Program Review
Staff / Faculty / Chairman
What can you say it is the Mayo Clinic. Met a lot of the big names in orthopedics and operated with a few and was a great experience. Their knowledge during conferences was impressive and an obvious great asset. Some surgeons are more hands on than others, and that's the truth at most places. The residents get basically any fellowship they want and job offers are plenty for them.
Didactics / Teaching
Fantastic didactics, and I love the idea of the protected 6 months of Basic Sciences during your PGY2. In addition all of the consultants are big into teaching the residents the latest research and applying it to their practice.
Operating Experience
This has always been the question regarding the Mayo Clinic, and I think just like any place it depends on the surgeon you are with. Some are very hands on, whereas others let the residents go. I saw a PGY2 doing a spine exposure with the fellow assisting him. PGY3 nailing tibia with chief assisting, and consultant watching from the hall. All the chiefs I spoke to felt comfortable with their skills.
Clinic Experience
It's clinic and you do have to do a lot of phone calls, following up, and clinic duties that are actually done in the real world in a private practice. Each consultant usually has a PA and a resident. Residents change rotations on a quarterly basis. PA's do help a lot with the scut stuff in the office, and many of them scrub cases with you as well. They are a great asset to help the resident learn how the consultant works initially.
Research Opportunities
Any research is possible. The database is enormous, they have all the support staff available, and will gather all the relevant data for you and compile the stats, etc. You do have to do one project during your residency.
Residents
All of them were top notch. I didn't meet one bad apple in the whole bunch. There was some rumor on orthogate regarding Mayo letting some residents slip through and a PGY5 didn't graduate, a PGY4 went to radiology, and a PGY3 switched to PMR. All of these are true but the reasoning behind all of them is sound, and the residency director Dr. Hanssen and Dr. Turner were very honest about this during the interview.
Lifestyle
They all had a good lifestyle. OTS is tough somewhat, but nothing that you don't expect, and you get to operate a lot during this time and really develop your skills. I enjoyed trauma call with this group a lot, just a good fun time.
Location / Housing
Rochester is 100K people approximately and a great midwestern town. For married couples with children you couldn't ask for a better place.
Limitations
As a student there really isn't a place for you to rotate there, as students don't come through very often, and sometimes they didn't know what to do with you. But, you learn where you can help out, and what you can do to help the resident out. In addition you get a lot of face time with the consultants so you can get a letter from them, and most are very accommodating in that regard.
Overall Rotation Experience / Conclusion
I loved my experience here, and found the town delightful. I plan to rank this place as my top choice.
