Program Review
Staff / Faculty / Chairman
The staff here are amazing. A definite strength of the program. <br />
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Having talked to several people in and out of the beltway before my rotation here, I heard some negative comments about the program being malignant and the staff being discourteous to residents. I can say this is categorically FALSE. In fact, the residents are on a first name basis with several of the staff, and I even attended a resident party at an attending's house while I was there. <br />
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Dr. D'Ambrosia (chairman) is incredibly nice and is a major player in the ortho world. The new PD Dr. Dayton is extremely resident friendly. The trauma guys are some of the best I've seen.
Didactics / Teaching
They do all of their didactics on Wednesday mornings. It is protected time, and they cover a wide range of topics. They typically try to bring people in from other places and specialties as well to ensure that there's a breadth of topics covered.
Operating Experience
This is the major strength of the program. The residents here are some of the most competent and well rounded surgeons I've seen. There were second year residents putting in tibial nails as fast as some of the 4's I saw at other places. They operate a TON and they operate well. At Denver Health, you see any trauma you can imagine, and at University Hospital you see all of the bread and butter stuff - sports, joints, etc. I really can't say enough good things about this aspect of the program.
Clinic Experience
Clinic is clinic. It seems like a typical week includes 1 day in clinic (maybe two 1/2 days depending on the rotation), and they do a very good job of making sure the resident has autonomy - even as a junior. They have amazing clinic facilities, which is always nice.
Research Opportunities
The majority of the opportunities are with Trauma guys over at Denver Health. I think all of the residents would admit that it is not a research heavy program, but there are excellent opportunities if you're willing to seek them out. Each resident has to complete one project by the time they graduate, so obviously there is research, it's just not a focal point.
Residents
I rotated at 3 different places and this was easily the best group of residents I encountered. They all have each other's backs, get along, work hard, and play hard. They are a tight knit crew and even bought a monster truck together that they've pimped out to take to the CU Football games, resident get-togethers, and any other event where they think it might be necessary. It's hard to say a single bad thing about this group.
Lifestyle
C'mon, it's Colorado. It's freakin' Denver. The mountains are 30 minutes away (maximum) and there are 4 major sports teams (I guess 5 if you count soccer) within 10 minutes of anywhere you live in the city. All of the major ski towns are within 45 minutes (or less), and I heard a rumor that most people get a pass and use WAY more than their money's worth. Downtown is amazing and the outdoor life is second to none. If you like hiking, riding bikes, camping, sporting events/concerts - you'd have no problem finding people to go with you here.
Location / Housing
As an added bonus to the awesome surroundings, the cost of living here is very low compared to other similarly sized cities, and there are some really cool neighborhoods to live in (esp "Park" neighborhoods for people with families). Depending on where you want to live, you could be in the mountains or downtown and still be within 20 minutes of all of the hospitals that you work at.
Limitations
They are a little light on foot/ankle. They have a community guy that they work with, and he's excellent, but the experience is somewhat truncated. I know they are working to bring one on full time - but at the moment this is still a deficiency. <br />
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Another limitation from the applicant side is that they get about 850 applications/year (according to invites/rejections they sent out last year). I have to assume this is one of the largest #'s in the country, so getting an interview is pretty difficult unless you rotate.
Overall Rotation Experience / Conclusion
If you couldn't tell from what I wrote above, I loved this place. I thought the rotation was excellent and I was thoroughly impressed by the facilities, the residents, and the staff. I would absolutely recommend that applicants take a look at this place - it's a very strong program.
