i was a recent applicant applying across the country. i interviewed at hss, hjd, and columbia. i was really torn about wanting to go to a new place. however, for a variety of reasons, i chose to stay at my home institution, columbia.
columbia's ortho dpmt has a long history of tradition and excellence. it was a giant in the world of orthopaedics. in the early 1990's, the dpmt started going through a transitional period. however, since Dr. L. Bigliani became chairman in 1997, the dpmt has been rebuilding itself and has come a long way. in the last 5 years, 11 new attendings have joined the faculty. all the orthopaedic subspecialties are represented and well-covered. the shoulder service is renowned, hand is excellent, and the peds experience is the best in the city (in fact, new peds ortho floor in the expanding children's hospital). tumor and foot and ankle are also covered. one of the criticisms in the past has been the lack of trauma. however, columbia has now integrated a 2 month trauma rotation in tampa into the pgy-3 experience.
other criticisms have been the decreased operative experience and the deficiencies in the ancillary services. columbia recently graduated a class of 10. its program is designed for 6 residents per year. however, there was some flux between the years due to variable unpredicted research time (2 residents per year do a 1 year research fellowship). for those people, the operative experience was compromised. in addition, with a trickle down, younger residents were affected as well. since then though the trend has been for increased resident involvement and opportunity in the or. again, that will trickle down.
columbia has 2 shoulder fellows and 1 hand fellow per year. sometimes it does mean cases go to the fellows. however, with 6 attendings on the shoulder/sports service and 2 hand attendings, there are still plenty of opportunities for the residents.
columbia's ortho dpmt is also affiliated with the Orthopaedic Research Laboratory (under the direction of Dr. V. Mow) where invaluable, focused basic science ortho research has been going on for years. other major, more clinical research goes on in the Trauma Training Center (under the direction of Dr. M. Rosenwasser).
other perks here... microsurgery lab (courses are held here), arthroscopy lab, etc. new ortho staff on the floors has been invaluable in helping things get down. being not a level 1 trauma place, residents do have a pretty good quality of life. for female applicants, columbia has a history of both female attendings and a constant flow of female residents.
columbia also has had a reputation for being fairly inbred. however, there is active effort in recruiting people from elsewhere.
bottomline--good, solid training; good quality of life; and great dynamic people. figure out what's important to you, and best of all luck.
