Forum Members PMSR/RRA Residency Reviews

[SLCpod]

You'll start seeing some reviews posted after interviews and match. The APMSA residency review was just posted. I recommend looking at that.

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[JAJE]

Program Name: Reading Hospital

General Program/Hospital Info:
https://www.readinghealth.org/education-and-research/academic-affairs/residencies/podiatry/
The program offers an open house the first Friday of each month, which I was able to attend. I also got to see a good presentation of the program from one of the residents as well. Initial impressions are that this hospital is large (~800 beds), beautiful, busy, and more than adequate to support the 6 residents they have. Located a little over an hour from Philadelphia. PMSR/RRA. The Program is relatively young, established in 2013. There are no orthopedic residents at the hospital so residents are able to be first assist for ortho cases if available. Busy but efficiently run inpatient service.

Attendings:
20+ on staff. Probably very similar in diversity to any other program. Attendings from group practices, solo, ortho.

Residents:
Two residents per year. Laid back group, but very sharp group.

Didactics:
Radiology Rounds weekly, chapter reviews weekly, monthly cadaver labs (on site at the hospital morgue). Monthly journal club, student presentations, rep workshops. residents go to AO course, scopes course, any other course they want.

OR Experience:
From a presentation I saw, they just opened a $350M expansion with new OR’s. The residents cover just one (huge) hospital and a handful of nearby surgery centers. Residents rarely double scrub. No TAR’s, occasional ex-fix, enough trauma, plenty of “bread and butter”. Overall the training seems to be very good. At the open house, one of the second year residents showed us his PRR numbers and he had met all his surgical numbers early into 2nd year.

Clinic Experience:
Resident run clinic two afternoons a week, most residents attend regardless of what other rotation they may be on. Residents get to schedule surgeries, see everything from pre-op to post-op care. They also have Podiatry office rotations, not entirely sure what that entails.

Research Opportunities:
Not sure. Probably what you make of it. Website says they get a “research” month during 3rd year.

Lifestyle:
Most call is taken 1st year, some 2nd year and a couple days a month 3rd year.
PGY-1 $53,700 +$1,200 housing bonus + $3,000 CME + 3 weeks vacation
PGY-2 $56,600 +$1,200 housing bonus + $4,500 CME + 4 weeks vacation
PGY-3 $58,500 +$1,200 housing bonus + $4,500 CME + 4 weeks vacation

Pros:
Excellent training, good surgical volume, many attendings
Free food at any of the Hospitals 3 cafeterias or 3 cafes (Starbucks included).
Morgue for regular dissection labs.
By far, the best, nicest facilities I have seen.
The residents have a huge corner office/lounge with their own individual work stations, lockers, couches, copy/fax machine.
They have their own classroom, big hospital library, private call room.
They use a good EMR (EPIC) some of the residents use dictation devices for notes.
CME money is absolutely outrageous. $12k for 3 years!? Go to any training course you want.
Minimal driving.
On-site fitness center, on-site child care.
Residents are treated extremely well here.
https://www.readinghealth.org/education-and-research/academic-affairs/residencies/benefits/

Cons:
No TAR, I heard that cut time is hit and miss, some attendings let residents do everything, others are slow to pass the knife.

Overall Conclusion:
This is a great young program, pretty much doing all the right things. With the combination of a resident run clinic, high surgery volume, on-site cadaver lab, amazing resources to augment resident training, you would come out of this program very well rounded and very well trained. This program was likely a hidden gem as they didn't take students for clerkship until recently. Plenty of buzz around this program for class of 2018.

 

[podUK]

Program Name: Wake Forest Baptist Hospital

Attendings: Dr. Sprinkle (Director), Dr. Long, Dr, Scott & Dr. Teasdal (Ortho F & A)

Residents: 2 per year. Nice, diverse group. Newer residents seems to be around from the area.

Didactics: Trauma, Foot and Ankle conferences twice a week, Ortho grand rounds weekly. Tuesday nights journal club or sales rep presentations. Conferences begin the day at 6 AM and then clinic or OR follows

OR Experience: DPM operate once a week and Ortho F & A twice a week Ortho brings diverse cases and podiatry moving to become more 1st assist.

Clinic Experience: Ortho clinic sees more trauma and intense cases. Wound care is not routinely seen by Pod, believe Vascular holds wound clinics but only rotate with Vascular 1 month

Research Opportunities: 1 project needs to be completed, and another ready for publication.

Lifestyle: Not high intense, easy call schedule. On call means once a month between 4-7 PM the resident is in the ER to assist Ortho between the day and night shift switch and if Ortho gets covered up on the weekends. Winston Salem is family friendly and a "Southern" town. Residents are not really busy, rarely keep in house patients so hardly get paged when on service.

Pros: Great academic program reputation, low intensity program, potential if program becomes more driven and kinks worked out. Still has not graduated residents yet but believe those residents already have jobs lined up in their own family practice. Potential for adding more doctors and more focused podiatry didactics.

Cons: Surgery is a draw back at the moment but the Entire 1st year your off service but seems Podiatry is "accepted by others." But rotate through un-necessary clinics (family medicine etc). On service is split in 3 month blocks between ortho and podiatry. Spend 4 Months on plastic.

Overall Conclusion: Program is new and still figuring out the "kinks." Program wants to follow ortho but may not be the best decision since their residency is 2 years longer then ours. Ortho seems to be accepting podiatry. Addition of new attendings to bring in more case volume would turn the program around completely and more known. All the doctors that are worked with are knowledgeable and some of the nicest to work with also.

 

[ldsrmdude]

Program Name: Wake Forest Baptist Hospital

Attendings: Dr. Sprinkle (Director), Dr. Long, Dr, Scott & Dr. Teasdal (Ortho F & A)

Residents: 2 per year. Nice, diverse group. Newer residents seems to be around from the area.

Didactics: Trauma, Foot and Ankle conferences twice a week, Ortho grand rounds weekly. Tuesday nights journal club or sales rep presentations. Conferences begin the day at 6 AM and then clinic or OR follows

OR Experience: DPM operate once a week and Ortho F & A twice a week. Cases with DPM especially director are very routine: Neuroma/plantar fascia release/possible bunion/WINOGRAD!!. Yes brings nail procedures to OR and have seen 2 residency scrub in on. Ortho brings diverse cases but podiatry is 2nd assist which hurts the overall training.

Clinic Experience: Dr. Long clinic is more diverse then Dr. Sprinkle. Ortho clinic sees more trauma and intense cases. Wound care is not routinely seen by Pod, believe Vascular holds wound clinics but only rotate with Vascular 1 month

Research Opportunities: 1 project needs to be completed, and another ready for publication. Does not seem to be a high priority and residences can not collect data until 2nd year

Lifestyle: Not high intense, easy call schedule. On call means once a month between 4-7 PM the resident is in the ER to assist Ortho between the day and night shift switch and if Ortho gets covered up on the weekends. Winston Salem is family friendly and a "Southern" town. Residents are not really busy, rarely keep in house patients so hardly get paged when on service.

Pros: Great academic program reputation, low intensity program, potential if program becomes more driven and kinks worked out. Still has not graduated residents yet but believe those residents already have jobs lined up in their own family practice. Potential for adding more doctors and more focused podiatry didactics.

Cons: Low/low surgical numbers, off service way to much. Surgery is a big draw back to the program at the moment. Upper year residents are still obtaining numbers through 3rd year and claiming 1st assist when in reality are 2nd assist during Ortho service. Entire 1st year your off service but seems Podiatry is "accepted by others." But rotate through un-necessary clinics (family medicine etc). On service is split in 3 month blocks between ortho and podiatry. Not a lot of "diveristy". Believe 3rd year and 2nd years rotate at same point in podiatry clinic if their months overlap which is not needed. Spend 4 Months on plastic.

Overall Conclusion: Program is new and still figuring out the "kinks." Program wants to follow ortho but may not be the best decision since their residency is 2 years longer then ours. Ortho seems to be accepting podiatry. Addition of new attendings to bring in more case volume would turn the program around completely and more known. Their goal seems to be to create a "well rounded" physician which it can produce but lacks the necessary focus on the main reason we are in residency. All the doctors that are worked with are knowledgeable and some of the nicest to work with also.

Seems like it could be a good program with a few more attendings added. Always interesting to hear what new programs are like.

 

[SLCpod]

I can't believe match is next week! I know a lot of us hesitate posting residency reviews until after match so I think it is a good time to remind everyone to post in this thread so others may benefit from your experiences over the past year.

If you are a 1st, 2nd or 3rd year you should post some of the programs that you are interested in. It will give us some motivation to post if we have visited the programs you are interested in.

 

[I post PRN]

I hate to burst everyone's bubble. I'm sure there are residency directors that maybe look at this website once in awhile or maybe just once out of curiosity but to be honest no one really does. Posters should feel confident that they can write about residency programs on here because no one really gives a damn.


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Serious. People need to step up their game and post away. It's a great resource that is slowly dying.

 

[docaddictedtotravel1992]

Any for:
-Southern California programs (Cedars-Sinai, White Memorial, Long Beach?)
-UPMC (Pittsburgh)
-Kaiser Santa Clara

thanks!

 

[SLCpod]

Any for:
-Southern California programs (Cedars-Sinai, White Memorial, Long Beach?)
-UPMC (Pittsburgh)
-Kaiser Santa Clara

thanks!

I didn't go to any of those but I will try to reach out to those who have.

 

[medlove1]

Hey, does anyone have any info on some of the Brooklyn, NY programs?
Specifically, NYU Lutheran, Brooklyn Hospital, Wyckoff Heights, or Interfaith?
Thanks!

 

[SLCpod]

Program Name: DVA – New Mexico

General Program/Hospital Info: 2 of the 4 residents will go Kaiser Sacramento for their 4th year. So you will be in the VA or at a Kaiser. If you stay in Albuquerque you will have no problem getting numbers and the attendings are very knowledgeable.

Attendings: Dr. Siegel (director), Dr. Haas (outside), Dr. Cobb (outside)
-Recently there was a turnover in all attendings at the VA. They are in the process of hiring new attendings and should start summer 2017. There are many outside attendings that I was not able to be in the OR with. At journal clubs and different workshops they were very easy-going.

Residents: 4 a year. A good group with at least a 3.2 GPA. Male and female.

Didactics: Journal Club, workshops, radio rounds, externs do a presentation
-Due to the new director and attendings, this may change.

OR Experience: Students are at the VA. There are 2 OR days with a good variety of cases. When the new attendings start there will be more surgery opportunities.

Clinic Experience: NO CHIP AND CLIP. They have nurses see patients for routine foot care. This is really nice for a VA. There is a good clinical experience which will improve with additional attendings.

Research Opportunities: I didn’t see much research.

Lifestyle: Albuquerque has a lot of outdoor activities. The call schedule isn’t bad (7 weeks 1st year). It is a family friendly schedule.

Pros: Lots of variety. Good area to live in. The off rotations are with UNM students and residents.

Cons: There is a new director so it may take a year or two to see what kind of program it will be for the next 10 years.

Overall Conclusion: A good program with a lot of variety. It is a program you should visit if you are really interested.

 

[AwardTour05]

Program Name: DVA Phoenix

General Program/Hospital Info: Busy VA hospital. Most of numbers obtained with outside attendings. 1st years take 2 months of call for the entire month, 2nd years take 1. Very busy clinic with a lot of diabetic care. Multiple outside attendings rotate in clinic so there is a lot of opportunity to work with outside docs. Podiatry takes is primary on most diabetic foot patients so there is a lot of medicine done here. Weekly pre and post op clinics which allow residents and students to see immediate and long term post op care of surgical patients.

Attendings: Dr. Frykberg (director) who manages all inpatients. Drs. Tierney and Marino run the clinic. Multiple outside attendings participate in clinic as well. Multiple attendings throughout the Phoenix metro area.

Residents: Very chill and laid back. As a student, if you can demonstrate that you are knowledgeable and capable, you will be able to pretty much manage your clinic patients independently. Clinic has at least a 3rd, 2nd and 1st year resident with 3rd year residents acting as a chief.

Didactics: Weekly journal club and pre op conference. No formal book review at this time

OR Experience: As a student, your surgical experience will be limited to the VA. Lots of diabetic wound care surgeries. However, there is quite a broad range of surgeries including many elective and trauma cases.

Clinic Experience: 2 half days of dedicated wound care. Half day of post op visits. One day of "procedures" such as matrixectomies. One half day of chip and clip. As stated above, potential for considerable autonomy as a student.

Research Opportunities: All residents are required to participate in a research project by the end of residency.

Lifestyle: Days usually start around 6am for pre-rounding and rounds at 7am with Frykberg. Clinic days end around 5-6. Residents not on clinic participate in surgeries across the metro area.

Pros: Busy clinic with great podiatric inpatient experience. Diabetic care is a focus here and anyone leaving this residency will be well adept in all aspects of DM care. Multiple attendings to scrub in with as a resident with variety of cases ranging from bread and butter podiatry to trauma and complex recons.

Cons: No real dedicated didactics, residents here have to be very self motivated here as the expectations are high. Residents get majority of their numbers 2nd and 3rd year by traveling around the Phoenix metro area with drive times that can exceed 45 min. Little to no pediatric care.

Overall Conclusion: Good program with a strong emphasis in diabetic care. Great clinic experience with great attendings who are dedicated to treating veterans. I worked with a number of attendings in surgery due to my rotations at AzPOD and everyone one I scrubbed with had a strong surgical background with good variety in their cases.

 

[sfgiantsfan13]

Program Name: Legacy Portland/Kaiser

General Program/Hospital Info: Time split between two Legacy hospitals in downtown Portland (Good Samaritan and Emanuel) and a few different Kaisers. 1st year is a lot of call (covering good sam and Emanuel), primary on a lot of inpatients at Legacy. Half of 2nd year spent at Kaiser in surgery and clinic. 3rd year mixed rotations at Kaiser and surgery at Legacy and other hospitals. Strong off service rotations, burns 2nd year, peds ortho rotation 3rd year. Surgery heavy and academic program.

Attendings: Dr. Laxson (director), works out of Kaiser, basically functions as a member of the ortho team there. Does total ankles, a lot of frames. Dr. Remmers (clerkship director), Dr. Shinabarger, Dr. Neary, and many more.

Residents: 4 per year, good mix of personalities, very helpful and welcoming during my month there. Residents I worked with had good hands and were definitely getting good training.

Didactics: Journal club monthly, weekly am academics (book review, presentations, lectures). Monthly M&M.

OR Experience: Students spend 2 weeks at Kaiser and spend one week scrubbing elective cases, and one week scrubbing add-ons with the on call resident and attending. At Legacy the resident will send you a schedule that may send you to either Legacy hospital or one of their outside community hospitals or surgery centers.

Clinic Experience: 2 half days of resident clinic at Legacy. Kaiser you are only allowed to shadow, you only do this when you aren't in surgery or rounding on inpatients.

Research Opportunities: Residents seemed involved in research. Not sure what the requirements are exactly but it seemed like they were all involved in a project and the first years that didn't have one lined up were encouraged to find one by the director.

Lifestyle: Very demanding program from a resident perspective. As a student, days usually 7-5, sometimes earlier or later depending on what was going on. Residents on call a lot and seemed to go into the ED in the middle of the night a lot. Although very busy, residents still valued recreation time and found time to hang out and get beers after academics and such.

Pros: Great and well rounded surgical training from the complex to the bread and butter. Cool to see two very different hospital systems. Good attendings and residents. Portland is a fantastic city with lots to do and awesome food. Solid academics.

Cons: Demanding call schedule. Long hours especially on academics days. Primary on inpatients (some might think this is a pro, depends on what you want, means getting called a lot). Tons of driving, hospitals very spread out. One day we had to round at one Kaiser, drive 45 minutes to the other one and see a patient then go back to the other one for a surgery.

Overall Conclusion: Solid program with well rounded training.

 

[SLCpod]

Program Name: Legacy Portland/Kaiser

General Program/Hospital Info: Time split between two Legacy hospitals in downtown Portland (Good Samaritan and Emanuel) and a few different Kaisers. 1st year is a lot of call (covering good sam and Emanuel), primary on a lot of inpatients at Legacy. Half of 2nd year spent at Kaiser in surgery and clinic. 3rd year mixed rotations at Kaiser and surgery at Legacy and other hospitals. Strong off service rotations, burns 2nd year, peds ortho rotation 3rd year. Surgery heavy and academic program.

Attendings: Dr. Laxson (director), works out of Kaiser, basically functions as a member of the ortho team there. Does total ankles, a lot of frames. Dr. Remmers (clerkship director), Dr. Shinabarger, Dr. Neary, and many more.

Residents: 4 per year, good mix of personalities, very helpful and welcoming during my month there. Residents I worked with had good hands and were definitely getting good training.

Didactics: Journal club monthly, weekly am academics (book review, presentations, lectures). Monthly M&M.

OR Experience: Students spend 2 weeks at Kaiser and spend one week scrubbing elective cases, and one week scrubbing add-ons with the on call resident and attending. At Legacy the resident will send you a schedule that may send you to either Legacy hospital or one of their outside community hospitals or surgery centers.

Clinic Experience: 2 half days of resident clinic at Legacy. Kaiser you are only allowed to shadow, you only do this when you aren't in surgery or rounding on inpatients.

Research Opportunities: Residents seemed involved in research. Not sure what the requirements are exactly but it seemed like they were all involved in a project and the first years that didn't have one lined up were encouraged to find one by the director.

Lifestyle: Very demanding program from a resident perspective. As a student, days usually 7-5, sometimes earlier or later depending on what was going on. Residents on call a lot and seemed to go into the ED in the middle of the night a lot. Although very busy, residents still valued recreation time and found time to hang out and get beers after academics and such.

Pros: Great and well rounded surgical training from the complex to the bread and butter. Cool to see two very different hospital systems. Good attendings and residents. Portland is a fantastic city with lots to do and awesome food. Solid academics.

Cons: Demanding call schedule. Long hours especially on academics days. Primary on inpatients (some might think this is a pro, depends on what you want, means getting called a lot). Tons of driving, hospitals very spread out. One day we had to round at one Kaiser, drive 45 minutes to the other one and see a patient then go back to the other one for a surgery.

Overall Conclusion: Solid program with well rounded training.

Awesome review!!!

 

[Weirdy]

Move to stickied residency reviews?

 

[sfgiantsfan13]

Program Name: DVA New Mexico

General Program/Hospital Info: Based out of the VA in Albuquerque. Two third years go to Kaiser Sacramento. All off service rotations are at the VA with UNM residents, very good experiences. Podiatry rotations are at the VA with a lot of surgeries outside in the community. The hospital is next to Kirtland Air Force Base, which doesn't have its own facility, so the active duty air force come to the VA which makes the patient base more active than your typical VA.

Attendings: Dr. Siegel at the VA. Two new attendings to start within the next few months. I met a few of the community attendings at various academics, Dr. Cobb, Dr. Hass, Dr. Mele, Dr. Marshall, Dr. Oase. All seemed very knowledgeable, heard they were very good surgeons, bring a lot of knowledge to academics.

Residents: 4 per year, very chill environment, all the residents are super cool, took time to teach, well trained.

Didactics: Journal club monthly, grand rounds monthly with Hass and Cobb, weekly McGlamry reviews, various workshops like ex-fix, stryker mobile lab and others.

OR Experience: Students only see the VA side of surgery. Surgery load low right now, only one attending, there is the potential for that to change when more attendings are brought on. Surgeries Wednesday and Friday with various add ons occasionally throughout the week. As a student you don't do much, there is usually a 1st year scrubbed with the 2nd or 3rd year so they will typically do any closures. From what I've heard the residents get most of their experience outside the VA with community attendings.

Clinic Experience: As a student you are mostly in the clinic with 3-4 other residents, busy clinic. No toenails, they have medical assistants who run a routine foot care clinic that you DO NOT staff. Good mix of sports medicine pathology, little bit of trauma, some wounds but not as many as other VAs.

Research Opportunities: No requirements, I wasn't aware of any ongoing projects. Not a focus of the program.

Lifestyle: Student hours about 7:30-4. Pretty good work/life balance. 1st and 2nd year residents switch off a week of call at a time and they do the rounding and manage consults throughout the day, as SLCPod said "7 weeks 1st year". Seemed that the residents had time for their families and recreation. Low cost of living.

Pros: Variety of pathology with veterans and active duty, good exposure to cases in the community, laid back feel and good residents, good relationship with ortho (no foot and ankle orthos so no competition). Exposure to Ponsetti casting at Hass and Cobb’s office. Albuquerque is actually a really cool place if you are into the outdoors, awesome mountain biking, hiking, backpacking, skiing.

Cons: Very transitional. New director still trying to navigate the waters. Residents never used to double scrub but with new director it seems to happen a lot. Not a lot of surgeries at the VA (could change in the future). A lot of clinic (pro or con depending on your opinion).

Overall Conclusion: Good program with a lot of outside surgical experience, VA podiatry portion still kind of a question mark.

 

[sfgiantsfan13]

Program Name: Scripps Mercy Hospital

General Program/Hospital Info: First two years spent rotating through Scripps Mercy downtown, Scripps La Jolla, Sharp, and a couple different Kaisers. Program based out of Scripps Mercy. One third year stays in San Diego basically scrubbing whatever surgeries they want, two go to Kaiser Sacramento where they work with the two third year residents from the New Mexico program, and one resident goes to Kaiser Fontana in the inland empire.

Attendings: Dr. Don Green (director) runs a pretty tight ship, very involved in academics and ALL affairs of the program. This is a west coast program but Don Green is PI trained so it has kind of a different feel at times. Dr. Ryan Lee (clerkship director), Dr. Cullen, Dr. Moghadam. Dr. Richard Green retired but he still comes to all the academics.

Residents: 4 per year, really good group, very smart but also friendly. They tend to like the top of the class. If you are middle of the class you might get an externship but not guaranteed an interview unless you have a good month and leave a good impression.

Didactics: Definitely an academic heavy program. X-ray conference every Friday morning which is basically student and 1st year resident pimp session. Heavy on biomechanics, but Dr. Green’s brand of biomechanics. Usually another academic meeting Tuesday nights, either journal club or a lecture from one of the Scripps attendings or a visiting attending, monthly cadaver lab. Students give a presentation which is a VERY important part of your month. I definitely worked the hardest on the presentation for this clerkship, you pick an attending and resident mentor and they help coach you through it.

OR Experience: Seemed to be plenty of cases to go around. 1st years don’t do much in surgery, double scrub a lot and occasionally will do an amp first assist. 2nd years seemed pretty confident though and good with their hands. Trauma at Scripps Mercy, more elective bread and butter stuff at Kaiser. I saw two calcs and an open ankle while I was there. As a student I scrubbed everything at Kaiser and about half the cases at Scripps Mercy since a lot of times the 1st year was double scrubbed. Dr. Green doesn’t operate much these days but when he does it's an event. I saw one of the second years scrub an ankle with ortho and he let him do about half of it so they do have the opportunity to jump in ortho cases when they are on the board.

Clinic Experience: Trauma and acute care clinic two half days a week with Cullen, Lee, or Moghadam. Residents and students staff these clinics. Lots of ORIF post ops and other call patient follow ups. Good opportunity to perfect your casting as there is no cast tech, I found this beneficial. Every other Monday is palliative care clinic with Dr. Green where you can expect to do a full biomechanical work-up on every patient and get pimped to the max.

Research Opportunities: Requirements for a project your 2nd and 3rd year. All the residents present their research at the PI conference in San Diego. Residents seemed to be scrambling for anything to jump in on with other attendings and I heard them say that there is a push for research without a lot of support.

Lifestyle: Hours were pretty variable depending on what was going on at Scripps in terms of add ons and inpatients. Some weeks seem to be pretty chill and light, others are crazy. Residents seemed pretty well adjusted, busy but not super stressed. San Diego is obviously an awesome city with great food, can be expensive but you can find something affordable if you know where to look. 75% chance you will have to move after your first two years.

Pros: Strong academics. Good surgical volume. Good mix of trauma and elective. Great attendings, eager to teach. Lots of other residents at Scripps so the off rotations are good. Lunch catered EVERY DAY for internal med noon conference which pod is welcome and encouraged to attend. Free soup and sandwiches at the cafeteria.

Cons: Could be perceived as micromanaged, have to turn in a calendar every month as a resident accounting for every surgery, consult, academic meeting. Expensive. Not a ton of hands on your 1st year. I’ve heard Kaiser Sac third year call hours are kind of crazy, so if you stay in San Diego the third year you’re kind of living the good life but going to Sac you’re kind of the grunt intern again (this is heresay I obviously don’t know first hand).

Overall Conclusion: Good program, one of the better ones in California for sure. Good training in a great area, can’t beat that ocean breeze.

 

[sfgiantsfan13]

Program Name: Franciscan Health System- St. Francis Hosp.

General Program/Hospital Info: Based out of St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way, WA. Surgery heavy program. Cover inpatient at St. Francis only and scrub at all the CHI Franciscan hospitals in the Puget Sound area. Probably my favorite clerkship overall.

Attendings: Dr. Byron Hutchinson (director) is a big name in podiatry, does a ton of crazy recon stuff and TARs. Dr. Craig Clifford also does big cases, has published a lot. Dr. Scott (externship director), Dr. Farley, Dr. Yearian, and a lot of others.

Residents: Two per year, small tight knit group, very chill, all very smart. They just started a fellowship but the fellow doesn’t cherry pick cases from the residents. They probably get their numbers or come close their first year.

Didactics: Weekly academics, journal club, radiology rounds, lectures. No student presentation.

OR Experience: Definitely the strength of this program. First years are first assisting pretty much everything skin to skin from day 1. Schedule comes out over the weekend and 3rd year on service assigns cases. 3rd year usually scrubs the cases with Hutch. Most of the attendings are very trusting and willing to hand over the knife. As a student scrubbing cases was my only responsibility.

Clinic Experience: Probably the only weakness of the program. 3rd year you spend time with Hutch in clinic but this is not your average clinic. 1st years spend 1 day per week with Dr. Farley in clinic. No post-op follow up unless you are with Hutch.

Research Opportunities: They all seemed to be working on posters for ACFAS, pretty sure it was required. Attendings are pretty supportive so I’m sure there’s help if you needed it.

Lifestyle: As a student the lifestyle was sweet. I scrubbed 42 cases while there and still had at least one day off during the week and afternoons a lot of times. Awesome opportunity to get some good studying in for interviews while getting lots of exposure to surgery. 1st years are on primary call when they are on service which is every other month and then they switch off weekends with the other 1st year I believe. They don’t manage a lot of inpatients (2 was the most I saw on their list while I was there) and didn’t seem to be called that much in comparison to some other programs.

Pros: Amazing surgical training. Great attendings, very chill vibe while also being academic, they don’t take themselves too seriously. Medical mission to Mexico in your 2nd year. Hutch has great connections and lots of wisdom to pass along. Free food at all the CHI hospitals.

Cons: Very little clinic. Show up and cut, not part of the planning, just do what the attendings want to do. Doesn’t pay very well for the area.

Overall Conclusion: Great surgical training in a chill environment. Takes the best parts of the well known “high powered” programs and leaves out a lot of the crap. Awesome clerkship month, highly recommend.

 

[that1guyfromFL]

Program Name: Cedars-Sinai Medican Center

General Program/Hospital Info: A level I trauma center in Beverly Hills and well renowned nationally and internationally. Podiatry residents scrub with one ortho attending at the hospital and get most of their hindfoot/recon cases that way. Lots of forefoot and DFI cases. Program is associated with the Amputation Prevention Center and the attendings (also graduated from Cedars) bring their cases to Cedars.

Attendings: Dr. Massaband, Dr. Klemmings, Dr. Pfeiffer (MD Ortho), other attendings from the wound care center and local private offices

Residents: 1 per year, although there has been talks to expand the program to 2 residents/year, unsure when that will happen though. Residents are very easygoing.

Didactics: Morning weekly lecture by Western U (streamed online), ortho journal club with Dr. Pfeiffer and student presentation at the end of the month. Residents will help you to prepare for interviews/boards during downtime.

OR Experience: The surgeries at Cedars are mainly forefoot/I&Ds/Amputations. But there are outside surgery centers that students usually don't go. Heard that there are enough cases to be covered and it's all about motivation.

Clinic Experience: Tuesday morning podiatry clinic. This is the only clinic you will get.

Research Opportunities: Opportunities are definitely there if you are motivated. Cedars is a big hospital that provides support.

Lifestyle: Pretty chill. At Cedars residents usually manage inpatients which are typically diabetic foot wounds. After that the day is usually over and residents will work on notes and stand-by for any consults. Pay is great and approaching 60k which is decent for the soCal area programs. Good benefits.

Pros: Cedars is a big name so if you are trained at Cedars may get you more opportunities in the MD/DO world if you are looking into multi-specialty or hospital jobs. Great pay in a prime location. Residents have autonomy and there is no micromanagement. Lots of wounds if you are into wound care as this program is affiliated with the Amputation Prevention Center.

Cons: Not much clinic (can be a good or bad thing), inpatient list can get quite extensive, not much variety of cases, lack of supervision (the attendings are usually not there). Motivation is key as you must be proactive about your training experience.

Overall Conclusion: Program is okay with average training but popular due to the Cedars name and location. This program has a lot potential for growth.

 

[that1guyfromFL]

Program Name: Long Beach Memorial Medical Center

General Program/Hospital Info: A community hospital in Long Beach, CA that is affiliated with UC Irvine, however the podiatry program itself is not. Program is heavy on wound care but does get its rearfoot/recon cases.

Attendings: Dr. Aslmand, Dr. Bautista, other attendings from the community who will admit DFI patients and perform cases

Residents: 2 per year. The residents are pretty nice and understanding.

Didactics: Noon conferences and Tuesday wound care multi-specialty rounds. Students make 1 weekly presentation (less than 5 mins) and a final presentation at the end of the month.

OR Experience: Lots of rearfoot cases with Dr. Bautista. Otherwise the typical podiatry bread and butter and DFI cases.

Clinic Experience: As a student you will spend about 2 weeks total shadowing in Dr. Aslmand and Dr. Bautista's offices. On Friday you also shadow Dr. Hubbard. The residents don't seem to be participating in clinic though.

Research Opportunities: Definitely there if you want it.

Lifestyle: Easygoing. Usually starts the day with rounding on all the inpatients or scrubbing in cases depending on which resident you are following. Program is affiliated with outpatient surgery centers and the drive is acceptable. Day is usually over by 3 PM, after that residents are working on notes or seeing new consults. As students you do need to come to the hospital on weekends to help with rounding.

Pros: Surgical experience is average but Dr. Bautista brings a lot of interesting cases to the hospital. Lots of hands-on experience if you scrub with him. First years usually double scrub with 2nd years, but 2nd and 3rd years are very independent. Good location with good pay and benefits.

Cons: Lots of wound care (can be a good/bad thing). Didactics are lacking and not very well organized.

Overall Conclusion: Overall it is one of the better programs in the soCal area, surgical numbers are fine and there are quite a bit rearfoot/recon cases.

 

[feet2017]

Program Name: Kaiser Santa Clara

General Program/Hospital Info: All the kaiser's in norcal are pretty similar as far as case load and diversity, also all the kaisers have a lot of driving. At kaiser SC you spend time between kaiser santa clara and then san leandro/fremont. Kaiser SC is a much nicer hospital than leandro/fremont, also I would say the teaching/experience at santa clara is much better than san leandro/fremont. At the kaisers you get a lot of case diversity and decent surgical volume. There is a balance between OR and Clinic (skewed a little more towards clinic) and you take call for all 3 years. At all kaisers you get to work pretty closely with ortho. Kaiser Santa Clara is kind of in between Kaiser SF and Vallejo when it comes to research.

Attending: Neagu, Weinraub, Patel, Risser, Richter, Bui and some other attendings that add up to about 16. Some F/A attendings that you just do surgery and call with.

Residents: Residents are pretty nice and mostly from the top of their class. I would say they have a lot of different personalities.

Didactics:
Weekly didactic sessions (journal club, radiology review, text review, complex foot clinic), vascular rounds. Weekly combined (ortho and radiology) radiology rounds

OR Experience: The first years don't get too much OR experience because they do about 8 months of off rotations. During their 2nd year they start learning how to do stuff and around 3rd year they are decent. I've seen worse and better 3rd years. They don't double scrub and depending on the attending you won't really get to cut. The big name of the program is weinraub and depending on the resident, i've noticed he lets some do more and some do nothing. The one thing I noticed that's different about kaiser SC than vallejo/SF was that ortho switches with podiatry for foot and ankle call. So for like a month or something all the foot/ankle cases are done with an ortho attending and then next month it's podiatry. Ortho is really nice to the podiatry residents and generally lets them do a lot.

Clinic Experience: You get a lot of clinic experience from pre-op, post-op, trauma, and general podiatry. kaiser does a good job of funneling foot and ankle cases to podiatry.

Research Opportunities: They do a decent amount of research and i believe they are trying to push for more research.

Lifestyle: Residents are generally busy, but I wouldn't say they are exhausted. There is always inpatient work to do. They have a lot of call compared to other residencies, all 3 years.

Pros: You get exposure to all sorts of surgeries and pathologies in clinic. You get to do pre-op, surgery, and post-op care. They have ortho techs, so you don't have to take off or put on casts. Nice area to live in. Well balanced program.

Cons: Some may say this program has a little bit too much clinic, I personally think so. I think the residents could use a little more cut time. Expensive area to live in. a lot of driving and traffic.

Overall Conclusion: I think that this program will provide solid training and would consider it one of california's top programs. Nation wide I would consider it above average. I wasn't extremely impressed by the 3rd years surgical skills, but I've also seen worse.

 

[CATSandKILOS]

Does anyone know anything about NYC or Brooklyn programs? Which ones are good/ones to avoid? Mount Sinai Beth Israel?

 

[SLCpod]

Program Name: DVA- Soutern Arizona

General Program/Hospital Info: As an extern I was only able to see the VA facilities. The Tucson VA has a beautiful campus and their library has a lot of resources. They will buy any book you want and put it into their collection. I didn't go to any outside rotations.

Attendings: Dr. Dancho, Dr. Jolley and Dr. Martin are the attendings I worked with and they were all eager to teach. They were comfortable with forefoot procedures.

Residents: There are 4 residents per year. Some of them were excellent and others lacked surgical abilities. There are some that didn't seem to enjoy their time in the clinic.

Didactics: There were journal reviews and surgical case presentations during lunch every week. We didn't participate in any workshops during my month visit.

OR Experience: I was able to suture and act as 1st assistant. The attendings are willing to let the residents and students do all the work.

Clinic Experience: LOTS of wounds. LOTS of chip and clip. If your patient needs surgery you work it up, schedule it, perform the surgery and follow the patient.

Research Opportunities: Residents are given a month to carry out research. If you want to do Podiatric research this is a great program.

Lifestyle: The residents had a balanced lifestyle.

Pros: For those who want a non-surgical practice this seems to be a good fit. There is a lot of clinic with some surgery here and there. There are opportunities to do clubfoot casting.

Cons: There is a lot of routine nail care. The attendings aren't involved with the outside rotation education.

Overall Conclusion: This is a good program if you don’t intend to have a surgically driven practice. The attendings try to give you a lot of autonomy. If you want to do more surgery, you have the opportunity to do so by trying to get more cases with outside attendings. There is an opportunity to participate in a clubfoot rotation. If you like wounds, this is the place for you. Tremendous opportunities exist for podiatric research. Specifically in diabetic wound care products. Publication in a peer-reviewed journal is required for graduation.

 

[SLCpod]

Program Name: ST MARY’S LIVONIA


General Program/Hospital Info: This is a fairly new program. The hospital system is amazing. The residents have great library resources, access to great food and podiatry is the only surgical specialty. Podiatry consults are seen at two hospitals that are about 25 min apart. Travel to and from was easy. There are some other residency programs and also med students that rotate through the hospital. Many of the off rotation attendings are willing to teach.


Attendings: Dr. Adelman was trained at DMC and likes to do a lot of trauma. You will rotate with the other attendings at their private office. All the attendings were easy to work with and were eager to answer questions.

Residents: 2 spots a year. The residents did well in the OR and performed adequately in clinic. They got together a couple times for drinks after busy days.

Didactics: During my month there weren’t many academic opportunities. There were no courses or workshops. They meet one early morning every week and end up complaining about things rather than discussing the assigned journals or textbook chapters. This is something that was discussed during my interview and they said they are trying to make this aspect of the program better.

OR Experience: The residents double and sometimes triple scrub. Dr. Adleman is a very good teacher and wants as many residents in the surgery as possible. NOT ALL THE CASES ARE LIKE THIS. You will have a lot of surgical opportunity, but you are also expected to know every tool on the back table in any case. This means that there are times that you will fill in for the scrub tech. Some residents like this, others do not. As a student I got to do some things here and there but it depends on the resident you are scrubbed with as well as the attending.

Clinic Experience: As a student you mostly observe while visiting clinics. The residents rotate through the private offices of the attendings.

Research Opportunities: The health system will give grants and support you in research.

Lifestyle: First year is tough but it gets better and better. They are a small group that works together a lot. If you don’t like your coresidents it may be a difficult 3 years. Ann Arbor is beautiful and there a lot of activities to do around the Detroit area.

Pros: Good surgical numbers. A lot of opportunities to work with orthopods. Good health care system. Work hard, play hard mentality. Good trauma. Early exposure to surgery.

Cons: Academics.

Overall Conclusion: This is a program that will get better as time passes. It is still relatively new but Dr. Adelman has a good vision and is pushing it in the right direction. This program will fit someone who wants a lot of autonomy and the opportunity to make difficult decisions early. You will also need to be self-motivated. There is a lot of time that you are working by yourself while on call. Residents will leave this program with plenty of surgical numbers.

 

[SLCpod]

Program Name: ST MARY’S INDIANA

General Program/Hospital Info: There are two main hospitals and various surgery centers throughout the Evansville area where you will work. The hospital is a level 2 trauma center. The residents are trying to get licensed in Kentucky so they can have additional surgery opportunity in the Henderson area. The hospital system is very generous to the residents giving you $1,000 your first year and $3,200 your 2nd and 3rd years for conferences and boards. The program is a "family" programs as most residents are married with kids. They also said they look for candidates with families.

Attendings: Dr. Alvey is the director and he is a great mentor and has a great personality. The other attendings range from those who do a lot of forefoot surgery and those who do complicated rearfoot cases. It is a good mixture and the residents are doing a lot of the cases.

Residents: There are 2 spots a year. All of the residents are very friendly and seem to be very knowledgeable. Most of them have families and get together on the weekends.

Didactics: There is a morning meeting every week where they give presentations and discuss articles. There are always attendings present to guide the discussion and give surgical pearls. There were no hands on workshops while I visited.

OR Experience: For students there is a lot of standing and watching. You are not able to scrub with some of the attendings. The residents never double scrub and have the opportunity to do a lot of the surgery. All of the attendings are experienced and are willing to teach.

Clinic Experience: There is a weekly resident clinic which is chip and clip, wounds and some biomechanics. The residents do clinic with tri-state ortho and get a lot of experience working up complicated cases.

Research Opportunities: There was little research at the time I visited and they are hoping to do more in the future.

Lifestyle: Evansville is a pretty small area. There are some hunting and fishing opportunities nearby. Call was not as strenuous as I had seen at other programs but it can be heavy at times.

Pros: Great attendings that are willing to teach and help. Lots of surgery. Family friendly. Hospital pays for meals and uniforms. Student housing available across the street from the hospital.

Cons: Academics need to improve.

Overall Conclusion: This program is a hidden gem. Lots of good surgery and the attendings are great mentors. It is a "family" program and the residents will tell you this while visiting and at interviews. Evansville can seem very small but there are a lot of activities in the area. The residents usually don't have any problems finding excellent jobs.

 

[deleted844418]

Program Name:
DVA - Atlanta

General Program/Hospital Info:
The main hospital is at the Atlanta VA. Surgeries are every Thursday at the VA but residents rotate through multiple ASCs, at least 3 but possibly more. VA is in a relatively nice part of the city. ASCs range from tiny private offices with 1 OR to larger facilities. Atlanta traffic BLOWS.

Attendings:
Dr. Salvo (New director), Dr. Jimenez (previous director), Dr. Murad, Dr. Frenchman, Dr. Bituin, Dr. Tirado, others

Residents:
2 PMSR/RRA spots and 1 PMSR spot, so 3 residents total. I believe it’s usually the PMSR spot that scrambles, but I’m not 100% sure. Varied mix of personalities, but most residents were friendly and approachable.

Didactics:
Weekly didactics every Wednesday. Tended to run pretty late, usually from 3:30ish to 8 or 8:30. Students give 2 presentations during their time there. They can be assigned by a resident/attending or students can choose their own topic. When students/residents weren’t giving presentations, residents would work up surgical cases for the next day in front of attendings, and there was also boards review as well. Pretty good mix I thought, but I think students should be fine giving the standard one presentation at the end of the rotation. Two full presentations was a bit much.

OR Experience:
Definitely didn’t spend as much time in the OR here as many of my other rotations, but I also wasn’t the only extern there that month so we rotated cases in the OR. Surgeries at the VA are on Thursdays. ASC surgeries were Tuesday, Thursday and Friday I believe but I might be wrong. VA cases were mostly bread and butter, austins and I&Ds. Lapidus and other more involved cases were at ASCs. Residents should be competent in common, bread and butter cases at the end of their time here. Definitely not a super big surgery program, I wouldn’t expect to do many TAA or arthroscopes here.

Clinic Experience:
VAs tend to have the busiest, most hands-on and varied outpatient experiences from the programs I’ve been to, and Atlanta VA is no exception. Busy clinic with varied pathologies, but you will definitely see your fair share of C&C. LOTS of wounds. There’s a complex care clinic that focuses on major rear foot and ankle pathologies with Dr. Jimenez once a week. Some attendings see their private patients during clinic as well. Definitely a strength of the program.

Research Opportunities:
Didn’t see or hear anything about research during my time there.

Lifestyle:
Very desirable. Inpatient load wasn’t very high, usually somewhere from 3-5. Residents definitely had plenty of time to spend with friends and family and weren’t worked to death. Atlanta is a gorgeous city with plenty to do.

Pros:
-New director is very motivated and determined to build the program up.
-The previous director, Dr. Jimenez is still involved in the program. He is a goldmine of wisdom and a great teacher.
-Not a super time-intensive program, plenty of time to spend with your family and friends
-Excellent clinic exposure

Cons:
-Overshadowed by Dekalb
-Dr. Salvo is great, but she’s relatively young and it might take a bit of time for the kinks to be worked out as she adjusts to the role of residency director
-Not much research (if you’re interested in that)
-Not much trauma or out of the ordinary cases (muscle flaps, TAA)
-Patients tended to be more rude and demanding, even for a VA

Overall Conclusion:
This is one of only two podiatric residency programs in a major metropolitan city, so there is a HUGE potential for growth. Program tends to get overlooked but residents can get solid training here if they put the effort in. Did I mention Atlanta traffic was absolutely horrendous?

 

[deleted844418]

Program Name:
Geisinger Community Medical Center

General Program/Hospital Info:
Hospital is located in Scranton PA. I think residents spend some time at other locations, but I was at Geisinger my entire month. I did spent a little time every week at Dr. Laporta’s private practice. PA state law requires you to take part 3 before you start residency. Salary is decent, but doesn’t make up for the fact that you have to live in Scranton.

Attendings:
Dr. LaPorta (Director), Dr. Miccici, Dr. Nasser

Residents:
5 RRA spots, so 15 residents total. 1st years were generally friendly, but a lot of the 2nd and 3rd years were openly hostile to students and junior residents. Program tends to scramble one or two spots, probably a side effect of its size.

Didactics:
Weekly didactics and journal clubs. Student gives one presentation at the end of the month. You give the presentation on your laptop in Dr. LaPorta’s office in a cramped room.

OR Experience:
LOTS of cases and very busy OR. Cases ran from morning to night basically every day. Residents rarely double scrubbed cases. Students take weekend call, and come in to round and also to scrub in any cases those days. Expect to be in the OR for 10-12 hours a day. Students can scrub any case they want to.

Clinic Experience:
Dr. LaPorta has clinic at his office once a week. There is also a wound care clinic where residents see patients. The attendings at wound care clinic are very friendly and willing to teach. Otherwise, not much outpatient exposure. Inpatient load was INSANE. Frequently 20+ patients. Residents would regularly start rounds around 3:30am. Surgery is definitely the emphasis at this program.

Research Opportunities:
Dr. LaPorta is very well known in podiatry, there are opportunities for those interested.

Lifestyle:
1st year seems brutal. Interns regularly spend 80+ hours a week at the hospital. You pretty much have no life when you are on call. Lifestyle seems to improve somewhat as you move into PGY-2 and PGY-3 years. Scranton is not a very nice place to live. Streets are worn and narrow, and the entire city was very hill-y.

Pros:
-The most rigorous surgical training from any program I’ve seen. This is the program to go to if you want to be a full-fledged “Foot and Ankle Surgeon”

-Dr. LaPorta is very well known and you can learn A LOT from him

-Salary and benefits are very competitive

-Excellent Ex-Fix exposure

-Hospital provides meal tickets to help offset cost of food

-Housing close to the hospital reserved for students, but you have to pay $400 for the month. You will have roommates.

Cons:
-Most attendings were, to put plainly, unfriendly and aggressive. Residents were regularly belittled in the OR. Students weren’t treated much better.

-Hours are terrible. Inpatient load was always massive, residents were constantly working on 2-3 hours of sleep.

-Scranton. Enough said.

Overall Conclusion:
People looking for intense surgical training with various techniques may find what they are looking for here. Personally, this place wasn’t for me. I don’t learn well with people screaming and belittling me. There wasn’t enough clinic exposure in my opinion. Dr. LaPorta is incredibly intelligent but his mood and demeanor can turn on a dime.

 

[Pod267]

Program Name: Temple University Hospital (TUH)

General Program/Hospital Info: University hospital based in North Philadelphia with numerous residency and fellowship programs. TUH is affiliated with TUSPM, Temple Jeanes, Temple Episcopal, Abington Memorial Hospital, and Sinai Hospital's Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics in Baltimore, MD. The program is surgery based and sees a wide variety of cases. Busy program.

Attendings: Dr. Andrew J. Meyr (Residency Director), Dr. Kieran Mahan (Assistant director), Dr. Van (externship director), Dr. Kwaadu, Dr. Moore, Dr. Pontious and about ~10 more DPMs from TUSPM and private practices.

Residents: 4 years PMSR/RRA. 3 residents/yr.

Didactics: 2 scheduled academics a week. Externs will give a mini-presentation every week and a big 15-20 min presentation at the end of the month. Academics include radiology rounds, journals, board reviews, cadaver workshops, etc. Attendings are very involved in academics. Dr. Meyr is a very thoughtful and caring individual who is willing to teach. All other attendings are basically the same way. Residents are very nice and very involved in working with students throughout the month. Will go over presentations and study with you whenever there is down time.

OR Experience: Relatively busy, especially on certain days. But there are cases booked every day. Residents are well-trained and attendings expect a lot from their residents. The only case I didn’t see here was TAR. Attendings are not hesitant to take the blade away from the resident if they don’t know what they are doing. Some attendings are worse than the others, but majority of them are good. As a student you’ll do some here and there but not too much. You also do surgeries at other hospitals such as Jeanes, Abington Memorial, and TUSPM ASC with other attendings.

Clinic Experience: This is one area of the program I believe it needs some improvement. The clinic experience residents get are mostly from TUSPM clinic, which is student-run. Temple residents will “work” in the surgery module where they will see some of their pre-/post-op patients, but most of the work are done by 3rd and 4th year Pod students in the clinic. They do have other clinic exposure with other attendings later in the residency.

Research Opportunities: It’s there for those seeking it. It’s a program that is led by Dr. Meyr and he is very encouraging and wants his residents and students to do research. Rest of the attendings such as Dr. Mahan (old-school PI guy), Dr. Van, and Dr. Kwaadu are other attendings who are very involved in research opportunities with residents and students.

Lifestyle: Just like any other program, as a 1st year, it’s just balls. Long hours, report by 7AM leave whenever but no earlier than 7 PM (same for other years as well). Chiefs and other junior residents don’t just leave whenever they are done, they make sure the in-patient list is up to date and that everything is good. Good teamwork. Every year has its own just plain suckiness. As a 2nd year, you have 2 months of vascular surgery and 1 month of trauma surgery. As a 3rd year 2 months at Rubin institute in Baltimore.

Pros: Great program, surgically busy. Great attendings and great teamwork among residents.

Cons: 4 years. Limited clinic exposure.

Overall Conclusion: Solid program. Great training. Great variety of surgical cases. The only procedure I didn’t saw was TAR, but that doesn't mean anything, imo. A lot of forefoot, rearfoot, recon, Charcot, trauma, and of course, amps. I know people from other school don’t really look into TUH because they believe TUH only accepts TUSPM students. Yes, all residents are from TUSPM, but that is only because 98% of applicants are from TUSPM. They had 2 students (1 NYCPM & 1 Western) that externed there this year, although all the incoming 1st years are from TUSPM. The director and the externship director stated that they would love to see students from other schools.

 

[Pod267]

Program Name: LIJ/Northwell Health – New Hyde Park

General Program/Hospital Info: Part of Northwell Health, the program covers 3 hospitals, LIJ in New Hyde Park, Franklin in Valley Stream, and North Shore University Hospital. Residents also do surgeries at multiple surgery centers.

Attendings: Dr. Russell Caprioli (director), Dr. Haight (assistant director), Dr. Bilotti and 20+ DPMs

Residents: 4 residents a year PMSR/RRA, 3-year program.

Didactics: 2 academics a week. Resident run academic and morning academic with the director and assistant director on Thursday mornings. Students will present whatever they were told to present on Thursday mornings. One big presentation at the end of the month, topic is assigned for you. Dr. Caprioli is like a father figure of the program and Dr. Haight is a very knowledgeable individual who will pimp you like there’s no tomorrow. Dr. Haight is a pretty intimidating man imo but has the best interest in your education and is a very nice man if you get to know him.

OR Experience: Busy OR. A lot of forefoot. Attendings at this program give the blade to the resident from the start. Students, if they are proactive and have everything ready in the OR, they will have you do more and more. Since NY DPMs can have ankles now, I saw some while I was there. Compared to some programs, their ankle numbers may be lacking, but their quality of education is great, which can make up for the lack of quantity (depends on how you look at it).

Clinic Experience: great clinic experience. Twice a week wound care with the director and assistant director. And clinic at North Shore hospital. The resident on floor will have to go to the clinic to help out. The student will help with clinic and floor duties.

Research Opportunities: It’s there, but no one’s like “hey let’s do this”.

Lifestyle: residents here are very busy. North shore and LIJ are very big hospitals and their inpatient list can be crazy long. But all the residents seem very happy. It’s a good group of people and they get along very well. Noted, their sense of humor may offend some people, but if you get it, you’ll have fun with them as well.

Pros: great team of residents and some attendings. Great amount of forefoot training, great quality of training.

Cons: cost of living is ridiculous. Limited ankle numbers.

Overall Conclusion: It’s a good program. IMO, I think it’s one of the better programs in NY. I know a lot of people are turned off by NY programs, but there are good NY programs out there if you look for it, and I think this is one of them. Hopefully as years go by and they get more ankle cases, the program can be amazing, it definitely has the potential. Residents are great, attendings are great. Great area, although expensive. You have to be a certain type of person to mesh well with the residents here, can’t be easily offended.

 

[jmarshall20]

Hey everyone, hope all is well.

I'm curious about some of the S.Florida programs. I've talked to a few students that have clerked and eventually ended up at East Orlando, Westside, and JFK.

My question is, outside of these programs, does anyone any any solid information on Jackson North, Jackson South, and Aventura? Theoretically they all sounds like they have a lot to offer, but I've yet to get any information from anyone that has actually been to the programs.

Thanks guys, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

 

[TimmyTurner]

Anyone extern at the Fort Bragg program?

 

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Any reviews for IMC in utah?

 

[Halux]

Program Name: Intermountain Medical Center- Utah Residency

General Program/Hospital Info: As an extern I was only able to see the VA facilities. The first year they are at the VA and the second and third years they are out in the community scrubbing cases with private practice guys, at IHC, and in ortho groups. The first year you get paid a VA salary which is paltry but, after that you get a really good salary especially for Utah.

Attendings: Dr. Clint Larsen, Dr. Ellis, Dr. Hodge are at the VA, They also have some outside docs come into the VA to do surgery.

Residents: There are 6 a year. They seemed like solid residents for the most part. There was one girl that was terrible in every aspect but the rest of the residents were about what you would expect for a VA residency.

Didactics: When I was there they had academics on a regular basis but they were not supervised by attendings and the residents just wanted to get their free dinner and get out of there. So there was not much learning. I hear from my buddy that it is getting better since Larsen took over so that might not be the case any more.

OR Experience: Very few cases at the VA. I scrubbed probably five cases in five weeks. They had me scrub in with the attending, 1st year and 3rd year. I got to suture, take out a screw, and put in a tension band while I was there so they do let you do stuff as an extern. The residents didn't seem very confident in the OR. A subchondroplasty took over 6 hours to perform and simple amputations took over an hour. One of the cases that my co extern scrubbed was a lisfranc fracture dislocation and that took close to 8 hours! Most of this is because the attendings are not hands on and let the residents struggle through each case.

Clinic Experience: Lots of clinic! And a very busy clinic at that. As externs you are basically unsupervised because they have to many patients. They literally tell you on your first day that you don't need to present unless there is an infection or if you don't know what to do. This was awesome to tell you the truth. I learned more clinically in this month than any other externship! I loved the independence and you get that same independence as a resident. They also had a pre op clinic that was very thorough. You would take 1 or 2 patients and work them up head to toe and you would need to know everything about them. After that you meet with the director (it was Young at the time) and he would go through everything and make sure the patient was optimized before the surgery and if they weren't they didn't get to go. If you passed the pre op conference then you got to scrub the case also. It was a good learning experience. I hope they still do that since Larsen took over.

Research Opportunities: There was none when I was there. But, my friend says that the new director is pushing this hard. I think they only have to do one project so that isn't bad at all.

Lifestyle: It seemed like when they were on service at the VA it sucked. But any other off-rotation or when you are in the community that they had a good lifestyle. Lots of residents with families.

Pros: Autonomy in surgery and clinic. Great salary 2nd and 3rd year. Lots of attendings to scrub with and learn different techniques. Utah is a great place to live especially if you like the outdoors and very family friendly. You get exposure inside and outside a VA.

Cons: The orthopods have a bad relation with the podiatrists in Utah. At the VA there was 2 incidences that Dr. Ellis was not able to operate on a patient with an ankle fracture because the orthos told the ED that he was not qualified. They also have weird practice limitations. It's not the most restrictive but it isn't ideal. You have long days when you are on VA podiatry. Academics were a waste of time and not beneficial while I was there.

Overall Conclusion: A good program that anyone should be happy to go to. I would recommend it to anyone. A good place to extern you'll learn a lot.

 

[Podstar]

Any reviews for Surgical Hospital of Oklahoma/CCF?

 

[anonymouspodstudent]

Any reviews on

St.Francis (CT)
LEECOM/Millcreek (PA)
DVA-Baltimore (MD)
Christiana Care Health Services (DE)

 

[ISUBird100]

Does anyone have any information on any of the following places:

St. Joseph Medical Center (TX)
Kingwood Medical Center
Banner University of Arizona Medical Center

 

[de Ribas]

Does anyone know anything about Truman Medical Center Lakewood in Kansas City, MO?

Why there is such a big difference in pay for residency? Some pay 40K and some 70K

 

[Weirdy]

Does anyone know anything about Truman Medical Center Lakewood in Kansas City, MO?

Why there is such a big difference in pay for residency? Some pay 40K and some 70K

Cost of living. Among other things.

 

[calvinklein]

any reviews on DVA Loma Linda? Looks like they initially had unfilled residency spots the past couple years.

 

[Packers4lifeDPM]

Are there any up-to-date reviews on the Gundersen residency in La Crosse, WI?

 

[TimmyTurner]

now that match day has come and gone... can we revive this?

 

[ldsrmdude]

Here is an anonymous review that was submitted to me. Just a reminder that if you want to submit a review anonymously, you can PM me and I will post it for you.


Program Name: North Colorado Medical Center

General Program/Hospital Info: Banner Health hospitals in Greeley, Loveland, Rose hospital in Denver, handful of surgical centers

Attending’s: Hatch, Vaardahl, Atherton, Jaakola. Several others, but these were the attendings I was mostly assigned to

Residents: Top notch residents. All ranked high in their respective graduating classes but very laid back and easy going. Residents were very knowledgeable and helpful throughout the rotation. Gave lots of pearls and were very approachable

Didactics: Didactics once a week with biweekly journal clubs,. Didactics included resident or student presentations, x-ray conference, biomechanics etc. Journal club is straightforward with “big picture” discussions, usually completed at a nearby coffee shop, outside of the hospital ran by an attending. Presentation days were incredibly informative and the input from attending’s/residents beneficial. The residents are more than willing to help you with your presentation and answer any questions you can think of.

OR Experience: As a student you spend essentially a month in the operating room scrubbing cases with the occasional visit to an office for clinic. Great diversity of cases., TAR, ex fix, ankles, tendon repairs…Very well balanced, the residents are very confident in the OR. As a student, you will get pimped every so often, if anything I felt very comfortable asking questions.

Clinic Experience: Call and in patient management of hospital patients,, a low income clinic that is resident ran once a week and attending’s private practices. Wound care clinic once a week

Lifestyle: Vary’s between laid back & long hours. On-call the residents are responsible for managing in patients. I did not see a third year resident take call during the month that I was there.

Pros:
One of the most well rounded programs that I had rotated through
Very good mixture of surgical cases
Residents seemed comfortable with their surgical skills
Free food everywhere. Access to a very nice physician’s lounge
Colorado!
Very competitive salary

Cons:
Driving to different hospitals. Most are within a 30 min drive
The main hospital is located about 50 mins outside of Denver


Overall Conclusion:

This was one of the most well rounded programs that I had visited. I was impressed with the residents and the attendings they knew there stuff, but were still extremely humble and very willing to teach without the attitude that I experienced at some of the other big name programs I had clerked at. The third year residents were all successful in landing great jobs. This program only interviews those who clerked or visited for at least 1 week.

 

[ldsrmdude]

Another anonymous review:

Program Name: St. Luke's Hospital - Allentown Campus

General Program/Hospital Info: Located one hour outside of Philly. Main campus for podiatry is in Allentown, but residents also take call in Bethlehem as well. They also travel to other locations in Lehigh Valley for clinic and surgeries.

Attendings: Dr. Diamond (director), Bernstein, Sorrento, etc. (no big names but work with lots of attendings)

Residents: 3/3/3 Competent group of individuals. All ranked highly in their respective classes/schools. They are a hard-working group but also like to have fun. They all work well as a team and support each other.

Didactics: Every Monday evening there's academics, ranging from journal club to specific topics

OR Experience: This is a tiered program where first years will mostly do amps and I&Ds and as the years progress, so does the difficulty of surgeries. A wide variety of surgical training: IM nail, TAR, bunions. Does lack in trauma experience

Clinic Experience: resident-run clinic done by first or second years. Third years rotate in private practice setting with the director or his partners.

Research Opportunities: St. Luke's is a large teaching hospital so there's plenty of opportunities available but it is not mandatory

Lifestyle: Work hard, play hard (or go home) mentality. First years take 13 weeks of call and subsequently less as upper years. 3rd years only do back up call. If not on call, day usually starts around 7/8 and ends around 5/6.

Pros: Well-rounded program with lots of opportunities for residents to grow and become successful. First years start cutting on day one. You must also be confident in general medicine as the podiatry service have admitting privileges.

Cons: not a lot of trauma.

Overall Conclusion: Well-rounded program with lots of autonomy. Residents must be competent to do well here. There's not a lot of hand-holding here. They certainly have no trouble with meeting numbers but if trauma is your thing, this is not the program for you.

 

[ldsrmdude]

One more anonymous review:

Program Name: Detroit Medical Center

General Program/Hospital Info: Sinai Grace hospital is located in heart of Detroit; it is a level 2 trauma center. Podiatry alternates taking FA trauma call with ortho every other week. Detroit Receiving is a level 1 trauma center located near downtown Detroit. This is the hospital where 2nd year podiatry residents will spend 3 months on ortho trauma call, fully integrated into the ortho service. Other hospitals include: Huron Valley, Harper, Beaumont. Farthest hospital is 45min away.

Attendings: Dr. Schwartz (director), Brian Kissel, Erik Kissel, Usen, Sprunger, etc.

Residents: 5/5/5. Current 2nd and 3rd years are a great group of residents; all are hard-working and intelligent individuals. The first years are more questionable.

Didactics: Once a week there's radiology rounds and once a month there's journal club. There's lack of direction during these sessions and most residents see these as waste of time. With the recent change in director, there hasn't been much organization

OR Experience: start cutting first day. 1st years mostly do amps and I&Ds, 2nd years start getting forefoot, 3rd years rearfoot. 3rd years take turn making the schedule and they get to choose what they want

Clinic Experience: 3 full days + 1 half day of wound clinic. When you're not covering cases, you're expected to be in clinic.

Research Opportunities: Not mandatory but I think the opportunities are there...don't know which attending will actually help

Lifestyle: Work and go home mentality. Residents don't go out with each other much with an exception of a couple. Call is split into day and night call. Night call is split between all the residents with first years taking more call. Third years don't do any day call but still have some night call and back-up call.

Pros: Detroit. The city has lots to offer. If it isn't big enough for you, get your passport, Toronto is only 4 hours away! Lots of autonomy. Sink or swim mentality. Off-service rotations are phenomenal. Great trauma and infections exposure. I saw more ankle fractures and I&Ds than bunions during my clerkship.

Cons: This is a larger residency program (5 residents per year) and with more residents there are more opportunities for different personalities to crash. Not the best team work I've seen among residents. Nursing staff in the hospitals are downright rude. Non-compliance of the patient population can quickly wear out on you leading to burn out. Since new director changed over, there hasn't been any direction. There are more questions than there are answers. Didactics are lacking.

Overall Conclusion: DMC used to be a powerhouse, cranking out competent foot and ankle surgeons. It is not what it used to be. However, the system built by the previous director is still there. If you are a go-getter, this program has lots of room for you to grow. But if you are lazy and need someone to push you, this is not for you.

 

[ldsrmdude]

Another anonymous residency review:

Program Name: Detroit Medical Center

General Program/Hospital Info: Residents get to work at approximately 10 hospitals in the Detroit area including Sinai Grace (Level II trauma), Detroit Receiving (Level I trauma), Harper, Huron Valley and Royal Oak Beaumont. Residents also go to Berry Surgical Center. As a first year resident, most of your time is spent at Sinai Grace or the downtown hospitals. The third years spend more of their time doing elective cases at Huron Valley and Beaumont.

Attendings: Dr. Stacey Schwartz is the director. There are approximately 140 podiatrists on staff.

Residents: 5 residents a year. The current second year class is outstanding. The current first year class is definitely the weakest. All the third years have landed jobs or fellowships and are extremely knowledgable.

Didactics: Radiology rounds occurs weekly. Journal club occurs a few times a month. Since the new director has started there seems to be better organization in terms of academics.

OR Experience: DMC residents easily get their numbers. The attendings hand over the knife from the start. The residents/attendings let students do smaller procedures skin-to-skin if they are comfortable with you. Also, residents will let students suture daily if comfortable with them. There is a great variety of cases, especially when it comes to trauma and infection. I saw the most unique pathology here as well. There never was a dull moment in the OR.

Clinic Experience: DMC has a good amount of quality clinic (~3 days a week) and wound clinic (1 day a week). Students see patients and present to the attending or resident and are expected to call and dictate the entire note afterwards. Clinic was so busy I hardly had time to sit down. Another benefit to clinic here is the residents are responsible for doing the coding. I did not see the residents code at any other program I attended.

Research Opportunities: Research is not mandatory, however, there are many opportunities to get involved. Several second and third year residents were actively involved in research when I was there.

Lifestyle: The residents are extremely busy. Second year is probably the busiest due to their three month ortho rotation. In regards to call, call is divided into day and night call. Night call tends to get busy with all the trauma in the area. In terms of the Detroit area, there is a lot to do including hiking, restaurants, sports games, and fun bars. Driving in the winter can be a challenge if you are not used to it, as there tends to be a lot of snow.

Pros: This is a very respected program across the country. Numbers are easily reached and you will be an extremely well-rounded resident. Their off service rotations are excellent, especially ortho trauma. Another HUGE pro is not having to wear clinic clothes as a student or resident. The scrubs are quite comfortable. Also, the residents like to teach and most do not pimp.

Cons: Some may see DMC's sink or swim mentality as a con. This program is NOT for the meek. In addition, patient compliance is an issue here, due to the immense poverty/lack of education in Detroit. Also, the first year class is a little concerning when it comes to their skills.

Overall Conclusion: DMC is a powerhouse program. The residents are extremely smart and confident in their skills. The program recently went through a change in directors in the past year. This change has eliminated much of the behind-the-scene drama. If you have the opportunity to do a clerkship here it will definitely benefit you in the future due to all the hands-on experience.

 

[Podstar]

Still looking for a review of Surgical Hospital of Oklahoma. Thanks.

 

[studentpod4]

Program Name: Detroit Medical Center

General Program/Hospital Info: Residents get to work at a number of hospitals in the Detroit area including Sinai Grace (Level II trauma), Detroit Receiving (Level I trauma), Harper, Huron Valley and Royal Oak Beaumont. Residents also go to Berry Surgical Center. As a first year resident, most of your time is spent at Sinai Grace or the downtown hospitals. The third years spend more of their time doing elective cases at Huron Valley and Beaumont.

Attendings: Dr. Stacey Schwartz is the new director. There are approximately 140 podiatrists on staff.

Residents: 5 residents a year. The current second year class is outstanding. The current first year class is definitely the weakest. All the third years have landed jobs or fellowships and are extremely knowledgable.

Didactics: Radiology rounds supposed to occur weekly. Journal club occurs once a month. Since the new director has started over half of scheduled didactic events were cancelled at last minute while I was there. Few and weak attending oversight. Mostly run by PGY2 residents.

OR Experience: DMC residents easily get their numbers. The attendings hand over the knife from the start. The residents/attendings let students do smaller procedures skin-to-skin if they are comfortable with you. Also, residents will let students suture daily if comfortable with them. There is a great variety of cases, especially when it comes to trauma and infection. I saw the most unique pathology here as well. There never was a dull moment in the OR. Elective rearfoot reconstructive cases according to current residents are down 50% from previous years. There has been a loss of rearfoot/ankle surgeons over the past 6 months.

Clinic Experience: DMC has a good amount of quality clinic (~3 days a week) and wound clinic (1 day a week). Students see patients and present to the attending or resident and are expected to call and dictate the entire note afterwards. Clinic was very busy. Another benefit to clinic here is the residents are responsible for learning and doing the coding. I did not see the residents code at any other program I attended. There is excellent teaching in the hospital clinics.

Research Opportunities: Research is not mandatory, however, there are many opportunities to get involved. Several second and third year residents told me that they were actively involved in research when I was there.

Lifestyle: The residents are extremely busy. Second year is probably the busiest due to their three month ortho rotation. In regards to call, call is divided into day and night call. Night call tends to get busy with all the trauma in the area. In terms of the Detroit area, there is a lot to do including hiking, restaurants, sports games, and fun bars. Driving in the winter can be a challenge if you are not used to it, as there tends to be a lot of snow.

Pros: This has always been a very respected program across the country. Numbers are easily reached and you will be an extremely well-rounded resident. Their off service rotations are all excellent, most done on academic services with other medical specialties. Ortho trauma vascular surgery and general surgery are definite strong points.

Cons: Some may see DMC's sink or swim mentality as a con. This program is NOT for the meek. In addition, patient compliance is an issue here, due to the immense poverty/lack of education in Detroit. Also, the first year class is a little concerning when it comes to their skills. This is likely reflective of changes in oversight and staffing over the past year. Residents complain that cases, academics, and teaching are down over previous years. Schedules, events, cases and clinic assignments seem to be done by a PGY2 resident. There appears to be no coordinator or Attending oversight to make sure that equal opportunities are available for all residents. First year residents complain of recent changes and being scheduled to cover consults and dressings for attendings at outside hospitals instead of scrubbing cases at DMC hospitals.
You must be an Alpha to succeed here.

Overall Conclusion: DMC was historically a powerhouse program. The senior residents are extremely smart and confident in their skills. The program recently went through a change in directors in the past year. This change has affected the program. If you have the opportunity to do a clerkship here it will definitely benefit you in the future due to all the hands-on experience. I would no longer rate it as a top tier program however. Past reputation is not indicative of current cases and teaching.

 

[TimmyTurner]

Yale, Jersey Shore MC? Temple students I'm looking at y'all

 

[GreenHousePub]

Can anyone post a review of DMC? I heard they are a powerhouse, wasn't sure based on the amount of reviews posted here.

 

[ldsrmdude]

A few more anonymous residency reviews



Program Name- Hahnemann University Hospital- Philadelphia, PA

General Program Info- HUH, some attendings clinics outside of town

Attendings- Dr Steve Boc (Director) Dr Ramon Lopez, Dr Robert Racjzy, Dr Naitali Miglani. Boc is nice and jovial, like a podiatry Santa Claus. Lopez is nice too. Racjzy is young. Miglani’s personality takes getting used to

Residents- OK. The residents seemed cliquey. While they were all nice to me as a student, they all had their particular friends and particular residents they didn’t like and talked crap about. Not much camaraderie. Nice to students and helpful, though. When I was there some of the residents were sloppy, I thought, not even being able to handle their instruments properly and having to be reminded

Didactics- maybe? I was there and we had didactics one time, a total ankle lab

OR experience- they work you like a rented mule. OR is very resident run. Hours can vary but you come in at 5 or 6. So if the upper residents suck then the junior residents they train will be poor. Residents do cases skin to skin. Attendings come in and watch and very rarely take the knife. Do all kinds of cases- complex recon to bunions and met fractures

Clinic experience- get life insurance because they might work you to death. 9-6 and extended hours on Wed. If you ain’t chopping you’re in clinic. One time the entire clinic with 3 attendings had 100 patients in a day. They let you do a lot though. As an extern I got to do casts and braces and nail avulsions

Lifestyle- the call room has a big bed with lots of blankets and pillows. ‘Nough said

Pros- you get to do all kinds of stuff.

Cons- the people training you to do the stuff might be mediocre. They work you to death as a 1st and 2nd year

Overall Conclusion- go here if you can’t get anywhere else or you have friends here that you miss or something.

 

[ldsrmdude]

Program Name- St Michael’s Medical Center

General Program Info- everything happens at St. Mike’s. It’s a community hospital. You see your run of the mill infections and stuff and general bread and butter. The month I was there we had like 4 ankle fractures. Residents meet their numbers in 3rd year

Attendings- Dr Palagiano (director- she never came around) Dr Michael DeMarco, Dr. Dominic Leonetti, Dr Gustav Ibranyi. The attendings are all nice and helpful and don’t pimp, instead they teach. Leonetti is young and the other ones are older

Residents- they take 1 per year. The residents when I was there were all helpful and nice and not interested in screwing people over. They each had their own lives outside of the hospital but they worked well together

Didactics- maybe? I never had any when I was there as a student

OR experience- they let the residents do most of it unless they weren’t comfortable, but since it is a small program, there is definitely a hierarchy, like 1st years do amps, 2nd years do midfoot and forefoot, 3rd years do complex

Clinic- Ibranyi on Tuesday and DeMarco on Thursday. They let you do it. As a student you could just go in a room and see a patient. They handwrite paper chart notes. You have autonomy

Lifestyle- It seems good. Some days they had surgery until 7 or 8 and some days we were done at 2. When you’re done, you’re done. There wasn’t much busywork. Either you did something patient related or went home. Granted, it’s Newark, but still

Pros- not as faced paced, more of a family feel, good pay (48, 51, 55), attendings teach

Cons- no super surgical trauma nor crazy levels of surgery

Overall Program Conclusion- if you are a person who wants a slower, community based practice and don’t have much interest in becoming a big name, king of the hill foot and ankle surgeon, this is a good place for you