Program Review
Staff / Faculty / Chairman
The Chair and PD, Dr. Hamilton is the self-proclaimed "&*@hole you heard about Orthogate" (true quote from Dr. Hamilton.) He openly admits to degrading and socially humiliating residents on interview day. When I rotated at this program, several of the residents openly discussed how he makes the UMKC program miserable.
During the interview, he gives a well-known "fire-and-brimstone speech" where he discusses and defends his reputation. On my interview day, he also made a point to discuss why some of the residents may have "less than good things" to say about him. I found it very odd that he would take time out of the interview day to defend his reputation from what Orthogate and his residents say about him.
Didactics / Teaching
There are regular didactic sessions in the AM. They are from a variety of staff and are typically fairly good. There is also a weekly anatomy pimp session given by Dr. Hamilton
Operating Experience
I spent most of my time at Truman Medical Center. Depending on what service you are on, residents spent from 40% to 70% of their day in the clinic, leaving much less time for OR time. The program has a graded level of surgical exposure with most of the surgical training coming later in residency. I also spent some time at St. Lukes, where residents got much more OR exposure and more hands-on training.
Clinic Experience
At least at Truman, where Dr. Hamilton works, residents are the ones primarily responsible for clinic. At least 50% of the time, the clinic was ran solely by residents, with no overseeing attendings present.
Residents
The residents are all hard-workers and nice guys, but many are openly not happy being at the program. When I asked what they thought about this program, the responses varied from "do not even rank this place" to "it's not that bad" & "you get used to it".
Lifestyle
The lifestyle at Truman is grueling. Being that it is Kansas City's community hospital, the facilities are not well kept, the ORs are old, and the patients are mostly uninsured or medicaid, which makes for difficult patients. The call schedule is 8 per month, but they do allow for home call. St. Lukes is much nicer, with better attendings, patients, and facilities. The concensus when I rotated was that most residents were openly unhappy being at this program. They felt they were not treated with respect, that the facilities were sub-par, and the work hours were rough.
Location / Housing
Kansas City is a moderate-sized city. Truman Medical Center is located downtown near one of the worst ghettos in town, but St. Lukes is located close to the Country Club Plaza, a fluential area of town.
Limitations
Dr. Hamilton openly makes life tough on the residents. At times, some of the knowledge from attendings is out-dated. Much of the training is done in a community hospital with difficult patients and old facilities.
Overall Rotation Experience / Conclusion
The plus is that this program leaves spots open for re-applicants.
However, the residents were unhappy, much of my time was spent in clinic, and the program director felt it was necessary to justify his reputation on Orthogate and among his residents at the interview day.
I took the advice of several residents and did not rank this program.
