Just got home from Penn. Had a great time on the trauma service. I was the only visiting student rotating on the service while I was there. The other medical students on the team were the 2nd year UPenn medical students who rotate through for 2-week blocks. The trauma service is intense. Although they only have you sign up for one true call day a week, regular OR days could go until 6 AM the following day depending on the schedule (this happened several times during my 4 weeks). The trauma rotation is the toughest rotation from what I was told by residents, but you see a ton of variety.
The residents and faculty are great and love to teach and get the students involved in cases. I was amazed by the autonomy residents had in the OR. One room was staffed by a PGY5 & 3, the other was staffed by a PGY4, and they pretty much ran the show depending on the attending who would stop in and out for most bread and butter cases. Everyone worked hard and expected a lot out of you. Not that much pimping, but you should be sure to know your anatomy, especially in clinic.
You are expected to go to clinic with Dr. Mehta, Dr. Ahn, and Dr. Donegan at least twice. Often you will get called to the OR because they need extra hands. You give a presentation on a topic of your choosing, which you generally have time to research on Sundays when you're off and review with the residents and attendings to make sure you are doing things the way they want them.
I loved the hospital and the people were great across the board. Will be considering this program highly if I get an interview. Philly is a very nice city, I have never been there before. Most of the residents seem to live in Center City, which is full of restaurants and things to do. The married residents seem to live in the city or in nearby suburbs.
