Anyone interview/rotate/know anything about Ft. Worth-JPS?

Well, I know SOMETHING about this program.

I Just finished last month doing my ortho sub-I and one of the residents I worked with did an away rotation at JPS. He wasn't impressed. Told me how it was a small-community program (which is fine if you are into that) and that there is a very limited academic side to the program. More importantly, he described the main hospital there as at/or below the level of you average VA (if you know what I mean).

Unfortunately, that is all hearsay of course, but since you asked for "anything", I thought I'd give you something.

Good Luck!

just curious by what you mean by "if your into that" about community programs?

Before I explain, remember that I am merely a student - as this forum is directed to such as I - and that I that my knowledge is still somewhat limited.

That being said, what I meant is that - according to what I have been told by residents I have worked with - is that community programs' main strength is that residents do a lot of cases. But the downside, in comparison to university-based programs, is that they lack the academic rigor and associated research. So my point is, if you are into cases, and not research, community programs are probably a good fit for you. Moreover, if one is interested in doing a fellowship, a community program may not be the best preparation for such.

Hope I haven't ruffled any feathers, just trying to answer someone's questions.

nah, no feathers ruffled, I was just wondering what your opinions were on the subject.
Overall I would agree the community programs do more cases. I think depending on the exact place you are at for a community program one thing that may be lacking is the extreme subspecialized cases that get funneled to the big academic centers (like brachial plexus or multi-digit micro replants or crazy tumor stuff). My take on that stuff is that those cases are not something a general orthopod is gonna do.
If the focus or ortho training is supposed to be to produce well rounded ORTHOPEDIC surgeons (not sports docs, or joint docs, or spine docs) then you need to be able to handle routine trauma, joints and scopes. You dont have to be able to resect someones osteosarcoma, but you need to be able to diagnose the benign lesions that you can follow versus something that needs to get shipped off. The fact is that many/most residency's setup will be nothing like the eventual practice you enter into if you go into private practice (which the vast majority of people still do).
I think that fellowship should be something to hone your skills or develop a personal interest, not make up for a lack of experience in residency (sports and joints often falls into this category since some feel that they need better arthroscopic skills before going into practice or more total joints under their belt).

another thing that some community programs might lack in comparision (besides research, which you already talked about) is as good of a lecture/diadactic component.
just my opinion

Agreed. And a lecture/diadactic component is what I initially meant by "academic rigor".

Thanks for the reply and the experience-based assesment.

although i didn't get to visit before i withdrew from the match, i applied to and accepted an interview from jps. in tx, it is regarded as a pretty cush place with a decent caseload and great perks. most of the guys i know who rotated or interviewed really liked it. it's not as trauma heavy as some places, but as long as you're smart enough to pass the oite when you graduate and you get enough cases not to flail, you might as well get paid well and fed on call nights.

cheers

I'm a resident at JPS, or the "Fort Worth Affiliated Hospitals Orthopedic Residency Program" as you may see it called. We're at 5 hospitals, 6 surgery centers, and 9 private offices throughout our 5 yrs.
Most of the answers on this thread about the program are from medical students that may or may not of even rotated here - this is my opinion as a resident that knows (bottom line - awesome):

-Quality of JPS hospital: Way above average for any hospital county or not and getting better. See Facts below.
-The level of trauma we get is not only sufficient, but also encompasses the entire spectrum of cases and keeps increasing. We do most of it ourselves with either a staff guy scrubbed in for the majority of the case or pointing from behind us the whole time. Incredibly rarely do I feel left hung out to dry. Also I have friends at big academic trauma facilities that have several staff guys scrubbed in to acetabulum surgeries and the chief pulls traction or retracts. Can't become at 'em good like that.
-We have a brand new surgery center that we do 9-14 cases a day at by 3PM, which frees up the big hospital for big traumas. We have a brand new bad-a** trauma center/OR that is opening in December '07. Even still - we can't operate at night b/c our staff all have pvt practices to attend to the next day.
-Cases are diverse. At JPS we treat indigents with f'ed up, long-standing problems so that the routine ones seem like cake. They still get elective surgery just like our private cases, but they're just harder b/c they're fatter and sicker. The only thing we do not do is microvascular replants or meniscal transplants. If you're interested in replants, though, our chairman is the president of the hand society and will get you in any fellowship you want.
-Basically a little less than half of the residency is outside of the county hospital at cush surgical hospitals, centers, and pvt practices so you have great hours and learn REAL business sense. Some of them get themselves into a big hole so you also learn what NOT to do when you get out. About 4 months of the time that you are on the outside, the operative experience suffers and you feel like a medical student again and just get to close and retract - that pisses me off - but then you go back and DO all of the cases yourself with the little tricks that you just saw professional guys do and you realize it was worth it.
-We have a loose association with a DO med school in town b/c they give us research funding, staffing, and space in exchange for teaching med students. That's about as far as it goes and we do not currently have any DO residents. That's about as politically correct as I can get.

FACTS:
-Each senior this year scored over 90th percentile on the OITE.
-JPS was one of four county hospitals in the nation last year to earn money, and they made 70 MILLION dollars (Dr Evil would like that.) I don't think an average V.A. has that kind of income, and it doesn't all go into the CEO's pocket (even if he is a jerkoff, he is building major projects around the campus all the time, and our facilities are pretty freakin nice and advanced. Mayo Clinic is better, but this is kind of the concept of what they want JPS to eventually be.
-A couple of months ago our chairman, who is on the Orthopedic Residency Review Committee, had a meeting with the committee and they discussed various programs. Yearly the graduating classes from each residency program have their case loads evaluated - JPS residents had the HIGHEST AVERAGE NUMBER OF CASES IN THE NATION. That being said, we don't operate at night, just have lots of OR time.
-Most incoming residents have around a 240-ish on one USMLE or the other. Some have a lot higher, and occasionally lower. You will not be interviewed unless you have a certain USMLE (you could probably guess) unless you rotate through.
-We have our own clinics and follow our own pts. In other words, we get to be REAL doctors. That's a good feeling and you leave with confidence.
-About 3/4 of the residents are not from Texas and about half stay in Fort Worth when they are done. That should say a lot about the town.
-About 4 or 5 guys right now are single, the rest are married. You'd have fun either way.
-The females in the program do not seem as happy as the males.
-There are 34 staff guys that we work with, three more guys are coming in '08 (F&A, Peds, and Sports) - we have a Ft and Ankle operative experience weakness which will change with the staff addition.
-Anyone who does a fellowship pretty much gets whatever he wants. Don't take fellowship searches too seriously unless you really want to go into academics. The staff get mad when we say this, but the truth is a lot of academic programs just haven't heard of JPS and that means a lot to them when they want to show off CV's.

Overall, I don't think I would get a better operative experience or business education across the board from anywhere else. Almost all of us get along well and hang out together, and we have great lifestyles. Those were the things that were most important to me when I applied, and I couldn't be happier to be here.