I am a 3rd year planning on going into ortho, and I am on my general surgery rotation right now. I am amazed at how unhappy the residents and attendings are. They hate their jobs, their lives, they are mean to each other, undercut their teammates, constantly complain behind each others backs, and generally make life miserable for themselves and those around them. I realize that this is gen surg, and I have heard that ortho programs tend to attract happier/more confident people, and my home ortho program is not like this.

I wanted to get opinions from current residents/m4's on the ortho programs with reputations for being good enjoyable places to work and learn. I am not assuming its all going to be rainbows and sunshine, but I am interested in a place where the attendings enjoy teaching and have a good relationship with residents, the residents work together as a team, cover each others back, teach the juniors instead of using them as a punching bag, and help each other out when possible.

I also would like to know about the programs that this is not the case, where the attendings throw tantrums, the residents belittle their juniors and undercut their seniors at every opportunity, and people are generally mean to each other.

Any information would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance for your replies.