Program Review
Staff / Faculty / Chairman
Dr. Darren Johnson is well known in his field of sports medicine. He is not extremely involved in the day to day operations of the residency. A resident doesn't get a lot of one on one interaction with him until you rotate on his service as a chief. When it comes time to apply for fellowships, he will be an advocate for you, regardless of specialty.
The program director, Dr. Carter Cassidy (Spine), is highly involved with all the residents and cares a lot about how things are going in the residency. He is a great advocate for the residents and listens to opinions and will makes changes as appropriate. His door is open and he is very supportive.
Didactics / Teaching
Formal didactics will always be a challenge at "working programs", but there were several improvements made while I was there and there was a push near the end of my residency to solidify the didactics in this program and I think now is well organized and attended.
Operating Experience
Operative experience is second to none. This is really the strong point of this program. faculty are technically exact and stay current in their fields.The volume of cases you will perform will be more than most programs. Rarely double scrubbed and if you are, it is with a chief resident who hopefully walks you through the case. The attendings will typically allow the chief residents to perform the surgery independently but are always around to provide suggestions. During nights and weekends, there is a little more opportunity for independence.
Near the end of my residency I felt confident in my operative abilities and felt I could begin a general practice, but ultimately decided on completing a fellowship.
Clinic Experience
about 2 days per week. Overall, very good. see a good amount of patients with variable pathology. Teaches you to be efficient in a clinic setting
Research Opportunities
There are opportunities to those who actively seek it. There is a requirement and you are given protected time during your second year. Completing a project is usually not an issue. A research project is also usually easily completed during both of the Shriners rotations.
There is funding to any meeting at which you are presenting.
Lifestyle
With the increase in class size, the previous burdensome call schedule has lessened and I think is more appropiate
Location / Housing
This is different for everyone, but I had a wife and 4 kids and found Lexington to be safe, affordable, and very liveable, good public schools for the most part. My wife and I enjoyed living in Lexington
Limitations
Glad I trained here but I would like to see (and I think this is improving) increased funds and opportunities to attend conferences
Overall Rotation Experience / Conclusion
I obtained a great clinical and operative education at the University of Kentucky. Lexington was a good fit for me and my family.
