Forum Members PMSR/RRA Residency Reviews

[ldsrmdude]

Program Name- St Vincent’s Medical Center, Jacksonville, FL

General Program Info- SVMC Main, SVMC Southside, some other one, Syperek’s clinic. Last I checked he was trying to open an ED rotation for his residents and get them involved in more medical missions

Attendings- Dr. Tim Syperek (new director). He was the one I had the most contact with. There are other ones. Syperek is a bit of a hothead, but he teaches well and he’s a damn good surgeon.

Residents- They are heavily into coworkers as family so they were always together. Some were ok, some are more abrasive. Varying personalities

Didactics- They exist after clinic.

OR experience- They assign you to cases and you go. If they get to like you/trust you they let you do a bit more than the regular suture/retract. They get a wide variety of cases, both trauma and elective.

Clinic experience- Syperek has one and one of the other attendings has one and I think they were planning to open one across the street from SVMC-Main. Same as the OR. The amount you get to do depends on how they like you.

Lifestyle- They operate until midnight sometimes. More often it’s like 7 or 8 at night when they are done.

Pros- Well rounded program- they have clinics as well as variety in surgical training. Do lots of leg recon and stuff. It’s in Florida if you like the heat. Pay is over 50K so it’s good. As a student there is $100/month housing

Cons- Long, hard hours. It’s in Florida and it’s hot. Lots of driving in between clinics.

Overall program view– if you are the kind of person who wants to become one with your work family while becoming a really talented F&A surgeon in the heat, then this program is for you.

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[ldsrmdude]

Program Name- Henry Ford- Wyandotte Hospital

General Program Information- There are a flock of attendings. So many I can’t even remember them all. You do cases at HFWH and a couple other hospitals in the Detroit area and there is a wound clinic and Dr. Olenech has his own small personal clinic and Dr Koivunen has his own clinic as well as nighttime hours.

Attendings- Dr Olenech (director), Dr. Farah, Dr Robert Koivunen, some others. These were the three I had the most contact with. All are nice. Dr. Farah has a sometimes-vulgar sense of humor (not bigoted or anything, just profane) so if that’s not your thing then be aware.

Residents- They take 2 or 3 per year. They all seem like regular people. They have lives outside of work and are nice to each other.

Didactics- If I remember right they were on Thursday and was special time for just didactics. It can be surgical skills or article-based.

OR experience- What a resident gets to do in the OR is dependent somewhat on how well the attending whose case it is trusts that particular resident. I’ve seen a 1st year do skin to skin and a 2nd year give up the knife at some point. Not bad. They don’t pimp too much and definitely aren’t overbearing

Clinic experience- You go to clinics, see patients, and go back where you came from. I went to both Dr. Olenech’s and Dr. Koivunen’s clinics and didn’t see anything particularly wild.

Lifestyle- It gets better as the years go on. Some days you work like hell and some days it’s laid back. Some days the inpatient load has like 15-20 people and some days it has 5. I think the most they ever had once was 30 or so

Pros- Variety of attendings to learn from. Variety of clinics of different types. As a student there is student housing available with wifi now. The town of Wyandotte is fairly normal, as small towns go.

Cons- lots of driving. Potential high inpatient load. Long hours.

Overall program conclusion- Not a bad program. Attendings are nice and willing to teach. Hours are somewhat long.

 

[naoise151]

helping a friend out, Any for:
-Colorado or Texas based programs?
-Reading Hospital
-Norton
Thanks!

 

[SLCpod]

helping a friend out, Any for:
-Colorado or Texas based programs?
-Reading Hospital
-Norton
Thanks!

There was a recent post about North Colorado.

 

[hawaiinchick]

Hey all,

Anyone have reviews for Loyola, Rush, Franciscan Alliance/St.Margaret in Indiana, Providence in Michigan or Mercy St.Vincent in Toledo?

 

[OsTrigonum]

Does anyone have any RECENT info on either the Inova program since they just had a recent PD change? Or Medstar

 

[Weirdy]

Does anyone have any RECENT info on either the Inova program since they just had a recent PD change? Or Medstar

Hell does anyone have anything recent PERIOD.

Would be nice to read about lesser known programs not mentioned already.

 

[SLCpod]

We usually get a few posts after match.

 

[FFSoupinatus]

Program Name: Community Health Network (Indianapolis, Indiana)

General Program/Hospital Info:
Large network. As a student you go to three main hospitals/surgical centers. Beautifully newly renovated hospitals. Nice amenities in the doctors lounges.

Attendings:
As a student you work with Baker (director), Boake, Koch, Taulman-Young and various other attendings. I think they said they work with about 60, but many of the satellite hospitals you don't go to with residents. All the attending are good and nice to work with. No big egos. They also work with a foot and ankle orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Fink, in a resident run clinic where they book cases and do it with him. Their relationship with vascular is also great.

Residents:
Typically 2 per year, but every 3rd year they take 3. They all are bright, and enjoyable people. In their group they function more as a family unit. They all actually enjoy each other and aren't just co-workers.

Didactics:
This isn't a huge focus for this program but they do JC and various other workshops. They do a monthly academic with St. Vincent in indy and their attendings/fellows.

OR Experience:
Did i see a lot of big recons here? No. But they get interesting cases and bread and butter podiatry cases. They do their fair share of wound debridements. I personally saw a lot of bunions/ first ray procedures, but the other student saw more "advanced" procedures, so they do them, i just didn't witness them personally.

Clinic Experience:
Extensive private office exposure. Baker foot solutions has 5ish clinics thats you go to as a student. Some are busier than others but all get nice pathologies. There is also a lot of wound care clinic time.

Research Opportunities:
There are opportunities here, though it is not their focus

Lifestyle:
From my perspective they are busy, but not crazy busy. They have nice lives-they have lives. They are about 7-5 on an average day from what I saw. Generally cases in the morning with some type of clinic in the afternoon.

Pros:
Great residents personality wise and skills wise. Didn't witness one case of double scrubbing. Residents doing cases in their entirety without forceful interjection by attendings. Office staff (especially Jenny) are great. Baker is a relaxed, approachable, piece of work (in a good way) that isn't too bad to look at either. Lots of clinic time. Lots of OR time. Very well balanced program. Indy is a great city with lots to do. Unlimited meal money. Boards paid for.

Cons:
Lots of driving between hospitals/clinics (pot-holes in indy are CRAZY)
Limited academics

Overall Conclusion:
This is really an outstanding program. I'm unsure as to why it isn't better known. It is on par if not better than some big name programs I attended. If you're looking to be happy during residency with a great group of people and become a great clinician and surgeon this is the program for you.

 

[FFSoupinatus]

Program Name: West Penn; Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

General Program Information: There are several hospitals that West Penn residents cover. Some ranging at least 30 minutes south in traffic from West Penn hospital itself. Not a large in-patient load, but with the varying hospitals it can be a lot of patients to manage.

Attendings- There are 4 main attendings: the director, Dr. Catanzariti; Dr. Saltrick, Dr. McMillen, and Dr. Hentges.

Residents: They have now moved to taking 4 per year after being able to rotate through Jefferson Hospital. They all live individual lives. However, they do rarely get together as a group, they don’t, however, seem like a tight knit family. Some, more than others, are very egotistical. I viewed them as average to below average in hand skills and knowledge. They always wanted to try and prove that they were smarter than you and that they knew more than you.

Didactics- Didactics range from journal club, radiology rounds, student presentations etc. They are usually twice a week, however, if the schedule gets busy they can get cancelled. Attendings attened only one of the didatics during my month. The rest was the 3rd years running it.

OR experience- The experience as a student can greatly vary. When I was a student they did not allow us to scrub in. As a couple days went by they began to allow me to scrub in. If you are not scrubbed in they expect you to complete a brief post op note on a notecard. The OR surgery is tiered to the residents, with 1st year consisting of mostly amps and wound debridement’s, forefoot to the second years and rearfoot to the thirds. However, if there are only 1st years around for a case, something from a higher tier can fall to them. They usually always double scrub, and sometimes even triple scrub or have another resident in the room; for one surgery every resident was in the OR suite. They perform up to 4-7 surgeries a day.

Clinic experience- Clinic is a large amount of shadowing for both the students and the residents. The residents will help out with the note, but the notes are mainly done by the scribes. It is a very odd experience because there were days where both yourself and the resident did not help much in clinic. It is a busy clinic around 30-50 patients a day depending on the attending.

Lifestyle- The lifestyle at West Penn is one that perplexed me. They have an attitude that the more hours you are working, the harder you are working. With that being said there were countless times where I was at the hospital from anywhere between 3-5 AM and then staying until 5-6 PM with some days being 9-10 PM. There were even days where we would be done by 1 or 2 and they would have me sit as a student until 5 PM. The residents functioned more as co-workers rather than a family.

Pros- West Penn has been a big name for residency. There was some faltering of the program a couple years back, but the program still allows you to learn everything. You are expected to apply to a fellowship if you are a resident at this program.

Cons- lots of driving. Forced to do a fellowship. Not the most pleasant clerkship experience. Tiered surgery. Overall Atmosphere.

Overall program conclusion- Overall, West Penn will set a resident up with the tools to be successful. You will have the opportunity to do a fellowship and work under Dr. Catanzariti who has produced some of the best research in podiatry. Although, Dr. Catanzariti has said on several occasions that he does not take as many patients to surgery for recons as he does not want to follow them. The West Penn residents act as if they are god's gift from earth, which is far from fact. They were on the average to below average in hand skills and knowledge compared to other residencies. I did not enjoy my time at West Penn due to the overall attitude and the us against the world mentality. With the long hours, the tiered surgeries, the attitude of the program and not a great opportunity for completing complex surgeries skin to skin is where West Penn can fall short.

 

[dorsiflexor]

Program Name: Rush Oak Park, Oak Park, IL

General Program/Hospital Info: Cover Rush Oak Park and NorthShore Hospitals in Skokie and other northern suburbs of Chicago.

Attendings: Dr. Alexander, Dr. Stern, Dr. Allianello, other DPMs at Northshore and Dr. Garapati (MD) at Northshore

Residents: Laid back group of guys. Definitely a boys club. All seemed like friends outside of work. Got along well.

Didactics: Usually once a week. Typical journal club, board review, student presentations. Not a very big emphasis on this.

OR Experience: The Rush attendings are very hands off and allow the residents to do the cases. Northshore attendings don’t let a resident touch the knife or do anything other than retract. Lots of elective bread and butter forefoot cases. Students do not go to Northshore Skokie which is where they get the majority/all of their trauma. Did not see any rearfoot cases but all of the residents were getting their numbers.

Clinic Experience: LOTS of clinic. At Rush the residents are seeing and treating patients with an attending. At Northshore the residents are shadowing and don’t even touch patients. Tons of clinic as a student. Essentially act as a scribe at Rush and shadow at Northshore. Residents get billing and coding experience.

Research Opportunities: Not an emphasis of the program but you have access to Rush so the opportunities are there.

Lifestyle: Laid back lifestyle. Pretty typical hours. But a ton of driving all over Chicago which can be a nightmare.

Pros: Lots of clinic experience with billing and coding instruction. Plenty of bread and butter podiatry.

Cons: Limited rearfoot. Zero cut time/experience with half of the attendings.

Overall Conclusion: Good program to prepare you for private practice. Boys club. You need to have thick skin if you want to go here as the attendings and residents can be pretty vulgar. If you want to stay in Chicago I'd rotate here.

 

[dorsiflexor]

Program Name: Regions Hospital, St. Paul, MN

General Program/Hospital Info: Cover Regions Hospital and surgical centers including TRIA (big ortho group). Also cover Park Nicollet surgery centers with Dr. Abben.

Attendings: Dr. Boffeli, Dr. Pfannenstein, Dr. Gervais, Dr. Collier, Dr. Abben

Residents: Nice group. Very smart hardworking group. Very well-read group. Each class itself seemed to get along really well but each class was a little different personality.

Didactics: Typically once a week (Friday morning) case overview. Journal club, book club, student presentations, etc once a month. Assigned student presentation topic based on a case that they have had.

OR Experience: Diverse case load. Everything from bread and butter podiatry to trauma, charcot recons and TARs. Residents go to Duluth for more TAR experience during 3rd year. Attendings are more hands on here than other programs. Dr. Boffeli is constantly teaching and instructing but he is very particular and takes the blade constantly, never saw a resident do the majority of a case with him no matter what it was. Dr. Abben is similar to Dr. Boffeli with his constant teaching but he is very hands on. Dr. Pfannenstein and Dr. Gervais are more laid back and is more hands off and give the residents more freedom. Did not experience Dr. Collier in the OR.

Clinic Experience: Lots of clinic time with excellent instruction on billing and coding. All of the attendings are pretty hands on in clinic. Residents are well prepared to handle a clinic on their own upon graduation.

Research Opportunities: Heavy emphasis on research here. Dr. Boffeli is well known in the research community. Plenty of projects going on at any given time and Dr. Boffeli always has ideas.

Lifestyle: Good lifestyle. Residents are busy but they have lives outside of work.

Pros: Good case diversity and exposure to everything podiatry. Constant instruction from attendings. Research opportunities. Residents get great jobs after residency.

Cons: Minnesota. Hands on attendings.

Overall Conclusion: Good program. Not as hands on as other programs but constant instruction may make up for it for some. Very smart and talented attendings. Very particular personality of the program that not everyone mesh with. Residents get excellent job opportunities upon graduation.

 

[dorsiflexor]

Program Name: Scott & White, Temple Texas

General Program/Hospital Info: Cover the main S&W hospital in Temple as well as the Temple VA. Also work at the peds hospital with Dr. Goad (very unique experience).

Attendings: Dr. Murdoch, Dr. Shibuya (VA), Dr. Sadoskas, Dr. Browning, Dr. Lane, Dr. Lynch, Dr. Goad (Peds)

Residents: 4 per year. Nice group. All different backgrounds and personalities. Work fine together. Didn’t seem to hang out much outside of work. Some had their own families.

Didactics: Weekly surgical conference going over cases of the past week and upcoming week, they use this time to pimp the students over different things. Journal club. VA weekly presentations as well. Surgical conference was good sometimes but other times it was just the attendings bickering. VA conference was interesting. The residents are terrified of Shibuya and he is overly critical of everything.

OR Experience: Attendings are VERY hands on. Sadoskas was probably the best at teaching and allowing the resident to work through the case until they couldn’t. Every other attending I scrubbed with was extremely quick to take the knife or completely hesitant to ever hand over the knife.

Clinic Experience: Tons of clinic. Similar with the OR some attendings are very hands on and residents are doing very little. As a student you will only do anything with Dr. Sadoskas and maybe Dr. Lynch. The rest of the time you are shadowing either an attending or a resident. This goes throughout the entire program though. When on call as a 1st year you must have a 2nd or 3rd year resident with you at all times essentially. A LOT of hand holding here.

Research Opportunities: Dr. Shibuya is constantly working on multiple projects and publishing multiple times per year. Opportunites are in abundance here if this is of interest to you.

Lifestyle: Good work life balance. Essentially working 6:30-17:00 most days. Call evenly distributed. Residents all seemed happy.

Pros: Texas. Good peds exposure with Dr. Goad. Good exposure in clinic with coding and billing instruction. Will be ready to jump right into a private practice straight out.

Cons: Hands on attendings with limited skin to skin exposure for residents. A LOT of clinic. No great teamwork among the residents. Tons of hand holding.

Overall Conclusion: Decent program. They get a lot of exposure to every aspect of podiatry from basic clinic, bread and butter podiatry, big recons and charcot (Sadoskas is a UPMC grad and did Dr. Wukich’s fellowship), and TARs (Shibuya). But there is a lot of hand holding throughout all 3 years here which can be extremely frustrating and limiting to a resident. Good prep for private practice. They have had a couple grads go on to complete high level fellowships (Cottom and Lamm). I think that Dr. Sadoskas could really turn this program into a high level program if given the opportunity but only time will tell.

 

[dorsiflexor]

Program Name: John Peter Smith Hospital, Fort Worth, Texas

General Program/Hospital Info: County hospital of Fort Worth so you see that typical patient population. Residents are treated like attendings by the entire staff. Residents and students get money each week for food from the cafeteria (best cafeteria I experienced all year by far). Just south of downtown Fort Worth. Big, very busy hospital system. Podiatry is the orthopedic foot and ankle service in this hospital. Work very close with the rest of the orthopedic residents. Best ortho-podiatry relationship I saw.

Attendings: Dr. Motley, Dr. Garrett, Dr. Rhoades, Dr. Levine. All very laid back and completely hands-off for the most part. Dr. Levine is very smart and she cares a ton about her patients but she can be hard on students and residents at times. She means well but it’s just much different than the rest of the attendings.

Residents: 2 per year. Very smart and hardworking group. Extremely laidback group. Work-hard, play-hard mentality. Really fun group of people to work with.

Didactics: Typical academics in an atypical setting. Was told stories of journal club taking place at an attendings house where everyone shot skeet and ate BBQ.

OR Experience: Residents run the show from day 1. Residents are doing every case skin to skin without an attending even scrubbed in unless they get stuck. Complete autonomy. Residents were all extremely confident. Case load at the hospital is very trauma and infection heavy but they do get the occasional recon case there as well. Residents spend 6 months in private practice as 3rd years where they get most of their elective procedures. This is impressive as a student when you see a 1st year resident do an ankle ORIF in under 40 minutes skin to skin but at the same time scary when residents are getting frustrated by a hallux malleus and hammertoes.

Clinic Experience: Heavy clinic multiple days a week where you see 80+ patients. Again, residents are running the show. They are seeing patients and deciding treatment options.

Research Opportunities: They do research but its not a priority. If you wanted to pursue a project you would have unlimited opportunities. They are associated with UNT health system so you would have unlimited resources at your disposal.

Lifestyle: Work-hard, play-hard. Full go 0600-1800 daily. No busy work at all. You are either rounding, in clinic or in the OR anytime you are at the hospital.

Pros: Complete autonomy in the clinic and the OR. Very respected specialty in the hospital.

Cons: Limited elective procedures.

Overall Conclusion: Very very good program that is much different than any other program that I visited. Awesome program personality. I really really enjoyed my month here. Residents coming out of this program will be extremely confident, especially in a trauma/diabetic foot situation. I agree with the residents in that the surgical techniques they learn can be applied to any elective procedure (a lis franc ORIF is essentially the same as a Lapidus.)

 

[dorsiflexor]

Program Name: Carilion Clinic, Roanoke, Virginia

General Program/Hospital Info: Cover the main Carilion Clinic hospital in Roanoke and scrub surgeries throughout the area including Blacksburg. They are the foot and ankle service of the program covering all of the trauma through the ED. This is the only level I trauma center within an absurd radius so you see patients from all over. Very rural setting. Closest major city is Charlotte which is 2.5 hours away then DC/Richmond which is 3-4 hours away. It is 45 minutes from Blacksburg which is great for college sports. TONS of outdoor things to do from hiking to fishing/hunting if you’re into that kind of thing.

Attendings: Dr. Clements, Dr. Fidler, Dr. Naldo, Dr. Platt, Dr. Chandler (MD)

Residents: 2-3 per year. Awesome group. Work hard play hard mentality. They all work together to get everything done that needs to be done and also get together outside of work.

Didactics: Typically once a week but sometimes twice. Radiology conference, ortho conference, M&M, Journal club, student presentations etc. Some of the more impressive academics I experienced all year. Residents and attendings working through cases. They will pimp students during radio conference.

OR Experience: Very hands on experience in the OR. Attendings are there constantly providing instruction but the residents are doing most of the cases. There are times when attendings take the knife but typically only if they have a better angle or if the resident is struggling. On some of the bigger cases (TARs) the attendings were much more hands on and the resident was playing much more of an assistant role. As a 3rd year the attendings is basically just sitting back and letting the resident do the case without any need for instruction or assistance. As a student you can get pretty hands on here as well in every case and even doing some procedures skin to skin if you show them you are competent.

Clinic Experience: Typically a couple times per week. In the clinic residents are acting as attendings essentially making all of the decisions (if they are unsure they run it by the attendings). As a student you are seeing and presenting patients then treating if they believe you are competent.

Research Opportunities: Association with virginia tech med school provides you all of the tools that you need. You would have full support of Dr. Clements and Dr. Fidler with any project you wanted to work on.

Lifestyle: Good work life balance. You are extremely busy, especially when on call but the residents still have lives outside of work and are all very happy. A couple of the resdients have families.
During your call week as a student you will be very busy. But if you prove yourself the resident will likely let you get more experiences (reducing ankles, bedside I&Ds, aspirating joints, etc).

Pros: Extremely high surgical volume. Great experience in clinic and in the OR. Different experiences with attendings from different backgrounds. Extremely well-rounded program. Beautiful area with a million things to do outside. Well balanced autonomy and instruction in the OR.

Cons: Location. I enjoyed the location but I believe that for most people location is the hardest selling point so I'm putting it here.

Overall Conclusion: Excellent program. Dr. Clements is a JPS grad so his mentality for the program is similar to that with a little less autonomy and more teaching. Dr. Fidler is an Inova and a Hyer grad. Dr. Naldo is an Inova grad. So you get different perspectives throughout your training. This program will train you for any type of practice you want and will prepare you to see anything that walks through your door after you graduate. This program is a powerhouse. It will continue to gain more and more recognition every year. The only “issue” with this program is location but again that’s all personal opinion.

 

[dorsiflexor]

***I realize this review was just done above but I think its important to see the difference in experience and opinion between 2 students within the same year. This is why its important for you to form your own opinions of programs.**

Program Name: West Penn Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA

General Program/Hospital Info: Cover 3 hospitals (West Penn, Forbes and Jefferson) within the AHN system. Cover cases with outside attendings at other surgery centers as well. During 2nd year they spend 1 month in New Mexico with Dr. Anderson.

Attendings: Dr. Catanzariti, Dr. Saltrick, Dr. Hentges, Dr. McMillen

Residents: 4 per year. Very smart. Extremely well read. Very hard-working group. Very tight knit group that help out as much as possible and extremely supportive. Get together often outside of work. Multiple residents are married and their spouses seemed to be friends as well.

Didactics: At least once a week. Usually pretty early in the morning (0600). Surgical conference, journal club, M&M, student presentation, etc. Impressive academics as I felt the attendings were constantly finding opportunities to teach both residents and students.
As a student you are assigned a case with an HPI, PE and radiographs and you are expected to make a treatment plan based on literature.

OR Experience: Cases are distributed in a strict hierarchical fashion more than some other programs. 1st years are essentially doing amps and I&Ds. 2nd years are doing forefoot procedures. 3rd years are doing rearfoot procedures. Each attendings is a bit different in the OR. Dr. Catanzariti and Dr. Saltrick are a bit more vocal in their instruction, however, I never once saw either of them take the blade from a resident. Dr. Hentges is a little more hands on in the OR which makes sense as he is still a younger attending. I felt that the residents were still doing the majority of the case but he was double checking/re-doing different aspects of the case more than any of the other attendings at the program. Dr. McMillen is pretty hands off. He is in the room for instruction but he wants you to work until you are no longer comfortable. The 3rd years here were the most impressive residents I witnessed in the OR.

Clinic Experience: Residents are placed on a specific attendings service for a month at a time. During this month the resident follows the schedule of that attending. Typically, this is 3 days of clinic and 2 surgery days per week. As a 3rd year the residents are only required to be in clinic once a month (guessing just based on my month as I didn't ask specifically) because they are covering surgery 5 days a week. Dr. Hentges and Dr. McMillen have a full day or a half day of wound clinic each week. During clinic the resident sees patients, presents to the attending and gives a treatment plan. Each attending has a scribe that typically does the notes but if they needed help the residents wrote the notes on patients they saw and treated.

Research Opportunities: Heavy emphasis on research here with multiple papers being published yearly. I don't know if there is a specific requirement.

Lifestyle: Busy lifestyle. Rounding typically 0500-0530 with an attending daily which means pre-rounding for the resident and student on service before that which can be as early as 0400 depending on inpatient load. Residents and students are at the hospital until 1700 most days. I never felt like the residents were just doing "busy work" waiting until 1700. Can be later depending on the case load that day. 2 residents on call per day (1 resident covers Forbes and 1 resident covers West Penn and Jefferson). But the residents seemed very happy with their lifestyle. Residents often got together outside of work for dinner and drinks or to watch sports.

Pros: Well respected program and attendings with many well-respected alumni. Significant amount elective rearfoot reconstruction. Research opportunities. Many residents go on to do fellowships as Dr. Catanzariti encourages fellowships for some residents based on their career aspirations. Full cadaver lab with everything you need to practice surgery. Pittsburgh.

Cons: Extremely busy lifestyle. Hierarchical surgery distribution.

Overall Conclusion: Excellent program. Dr. Catanzariti and West Penn have produced high quality residents for years. Alumni have gone on to hold leadership positions as program directors and in national organizations. The training at this program is a little more traditional than the newer programs but it speaks for itself. Very specific personality and work ethic that not everyone will understand or mesh with.

 

[BuckeyeNation99]

Program Name: Norton Audubon, Louisville, KY

General Program/Hospital Info: Cover up to 5 hospitals, most of the surgeries are done around 2 of the hospitals. Rounding, however, can be done at up to all 5 hospitals.

Attendings: Dr. Myrick (Director), Childress (Co-director), Ogden (Externship Director), Kihm, Hanna, and 10+ more DPMs. Dr. Dripchak (F&A ortho) + Ortho trauma (they changed their ortho trauma rotation recently).

Call: Usually a week span. The resident will round and change dressings of all in-patients at the 5 hospitals. However, this is done by yourself without the attending, which is nice.

Residents: Get along together, but don’t hang out much outside of residency. They do however drink and have fun together during journal clubs and academics.

Didactics: Usually once a week. A journal club or rep dinner that usually is more alcohol than academic.

OR Experience: The OR is a great experience at Norton. I scrubbed nearly 100 cases as a student. The resident assigned to the case are the only ones scrubbed in, the attending decides to scrub in based on the difficulty of the case or the resident’s experience, but if it is something easier or something they’ve done before they do not bother. If you are not on call, all you have is surgery and when you are done, you are done. Very nice schedule when you are not on call.

Clinic Experience: There is a wound clinic that the first year usually covers. The outside attending clinics you do not go to. You are usually assigned to just surgery. If you want to have clinic time during your third year before you head out for a job, they allow you to spend certain months at clinic.

Research Opportunities: Not an emphasis of the program, but self motivated residents usually try to publish research.

Lifestyle: Laid back lifestyle. One that is enjoyable. All the attendings are super fun and an amazing time in the OR.

Pros: Tons of autonomy, skin to skin surgeries, fun attendings, nice lifestyle,

Cons: driving while on call, call can be rough since it is a week span, not as much clinic (but there is opportunity for you to have that done)

Overall Conclusion: Amazing program and was a tough program this year for applicants as they got a ton of amazing students. The residents here were some of the strongest I witnessed while on clerkships. If you are looking for a clerkship that will prepare you for scrubbing in and looking strong on clerkships, I recommend going to this program early on.

 

[BuckeyeNation99]

Program Name: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

Location: Pittsburgh, PA

General Program/Hospital Info: The main hospital that you work out of is UPMC Mercy. There are rotations at UPMC East, UPMC Shadyside, Pittsburgh VA and other various locations such as Ohio Valley and Cranberry private practices.

Attendings: Dr. Burns (Director), Dr. Lowery, Dr. Manway, Dr. Scanlan, Dr. Nicklas, Dr. Nick Lowery, Dr. Toth. Dr. Burns constantly wants to teach. You can learn so much from him just by listening to what he has to say about certain topics. The attendings at UPMC are the smartest attendings I have witnessed out on rotations.

Residents: The greatest group of residents. The group is more like a family. They are constantly having a good time and getting outside of the residency for social events and gatherings (attendings included!) The third years all landed high grossing jobs or fellowships. The third years had some of the best hand skills and operating technique I have seen. Very confident in the OR.

Didactics: Twice a week at 6 am. This includes presentations on a various amount of topics. M&M, student presentations, radiology rounds. There is also a Wednesday Night event that consists of hands-on academics/lab, or rep dinner.

OR Experience: The OR experience at UPMC is one that cannot be replicated. When on certain rotations such as Dr. Burns and Dr. Manway, the two residents are both scrubbed in. Whoever decides to be assigned to that case performs it skin to skin, with the other serving as help in retracting or helping with the scrub tech. Dr. Burns scrubs in when needed. Rotations such as Dr. Burns and Dr. Manway there is double scrubbing, but when on the VA rotation and other rotations such as "pod surgery" you are the only resident scrubbed in.

Clinic Experience: The amount of clinic depends on the service you are rotating on. Usually is very consistent with 3 days of clinic and 2 days in the OR. The residents all write the notes and code/bill as well. Typically there are 50-70 patients in a day at various clinics. You will see your post-ops while on the rotation. There is also wound care on most rotations of about ½ a day once a week.

Research Opportunities: Research is a large part of UPMC. Although you do not have a requirement for research. A lot of topics are based on evidence based medicine. Knowing details from articles is a huge emphasis as this guides patient care and will make you a better physician.

Lifestyle: The lifestyle is that of a family. The attendings and residents are usually found hanging out with each other on the weekends. Attendings will even throw get togethers such as parties and time to get together for drinks. Very approachable, fun group of residents.

Pros: Well-rounded program, amazing knowledge base/well known attendings, production of amazing residents, skin to skin surgeries.

Cons: Driving (you will need to drive to UPMC east which is in Monroeville as well as Cranberry for certain rotations), busy clinic schedule, double scrubbing during rotations when two residents assigned.

Overall Conclusion: UPMC is touted as one of the top programs in the country and this statement holds true. Numbers are almost completely achieved by the end of your first year. You have the opportunity to learn under Dr. Burns who is one of the most brilliant minds in podiatry. If you are able to rotate at UPMC you will leave as a stronger student; and if you have the opportunity to be a resident you will leave as one of the top candidates for a job in the country. Not only is UPMC one of the best programs in Pittsburgh, but one of the best in the country.

 

[Packers4lifeDPM]

Any reviews for UF Health Jacksonville Medical Center?

 

[Pawdiatrist88]

Any reviews for the Cincinnati/Dayton area programs? Christ, Jewish, Trihealth, UC, Dayton VA?

 

[shannonmc82]

These are super helpful! I'm considering the Wake Forest podiatry residency but the review on here is from 2017. If anyone has more recent updates, I'd love to hear from you!

 

[c45]

Any reviews for:
Oak Hill Hospital, Brooksville FL
DVA-Tampa, Tampa FL
Eastern Virginia Medical School, Virginia Beach VA
Nazareth Hospital, Philadelphia PA
St Joseph Medical Center, Houston TX

 

[HelluvaMolle]

Program Name: Mercy Hospital & Medical Center, Chicago IL

General Program/Hospital Info: Program covers several hospitals, Mercy being the main hospital located in Bronzeville, just south of the Chicago Loop. Residents operate out of multiple hospitals including Mercy, MacNeal, Trinity, La Grange, Hinsdale, + multiple surgery centers in the southwest suburbs of Chicago.

Attendings: Dr. Enriquez (director), Dr. Hook (clerkship director), Dr. Burgess, Dr. Anderson, Dr. Nichols Dr. Ho + 25-30 other attendings.

Residents: 2 per year. Laid back, extremely hard working group, great hand skills. Will occasionally hang out outside of work, drink during academics etc.

Didactics: Weekly case reviews/radio rounds/Mcglamry and intern presentations. Journal clubs are monthly and usually involve beer.

OR Experience: Extremely well rounded, and a solid program for foot/ankle trauma. My month there I was scrubbing ORIFs regularly. No ortho residents cover Mercy so all trauma goes to podiatry. Interns cover inpatient amps/I&D's and elective cases, 2nd years cover mainly elective cases and trauma, 3rd years scrub trauma and recon cases 4-5 days a week. Residents performing majority of cases skin to skin.

Clinic Experience:
Just the right amount of clinic. 1st years cover weekly wound care clinic 1 day a week and Dr. Nichol's clinic one day a week. 2nd and 3rd years work Dr. Hook's clinic and Dr. Burgess's clinic about 1 day a week. As a student you get to attend Dr. Hook's clinic where he gets to know you and show you all of his post op ankles, flatfoot recons and charcot recons.

Research Opportunities:
Research opportunity is there, but not a huge emphasis of the program.

Lifestyle: Interns work long hours and are managing most of the inpatient care. Since they take only 2 residents per year, first year call is really intense. 2nd and 3rd years have a much easier lifestyle. Program has a very 'work hard play hard' mentality and all of the residents get along.

Pros: Well rounded surgical training with big emphasis on foot/ankle trauma 3rd year. The residents single scrub and are doing most of the surgeries, have good OR skills. Hospital is located in Chicago, which is an amazing city. Residents go onto acquiring jobs with ortho groups in the Chicagoland area.

Cons: Very intense 1st year call. Not a powerhouse for research. Clerkship is only available to Scholl students right now but residents say this may change at some point. Significant amount of driving to surgery centers.

Overall Conclusion: This program is extremely underrated and surgically is one of the better programs in the Midwest, easily the best in Chicago. Resident run, is very hands on, and sees a lot of foot and ankle trauma. If you go to Scholl, want to stay in the Midwest, and are interested in reducing ankle fractures, go to this program. Dr. Burgess and Dr. Hook are two big ortho DPM's in the Chicago area--both of them Mercy graduates

 

[helluvamolle2]

The post above about Mercy Hospital in Chicago made my jaw drop. This post appears to have been written by an attending or resident at the program to attract students. I usually don't post on here, however I felt that I had to respond to this post/write my own review about the program, as I feel that the the post is exaggerated to the point of flat out lying. I admit that someone may have had a different experience than me, however my gut feeling tells me otherwise.

Program Name: Mercy Hospital & Medical Center, Chicago IL

General Program/Hospital Info: Program covers 1 hospital(Mercy) and majority of surgeries come from a few attendings at 4 other surgical centers (salt creek surgery center, oakbrook, trinity, and center for minimally invasive surgery. They do not cover all of the podiatrists at these surgical centers.

Attendings: Dr. Enriquez (director), Dr. Hook (clerkship director), Dr. Burgess, Dr. Anderson, Dr. Nichols, Dr. Ho, Dr. Narcissi, Dr. Rozanski, and Dr. Smith. Saying that they work with + 25-30 other attendings is not true. They have 4 main attendings and work with 5-6 other attendings occasionally

Residents: 2 per year. Laid back group. Hand skills-average. Overall medical knowledge-average. Will occasionally hang out outside of work, drink during academics.

Didactics: Weekly case reviews/radio rounds/Mcglamry and intern presentations. Journal clubs are monthly and usually involve beer.

OR Experience: Average. They did not have any trauma or recon cases during my month at Mercy. My classmates that rotated at Mercy agreed that maybe there was one or two rearfoot cases for the whole month. Residents did about 50 % of the case depending on the attending. The residents complained about learning from attendings who do "bad surgery" at their outside surgical centers.

Clinic Experience: Heavy clinic. A lot of c&c. Dr. Hook does pimp a lot and will go over xrays/cases with students which I appreciated, as I felt that I was actually learning something.

Research Opportunities: Research opportunity is there, but not a huge emphasis of the program.

Lifestyle: The Interns work long hours managing most of the inpatient care and doing busy work. 2nd and 3rd years have a much easier lifestyle, This seems to be similar at the majority of residency programs, with first years taking the majority of call giving the 2nd and 3rd years a more relaxed lifestyle.

Pros: The hospital is located in Chicago, which is an amazing city. Dr. Hook (graduated a few years ago) joined an ortho group in the Chicagoland area. The most recent grads have joined small podiatry groups.

Cons: Lots of call as a 1st year (mainly wounds, ingrown toenails.) Average surgical skills. Not a powerhouse for research. Clerkship is only available to Scholl students right now but residents say this may change at some point. Significant amount of driving to surgery centers.

Overall Conclusion: All of the residents and attendings were very nice and got along with each other for the most part. Resident surgical skills and medical knowledge are average. I did not see any trauma or recon during my month. The residents talked about different trauma surgeries they had in the past but none of my classmates who rotated there saw very much trauma either. Majority of the cases are amps or forefoot cases. Dr. Hook and Dr. Burgess are both great surgeons. They are far from being two of the biggest ortho DPMs in Chicago, but they are great surgeons compared to the other surgeons the residents work with. I would also argue that almost every chicago program has a few great ortho DPMs that they like to brag about. Despite my feelings about the previous post on the residency program, I actually did enjoy my month at Mercy and believe students should rotate if they want to stay in the midwest. I do believe everyone has an opinion, and this thread was very helpful for me when selecting programs to rotate at. I do hope that it continues to be a place where students can post and not a thread where residents/attendings post to encourage students to apply to their program.

 

[HelluvaMolle]

The post above about Mercy Hospital in Chicago made my jaw drop. This post appears to have been written by an attending or resident at the program to attract students. I usually don't post on here, however I felt that I had to respond to this post/write my own review about the program, as I feel that the the post is exaggerated to the point of flat out lying. I admit that someone may have had a different experience than me, however my gut feeling tells me otherwise.

Program Name: Mercy Hospital & Medical Center, Chicago IL

General Program/Hospital Info: Program covers 1 hospital(Mercy) and majority of surgeries come from a few attendings at 4 other surgical centers (salt creek surgery center, oakbrook, trinity, and center for minimally invasive surgery. They do not cover all of the podiatrists at these surgical centers.

Attendings: Dr. Enriquez (director), Dr. Hook (clerkship director), Dr. Burgess, Dr. Anderson, Dr. Nichols, Dr. Ho, Dr. Narcissi, Dr. Rozanski, and Dr. Smith. Saying that they work with + 25-30 other attendings is not true. They have 4 main attendings and work with 5-6 other attendings occasionally

Residents: 2 per year. Laid back group. Hand skills-average. Overall medical knowledge-average. Will occasionally hang out outside of work, drink during academics.

Didactics: Weekly case reviews/radio rounds/Mcglamry and intern presentations. Journal clubs are monthly and usually involve beer.

OR Experience: Average. They did not have any trauma or recon cases during my month at Mercy. My classmates that rotated at Mercy agreed that maybe there was one or two rearfoot cases for the whole month. Residents did about 50 % of the case depending on the attending. The residents complained about learning from attendings who do "bad surgery" at their outside surgical centers.

Clinic Experience: Heavy clinic. A lot of c&c. Dr. Hook does pimp a lot and will go over xrays/cases with students which I appreciated, as I felt that I was actually learning something.

Research Opportunities: Research opportunity is there, but not a huge emphasis of the program.

Lifestyle: The Interns work long hours managing most of the inpatient care and doing busy work. 2nd and 3rd years have a much easier lifestyle, This seems to be similar at the majority of residency programs, with first years taking the majority of call giving the 2nd and 3rd years a more relaxed lifestyle.

Pros: The hospital is located in Chicago, which is an amazing city. Dr. Hook (graduated a few years ago) joined an ortho group in the Chicagoland area. The most recent grads have joined small podiatry groups.

Cons: Lots of call as a 1st year (mainly wounds, ingrown toenails.) Average surgical skills. Not a powerhouse for research. Clerkship is only available to Scholl students right now but residents say this may change at some point. Significant amount of driving to surgery centers.

Overall Conclusion: All of the residents and attendings were very nice and got along with each other for the most part. Resident surgical skills and medical knowledge are average. I did not see any trauma or recon during my month. The residents talked about different trauma surgeries they had in the past but none of my classmates who rotated there saw very much trauma either. Majority of the cases are amps or forefoot cases. Dr. Hook and Dr. Burgess are both great surgeons. They are far from being two of the biggest ortho DPMs in Chicago, but they are great surgeons compared to the other surgeons the residents work with. I would also argue that almost every chicago program has a few great ortho DPMs that they like to brag about. Despite my feelings about the previous post on the residency program, I actually did enjoy my month at Mercy and believe students should rotate if they want to stay in the midwest. I do believe everyone has an opinion, and this thread was very helpful for me when selecting programs to rotate at. I do hope that it continues to be a place where students can post and not a thread where residents/attendings post to encourage students to apply to their program.

HelluvaMole2, first and foremost, I really respect your opinion, but I'm kinda concerned because that's not what I saw. Curious as to what went on your month. When I was there I saw residents single scrubbing almost every case, performing most of them, with clinic obligations maybe 1 if not 2 days max a week. I don't think I would call that clinic heavy. This is exactly why it's important to rotate at a program and formulate your own opinion. I'm not a resident, I rotated at Mercy within the past 6 months. I can't speak for you, but in my second week alone there were more than 10 ankle fractures booked on the schedule. However, I 100% agree with you in that some (not all) of the more recent posts were written by residents and or students that matched to those particular programs this year.

 

[ldsrmdude]

Since we’ve gotten some new posts here, let me just post a couple of reminders:
If you disagree with a residency review, feel free to post your own but avoid calling someone out over their opinion. Use the template that is listed in the first post of this thread so we can try to keep the reviews fairly uniform. If you would like to post a review anonymously, feel free to PM your review to me and I will post it for you. I’m not affiliated with any program and will keep your review anonymous. Let me know if you have any questions

 

[CutsWithFury]

Since we’ve gotten some new posts here, let me just post a couple of reminders:
If you disagree with a residency review, feel free to post your own but avoid calling someone out over their opinion. Use the template that is listed in the first post of this thread so we can try to keep the reviews fairly uniform. If you would like to post a review anonymously, feel free to PM your review to me and I will post it for you. I’m not affiliated with any program and will keep your review anonymous. Let me know if you have any questions

HelluvaMole2 did not deserve to have their account frozen. That is over moderation. Very podiatry. Unfavorable opinions need to be discussed and heard

 

[deleted585480]

Any reviews for:

Hennepin
UF health jacksonville
Wake Forest
Maricopa

 

[ldsrmdude]

HelluvaMole2 did not deserve to have their account frozen. That is over moderation. Very podiatry. Unfavorable opinions need to be discussed and heard

Their opinion is out there for all to see, nobody is stopping any opinions from being discussed or heard. @helluvamolle2 was not banned for this post and the post wasn’t moderated at all.

 

[wanttobefootdoc2020]

Program Name: Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center

General Program/Hospital Info: Program has affiliations with Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, High Point Medical Center, Lexington Medical Center, Davie Medical Center. Podiatry attendings are all based in the orthopedic surgery department

Attendings: Dr. Dekarlos Dial (director); Dr. Christina Long (Assistant Director); Dr. Scott; Dr. Teasdall; Dr. Sprinkle; Dr. Gangopodhyay; Dr. Blazek; Dr. Wells; Dr. Jones; Dr. Weinbaum; Dr. Wright; Dr. Tilles. Faculty comes from a variety of programs across the country including University of Pennsylvania; UPMC; WFBMC

Residents:
Currently an expanding program 2 residents in 2nd and 3rd years and 3 residents in 1st year class just increased size; Rumor is they may expand even more as they have added a lot of faculty recently.

Didactics:
3 conferences per week; Podiatry lecture, Orthopedic grand rounds, Orthopedic foot and ankle radiology rounds

OR Experience:
The OR experience is extensive. Currently cases go uncovered with all the faculty members. Residents scrub with both orthopedic foot and ankle faculty as well as podiatry faculty. Most of the attendings are very good teachers and will allow residents to perform most of the case.

Clinic Experience:
Students rotate in both clinic and OR but mainly clinic in order to be exposed to faculty members. Residents assist in clinic when not in cases to learn billing and see patients.

Research Opportunities
Research is currently more resident runned but rumor is with Dr. Dial taking over the program it will become more highly valued. He was supposedly the first fellow under Dane Wukich who is world renowned for diabetic charcot and limb salvage.

Lifestyle:
The lifestyle is mixed depending on your rotation. The first years are rotating mainly off service. 2nd years are mix of podiatry and orthopedic foot and ankle; 3rd years are working with mainly podiatry attendings; Dr. Blazek and Dr. Wells operate at the main hospital and rotate foot and ankle orthopedic call with Dr. Scott and Dr. Teasdall (both ortho foot and ankle faculty); as podiatrists at a mainly orthopedic hospital they are still getting foot and ankle trauma which shows a good relationship with ortho.

Pros:
Cases going uncovered
Addition of new faculty members from well known programs across the east coast (UPenn; UPMC)
Podiatry and orthopedic foot and ankle relationship

Cons:
Relatively newer but appears to have a lot of the kinks worked out; call and academics can be time consuming for residents;

Overall Conclusion:
The program appears to be on the up and up; will likely be one of the stronger programs in the country in the next few years with the resident and faculty expansion; it appears there is a good relationship with orthopedics and podiatry; cases are currently going uncovered and would likely be a program to follow in the coming years.

 

[Podstar]

Still looking for Surgical Hospital of Oklahoma and also any of the Louisiana programs. Thanks.

 

[heybrother]

I visited Ochsner 4 years ago, which means I'm out of date. Ochsner is the local big system. I'm sort of under the impression they bought up all the hospitals in the area back after Katrina. There's a bit of travel and I distinctly remember going to at least 2 different hospitals with the program director spending time at another clinic still (though my memory is that he didn't expect students to come out).

Unfortunately, my experience was almost entirely clinic and rounding. I've been other places where there was a drought on cases and unfortunately there was almost no surgery the entire month I was here. Let's say 5 cases total. I think they were still a relatively new program at the time and there was a typo in their program materials that suggested they were 3 residents a year when in fact they were only 1 year. This was to some extent the only reason I had applied there (trying to increase my # of spots visited ratio).

Some of the attendings were very nice - I remember on lighter days just having a very casual "shoot the ****" about different sorts of procedures and indications which was good. Unfortunately, the attending I liked best (an Inova/Fellowship guy) I'm told is gone. Other attendings I found very grating. I distinctly remember spending way too much time in what felt like an un-air conditioned nail care clinic with a young doctor who disagreed with his resident about everything - and we're talking trivial crap in old diabetics.

Unfortunately, to me this felt like one of those places where podiatry was not appreciated. I was told there was an orthopedic surgeon down the hall who was F&A and who would not let podiatry residents scrub with him. I was not under the impression they got any significant trauma and I got the impression from some of the attendings/residents that only a few of them would have been comfortable dealing with it. I remember being told a story by one of the residents about how one of the attendings had seen a hammertoe that they thought need to be referred to orthopedics. I specifically remember seeing patients in their clinic who told me they were seeing us for their nail fungus and going to orthopedics afterwards about their ankle. I had more "what is onychomycosis" discussions with people here than I've EVER had before. Lot of non-operative type ulcer work/debridements. They were very into a form of dressing called a "football" which is a padded walking dressing. All of the inpatients were for diabetic wounds.

Other than seeing a 3rd year knock out a nec fasc case I don't think I saw a resident hold a blade. I saw some tenuously connected outside attending do one of those podiatry hammertoe cases where they break it into 17 procedures and I saw one of the young attendings try a couple of overly complicated Charcot cases that looked doomed to fail (non-ex fix).

Only academics I remember was a McGlamry chapter review which I would put on the lowest end of quality academics.

A lot of programs have variable months. Some of the attendings here were graduates of the program and seemed very happy. I personally regretted my month here. There are much more powerful programs out there. Perhaps they've improved with time. Obviously they are in New Orleans so there's some great food to be had during the rotation. I had some awesome food at one of their hospitals in a doctor's lounge the residents snuck me into. I know if I had to review my own program as a student I'd have months where I could beat it up and months that I would sing its praises. That said - I think the virtue of power programs is they don't have those variations...

 

[DexterMorganSK]

I am posting this as a reminder for our current Residents (pgy1-4) and future residents (current 4th years) about this thread.
Feel free to post about your experiences directly, or you can PM me or other mods to stay anonymous. Thanks.

 

[PodJL30329]

I am writing this on behalf of all students entering the Match for 2020. As a Current resident in Atlanta, Ga, if you are considering returning to the area and are thinking of Ranking DVA Atlanta, DO NOT RANK this program. All the current 1st Year residents at the program have either transferred or re-entered the match to start over as first years next year. one of the second years has already transferred and the other two are looking to for opportunities elsewhere. One of the current third years has been on administrative leave for over 2 months for absolutely no reason except that the program cannot accommodate his need for rearfoot numbers, furthermore the attending responsible for placing this resident on administrative leave resigned from the Atlanta VA last month. The other third years have just recently completed their numbers and are having tremendous difficulty securing jobs and fellowships. The training at the program is sub-par with 2 full time non surgical attendings one of which is the chief of the department who’s prerogative is to keep the residents in clinic to reduce her own work load. The program is affiliated with 3 surgical centers however cases go uncovered on a weekly basis because the residents are forced to cover clinic. The one attending that was performing rearfoot surgery also resigned last month and the full time attending that has inherited the surgical attendings role is not rearfoot certified and there is question amongst the current residents regarding this particular attending’s surgical skill, knowledge and experience. The academics at the program have suffered tremendously over the past 2 years either being canceled each week or assigning the residents lectures on APMA instead of giving lectures on medical or surgical principles. Earlier this year the OR at the Atlanta VA hospital was shut down for almost 2 months. The OR has since re-opened, but PODIATRY is allowed only 2 CASES per WEEK. Finally, the Director of the program knows of all these issues and has been falsely reporting the programs stability to CPME and was seen at CRIP interviewing for one position. This in my opinion is completely unethical as this Director does not plan on training the resident and is comfortable risking the career of a new resident and all the current residents knowing that there is a strong possibility that the program will shut down in the near future.
I urge all who are considering ranking this program to reconsider and seek opportunities elsewhere.

 

[DexterMorganSK]

I have heard extremely negative things about the atlanta VA as well. I do not believe it will survive as a program. i’ve also heard of several programs taking less residents than previous years this coming year and with that hospital closing in PA it makes me wonder if we are headed for another shortage of residency spots? Maybe someone with more knowledge can help answer.

No, we are not heading to another residency shortage because of a hospital closing down. Each year after the initial match, unfilled spots are open to those that may have not matched...so at the end of all this...everyone matches.
You can see last year's unfilled-open spots: 2018 Unfilled Positions


Also, please make another thread if you guys want to talk about anything else.
This thread is just for the reviews, let's keep it that way. Thanks!

 

[J29622]

Program Name:
Kaiser San Francisco / Bay Area (San Francisco, CA)

General Program/Hospital Info:
Residents and students rotate through 3 main hospitals – San Francisco, Oakland and the Diablo Service Area which includes hospitals in Walnut Creek and Antioch. Additionally, surgeries are performed at various surgery centers around the bay area (Richmond, Pleasonton etc.)

Attendings:
Dr. King (director), Dr. Schuberth, Dr. Ford, Dr. Pollard, Dr. Dickinson, Dr. Patel, Dr. Edlinger, Dr. Castalucci-Garza, Dr. Collman, etc.

Residents:
Takes 3 a year. Typically from the top of their class and a very smart bunch with a great amount of knowledge. Surgical technique seemed good as well. Overall, they were friendly and seemed to get along with each other. Would usually meet up for drinks / food after Wednesday academics.

Didactics:
Includes radiology conference, grand rounds, journal club, sawbones, presentations etc. Usually a couple of academics a week which were pretty educational. Expect to be pimped on trauma heavily in front of lots of people, including residents and attendings.

OR Experience:
A good diversity of cases with a heavy emphasis on trauma. Had plenty of days with nothing but ankle ORIFs lined up and saw a very large number of calcaneal fractures while I was there (7). Attendings were hit or miss in terms of handing the blade over – some let the resident do the case skin to skin and same were more hands on. When rotating with Dr. Schuberth at Kaiser San Francisco, residents receive extensive TAR and reconstructive surgery exposure. Typically only 3rd years scrub with Dr. Schuberth when doing TARs and the table can get pretty crowded scrubbed in around the OR table - students do not scrub these cases. Very high volume and plenty of surgeries to do.

Clinic Experience:
Didn’t spend much time in clinic in my month – was in the OR almost every day. What I saw was very trauma heavy. Students basically shadow and don't take patients on their own.

Research Opportunities:
Very academic heavy program with what seems to be heavy research opportunities. Attendings are very well known and well published.

Lifestyle:
Very busy to say the least. The resident I worked with was routinely called in in the middle of the night to the ER when on call. As a student, you typically report to the hospital at 6 am to round and begin cases later in the day. Some days end in the early afternoon and some days end at 9 pm.

Pros:
-Train under lots of big name attendings, many of whom are extensively published
-High surgical volume with exposure to lots of trauma, recon and TARs
-Great relationship with ortho where podiatry receives basically all the lower extremity trauma that walks into the door
-Graduates who entered the job hunt seemed to get great jobs after residency
-Lots to do in SF

Cons:
-Demanding call schedule with very long hours
-Bay area traffic can be horrific, especially when going to Kaiser San Francisco
-Very high cost of living in the Bay Area

Overall Conclusion:
Has a reputation for being a top program and what I saw supports that view. Residents are all very capable, smart and confident in their abilities and go on to find great jobs. You will be exposed to tons of rear foot cases and trauma and will come out of this program a very well-trained surgeon. Program is very competitive for that reason and most of the residents were at or near the top of their class.

 

[J29622]

Program Name:
DVA Puget Sound (Seattle, WA)

General Program/Hospital Info:
Primary locations include the VA hospitals in Seattle and American Lake as well as Madigan military base. Recent expansion to incorporate MultiCare hospitals into the program. Students will spend most of their time at DVA Puget Sound and American Lake, though.

Attendings:
Dr. Sweet (director), Dr. Huss, Dr. Nawaz, Dr. Behfar, Dr. Oh, Dr. Felder, Dr. Clark etc.

Residents:
Takes 2 a year. Very friendly bunch.

Didactics:
Typically once a week on Wednesday mornings. Didactics included presentations, going over practice questions and journal clubs. Wednesdays would also function as an administrative day, allowing residents to work on personal projects as well as holding meetings regarding the program. Students were typically excused after academics.

OR Experience:
Only had 2 days in the OR. Cases I saw included lots of I&Ds and amputations with a 1st MTPJ arthrodesis. Supposedly I was there during a slow month. Residents double scrubbed every case that I saw. The resident whose case it was was handed the knife and did the case skin to skin, however. Didn't get to see enough cases to evaluate surgical technique well.

Clinic Experience:
Pretty typical VA with lots of diabetic foot care, infections, wounds and common "bread and butter" type pathologies. Not a huge amount of trauma, from what I saw. No dedicated nail techs, however. Students see patients, present them to the attending and write notes. Supposedly more exposure to trauma and recon at Madigan, although students don't go there.

Research Opportunities:
Not sure. Doesn't seem to be a huge focus from what I saw.

Lifestyle:
Overall decent hours. As a student, hours were basically from 7-4 pm daily, with a handful of longer days depending on the inpatient list. Residents hours were pretty reasonable overall - long hours on a few of the days I saw but nothing like the super high-powered programs that boast crazy work weeks.

Pros:
-Attendings were overall very approachable and willing to teach.
-Seattle is a cool city with a lot to do
-Relatively laid back hours

Cons:
-American Lake is about 45 minutes to Seattle, so a long commute on those days. Drive is usually against traffic though.
-Surgical volume, at least when I was there, seems to be on the lower end.
-Lots of double scrubbing cases

Overall Conclusion:
I liked the people at the program. The attendings and residents were all very welcoming and willing to let me work relatively autonomously (as much as student can, anyway). Surgical numbers seemed significantly lower than average and residents double scrubbed every case that I saw. Lots of clinic and lots of routine diabetic foot care. Supposedly the incorporation of MultiCare into the program, which was not in place when I was there, will expand the surgical training offered. To what extent I'm not sure.

 

[J29622]

Program Name:
Legacy Health / Kaiser Permanente (Portland, OR)

General Program/Hospital Info:
Program involves Legacy Health and Kaiser Permanente hospitals located throughout the Portland, OR metro area. Both hospitals are quite different from each other in how they are run. In Kaiser, residents who are on call only take call cases and do not perform elective cases or work in the clinic. Alternatively, residents not on call will either help run the clinic or take elective cases. In Legacy, residents who are on call with usually both take call and elective cases. Hospitals include, Kaiser Sunnyside, Kaiser Westside, Legacy Emanuel, Legacy Good Samaritan and Providence hospitals. Program is currently expanding into OHSU and Legacy Salmon Creek in Vancouver, WA. Residents also go to a burn center, which is something I found unique.

Attendings:
Dr. Laxson (director), Dr. Neary, Dr. Shinabarger, Dr. Remmers, Dr. Tomczak etc.

Residents:
Takes 4 a year. Very smart and friendly group. Residents seemed confident and capable both in clinic and in the OR. Residents seem to be from a variety of the schools and are generally from among the top of their class. There is a very strong sense of comaraderie with them meeting up regularly outside of the hospital.

Didactics:
This program is very academic. Monday night academics, which consists of grand rounds, workshops and lectures as well as Thursday morning radiology rounds. I personally found the didactics useful and educational.

OR Experience:
Cases run the entirety of the scope of practice. Cases ranged from amputations and I&Ds to reconstruction, trauma, ex-fixes etc. Residents were handed the knife in almost all the cases I saw and were given accompanying guidance. The third years that I saw in particular seemed very comfortable doing the cases, including rearfoot recon, with minimal guidance needed. Students typically scrub and assist, although some attendings may be willing to let you be more hands on.

Clinic Experience:
Nothing too crazy here. Not much corns and calluses from what I saw, but pathologies ranged from ingrown toenails, wounds, diabetic foot care, trauma, plantar fasciitis, etc. Students basically shadow in clinic at Kaiser. Residents weren't in clinic too much from what I saw. Resident run clinic at Legacy 1-2 days a week where residents act autonomously. Students can take patients here and work them up.

Research Opportunities:
A lot of the residents were involved in some sort of project from what I saw. There appears to be plenty of opportunities if that's what you want.

Lifestyle:
From a student's perspective, it wasn't too bad. Usually had to be at the hospital around 6-7 am to round and had cases after if at Legacy. If at Kaiser, the rounding schedule was pretty flexible and I usually didn't have to be there until 7-8 am. Usually dismissed after clinic hours unless there are academics afterwards. Residents, on the other hand, have long hours and a demanding call schedule. They seemed to have lives outside of the hospital, but every resident warned us that the hours can be brutal.

Pros:
-High volume of surgery that runs the entire gamut of podiatric surgery
-Great attendings who enjoy teaching and are approachable
-Academics were of high quality
-Portland is a great city with plenty to do within the city as well as outside of the city

Cons:
-Lots of driving from hospital to hospital
-Demanding hours and call schedule
-Portland is getting increasingly more expensive to live in

Overall Conclusion:
Great program. By the time you're done with the program you will be experienced and exposed to a vast majority of what's out there. The hours are rigorous but the residents all seemed and confident capable as a result. Residents get along with each other great and are all good friends with one another. One of the strongest programs on the west coast and definitely one of the better programs out there.

 

[CutsWithFury]

Program Name:
Kaiser San Francisco / Bay Area (San Francisco, CA)

General Program/Hospital Info:
Residents and students rotate through 3 main hospitals – San Francisco, Oakland and the Diablo Service Area which includes hospitals in Walnut Creek and Antioch. Additionally, surgeries are performed at various surgery centers around the bay area (Richmond, Pleasonton etc.)

Attendings:
Dr. King (director), Dr. Schuberth, Dr. Ford, Dr. Pollard, Dr. Dickinson, Dr. Patel, Dr. Edlinger, Dr. Castalucci-Garza, Dr. Collman, etc.

Residents:
Takes 3 a year. Typically from the top of their class and a very smart bunch with a great amount of knowledge. Surgical technique seemed good as well. Overall, they were friendly and seemed to get along with each other. Would usually meet up for drinks / food after Wednesday academics.

Didactics:
Includes radiology conference, grand rounds, journal club, sawbones, presentations etc. Usually a couple of academics a week which were pretty educational. Expect to be pimped on trauma heavily in front of lots of people, including residents and attendings.

OR Experience:
A good diversity of cases with a heavy emphasis on trauma. Had plenty of days with nothing but ankle ORIFs lined up and saw a very large number of calcaneal fractures while I was there (7). Attendings were hit or miss in terms of handing the blade over – some let the resident do the case skin to skin and same were more hands on. When rotating with Dr. Schuberth at Kaiser San Francisco, residents receive extensive TAR and reconstructive surgery exposure. Typically only 3rd years scrub with Dr. Schuberth when doing TARs and the table can get pretty crowded scrubbed in around the OR table - students do not scrub these cases. Very high volume and plenty of surgeries to do.

Clinic Experience:
Didn’t spend much time in clinic in my month – was in the OR almost every day. What I saw was very trauma heavy. Students basically shadow and don't take patients on their own.

Research Opportunities:
Very academic heavy program with what seems to be heavy research opportunities. Attendings are very well known and well published.

Lifestyle:
Very busy to say the least. The resident I worked with was routinely called in in the middle of the night to the ER when on call. As a student, you typically report to the hospital at 6 am to round and begin cases later in the day. Some days end in the early afternoon and some days end at 9 pm.

Pros:
-Train under lots of big name attendings, many of whom are extensively published
-High surgical volume with exposure to lots of trauma, recon and TARs
-Great relationship with ortho where podiatry receives basically all the lower extremity trauma that walks into the door
-Graduates who entered the job hunt seemed to get great jobs after residency
-Lots to do in SF

Cons:
-Demanding call schedule with very long hours
-Bay area traffic can be horrific, especially when going to Kaiser San Francisco
-Very high cost of living in the Bay Area

Overall Conclusion:
Has a reputation for being a top program and what I saw supports that view. Residents are all very capable, smart and confident in their abilities and go on to find great jobs. You will be exposed to tons of rear foot cases and trauma and will come out of this program a very well-trained surgeon. Program is very competitive for that reason and most of the residents were at or near the top of their class.

Residents do not get to cut on any of the TARs with Schuberth. They just retract. There are like 5 people scrubbed during these cases. I know because I was there.

Graduates of the program end up working at other California Kaiser locations. Look at the list of attendings. Majority were graduates of the Kaiser programs and now work at Kaiser with exception of Schubert (Swedish) and Lawrence Ford (Swedish).

If you want to work at Kaiser then you should train at the one of the Kaiser residency programs because that is your best chance. Most graduates end up practicing at Kaiser.

 

[JewOnThis]

Residents do not get to cut on any of the TARs with Schuberth. They just retract. There are like 5 people scrubbed during these cases. I know because I was there.

Graduates of the program end up working at other California Kaiser locations. Look at the list of attendings. Majority were graduates of the Kaiser programs and now work at Kaiser with exception of Schubert (Swedish) and Lawrence Ford (Swedish).

If you want to work at Kaiser then you should train at the one of the Kaiser residency programs because that is your best chance. Most graduates end up practicing at Kaiser.

Kaiser is a jacked up system. Unfortunately, if anyone wants to be a part of Kaiser you have to be a Kaiser resident.
Same can be said about Scott and white.

 

[GreenHousePub]

Program Name:
Kaiser San Francisco / Bay Area (San Francisco, CA)

OR Experience:
A good diversity of cases with a heavy emphasis on trauma. Had plenty of days with nothing but ankle ORIFs lined up and saw a very large number of calcaneal fractures while I was there (7).

So essentially seeing nothing of what you will see in typical practice outside.

Graduates of the program end up working at other California Kaiser locations. Look at the list of attendings. Majority were graduates of the Kaiser programs and now work at Kaiser with exception of Schubert (Swedish) and Lawrence Ford (Swedish).

If you want to work at Kaiser then you should train at the one of the Kaiser residency programs because that is your best chance. Most graduates end up practicing at Kaiser.

I know plenty working the same private associate jobs as everyone else. These programs take like 3 residents a year for each one, how many open spots at Kaiser is there? (And if there is, how many podiatrists are getting fired a year to free up these spots?)

 

[Startingover123]

Kaiser is a jacked up system. Unfortunately, if anyone wants to be a part of Kaiser you have to be a Kaiser resident.
Same can be said about Scott and white.

Why is it jacked up?

 

[JewOnThis]

Why is it jacked up?

they typically only hire their previously trained residents. So good luck to those who trained elsewhere.

 

[CutsWithFury]

they typically only hire their previously trained residents. So good luck to those who trained elsewhere.

This is a fact. They literally have no interest in hiring outside DPMs that have more practice experience than their recent resident grads.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN

 

[PodJL30329]

I am writing this on behalf of all students entering the Match for 2020. As a Current resident in Atlanta, Ga, if you are considering returning to the area and are thinking of Ranking DVA Atlanta, DO NOT RANK this program. All the current 1st Year residents at the program have either transferred or re-entered the match to start over as first years next year. one of the second years has already transferred and the other two are looking to for opportunities elsewhere. One of the current third years has been on administrative leave for over 2 months for absolutely no reason except that the program cannot accommodate his need for rearfoot numbers, furthermore the attending responsible for placing this resident on administrative leave resigned from the Atlanta VA last month. The other third years have just recently completed their numbers and are having tremendous difficulty securing jobs and fellowships. The training at the program is sub-par with 2 full time non surgical attendings one of which is the chief of the department who’s prerogative is to keep the residents in clinic to reduce her own work load. The program is affiliated with 3 surgical centers however cases go uncovered on a weekly basis because the residents are forced to cover clinic. The one attending that was performing rearfoot surgery also resigned last month and the full time attending that has inherited the surgical attendings role is not rearfoot certified and there is question amongst the current residents regarding this particular attending’s surgical skill, knowledge and experience. The academics at the program have suffered tremendously over the past 2 years either being canceled each week or assigning the residents lectures on APMA instead of giving lectures on medical or surgical principles. Earlier this year the OR at the Atlanta VA hospital was shut down for almost 2 months. The OR has since re-opened, but PODIATRY is allowed only 2 CASES per WEEK. Finally, the Director of the program knows of all these issues and has been falsely reporting the programs stability to CPME and was seen at CRIP interviewing for one position. This in my opinion is completely unethical as this Director does not plan on training the resident and is comfortable risking the career of a new resident and all the current residents knowing that there is a strong possibility that the program will shut down in the near future.
I urge all who are considering ranking this program to reconsider and seek opportunities elsewhere.

Hello I am writing this post on behalf of all the 4th year podiatry students entering the scramble. If you are considering the podiatry residency at DVA Atlanta it is in your best interest to pursue opportunities elsewhere. The purpose of this post is to provide an update to my previous post. Since the original post there has been no improvement. There has been no improvement of the administrative faculty of the program. In fact, upon discovery of the post both the program director and the assistant program director resigned. As a result, the program was without a director for almost an entire week. The administration’s solution to this program was to offer the position of interim director to all existing faculty members. The individual who was chosen for the position is the main surgical attending at the program. As mentioned in the previous post this particular attending’s surgical knowledge, skill and experience has been in question and now this person is the director of the program. I have been told that the new director also does not have any decision making capacity regarding the residents and the residency, instead the section chief (the previous director) is making all the decisions regarding the program. 2 of the third year residents are still looking for jobs and do not have definite plans after graduating the program. The third year resident that was placed on administrative leave ( as mentioned in the previous post) has remained in the library on a daily basis and is still on administrative leave despite multiple appeals and changes in leadership. The 2 remaining 2nd years are currently looking for opportunities at other programs. The 2 remaining first years are awaiting match and are willing to repeat residency given the lack of progress and lack of real focus to turning the program around. The academics at the program have also not improved. Currently the residents are required to do case defense presentations each week on the 2 elective cases each week with little to no input from the attendings including the attending performing the cases. The Attendings still do not provide the educational training that is required of a podiatric residency. Finally, It has been to my attention that CPME recently cited the program with multiple violations. As the program has not improved, I do not recommend that any students choose this program for a potential residency. If the podiatric residency at the Atlanta VA is your only option I strongly urge you to either take a year off, do a preceptorship at a participating program, and re-enter the match next year.

 

[FootGVNG]

Now that Match Day has passed I’m really interested to hear people’s reviews on programs. With everything going on now I think it would be really helpful to hear your prospective.

 

[podofwar]

Bump for more updates!

 

[Weirdy]

Bump for more updates!

Zoom meeting was very exciting. Loved the back ground the PD used. Feel like their mic settings are lacking but program is improving. Up and coming program but audio needs work. Meets Visual numbers by 1st year. Excited to see what they do in the next few years.

 

[Laramie]

Hey guys!

I was wondering if anyone is able to share some information about the following programs. These are three of the sites I am considering for my core site:

1) Eastern Colorado Health Center (AKA Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center) in Aurora, CO
2) University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, TX
3) Puget Sound DVA in Washington (I saw 1 review but was wondering if there is anyone else that is able to chime in)

Thank you so much!

Laramie

 

[Weirdy]

Hey guys!

I was wondering if anyone is able to share some information about the following programs. These are three of the sites I am considering for my core site:

1) Eastern Colorado Health Center (AKA Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center) in Aurora, CO
2) University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, TX
3) Puget Sound DVA in Washington (I saw 1 review but was wondering if there is anyone else that is able to chime in)

Thank you so much!

Laramie

1) no idea
2) As a student- no idea. As a residency program- there's a reason they scramble every year. Fellows get priority, not residents. Heard horror stories about them before I even started school. Don't believe me just call up and ask the attendings that used to work there.
3) Here right now. Quick update since last thread:

-Madigan Army center used to be a residency, got shut down. Residents cover those surgeries now
-Multicare (community) so residents also scrub those surgeries

Their goal is to have numbers by end of 2nd year and they're on track to do that.

Good people here. Definitely not a toxic atmosphere. Attendings willing to teach. As a student they let you do as much as you're comfortable with. Lots of clinic and can scrub any surgeries at the location you're at.

Mind you COVID restrictions are pretty severe right now in terms of volume they can schedule. They've been trying to see more patients but orders from higher up limit that.