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Would anybody be able to comment on the training/quality at the Minnesota residencies (Mercy Hospital, Hennepin County, or HealthPartners Institute)?
Would anybody be able to comment on the training/quality at the Minnesota residencies (Mercy Hospital, Hennepin County, or HealthPartners Institute)?
Excellent - I was hoping at least one would be a good opportunity, so all three being solid is nice to hear. Thank you for the comments!I have been to the programs you listed and all are great programs.
I am refraining from submitting full reviews until I am safely matched, but I will give you a short synopsis.
Mercy Hospital (Coon Rapids, MN): Great program with very knowledgable attending physicians. It is a 1/1/1 program so you must be able to function independently. The program provides training in all aspects of the profession including wound care, forefoot, and rear-foot. Rear-foot exposure includes total ankle replacement, ankle fractures, calc fractures, Charcot recons, and just about any other type of case you could imagine. The first year is almost exclusively off service, but you will come close to meeting required numbers within first year. Numbers are not an issue at this program, you can make your numbers as high as your heart desires.
Hennepin County (Minneapolis, MN): Solid program. Not as flashy as the other two with aging amenities and very few bells and whistles. You will be training at a county hospital as well as a private hospital system. There will be a solid number of trauma, amputations, and I&Ds via county. Most elective surgeries are done via an rotation with an ortho group and at the private hospitals. The program was solid and is getting better with the addition of several rearfoot trained physicians. The addition of staff will allow for greater number of rearfoot/complex cases. The key thing about this program is that your clinical skills will flourish due to the heavy clinic responsibilities. There is a lack of inpt management skill due to podiatry being a consult service.
Regions/Health Partners (St Paul, MN): Well rounded program. You will be treated well and have the best of the best for facilities. The podiatry department (exclusively called foot and ankle service) is fully integrated into the ortho department. The director has done great things earning the respect of other departments. Things are done a very particular way to help advance the service and maintain the status of the program. There is very little negative comments to be made about this program. You will get solid numbers and an excellent education at this program. The director and attending physicians make special efforts to ensure you are ready to practice with a solid education, training, and CV (via involvement with the profession and publications).
Excellent - I was hoping at least one would be a good opportunity, so all three being solid is nice to hear. Thank you for the comments!
Cool, I will certainly PM you if any specific questions come up - thanks again!Yeah all three are hidden gems. They are relatively unknown to students outside of DMU and some Schollies. If you have any specific questions PM me. I will be posting reviews after match.
I never rotated at any of the programs that you listed, but word on the street is that, of those programs you listed, only Providence would be among the top 1/2 of Michigan programs.Michigan Surgical Hospital
Botsford (heard they're having a hard time getting their numbers)
Henry Ford-Wyandotte
Providence
St. John Macomb
I did visit Oakwood Annapolis. Oakwood Southshore wasn't around when I rotated through. Oakwood is a good program. They come out well-trained. I know several of the residents there and they're stand-up guys. They publish good research. Definitely a good program to check out. I can't remember if there is a review in this thread about Oakwood, but if there isn't I'll try to write one soon.And does anyone know anything about the Oakwood programs (in Michigan)?
Do you want your residency experience to be that of trimming toe nails?Has anyone rotated at the Tucson, AZ VA? What did you think of the program? Thanks.
Do you want your residency experience to be that of trimming toe nails?
This program will be closing and has withdrawn from the CASPR/CRIP starting last year.Anything on MGH in Boston, MA?
Aside from the above post by someone with a username similar to another frequent poster, it'll probably be after the Match occurs that the majority are going to share their thoughts.Now that interviews are over and rankings have been submitted I am hoping to see some more participation from the class of 2016.
This thread has been great.
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Aside from the above post by someone with a username similar to another frequent poster, it'll probably be after the Match occurs that the majority are going to share their thoughts.
Levity rather than offense was the intent of my previous post - my apologies for any appearance otherwise.I'm not offended. Have a few reviews in mind myself, but I want my diploma in hand.
Thank you!!Program Name: John Peter Smith Hospital
General Program/Hospital Info: Level 1 trauma center in Fort Worth, TX. Many other residency programs within the hospital - associated with University of North Texas. There is an ortho program, but it does not hinder the podiatry program at all - perfect symbiotic relationship between ortho and podiatry.
Attendings: 5 main attendings that the residents work with on a regular day-to-day basis. Dr. Carpenter is the program director, and I believe the rest of the attendings trained at the program. One attending oversees clinic, and another oversees the OR each day.
Residents: 2/2/2 - The residents are all exceptionally confident. They are all really nice guys who are fun to be around. You must be confident, and you must have a good personality to come to this program. Because of the nature of their training, it is necessary that you exhibit a confident and social personality to fit in here. This program gets their pick of their residents each year, therefore they are all excellent.
Didactics: I think some would consider didactics the weakness of the program. Didactics are not much of a priority for the program. The residents are all well-read, but didactics are mostly self-directed. Nobody gets their hand held at this program - if you want to be exceptionally well-read, the resources are available to you.
OR Experience: Awesome. From day 1, the residents are running the OR and performing every procedure skin-to-skin. This is a sink-or-swim type program, but because they get their choice of a pool of great students, everyone swims. The attendings rarely scrub, and often are not even in the room for the majority of the procedure. I think the only time I saw an attending scrub was a B/L TMA, and once he finished his side he scrubbed out and had me close. As a student you will get to do a ton in the OR, so this is a great externship experience to work on your skills. The residents are very willing to teach, and there is so much cut time available to the residents that they often let the students do a lot.
The case-load is pretty unique. Heavy trauma, heavy amputations, heavy I&D. They probably do 8-12 ankles a week. At some point the first years start doing isolated fibular fractures, and then by second year they are doing bimals. All the residents have great skills in handling trauma. The second years do isolated fibula fractures in about 30-35 minutes. If you want to do trauma, I cannot imagine a better program for fracture training.
They do most of their elective cases during 6 months at a surgery center as a third year, but I saw several flatfoot recons, a few medial mal osteotomies, and rearfoot fusions my month. Despite not being a "recon" program, I saw more recon here than many other programs. Most of these recon cases were brought by Dr. Garrett.
Clinic Experience: Very busy clinic. They see a ton of patients each day. The residents function as attendings in the clinic. They see the patient, develop the treatment plan, and book the procedure. This clinic is primarily post-ops and diabetic foot wounds/infections. As a student you get to perform any procedure done in clinic, so again its a great place to get hands-on training. It can get pretty tiring, but everyone works hard and I really enjoyed the clinic.
Research Opportunities: I don't know, maybe.
Lifestyle: The residents are very busy, but they are definitely the happiest residents I came across. The first year residents were very tired, but they have more responsibility than most first year residents, and it makes them better. Most of the residents are married, so I think most of the time outside of the hospital is spent with families. I think because the program is so strong and enjoyable, despite how busy they are the lifestyle is great.
Pros:
-True autonomy - residents function as attendings, with the attendings always there if they need guidance or to discuss treatment options
-Great trauma caseload
-The dream OR experience. Pretty much 100% skin-to-skin with residents capable of thinking critically in the OR.
-Great relationship with Ortho
Cons:
-It is really hot outside.
Overall Conclusion: When people ask me about this program, I usually tell them "if every podiatry residency was like JPS, podiatry would be an insanely popular profession." For the right person, this is a great program. For the wrong person, there is no chance of matching here. I think it is important that students know they take up to 6 students a month for 2 spots. This means that when they interview, they have a very large (and smart) applicant pool for only 2 spots. It is something to consider if you are a student at a school that has a low number of externships. If you have confidence, good grades, and an enjoyable personality, with interest in this type of caseload and training, this is a great program.
I will be there for my fourth year. I have heard some great things about it. I will try and get one of the upperclassmen that went there to respond to the thread.Amazing thread! I'm only starting pod school this fall, but does anyone have any info on DVA NM - Albuquerque? From what I hear, it's a relatively recent program? I would love to go there in 4 years (optimal for me geographically - SO is in ABQ).