Program Review
Staff / Faculty / Chairman
The outgoing chairman in Dr. Schafer who is very nice and approachable. However, he has been in the process of stepping down for the past several years and it looks like the new chairman will finally be named this spring. Dr. Yasko, a tumor surgeon from MD Anderson is the leading internal candidate. He looks to inject a lot of energy into the program and further utilizing all the resources Northwestern has to offer. The residents seem to like him and he is quite well known in his field. The faculty setup at NW is a little different then most academic programs in that nearly half of faculty are private affiliated docs. With so many faculty their were often issue with residents and attendings being unfamiliar with each other leading to decreased opportunities in the OR. However, this past year the program switch to a mentorship style of rotation where you are assigned to specific faculty member for the whole rotation. This seems to have helped increase the role of residents in the OR, especially for junior residents.
Didactics / Teaching
By far the best didactics I have seen. Learned the most clinical knowledge during this rotation. The residents really know their stuff and are always helpful to teach. Something you dont get as much at some of the crazy busy residencies. The sessions are usually one hour every morning, 1 session a week in the late afternoon, and 2 saturdays mornings a month several months a year . It sounds like a lot but the sessions are often interactive, non-malignant, high yield, and I think it is much preferred to have 45min-1hr sessions then 4hr chunks 1 time a week. The saturday sessions may sound rough, but you are usually having to go in to round on pts anyways, and the sessions in the summer are very high yield cadaver lab, sawbones, etc. In the summer we usually got done by 10:00.
Operating Experience
This is probably the part of the program that most people are concerned about. It is definitely a later operating experience that is back weighted. The 2nd year is much more focused on learning orthopedics then learning how to operate. That being said you now get to go to Cook County second year, and after you spend a lot of time at Childrens and the VA, both of which residents say are great because you get to start operating a lot, you come back to NMH and they seem to let you loose as a senior resident. Most of the senior residents I watched were confident and good in the OR so they must be picking it up somewhere. The final product is a good surgeon. However, if you want to be putting in nails on day 1 of 2nd year this is not the program for you.
Clinic Experience
Clinic is clinic. Some attendings are better then others. You are supposed to go once a week with your assigned mentor but often residents duck out after lunch. The clinics are all beautiful and brand new.
Research Opportunities
Despite the resources and academic name of Northwestern, research is not a big part of the program. They just started a research block during 3rd year and it is likely the new chair will bring a strong push towards research. There is a little ancillary staff or basic science labs. However, if you take the initiative there are plenty of clinical studies floating around to jump on.
Residents
In my opinion the best part of the program. They are back to 9 a year, after only taking 8 last year as they adjusted to losing Evanston before they picked up Cook County. They are very heavy on taking rotators. I think there are less then 3 residents in the whole program that were non rotators. However, this allows them to pick classes that really seem to fit together as opposed to just great individuals. With few exceptions they all seem to be fun interesting people interested in helping out each other and medical students.
Lifestyle
Definitely the best compared to the other places I rotated. They have night float at NMH during 3rd year for 6-8wks and then you are done. Plus comparatively night float is not busy with much trauma. I am unaware of call for childeren's, VA, and cook. Once you are a senior resident, at least at NMH, you mostly come in to operate and take home backup call.
Location / Housing
Beautiful facilities located in nicest part of Chicago. Main Hospital and outpatient surgical center are approx. 10 years old, just finished brand new Prentice, and currently building Children's hospital all within a block of each other. In my opinion Chicago is a great city, 2nd biggest urban city in US yet housing is much more affordable when compared to NYC, San Francisio, Boston or DC. Yes its cold but so are most places in the North and the summer can simply not be beat.
Limitations
If you are looking for lots of trauma and getting your hands dirt early in residency this programs is probably not for you. You may leave the program uncomfortable with seeing anything but simple trauma when on call.
Overall Rotation Experience / Conclusion
Strong program where the residents are very happy. If very interested an away rotation is a must.
