Program Review
Staff / Faculty / Chairman
Small program, with staff and faculty like family. Chariman, Dr. Ruth (Trauma) is approachable, supportive, and a great teacher.
The Trauma service is the "heart" of the program. Its a busy service, with the opportunity to operate. As you become more comfortable with procedures, you do more and more independently (Nails as a 2, articular work as a 3, etc...) with appropriate autonomy.
Didactics / Teaching
Didactics are split between attending and resident led.
There has been a push to increase the number of visiting professors for Grand Rounds recently, both from in the community and from outside. Lectures are on a variety of subjects spanning all fields
Trauma conference every week with residents presenting cases, and Attendings "pimping" and teaching. Once a month, trauma attending provides formal presentation.
Resident conferences are somewhat seasonal, with OITE review, Anatomy didactic/dissection, Sports Med Lectures occuring at different points throughout the year.
Department pays for 1-2 courses/conferences per year, and funding is fairly easy to come by if there are other courses you are interested in.
Operating Experience
Top notch. You won't find a program with operating experience much better than Arizona. We operate early and often, and because of the mentorship style of rotations, there's very little "double scrubbing"...typically just you and the attending.
Clinic Experience
Clinic is clinic, we do enough but not too much.
Research Opportunities
Research is available. Traditionally has been a weakness, and still is, though this is getting better each year. Most residents are involved in a few projects and are routinely accepted for presentations at nationwide conferences. MD/PhD faculty who always has multiple projects (basic science, anatomic, clinical) going, so there's always something to do.
Department paid trips for any research presentations that are accepted.
Residents
Great group of people from all over the country. Was one of the selling points when I rotated here as a student. Culture of teaching among the residents, with seniors teaching juniors, juniors teaching interns, etc... When I rotated as a med student, residents let me reduce wrists, and even a hip.
A requirement to match here is that you work hard, enjoy life, and can laugh at yourself.
Lifestyle
Tucson is a very big small town. Don't expect everything that a very large city will have, but the weather is great year-round, with plenty of outdoor activities. Phoenix is 90 minutes away for shopping, concerts, sports etc...
Location / Housing
Housing is easily affordable, traffic is non-existent.
Limitations
Small program means everyone has to pick up some slack on vacations...but that also means that everyone else has your back when you need time. As stated above, research and didactics are not strengths, but have improved and continue to improve.
Overall Rotation Experience / Conclusion
If you ask any resident here if they would come back if they had to do it all over again, we'd all say absolutely yes.
