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Residency Programs Florida University of Florida (Gainesville)
Residency Programs Florida University of Florida (Gainesville)
University of Florida (Gainesville)
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Contact Information
| City | Gainesville |
| State/Province | Florida |
| Website | http://www.ortho.ufl.edu/ |
Program Information
| Residents per class | 4 |
University of Florida (Gainesville) Orthopedic Surgery Residency Program
User reviews
Average user rating from: 4 user(s)
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Final update
| Overall rating: | 9.3 | |
| Staff Surgeons: | 10.0 | |
| Didactics/Teaching: | 8.0 | |
| Operating Experience: | 10.0 | |
| Clinical Experience: | 9.0 | |
| Research: | 9.0 | |
| Residents: | 10.0 | |
| Lifestyle: | 10.0 | |
| Location: | 9.0 | |
| Overall Experience: | 9.0 |
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Reviewed by 07UTGradDecember 26, 2011
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Program Review
| Staff/Faculty/Chairman | As noted previously, Dr. Gearen has stepped down from the chair position. Dr. Scarborough has been formally made the chair after a national search and interview process. He has certainly hit the ground running, with a continued increase in focus on producing higher quality research while not neglecting the clinical education. He has also been heavily involved in quality initiatives that are being rolled out within the hospital system. We have two new faculty, Dr. Parvataneni, who joins us from prior positions in Boston and Miami. He was fellowship trained in joints at MGH in Boston and received teacher of the year honors while at the University of Miami. Dr. Matthias returns to us after several years in private practice in the Little Rock area. He completed his hand fellowship at the University of Florida prior to entering private practice. Pediatrics is currently being fulfilled by the Arnold Palmer pediatric group in Orlando. They drive up for one day of clinic and one day of OR each week. The attending rotates on a weekly basis. This is a temporary solution as we are actively searching for permanent faculty. There is tremendous room for continued growth in several areas and we are also looking to add to our current faculty in several subspecialties. |
| Didactics/Teaching | To correct the poster below, didactics are 7-7:50 and are teleconferenced for convenience. All residents now receive iPads (FREE!) upon entering the program and can connect via iPad or from either the hospital or clinic. Microphones are set up in each location to allow for interaction. We are continuing to get improved interaction from faculty, and now have a faculty member present for most lectures. Lectures are shifting to more attending provided lectures, but many are still given by residents. This is neither good, nor bad, as both resident and faculty lectures have benefits. |
| Operating Experience | Essentially unchanged. We still operate early and often. The 5th year operative experience could be improved, which is still being discussed. That being said, our operative numbers are in the top 25% in the country. You will see a wide variety of pathology and will feel comfortable going directly into practice without a fellowship, if you so choose. The new trauma fellowship is now 1 1/2 years old and has not changed the operative experience of the residents (may have even improved it). |
| Clinic Experience | No change. Good clinical space. Great nurses that are helpful. We have switched to Epic for inpatient and outpatient. This caused a lot of growing pains and has changed the clinical staff's responsibilities. I expect that this will revert back to nurses preordering xrays and being more helpful, in general, during clinic to speed up the process of seeing a patient. As of right now, we still are somewhat less efficient in clinic than we were when I started. If you are interested, during the sports rotation, you will have the opportunity to interact with the various sports teams and athletes. You will attend athlete clinics and be on the sidelines and locker room for football games. There are other opportunities throughout the year if you are interested. |
| Research Opportunities | In addition to the standard 1 publishable research project, all residents will do a yearly quality project. These do not need to be overly complex, but is in line with the hospital's push to focus on quality. |
| Residents | In general, work hard, enjoy hanging out after work together, and pretty laid back. We continue to get essentially the same type of residents year in and year out. The applicant pool is becoming increasingly stronger, pushing our average step scores ever higher. The faculty have made it well known that they are looking nationally for applicants, not just applicants from the southeast, so apply. In my time here, the bar has certainly continued to be raised with regards to quality of people we interview and ultimately accept. |
| Lifestyle | More flexible time than any other program I interviewed at. There is an ACE rotation your 5th year where you can leave the program (or country) to rotate elsewhere for up to 4 weeks. Many services will have days without a specific clinic or OR to cover, allowing you to see cases on another service and supplement the standard rotations. Healthcare is 100% covered without any cost to you (except in rare situations) as long as you stay in the Shands system. You don't even pay a premium every month in your paycheck. This includes your spouse and children. We receive $8 per night of call including every night you are on night float. The 2nd years frequently have more money than they can use in a year. The upper levels will spend more money than they are given in a year. We do have three "moonlighting" opportunities. The first is our new OrthoCare, which is a minor care after hours orthopedic clinic. The pay is $300 for a 4 hour clinic. Clinics are held 6 days per week (5-9 PM M-F and 9-1 Saturday). The other opportunity that a few people take advantage of is the VA compensation and pension clinic. This pays per veteran seen, so the pay varies based on size of clinic and number of veterans that come to clinic. Finally, you can earn $100 per high school football game covered. Each resident that wants to participate is assigned a high school to cover in conjunction with an athletic trainer. Most teams will have 5-6 home games in one year, most of which are on Friday nights. |
| Location/Housing | College town of about 100,000. 3 major airports within 2 hour drive of Gainesville and a regional airport in Gainesville (20-30 minute drive depending on where you live). Delta and US Air fly out of Gainesville, with several convenient flights throughout the day on each airline. The beaches are accessible, as is Disney if you have kids. Parking has improved. We now park in a garage for $150 or so for the entire year. It is a 3-5 minute walk to the conference room in the hospital (which is essentially in the operating room). |
| Limitations |
1) Operative experience in 5th year - could be improved. Not bad, just not as good as the early operative experience. 2) Foot/Ankle experience - 1 OR and 1 clinic day per week 3) Peds experience - 1 OR and 1 clinic day per week most weeks, and faculty are adjunct 4) Research - lots of it going on, mostly basic science (top 10 orthopedic NIH program). Many clinical faculty simply not interested in research, making the projects less interesting and more difficult to get started. Typical university IRB roadblocks. You may end up doing research in a field that you are not going into in order to complete your project. |
| Overall Rotation Experience/Conclusion |
I encourage you to compare this program to all of the big name programs across the country with regards to breadth of operative and clinical exposure. I will leave the program fully comfortable with performing nearly any surgery you will see in private practice. I will need to improve my scoping ability, which I think is true of nearly all training programs. I feel comfortable going into every surgery with a plan A, B, and C in case things are different than I expect, if I don't have a particular instrument available, etc... I think that is the ultimate measure of a program. Our attendings are easy to work with and available almost any time of day for questions. I leave without any regrets of coming to this program. There are lots of great programs out there, and you will become a good orthopedic surgeon no matter where you end up (the ACGME does everything they can to ensure this). Find a place you want to work (both personnel and location), and you will be happy. This will be my final update as I am finishing this year. Good luck to all! |
Qualification
| I am a current resident of this program. | |
| Date of Rotation | 7/2007-7/2012 |
UF-Gainesville
| Overall rating: | 8.7 | |
| Staff Surgeons: | 10.0 | |
| Didactics/Teaching: | 7.0 | |
| Operating Experience: | 8.0 | |
| Clinical Experience: | 9.0 | |
| Research: | 9.0 | |
| Residents: | 9.0 | |
| Lifestyle: | 9.0 | |
| Location: | 7.0 | |
| Overall Experience: | 10.0 |
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Program Review
| Staff/Faculty/Chairman | One of the highlights of the program...the faculty are an excellent mix of older surgeons who have been perfecting their trade for many years and younger guys who bring a sense of excitement to the program. The program is stable and has been for quite some time. Dr. Gearen, the former chairman stepped down this summer and Dr. Scarborough has taken over as interim chair. Personally, I hope he this will be permanent, as he is a great person and really cares about the program (he has been the PD for years). |
| Didactics/Teaching | If I had to pick a weakness it would be didactics. However, for me personally (and most others I've talked to), it is not a real weakness because I learn best on my own. Conference is daily (6:30-7:30). It is resident-led and most of the residents take it seriously and do a good job. When I rotated, they were reviewing for OITE and an attending was present to answer questions. Bottom line: these guys do well on OITE and boards, so why would you want to spend any more than an hour in a dark classroom at 6:30 in the morning? |
| Operating Experience | One of the most pleasant surprises about the program. I was shocked at how much these guys operate. Most of all, I am amazed at what a well-balanced operative experience they get. Shands has just become a Level 1 Trauma Center so trauma exposure has greatly increased. Residents spend a month on trauma as a 1, six total months as a 2, and 3 months as a 5. They are busy the whole time and see every type of trauma imaginable (and some you can't imagine). Three of the remaining six months of their PGY-2 year is spent at the VA where they do tons of joints. I stayed with a 2 while I rotated and he came in daily talking about getting to do total knees with only minimal assistance from the attending. In addition - it's UF...their sports experience is second to none. Most of the chiefs seemed competent with shoulder and knee scopes and doing bread and butter sports (like ACLs). Again, I don't think you can find a better overall operative experience anywhere in the country. |
| Clinic Experience | As good as a clinic experience could be. All of the clinics are housed at the Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Institute (the brand new, unbelievably nice building a few minutes from the hospital). On most services clinic is 1-2 days a week and how busy you are mirrors how busy you are in the OR for that service (i.e. trauma clinic may last until 9pm while sports clinic often finishes at noon). |
| Research Opportunities | Again, it's UF...lots of money if research is your thing. They have an entire department in place to assist those who wish to research. The only requirement is for one project which is presented during the 5th year. However, the resources are their and a whole team of people is standing by to help if you want to be more involved. |
| Residents | Overall one of the greatest group of residents I have come across. These guys are intelligent, they come from all over, and they all love being at UF. They work hard but love what they do and do it with a good attitude. Often, they will help each other out if someone has a conflict with call or another responsibility. These guys hang out with each other and some get closer than others but they all seem to have a lot of respect for one another. That being said, one thing I really liked about them is the lack of a fraternity feel. At some programs you get the impression within about 2 minutes that you would not fit in their "club". At UF, the residents come from all backgrounds and interests which was a huge plus. |
| Lifestyle | Probably the best I've ever seen anywhere. I was always skeptical of night-float...until I rotated at UF. Night float occurs during the second year. There are two PGY-2s on trauma and one takes call from 7am-7pm while the other takes call from 7pm-7am...this occurs Sunday night through Friday. The residents trade off every two weeks. While on trauma these two residents have no weekend call. The other two PGY-2s who are not on trauma have no call during the week but take some weekend call. PGY-3s only take call on weekends (about 15 weekends throughout the year) but it is primary call. PGY-4 and 5s take back-up call from home which ends up being about Q8. One other note about lifestyle: 100% of health care is covered by Shands for both you and your family. You don't even pay a copay. |
| Location/Housing | Gainesville is everything you'd expect from a college town. Cheap, safe housing with reliable, albeit slow, public transportation. Gainesville is far from a big city which can be good or bad. There is really no airport to speak of. However, Orlando is only two hours away and Tampa isn't much further. The town comes alive in the fall due to college football. Paradoxically, the slackest time of year on trauma is summer (all the UF kids leave)...it picks up during the fall and winter. Housing close to the hospital is very expensive and utilities are pretty high. |
| Limitations | PARKING!!! Shands is on the UF campus and parking is already limited. It's truly a nightmare. You have to pay to park and its not like it buys you a place close by. Most of the parking is in garages which are a 5-10 minutes walk from the hospital. Another limitation is the lack of any kind of meal allowance. Call is in-house as PGY-1,2,3 and all the residents expressed how nice it would be if they were given some type of allowance. |
| Overall Rotation Experience/Conclusion | Greatest program I have experienced. Attendings, operative experience, lifestyle, resources, facilities, etc were all second to none. This will certainly be my number 1 choice! |
Qualification
| I rotated as a medical student at this program | |
| Date of Rotation | Oct 2010 |
An Update
| Overall rating: | 9.3 | |
| Staff Surgeons: | 10.0 | |
| Didactics/Teaching: | 8.0 | |
| Operating Experience: | 10.0 | |
| Clinical Experience: | 9.0 | |
| Research: | 9.0 | |
| Residents: | 10.0 | |
| Lifestyle: | 10.0 | |
| Location: | 9.0 | |
| Overall Experience: | 9.0 |
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Program Review
| Staff/Faculty/Chairman | This is an update to my review 1 year ago. Dr. Sahajpal has significantly increased his caseload in the shoulder/elbow department. We have also added Dr. Decker, a recent graduate of Emory's residency program as well as the well-known spine fellowship at University of California San Diego. The department is still actively seeking surgeons in other areas. |
| Didactics/Teaching | The morning conference schedule has remained the same with the exception of the format. We have now moved to defined topics on an attempted 2-year schedule to ensure that all major topics are covered. There has been a significant positive increase in faculty involvement over the last year in morning didactics as well. We have also been fortunate to have several visiting professors over the last year, many of whom are well-known leaders in their individual fields of orthopedics. |
| Operating Experience | This is essentially unchanged from before. We have added a shoulder/elbow fellow and will be adding a trauma fellow next year. The fellows have remained as a compliment to the residents, maintaining the high caseload each resident sees during their 5 years. The foot ankle rotation has solidified and is now a dedicated rotation. Also, joints has moved from being a chief-only rotation to a chief and junior rotation. Residents will now see 6 months of dedicated joints plus another 6 months on the VA rotation, which is primarily total joint replacement. A junior-level sports rotation has also been worked in to provide additional experience with arthroscopy. The new hospital tower will be opening in late fall of this year. Most orthopedic services, with the exception of pediatrics and spine, will be relocated to the new facilities. |
| Clinic Experience | The clinic experience is unchanged over the last year. |
| Research Opportunities | Research is still widely available. The research requirements for the program have now changed with only a requirement for one research project during the entire residency. This does not need to be published to satisfy the criteria. With access to a full cadaver lab, arthroscopy lab, biomechanical lab, and the many ideas of our faculty, there is no shortage of research available. The department also employs staff who will help you complete IRB approval, edit documents, and create a publishable paper. |
| Residents | We are still taking 4 residents per year and will be at the full 20 residents in the program in one year. The residency program still has a very collegial atmosphere. There are many instances of residents picking up each other's call for family emergencies or unexpected changes in schedule. In the last year, we have had a program fishing trip and golf outing in addition to yearly get-togethers (Christmas party, beginning of the year party, etc...). |
| Lifestyle | Night float continues to be a big positive for the program. No one is on primary call for their service at night, and call is approximately one 24-hour weekend call per month for juniors and one overnight in-home call every 1 1/2 weeks for chiefs. Chiefs continue to only get called into the hospital less than 1/2 the time on call. |
| Location/Housing | With the recent change in economy, housing has dropped in price significantly, making cost of living even more affordable. Beaches are still nearby, and drives into work are short compared to many big cities. |
| Limitations | The program director has been very receptive to the needs of the program, as you can see above. In one year, we have addressed many of the shortcomings noted in the previous review. While this program, like all, has areas that can be improved, it is obvious that the administration behind the University of Florida program is committed to addressing those deficiencies quickly. |
| Overall Rotation Experience/Conclusion | The program continues to improve on an already excellent foundation for learning. Residents will feel fully qualified to be general orthopedists, should they choose. If you are interested in a fellowship, we continue to place our residents in top fellowships across the country. This is an outstanding program that should be considered near the top of your list. |
Qualification
| I am a current resident of this program. | |
| Date of Rotation | 7/2007-6/2012 |
University of Florida/Shands
| Overall rating: | 9.1 | |
| Staff Surgeons: | 9.0 | |
| Didactics/Teaching: | 8.0 | |
| Operating Experience: | 10.0 | |
| Clinical Experience: | 9.0 | |
| Research: | 9.0 | |
| Residents: | 10.0 | |
| Lifestyle: | 10.0 | |
| Location: | 8.0 | |
| Overall Experience: | 9.0 |
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Program Review
| Staff/Faculty/Chairman |
Staff - The program has several physician extenders on every service, significantly reducing your scut work and getting you into the OR. They exist on both trauma and elective services. The various secretaries for the departments are easy to work with and very accomodating. In particular, the residency program director's secretary is extremely helpful and knowledgable, getting you everything from refunds for educational trips to prescription pads. Faculty - There are board certified staff in every subspecialty of Orthopedics. Specifically, there are 2 pediatric, 1 foot/ankle, 4 upper extremity, 2 joint, 2 trauma, 2 oncology, 2 sports, and 1 spine. I've found all of the attendings to be approachable and they all like to teach (some more than others). This is the first program I've been around that doesn't have at least 1 "malignant" attending that can make your life miserable while on their service. Chairman - Dr. Gearen is the main joint reconstruction surgeon in addition to being program director. He's very likable, easy to get along with, and runs the department well. |
| Didactics/Teaching |
Didactics are resident run. They include a daily morning conference (M-F) at 7 AM. There are no evening or weekend conferences. Every day is dedicated to a different specialty, and an attending of that specialty will usually be present to answer any questions regarding the particular topic. The conference includes about 40 minutes of presentation and Q&A followed by presentation by the trauma junior of the patients who came in the previous night and discussion by the trauma surgeons regarding approaches and interesting points regarding those patients and their injuries. Teaching outside of didactics is above average. Most of the attendings enjoy teaching and will do so without you requesting it. |
| Operating Experience | You begin operating as a PGY-1 and don't slow down until the end. There is a very good mix of trauma and elective orthopedics in the program, with the majority of trauma experience in the junior years and the majority of elective experience in the chief years. Perhaps the weakest area of experience is in foot-ankle, as there is no dedicated rotation (you mix in foot-ankle with your joint rotation). This may change as the program grows. Otherwise, you will feel confident in operating as a general orthopedist when you leave the program. There is also a good mix of outpatient and inpatient surgeries with the opening of the Florida Surgical Center in the parking lot of the Orthopedic Sports Medicine Institute (OSMI), the main clinical and office space for the program. The majority of upper extremity and sports work is done at this facility. |
| Clinic Experience | The clinical facilities are second to none in the country. The OSMI is one of the nicest buildings on the UF campus and is utilized by many campus organizations for fundraisers and events. The first floor houses MRI, CT, and plain-film x-ray capabilities along with a very large PT facility that is the nicest I have seen. The second floor houses clinical space and further x-ray capabilities along with casting rooms and a hand therapy center. The only down-side, if it is one, is that the facility is approximately 5-10 minutes across campus from the main teaching hospital. |
| Research Opportunities | Research is there if you want it. There are always a large quantity of studies going on, particularly in oncology, if you want to get involved. There is opportunity for both bench and clinical research. The motion analysis lab is also an interesting and up-and-coming research opportunity for residents. There is an entire section of the website devoted to the lab if you want to know more about it. |
| Residents | The advantage of a medium-sized program (4 per year now) is that there is good cohesiveness amongst the residents. You won't be able to name a bad guy (or gal) in the group. They work hard and enjoy going out and doing things together on the weekends. This is definitely a selling point of the program. |
| Lifestyle | The lifestyle is pretty good compared to some other Orthopedic programs. With the lack of heavy trauma in the chief years, there is plenty of time to spend with family, go out, or do whatever you want to do with your time. With the advent of night float, call is approximately one 24-hour weekend shift a month (except the night float/day float trauma guys) or one at-home call shift every week to week-and-a-half for the chief class. Many nights the chief does not have to come in (better than half). |
| Location/Housing | The cost of living is cheaper than many parts of Florida, and typical for much of the South. The location is a typical college town. There are approximately 100,000 people in Gainesville. The city is attempting to pattern itself after a young Austin with focus on arts and entertainment. With the college crowd comes a young atmosphere to the city. There is outstanding college athletics to watch, and the tickets are pretty easy to get. |
| Limitations | The downsides to the program probably are the growing pains in adjusting to becoming a level I trauma center and creating a night float system and having only one dedicated joint reconstruction rotation and one sports rotation (both come as a chief). The growing pains are minor, but there. This will be worked out within the next year. The joint reconstruction and sports experience will likely improve as the program increases in size, but when there were only 3 residents per year, there were only so many rotations to go around. You still receive 3-4 months of training as a chief in each area. |
| Overall Rotation Experience/Conclusion | The program has a large monetary infusion, with several new buildings, outstanding faculty, and great residents. They are poised to move into a new hospital tower with new trauma ER in the next year to year-and-a-half. There are plenty of physician extenders to lessen the work, and the operative experience is varied and provides an outstanding basis for private practice. The lifestyle is pretty good and the beach is only 1 1/2 hours away in either direction. There are 3 major airports within a 2 hour drive and the city has one smaller airport that will get you out of town as well if you need to fly. This is a great program and worth a look. |
Qualification
| I am a current resident of this program. | |
| Date of Rotation | 7/2007-6/2012 |
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