Monte has been a great experience over the past 5 years. The program has changed for the better tremendously since I was an intern.
We now have every subspecialty covered, and covered well. (Tumor, Spine, Foot/Ankle, Trauma, Joints, Sports, Shoulder, Hand are all seen in pretty large numbers throughout the training.) We're expecting a new trauma attending at Jacobi in the near future.
There is a good deal of operating. Graduates feel well prepared to tackle most things that the community can throw at them when they leave...the bread and butter (THA, TKA, scopes, most trauma, basic hand, basic foot stuff, etc.) There are PLENTY of cases where chiefs take a more junior resident through a case with an attending just standing by in the room "if we need them."
Most graduates do fellowships, and we are fortunate to get pretty good ones (HSS joints, ISK sports/joints, Twin Cities Spine, Doug Jackson Sports, Tom Jeff Sports, Syracuse and Pitt Hand, Wake forest hand to name a few of the recent ones).
Research opportunity is there; there is a requirement to produce and present a publishable project by the end of PGY4, and there is a dedicated research block for 2 months as a 3 or 4.
Didactics: weekly conference WEdnesdays 7-11:30, including resident on resident teaching, Grand rounds, case presentations, Xray board rounds, OITE reviews; in addition, monthly interdisciplinary oncology conference, weekly chief of service meetings with an attending to discuss articles/topics.
Call starts off bad as a 2 (Four months of nightfloat), A LOT LESS as a 3 (5-6 overnight in house calls per month), A LOT BETTER as a 4 and 5 (5-6 beeper calls from home per month).
Hope that helps. It's been a great experience with excellent surgical training, and I'm happy I came here. Any other questions, please feel free to contact me.
