I am a current R4 at UW and obviously biased toward the program...I think the trauma experience here is great...you do 6 months as a junior and 6 months as a chief...I think that is going to be pretty similar to what you will get at other institutions time wise...the experience however is in my opinion better than what you get at many other places...the attendings are awesome to work with...teach a lot...and get you involved...you will see all kinds of broken...The hours at HMC are no longer what they used to be and I think te trauma heavy reputation comes from what things used to be like...ACGME rules are strictly followed and there is a night float system. The rest of your time is spent at more private hospitals where you are apprenticed for the most part one to one with an attending or group...call is in general once a week and one weekend per month and is home call except for the R2 year. The R2 year like most places is the busiest and lifestyle is significantly better after that...I'd be happy to answer an other questions and if I had to choose all over again i'd definately come back here...I fell well trained and love the people I work with. FYI I was not a rotator and knew very little about the program before coming out here and had some of the same concerns as yourself. I will be doing a sports med fellowship after I graduate...I am looking forward to being back on the trauma service this year...as you will find out trauma is something almost every ortho surgeon will do so why not learn from some of the best and know you are doing it well...

I'm an R2 at University of Washington currently doing my first trauma months. As an R1, we spend three months covering the orthopaedic floors. Harborview is incredibly busy with three general ortho teams, a ortho spine team and an ortho hand team. During call nights, the R1 assists the R2 in the ER reducing bones, placing splints, and drilling steinman pins. Now with nurse practioners on each service, I made it to the OR a ton as an R1. As a R2, we have three 6-7 week general trauma rotations, a hand trauma rotation and a spine trauma rotation. I think this is an outstanding way to learn general orthopaedics. Trauma forces you to learn orthopaedic anatomy, and anatomy is power. On my call nights, my learning and capabilities are constantly stretched. A couple times when I've been stretched to my limit, the chiefs have swooped down and bailed me out. That being said, I still get to the OR a fair amount. There are fellows and chiefs on each service. My experience with the fellows is that they have gone out of their way to teach and encourage me. Because they come from different programs, they offer a unique and different perspective on teaching. The chiefs run the show. They spend their days in the OR learning from outstanding mentors. All and all I think this is a great place to learn trauma.

As further evidence that UW has a well respected trauma program but also to give you another option if you're interested, there are other programs whose residents rotate through UW or a similar trauma heavy program, ie at Hopkins. Since there are a lot of NYC programs, most at least give the option for residents to go do trauma outside the city where the trauma cases are not as spread out, so it can be a good option for those who want to see a wide variety of things but still get some of the trauma experience.