Stanford - Probation

I had the same bad reaction, and have been told, via Stanford student, that they were put on probation b/c they had an interim chair when the accred. review was done. I was told this is an "automatic" and now that they have named a chair there should be no issues with the program.

Stanford was put on probation after repeated warnings to find a permanent chairman. They had an interim chairman for 2.5 years. That being said, Dr. Maloney has assumed the position of department chairman so that issue should no longer be pertinent. As well, I heard another accreditation issue was lack of didactics and low OITE/board scores amongst the residents.

Jet-X mentioned that the Stanford ortho program might suffer from a lack of didactics and low OITE scores. Does anyone have first-hand knowledge about whether this is true or not? For those of you who rotated at Stanford, what did you think about the program? Any info you could provide would be helpful to me (and probably many others). Thanks...

I rotated at Stanford. From what I've gathered from being there for a month, it is true about the didactics. A presentation was given on a wed morning by a resident for MAYBE 45 min. That is it!. No attendings really spoke on anything, unless there was something extremely wrong in the presentation. There were presentations given on a certain subject and only that specific attending (spine guy) would be required to be at the presentation (about spine). For 2 of the 4 presentations that I heard by residents, the apointed attending of that specialty did not show. However, they did end up showing for the anatomy dissection that took place immediately after, which would last for about an hour. The dissection was also completed by a resident before the session and then would go through with all the residents and point out what was what, but there was not a cadaver for the others to work on, only the ones who were assigned the dissection that week. The attendings that were at the dissections were more helpful than at the presentations. In a month, I did not here one presentation, speaking, or teaching conference by an attending. They were good at teaching in the OR and clinics, but no formal teaching at all.

For OITE scores...no frickin' clue.

I rotated at Stanford. From what I've gathered from being there for a month, it is true about the didactics. A presentation was given on a wed morning by a resident for MAYBE 45 min. That is it!. No attendings really spoke on anything, unless there was something extremely wrong in the presentation. There were presentations given on a certain subject and only that specific attending (spine guy) would be required to be at the presentation (about spine). For 2 of the 4 presentations that I heard by residents, the apointed attending of that specialty did not show. However, they did end up showing for the anatomy dissection that took place immediately after, which would last for about an hour. The dissection was also completed by a resident before the session and then would go through with all the residents and point out what was what, but there was not a cadaver for the others to work on, only the ones who were assigned the dissection that week. The attendings that were at the dissections were more helpful than at the presentations. In a month, I did not here one presentation, speaking, or teaching conference by an attending. They were good at teaching in the OR and clinics, but no formal teaching at all.

For OITE scores...no frickin' clue.

Unforunately, I have to agree with TT. During my subI, I got pimped a lot by the residents. Not malignantly, just in a friendly teaching manner. However, sometimes they didn't know the correct answer to their quesions. There were numberous occasions during anatomy teaching sessions when I had to bite my tongue when chiefs (yes, chiefs!) were teaching younger residents incorrect information. I ended up saying things like, "I thought that this was innervated by xyz nerve, is that what you said?" to be nonthreatening, but they would have to look things up in a Tarascon's and say, "Hey, you're right! I guess that's innervated by that after all!" The residents have great personalities and there are definitely some that are brainer that others.

As for OITE scores, I don't know either. I plan on asking when I go in January. Despite all this, I would still rank the program highly because of the rapport of the residents and because the faculty were very nonmalignant. I'm sure the addition of Dr. Maloney will make this program more academic, but it really can't get any LESS academic!

Feel free to PM me with any questions about my observations if you're seriously considering Stanford. There are things that I don't feel would be tactful to post publically to the masses.

Jointsmoker-Sent you a PM

I am trying to get a feel for how competitive Stanford is given their probation status. I'm thinking of doing an AI there, but I'm sub 210 on Step 1. Is this a numbers oriented program? Docs at my home school have said that it's an easier program to get into in CA. Don't want to waste my AI there if there is no chance b/c of numbers. Any advice?

It is definitely not an "easier program to get into." It is still as competitive as any other California program (more competive than most). They have a new department chair now, so the program is only going to get better. People know that it is only getting better and the competitiveness will increase. I have heard they never go into double digits on their rank list.

stanford's probation status will not change it's applicant selection criteria...guaranteed.