i have not heard anything about ALL places going to six years. And if that did happen, then it is unlikely that people already in training would be affected by the changes. SLU just switched to 6 yrs, and the people already there got "grandfathered" in for 5 years but people coming in now will be on the 6 year plan. I think that if the ACGME/RRC would be more liberal with giving out more spots/year to programs then the call schedule would be lighter and that would help hours too.

It's the same way at Union Memorial in Baltimore. They just switched to 6 years, but the residents already there are doing 5. It was a definite curve ball at first, but it ultimately did not change my rank list. When you get over the extra year (which is negligible in the grand scheme), an extra year can make lifestyle ALOT nicer. Plus it's an extra year of training and OR time. I think I'll be a better surgeon and physician with that 6th year under my belt.

I think with the 80 hour work week, more programs will add an extra year, especially smaller programs. There's a lot of ortho to be learned!

what do you mean sawbonz, when you say ALOT nicer??? how?

I'm not sure that being in a six year program would make my life much better as I am very happy with my program already. Personally, I think the key is to be at a decent size program. There is no way my program would have to go to six years to improve our training. The 80 work week didn't change our number of cases, just the number of bs calls I get from the nurses (by reducing the number of call nights). Nobody knows for sure what the work week restrictions are going to do to ortho training in general, but if I had to do it again, there's still only one six year program I would be applying to.

I think that eventually all programs will have to go to 6 years to turn out quality surgeons. I routinely worked 80-95 hrs a week and you cant just regulate that number to <80 and think that you haven't diluted the experience....I always thought that which didn't kill me just made me stronger (and smarter)!

Oh well...

Good luck,

Scott Silverstein MD
Education Director
WVUH Orthopedics