very cool sub-specialty months, and some other larger hospitals in the LA area. At first look it seems like a 'dual program', but they are in fact separate programs at the same hospital with different PD's that happen to do a lot of rotations together at their home base. There were ACGME residents at our pre-interview dinner and they were all really down to earth and get along with the DO residents just fine, so that did not seem to be an issue in the least. The DO program only takes 1 a year while the MD program takes 3 or 4....I don't completely understand the reason for this. All of this political type stuff aside, it seemed like a great place to train and all of the residents were very happy with the fact that they matched there. Definitely felt that it was a strong program that gives residents lots and lots of practical experience.
Mercy St. Vincent - Toledo, OH
This program also heavily favors the audition. I can tell you, however, that they interview applicants with board scores in the 95+ percentile who have not rotated with them. They are a level 1 trauma center, and from what I have been told have an excellent program. They are somewhat mysterious, difficult to contact and off the radar for non-rotators but if you get the chance to audition here I would say take it. Toledo is not the friendliest place to live...but how many other DO programs are in desireable locations?
Grandview - Dayton, OH
Smaller program, but I have on good authority that they provide a great education. They have a structured curriculum, do away rotations at some of the same places as Doctors Hospital (including Grant Medical Center in Columbus), and have recruited a very sharp group of residents. Worth checking out to see if it is a good fit! Will only consider auditioners -- even if you slayed your boards!!
McLaren Macomb - Clinton Township, MI
This program is a strong, clinically focused program. Very busy surgery service, and residents work extremely hard. The atmosphere among residents is supportive and auditioning students are treated well but expected to work. One of the stronger programs in Michigan without a doubt. Will only consider auditioners -- even if you slayed your boards!!
That's all I've got for now. Like I said, either I don't know much beyone rumors about other programs, or don't have anything nice to say so I will stop here and wish you luck out there on auditions!!
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