Program Review
Staff / Faculty / Chairman
Staff - The program has several physician extenders on every service, significantly reducing your scut work and getting you into the OR. They exist on both trauma and elective services. The various secretaries for the departments are easy to work with and very accomodating. In particular, the residency program director's secretary is extremely helpful and knowledgable, getting you everything from refunds for educational trips to prescription pads. <br />
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Faculty - There are board certified staff in every subspecialty of Orthopedics. Specifically, there are 2 pediatric, 1 foot/ankle, 4 upper extremity, 2 joint, 2 trauma, 2 oncology, 2 sports, and 1 spine. I've found all of the attendings to be approachable and they all like to teach (some more than others). This is the first program I've been around that doesn't have at least 1 "malignant" attending that can make your life miserable while on their service.<br />
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Chairman - Dr. Gearen is the main joint reconstruction surgeon in addition to being program director. He's very likable, easy to get along with, and runs the department well.
Didactics / Teaching
Didactics are resident run. They include a daily morning conference (M-F) at 7 AM. There are no evening or weekend conferences. Every day is dedicated to a different specialty, and an attending of that specialty will usually be present to answer any questions regarding the particular topic. The conference includes about 40 minutes of presentation and Q&A followed by presentation by the trauma junior of the patients who came in the previous night and discussion by the trauma surgeons regarding approaches and interesting points regarding those patients and their injuries.<br />
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Teaching outside of didactics is above average. Most of the attendings enjoy teaching and will do so without you requesting it.
Operating Experience
You begin operating as a PGY-1 and don't slow down until the end. There is a very good mix of trauma and elective orthopedics in the program, with the majority of trauma experience in the junior years and the majority of elective experience in the chief years. Perhaps the weakest area of experience is in foot-ankle, as there is no dedicated rotation (you mix in foot-ankle with your joint rotation). This may change as the program grows. Otherwise, you will feel confident in operating as a general orthopedist when you leave the program. There is also a good mix of outpatient and inpatient surgeries with the opening of the Florida Surgical Center in the parking lot of the Orthopedic Sports Medicine Institute (OSMI), the main clinical and office space for the program. The majority of upper extremity and sports work is done at this facility.
Clinic Experience
The clinical facilities are second to none in the country. The OSMI is one of the nicest buildings on the UF campus and is utilized by many campus organizations for fundraisers and events. The first floor houses MRI, CT, and plain-film x-ray capabilities along with a very large PT facility that is the nicest I have seen. The second floor houses clinical space and further x-ray capabilities along with casting rooms and a hand therapy center. The only down-side, if it is one, is that the facility is approximately 5-10 minutes across campus from the main teaching hospital.
Research Opportunities
Research is there if you want it. There are always a large quantity of studies going on, particularly in oncology, if you want to get involved. There is opportunity for both bench and clinical research. The motion analysis lab is also an interesting and up-and-coming research opportunity for residents. There is an entire section of the website devoted to the lab if you want to know more about it.
Residents
The advantage of a medium-sized program (4 per year now) is that there is good cohesiveness amongst the residents. You won't be able to name a bad guy (or gal) in the group. They work hard and enjoy going out and doing things together on the weekends. This is definitely a selling point of the program.
Lifestyle
The lifestyle is pretty good compared to some other Orthopedic programs. With the lack of heavy trauma in the chief years, there is plenty of time to spend with family, go out, or do whatever you want to do with your time. With the advent of night float, call is approximately one 24-hour weekend shift a month (except the night float/day float trauma guys) or one at-home call shift every week to week-and-a-half for the chief class. Many nights the chief does not have to come in (better than half).
Location / Housing
The cost of living is cheaper than many parts of Florida, and typical for much of the South. The location is a typical college town. There are approximately 100,000 people in Gainesville. The city is attempting to pattern itself after a young Austin with focus on arts and entertainment. With the college crowd comes a young atmosphere to the city. There is outstanding college athletics to watch, and the tickets are pretty easy to get.
Limitations
The downsides to the program probably are the growing pains in adjusting to becoming a level I trauma center and creating a night float system and having only one dedicated joint reconstruction rotation and one sports rotation (both come as a chief). The growing pains are minor, but there. This will be worked out within the next year. The joint reconstruction and sports experience will likely improve as the program increases in size, but when there were only 3 residents per year, there were only so many rotations to go around. You still receive 3-4 months of training as a chief in each area.
Overall Rotation Experience / Conclusion
The program has a large monetary infusion, with several new buildings, outstanding faculty, and great residents. They are poised to move into a new hospital tower with new trauma ER in the next year to year-and-a-half. There are plenty of physician extenders to lessen the work, and the operative experience is varied and provides an outstanding basis for private practice. The lifestyle is pretty good and the beach is only 1 1/2 hours away in either direction. There are 3 major airports within a 2 hour drive and the city has one smaller airport that will get you out of town as well if you need to fly. This is a great program and worth a look.
