University of Tennessee - Campbell Clinic

Let me preface this by saying I am not a resident there nor did I rotate there but I interviewed there and a few of the faculty at my program did their residency there. This is a fantastic program. I would say the training is second to none as far becoming a competent surgeon. You do your trauma training at the Med, the third or fourth busiest orthopedic hospital in the nation (or so they told us). The rest of your time is with the private sector in Campbell's many centers throughout Memphis and even in Northern Mississippi. The hours when you're not on Trauma are WONDERFUL, but as with most programs, Trauma is rough. The PGY-2s are 24-on 24-off for 6 months, 3 of those where your get to be in the OR, and 3 where you're in the ER. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure what the academic portion of this school is like, but with names like Canale and Beatty I don't know how you can go wrong. The program seems like a "Boy's Club." They have 50 residents all of whom are men. One of the residents told us at an interview that they had a girl drop out a few years ago and now they're hesitant to take one.

My big beef with it was Memphis. It seemed like everyone there either has gotten their homes broken into or knows someone who has recently. With a young wife, I was just hesitant to bring her there.

The faculty at my program think it is the best program in the nation and highly recommended it to me. It would've been #1 on my list if it weren't in Memphis. I hope this helps...

Thanks a lot for the info. I'm sending all of my information in this week. I've been in contact with Becky Adams, who's the ortho contact there. Hopefully, I'll be there for the Sept 24-Oct 19 time slot. We shall see. Much appreciation for the insight.

i would agree w/ everything orthoguy said. i am neither a resident there or rotated there, but i did interview there as well. i will also add that the campbell clinic itself is amazing and its location in germantown seemed to be a nicer part of memphis...for what it's worth. another selling point is when you are at the clinic you learn some of the business side of orthopaedics by working in the private setting. they have all the subspecialties covered and i think they said they were doing away w/ the rotation in mississippi. elvis presley trauma center or the med was an experience. one possible downside is that there are clinics located throughout memphis and you might be doing some driving.

everybody i interacted w/ was very personable. definitely an all boys club feel to it...i felt sorry for the one female applicant that was interviewing that day. the interview was fun, especially the manual skills room. another big bonus was all the perks the residents get...tons of free books, i think a computer or pda, etc. medical librarians to pull articles and photographers to take pictures for you for presentations....pretty impressive stuff.

overall i thought it would be a great place to train, it ended up high on the list. hope this helps.

I have rotated through Campbell's Clinic and would echo the above posts. I'm in school at Univ of TN and the ortho department definitely has their act together. The rotation is set up however you want it. Students are not required to take call but of course it's not discouraged. If you choose to, you'll be at the MED for your call. Definitely trauma heavy but if the guys get to know you well enough, you'll get to drill some pins, pop some hips and shoulders back in, etc. For every week of your rotation, you can choose (in advance) a different faculty to follow. Azar is the program director and is very approachable. Beatty is likewise an extremely nice guy. I would do a week of peds, sports, joints, and tumor or something along those lines. Becky knows which docs sit on the admissions board if you would rather rotate with one of them. The boys club feel is definitely present. A female was given a spot 2 or 3 years back and left after her first year to do peds. I think it left a bad taste in the mouths of a few faculty. Memphis is definitely not a utopia but the residents are treated extremely well. Campbell's took 2 students from UT, and while I won't comment specifically on their board scores, they both were quite competitive. Time b/w Germantown and downtown about 20-25 minutes. You'll do quite a bit of back and forth. People say the downside is Memphis. It is a rough city but this program wouldn't be as good as it is if everyone didn't like to shoot and stab one another. It's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Feel free to ask if you have any other questions.

I am an intern (for about two more weeks) at the Campbell Clinic and wanted to comment on a few things and get into some more detail for everyone. First, I just want to address the original poster's questions.

What is this program like?
I think the program is a unique mix of inner city, urban, Level I trauma center type experiences mixed with real-world private Ortho as well. This was one of the qualities that I was most drawn to. Our residents are very outgoing, hard-working guys. Very blue-collar work ethic underlying a more white collar atmosphere. I think the program's reputation speaks for itself and the stability of the faculty is unmatched, as staff turnover is a rarity from my experience, unlike many residency programs. All in all, a very well rounded program with great technical training and good people around to lead you through.

Average USLME Step 1 score?
I don't know the answer to this. But I know that I got a 229- very pedestrian by Ortho standards- and I'm here. That being said, I'm sure mine is below that average. Most of our guys are AOA, but definitely not all. I wasn't and I know at lead one other intern of ours who wasn't either.

Average number of cases per resident?
Don't know that numbers, but cases are ample. As busy as all of the services are, if you happen to have an attending out of town that you are working with, there are cases, mostly at the outside suburban hospitals that go uncovered. Our chiefs are ready to be technically gifted surgeons when they finish.

If you are a resident there, how do you like living in Memphis?
Memphis can be rough, so you need to talk with the residents and find the good places to live. There is no denying that these concerns are real. I personally had reservations for these reasons, but we have found a place we like outside of the city that is very quiet and that we feel safe in. More than anything, you just need to use common sense and get to know the areas to avoid.

How is the access to outdoors activities in the area (biking, climbing, hiking, fishing, etc)?
Couldn't tell you, as I'm a Midwesterner who would rather play golf or work in my yard that go duck hunting and fishing. That being said, there are a million conversations that I overhear from people doing those exact activities.

I'll have more later, but gotta run for now. Any more questions, I'll be happy to honestly answer, either here or in a PM.

rwbrhp29

There's a LOT of biking trails and "outdoors-ish" stuff to do in Memphis. If this is what you're into, you'll have no problem finding things to do.

I will be rotating at the clinic within the next few months and have requested Azar, Heck, and Beaty along with a Trauma week. I have heard it is a laid back rotation by ortho standard but I think Memphis will be my top choice as far as programs go and want to make a good impression. I would appreciate any input on the amount of call to take, pre-rounding on patients, how to meet/interact with the residents, etc.. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Quick question, I went on FREIDA and according to the program's page the avg# of hrs/wk during the first year is 40!? with "2.5 24hr off-duty periods per week". Most other programs are +70hrs/wk. This cant be right, right?

Definitely not true at all...no idea where that came from. It's just as busy as any other internship. CT/Vascular Surgery and Trauma were miserable, Ortho was busy but awesome, neurosurg, plastics, ER, and radiology were pretty laid back.

More to follow later.

rwbrhp29

Another perk of this program that I didn't appreciate until the beginning of residency:

Approx $1500 worth of free books every year...and a free PDA

Are these the guys to request time with if get to rotate through there? I don't have final confirmation that I'm going, so I haven't requested any specific docs.

Instead of doing a 'trauma week', I would rotate with a fourth attending and take call on your own at the Med during week or weekends (you won't have scheduled surgery or clinic sat/sunday).

Canale is the Campbell's chairman and is a big name if you are thinking of getting a letter. Beaty is an excellent choice in my opinion. They are all excellent guys to work with so I don't think you can go wrong.

Just to offer my two cents as one of the rare female interviewees at Campbell Clinic ...
Firstly, I'm sure I speak for most women in Ortho when I say that I certainly prefer men NOT to feel sorry for me, as a previous poster had mentioned he did. I was one of, from what I gathered, 5 women who interviewed at Campbell this past year, and the only woman there my interview day. So I may even be the female that the previous guy had mentioned. One of the other dates also had a lone female, and the third date had three or so from chatting with other applicants on the trail last year. I'm completely used to working with predominantly or entirely male colleagues (from students to attendings) since the Ortho world is so male-dominated. If I were not okay with this situation, I would have chosen another field. I was not shocked at all by the gender ratio on the interview day (and the same ratio at several other programs). However, I had heard of the “Boys Club” reputation from several sources before applying. Therefore, I was shocked to receive an interview invitation. I went to that interview not wanting to like the program, but I was pleasantly surprised. It’s an amazing program, and I did not feel an ounce of hostility towards me on the interview day. I also don’t think Memphis is all that bad. For a variety of reasons, I did not rank it very highly on my list. I heard from multiple “insiders” (rotators and residents/former residents) that they truly don’t want any women in their program. I am very curious to see the makeup of the new class of interns (it hasn’t yet been posted on the website), and I won’t be surprised at all if it’s all men. If a program doesn’t want any women, then why would any female applicants want to be residents there, i.e. why would women rank them highly? It is obviously a cycle that can be hard to break even for programs that are actively “trying” to get more/any women in their program, which Campbell Clinic is not doing. It’s an issue that I think all female Ortho applicants should keep in mind when interviewing at any program.