top community programs and top family friendly programs

CMC in Charlotte would have to be a top community program. Great OR exposure (early, often, broad, all subspecialties for the most part, and mostly if not all one on one). Good teaching/conferences. Excellent view of a "private" type practice. Smaller numbers (3/year) more typical of a communty program. Probably more academics available than most community places if you're into that. Attendings seemed prety laid back (although the chair is a little odd...not odd just really sure of himself, and of the program, but that isn't really a bad thing).

Both Akron General and SUMMA in Akron, OH seemed to be really strong community programs. Alot of the same reasons as above, but some differences both between themselves and from CMC (number one being Charlotte vs. Akron, maybe less academics/conferences but maybe not ).

Kalamazoo is supposed to be a really good comm. type program too. I didnt' interview there b/c of a conflict, but I do know they are VERY family friendly, so much so that they have all kinds of activities for families, there's a "wives club" for all the spouses of residents, they supposedly take you on a tour of the city and show you where nice family areas are to live, etc etc etc.

Those are some off the top of my head or that I interviewed at, I'm sure there are others, people will share their 2 cents I hope....

allegheny general hospital in pittsburgh is an amazing community program with a university affiliation.......tons of OR time and early.....almost always one on one with the attendings........probably has a stronger academic schedule than most community programs (i can't really speak for other programs)........attendings are all great and the residents are happy......cost of living in pittsburgh is more than reasonable.........overall great program....

I didn't really apply to many "community" programs, but I consider Union Memorial in Baltimore to fall into that category. They have an "academic" feel with fellowships in hand, foot and ankle, and sports. Yet despite the fellows, the residents operate a ton and some cases will go uncovered by residents regularly due to the large volume of procedures. Generally the residents seemed very happy with their group. Plus to help with future fellowships, they have some big names throughout their faculty. I was very impressed when I interviewed there and actually ranked them higher than I thought (matched above them) and would recommend that more applicants investigate this program. They do a few away rotations at Hopkins (Peds, Tumor) and Maryland (Trauma). Only potential negative is that this is a 6-year program. Sorry I can't add more.

I interviewed at 5 or 6 so-called community programs, and I was very impressed. Several of these programs had more teaching conferences than bigger university programs. The big difference is that community programs are not geared toward research and they don't have many big name attendings. However, there are many advantages which have been talked about repeatedly.
Several programs I liked were:
Mount Carmel Columbus, OH- great group of residents who are really taken care of, super nice chairman, real good lifestyle.
Greenville- many fellowship trained attendings with outstanding residents, extremely solid program
Kalamazoo- amazing facilities, great operating experience
Grand Rapids- a ton of trauma, tight group of residents

Did anyone rotate through Orlando Regional or St. Mary's in Sanfrancisco?

i second all of the community places mentioned here. I am a resident at kalamazoo and i have no complaints whatsoever!

What about the programs in Texas, any good community programs? This is a great list by the way.

I interviewed almost exclusively at community programs. In my opinion, you get earlier operative experience, more bread and butter ortho, and a better lifestyle than you get with academics. Some of the best I came across, were grand rapids, kalamazoo, the akrons, fort wayne, and wichitaw. Other places that were decent were JPS in fort worth and william beaumont. I wasn't crazy about erie, pa, but some people really like it. I have heard great things about geisenger and allegheny, but I canceled those interviews. I also have heard great things about mount carmel and, carolinas, and greenville, but I didn't get interviews there.

i followed in ortho2003 footsteps and applied mainly to community programs......as i mentioned above, agh is an amazing community program with a impressive academic curriculum......no heavy emphasis on research amazing didactic schedule......operative time is one of its strongest assest.................

also, monmouth in new jersey is kind of a dark horse that not too many people no about.....operate a ton and early......call from home......fills in its weaknesses by sending residents to CHOP for pedi and nyc for a month of tumor.......

i interviewed mainly at community programs, some with university affiliation but others were free standing community programs......geisinger seemed like a strong program on my interview...........

Where is geisinger?

geisinger is in danville, pa....off of rt 80 in the middle of nowhere pennsylvania....

"also, monmouth in new jersey is kind of a dark horse that not too many people no about.....operate a ton and early......call from home......fills in its weaknesses by sending residents to CHOP for pedi and nyc for a month of tumor......"

Remember, a resident just left the program and really bitched about it. Check out the "advanced residency positions" forum to see. PM the guy/girl to get the scoop.

he was asked the leave........he didn't leave on his own......

As mentioned already, I would agree that Kalamazoo is not only a great community program, but also extremely family friendly. The interview weekend actually included a tour of town with a real estate firm to help get us used to the area and the homes we could afford and the country clubs we could belong to etc etc.

As for the previous post asking about the San Francisco Orthopaedic Residency Program at St. Mary's...I rotated there and thought extremely highly of them. They were very stong in OR time and exposure with plenty of academics to keep anyone happy but not enough to be overkill. Most programs are friendly for families but San Francisco the city is not as family friendly due to the cost of living on resident salary...but the program does have residents with families (spouse, kids etc) This program in particular is exceptionally difficult to match at because they only interview a very samll pool of applicants (like 15 for 3 spots).

I just wanted to expand upon the original question: how might it affect one's future career prospects in the private practice setting if one were trained at one of the 'big-name' academic institutions (HSS, Iowa, etc., etc.) versus one of the better community programs (Kalamazoo, Carolinas, etc.). Intuitively, I would think that all of the dream jobs out there with super cool groups offering huge salaries with partnership tracks in great cities would have their choice of applicants and so might be inclined to choose people who have rather prestigious training backgrounds. To take it even farther, would these dream jobs even rather have surgeons with ridiculously great fellowship training, and how does community vs. high-powered academic really affect your chances of attaining one of those coveted fellowship spots?

Or, is my intuitive guess completely off and those great private practice groups recognize quality of surgical training and offer positions to those trained at the community programs while those at high-powered academic joints tend to go into academics. Anyway, you see my point, as naive as it may be. I would love to hear what those in the know have to say about how much it really matters where you train when it comes down to your future career. Thanks for any insight you can offer.

--BF

I am not in the know, but I do know of groups in Houston that will only take fellowship trained Orthopods into their practice. I would also think that groups would be more likely to take someone from the same program that they trained from.

You must remember that academic orthopods only account for around 10% of orthopedic surgeons. However, they train the vast majority of new orthopods as there are more academic programs than community programs. So when looking for a job in the private sector, most orthopods have trained in an academic enviromnent.

When it comes to getting a job: Most groups just need bodies, so they may not be too picky about where you trained. However, if you are looking at a job far away from where you trained, the group may be more familiar with the academic program in your area rather than the community based program.

When it comes to landing a good fellowship, much of it now is about "connections" and there are more "connections" in the academic world than the community sector. However, that doesn't mean you can't get a good fellowship in a community program. It does bring up an important question during the interview process: Where have your residents done fellowships at?