Rather than post a "review" of my own program as a current resident like others have done and pat myself on the back with perfect 10's, I'll instead comment on the review written by RTReynolds. First, I want to thank him for taking the time to rotate at Miami and for writing his review. Unfortunately, in a month's time there are aspects to a program a student simply isn't exposed to or may have a skewed view of depending on the luck of the draw and that is what I want to clarify.
I'm a current PGY-4 at Miami and have enjoyed my time here thoroughly. Like the review says, the resident camaraderie here is unmatched and I believe people who interview / rotate here sense it as well. Whether it takes the form of covering calls without hesitation, helping out in the clinic when the team is short staffed, or hanging out on the boat / bar / club / beach on weekends, the residents all get along and the importance of this cannot be stressed enough when choosing a residency â youâll be at a program for five (or six) years, and there is nothing worse than being with people you canât stand or count on.
The operative experience I believe is also second to none. When I say operative experience, Iâm referring to the resident doing the majority or all of the case, not just standing back and holding hook for the attending / fellow / senior. At Miami, in the past six months, weâve retained new faculty in Joints, Trauma, and Foot & Ankle who are all busy with new practices. No need to say weâre âactively recruitingâ â we actually do have new staff on board. I think our program gives residents superb training in the three areas you need to be proficient in to be a good general âpod (which I believe should be the goal of all residency programs) â trauma, sports, and joints. UM-Jackson is the largest trauma center in Florida and the only level-1 in Miami, and as a result we have a huge referral base that extends into the Caribbean and South America. This is one of the few places in the country where residents will receive extensive exposure to Ilizarov / spatial frame techniques, in addition to the usual plating / nailing / corrective osteotomies. With regards to the PGY-2, it is a busy rotation on Trauma but we have an ARNP to help with scutwork and itâs very possible for the PGY-2 to scrub in on ankles, BBFA, and nails whenever they like. Attendings are always around in the room or next door and theyâll let you fly as much as you feel comfortable. By the end of your PGY-3 year, most residents are able to do basic antegrade / retrograde IM nails, ORIF of bimalleolar ankle fractures, and ORIF of both bone forearm fractures without direct supervision. By last count on the ACGME website, Iâve logged 41 femoral shaft IM nails (CPT 27506), 27 tibial shaft IM nails (CPT 27759), 37 hip fracture IM nails (CPT 27245), with myself acting as the primary or sole surgeon in all except the first five or so cases of those series.
On the sports side â you get 8 months throughout your residency, with a gradual increase in autonomy. You start off learning scope techniques as a PGY-2 and doing basic diagnostic scopes, advancing to your chief year where you have your own room doing ACLâs and shoulders, with the attending (team physician for UM Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, and ex-Dolphins physician) next door in his own room. We also are the team physicians for the Tampa Bucs, as well as for all the colleges and high schools in Miami. On the joints side, between our two attendings who do only joints, we average about 20 joints a week split between only two residents on the service (ARNP present to help with floor work). At the end of the PGY-2 rotation, the resident is comfortable doing an uncomplicated primary knee / hip with the attending passing instruments and providing tips / feedback. The VA rotation also affords residents more autonomy and exposure to sports and joints.
To address some of the criticisms of our program, itâs probably fair to say our didactics are not as formalized as other programs (WashU comes to mind with massive binders containing a two-year lecture curriculum). We have a three hour session every Thursday morning consisting of Grand Rounds, then two hours which is a mixture of case presentations, faculty lectures, M&M, OITE review, and journal club. We have an annual cadaveric dissection course where PGY-5âs and PGY-2âs team up for a particular anatomic area under faculty guidance (i.e. joint attending supervision hip dissection) where the PGY-2 dissects anatomic structures on one side and the PGY5 does surgical approaches on the other. PGY-1âs get physical exam lectures by faculty in their respective specialties. As a program, we do very well on the OITE (most PGY-4âs and PGY-5âs score above 90th percentile) and in the past 10 years, only one person has not passed Part 1 of the boards, and due to personal reasons at that. With respect to research, again, Miami is a clinically focused program and while there are plenty of opportunities to do research (we have a fully equipped biomechanics lab and many faculty have clinical studies ongoing) you are not going to have a project dropped on your lap 95% completed waiting for you to sign on as first author when you walk in the door. It will require some effort on the residentâs part. That being said, most people come to Miami looking to get good operative experience to prepare them for fellowship or private practice â relatively few of our graduates go onto academics although coming here certainly does not preclude that path.
Bottom line â the residents here make the program and are the biggest âattractionâ, graduates are very comfortable and competent in the OR, and our fellowship placement is phenomenal. This yearâs chiefs will be going to Beth Israel for Spine, HSS for Trauma, HSS for Foot and Ankle, HSS for Hand, UCLA for Spine, Scottish Rite for Pedi, New England Baptist for Joints, and Pitt for Hand. In the PGY-4 class, so far we have a resident going to Harvard for Pedi / Sports and HSS for Trauma. Please feel free to PM me with questions and good luck to everyone on the match.
