Reviews written by firegirl

Palmetto Health/University of South Carolina School of Medicine
 best kept secret in the south,  Wednesday, 06 August 2008

Overall rating
8.4
Staff Surgeons
10.0
Didactics/Teaching
9.0
Operating Experience
10.0
Clinical Experience
8.0
Research
6.0
Residents
9.0
Lifestyle
9.0
Location
5.0
Overall Experience
10.0
Program Information
Staff/Faculty/Chairman: We have a small but devoted group of attendings; they are young enough to be well versed in new techniques but experienced enough to know what they are doing and step back and let you operate. One of our staff is currently serving as interim chair and is doing a fantastic job, but we are still searching for a new chair. The lengthy process has not been for lack of applicants, but our staff feel it's best (thankfully!) to keep looking until we find a chair that will fit with the personality of our program.
Didactics/Teaching: Conference every weekday at 6:30; OITE review weekly in the fall; alternate days for hand, spine, peds, trauma, ethics, tumor; (see our website for breakdown); preop conference on mondays, postop on fridays present an opportunity to present to the staff on a regular basis; each resident presents a grand rounds yearly.
Operating Experience: early and often. as a smaller program, we usually have only one resident on each service. as a junior you are preparing for cases and operating from the beginning; staff allow you to do as much in the case as is appropriate (and commensurate with your preparation) but you are rarely fighting off a chief (unless its a brachial plexus dissection or something..)
Clinic Experience: well, it's clinic. prison clinic monday mornings, resident clinic monday afternoons; usually 1 to 1 1/2 day of specialty clinic; the rest of the week is OR.
Research Opportunities: improving. a yearly presentation is required, as well as one publishable paper. not a lot of research coming out of our program, and the projects are almost exclusively resident driven. that said, we just received a boatload of money to get a research staff person, and a couple of our staff are really trying to facilitate our research endeavors.
Residents: great group. not terribly diverse, but not because we don't try. two women. mostly married, after this year mostly with kids. family situation is not a factor in our scrutiny of applicants, just the way it worked out.
Lifestyle: intern year is ridiculous. it doesn't get much easier. three months ortho service, 7 months ortho call; PGY2 year is rough (just like everywhere else) PGY3 is better. call is very front loaded, so chief years are pretty nice. no service call. trauma call year round. cover all hand; do not cover spine at all (except on spine rotation in Augusta)
Location/Housing: it is CHEAP to live in columbia. there are some nice areas, and since we are one of the highest paid programs in the country with one of the lowest costs of living, most residents have pretty nice houses.
Limitations: the size is both strength and weakness; research needs work. our spine rotation is expanding with a new local rotation with a great private guy in town; our peds is split as well with local and Shrine (greenville) rotations
Overall Rotation Experience/Conclusion: i couldn't ask for a better residency experience; we have a great mix of private and university exposure; our operative experience is outstanding, and we match into some of the best fellowships in the country despite the fact that no one has heard of our program. i highly recommend applicants rotate with us (or any program you're interested in) because finding a place that fits your personality and how you learn makes all the difference in the world.
Qualification
I am a current resident of this program.
Date of Rotation: 2008


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