Applied: 35
Interviews Accepted: 9/10
Programs Ranked: 8/9
No specific order. I felt this year was very competitive and it seems most applicants felt the same way. Heard lots of stories where applicants were given interviews almost automatically in the past, did not review them this year. Same held true for me in my program. Coming from a community mid-west program.
No particular order:
CORE Institute - Phoenix:
Interviewed 28 for 3 spots. This place is very business oriented compared to all other programs. They have been doing bundled payments for many years and have been planning for them since 2009. One of the big downsides is that they navigate ALL their joints due to their standardization of protocols. All fellows are given job opportunities after fellowship. if you join CORE, you follow their protocols, their EMR, their malpractice..from a business standpoint, very well done..from autonomy and self thinking, not so good (this is corporate medicine). The fellows make $75k base then take trauma community call for $750/night..make about $100k. They are pretty happy, learn a lot, get business training if you want to.
CORE helps you find a job either with them or wherever you'd like to go. Operate 2 days and clinic 3 days with each attending. Jacofsky is really only operating one time per month, so most of the fellowship is with Ahmed, Cercek, and Myerthall. They are busy. 1 fellow and 2 attendings for pre-interivew dinner. Interview day, the other fellow was involved in interviews, while the other was operating. Interviews were like speed dating..15 minutes per attendings and fellow, very friendly and easy interviews. Jacofsky basically said hi, what questions do you have? Phoenix is "miserable" for about 3-4 months during the year, due to high temps, otherwise rest of the year is great. Low cost of living. Easy to travel around Phoenix with their highway system...not much traffic. 4 hours to Vegas, 5 hours to San Diego.
FOI - Tampa
Not much to see or do @ FOI. Five labs is a research building, brand new, 80+ cadaver stations, impressive facility. Interview with 4 main attendings. PD is super dry and very hard to guage. Asked why joints, why FOI, talked about the non-compete for 3 years. Most attendings asked about what you want your practice to be and where you want to practice. Lyons is by far the best interview, very easy to talk to, has some pointed questions that make you think, but good flow.
Fellows seemed to really love the place. 2 MDs and 1 DOs (3 MD attendings, 1 DO). 2 of them live right across from Tampa General, super nice view(1500-2500 for rent). Fellows dont do any orders or write rounding notes. Each fellow will do "social" rounds for all joint patients in the hospital, so not all 3 have to show up. Only Bernasek has a resident, but he runs 3 rooms with 12+ cases a day. As fellow you do OR + Clinic. Take joint call for the group at the hospital, but residents can be called who are in house to help with any issues, so hardly have to go in. Take primary attending call on weekends for $200/day, any case you do becomes attendings responsibility on Monday. Residents again can be called for reduction or anything that has to be seen. Basically get paid to take call and go in and operate.
Fellows have help doing research projects from FORE, didn't seem to be an issue getting one started or completed. Fellows are all married and love the area. Each attendings operates out of different hospitals, from Tampa General to community same day outpatient TKAs/THAs. Great weather. Was 80+ during my interview when the NE was 30s. Will rank top half. Interviewed ~45 for 3 spots. About 90 applications.
U of Chicago - Finn
Crazy amount of revisions, easily #1 in the country (45-60%) with Finn. Starting this fellowship year, fellows will be spending 6 months at U of C with 2 new Drs doing majority of primary + robotics (as of now, limited exposure to both). Typical day for fellow is Monday morning joint conference (takes 10 hours to prepare - done Q weekly), then clinic till 1-2 PM, Tuesdays OR with Finn for 2 primaries / 2 complex revisions (sometimes all revisions) - done by 2ish. Wednesday is only day of SCUT as residents are gone for education - round then do clinic till 2ish, Thursday OR with Finn again till 2, Fridays is off, research or possible case. The time spent from 2-5 PM each day can be used for whatever you want. Fellows stated they used it for dictating complex revision op notes (30 mins/per) or working on joint conference, thus having free weekends.
Fellows take 6 call days (3 of which are a weekend Fri-Sun). This is floor/joint call only. State usually come in 1 time/month. Only come in on weekends if people are in house from Thursday surgery. Basically you will be 100% comfortable doing bread and butter joints and probably every revision you encounter in your practice as you will do the most crazy complex revisions during fellowship. If you want a fellowship that does 100s of primaries and you need to improve your primary skills, this is probably not the place for you. No moonlighting opportunities. Interviewed ~40 for 2 spots. When working with Finn, he gives a lot of automony. Expects you to teach junior residents primaries and you take the lead on all revisions.
Interviewed with Finn and his partner at the same time for 20 mins. Laid back interview with a few questions, but more conversations and asking about your CV and experience in joints. 3 other "stations" with the support staff/fellows that explained what they do and how they help the fellows and run the place. Short day overall 8:30-1ish.
Northshore Chicago
Brand new program. First fellow starting summer 2016. Pre-interview dinner was at a nice upscale restaurant, quiet and allowed attendings to really talk and have great conversations. There are 4 main attendings you work with, and 2 retired surgeons (40+ years each) that will be there to help facilitate education. No Shoulder experience. All but one attending runs 2 rooms. About 10-20% revision rate, bread and butter revision. If you want Total Femurs / Blasted Tab revisions, ect, this place is not for you. Their goal is really centered around fellow education.
Absolutely no scut work nor any call. Can take elective weekend call but it is uncompensated. Skokie Hospital and the Offices are all brand new, state of the art facility. Very impressive. The first fellow will really shape the fellowship. They will expect 3 OR days 1-1.5 days of clinic and .5 days of research. They want the fellows to do projects, but definitely not the main focus. Sounds like the fellows will be running their own room with attending oversight initially then min oversight once they become comfortable with you. PAs and nurses do all the orders, roundings, prep, drape, ect. No scut work.
Skokie is one of the Northern Suburbs, the patient population is mostly affluent. Per the PA on the floor, patients expect to go to a acute rehab facility after their TKAs, so most stay 2-3 days due to the nature of the community. One attending lives downtown and commutes, states 20-25 min commute in AM. Worst commute home is Friday PM, can take hour. Other attendings have families and live in the burbs. AAHKS and AAOS will both be paid for to attend. They stressed that "the fellow is not needed to run the clinic/or" thus its all about fellows education and what he wants to learn/accomplish. There is a PGY3 U of Chicago resident that rotates also, but very unlikely to have any surgical interaction with them. Interviewing around 20 for 1 spot. Fellow will also be involved in some business meetings to gain knowledge in that area. Do both Anterior / Posterior hips. Use PSI, navigation, and also do UNIs.
Beaumont - Detroit
Well established program with 1 fellow (has enough volume for 4). Interview day was 2 rooms with 3 attendings each. 10 miuntes per room, laid back interviews. Fellow is on call 1 weekend per month where he has to round on patients (and do orders/notes - residents can help). About 100 joint cases/wk are performed - can scrub whatever cases you want. No robotics, navigation. All approaches to the hip (anterior both on and off table). Currently to 3 month blocks with the attendings (about 3-4 days in the OR/wk). Can scrub any ortho case you wish, many fellows by the end are scrubbing trauma/general/foot, ect. Can do megaprosthesis with tumor ortho if you wish. No moonlighting / no extra stipends. $250/month food stipend. No scut work on a daily basis (only scut is weekend call rounding). Detroit is like any midwest city. Cold/snow/dreary for the winter months. Michigan is great during the summer. Most residents/fellow live in the Royal Oak area (nice suburb) - can rent apartments/houses for $1-2k.
Alleghany - Pittsburg
Very laid back interviews. 90% anterior hips (1/3rd off table per fellows), MAKO uni and hips, very little navigation. Most attendings run 2 rooms, if there is a resident present, they are with attending in the other room. Fellows get a lot of automony, and no scut. Residents and PAs take care of rounding, orders, and notes. Fellows do social rounds.
Interviews were getting to know you and why you wanted to come to alleghany...very easy and laid back conversations. Pre-interview dinner was at a great steakhouse overlooking the city, awesome place. Fellows take NO call, can take elective trauma call at community hospital for $500/night (rarely go in). Fellows are both joining private practive groups, feel very well prepared to do anterior (both on and off table) and posterior hips. Fellows get to go to sporting events as attendings/reps all have tickets if you want to go. Pitt is easy to get around, however, the roads are confusing, not a lot of traffic. Interviewing 30 for 2-3 spots.
VCU - Richmond
Very academic program. Definitely on the rise. Currently 2 fellows and 4 rotations each. ~150 cases by 6 months. 99% posterior, the one fellow has only done 2 anterior approaches. No scut work (PGY 2 and 4 on service). You do carry the pager q2 weeks with the other fellow to answer questions (usually 2-3 pages per week - fellow has yet to go in for pages.) Have to round on the weekend when you are on call and sign the resident notes. Usually 2 days office / 2 days OR / Fridays is a research or half day or off. Must stay in town when on call - pager does not work outside of Richmond. They will pay for one conference AAHKS or AAOS. 2 research projects required, however, both fellows just jumped on attending research or resident research (not that stressed).
Interview day itself was laid back. Interview with PD and 2 of the other 3 faculty. Shown xrays in 2 of the rooms (Sapathy and Jiranek) - but overall laid back interviews. Dr. Kates is the new ortho chair (comes from Rochester with #1 in NIH funding for ortho). Bringing in more trauma guys. Standard tour of the hospitals. Remodeling the entire ortho floor where the interviews are held. New outpatient office facility just built. Richmond itself is a very hip/trendy city. Lots of redeveloped factories into cool lofts/apartments, new restaurants everywhere.
To be continued....
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