Program Review
Staff / Faculty / Chairman
Chairman: Dr. Zuckerman is the current AAOS president, and even though he probably has a ton of responsibilities he is still very much involved in all aspects of the programs. I was on his service when I rotated and while he has a very commanding presence, I didn't find him to be intimidating like the other reviewer. Rather he was very friendly and funny; highly involved with resident education; and even rounded on his patients twice a day.<br />
PD: Dr. Egol is a very intense program director, but it is clear that the resident education and the well-being of the residents are his #1 priority. I worked with him two days in the OR and the residents were very hands-on and did the vast majority of the case while he led them through the case. The residents call him a "research machine" since he's got like 150 publications. He also makes sure the residents are well read in regards to the ortho literature.<br />
Faculty: I agree with the other reviewer that this is definitely a powerhouse program and one of it's key strengths is that you work closely with a "who's who" of orthopaedic surgeons. There are over 100+ attendings, so if you want a program where you're on a first name basis with all the attendings, this may not be for you. But the way I see it, the advantage is that you get great hands-on experience learning many different techniques and approaches from some of the top orthopaedic surgeons in the country.
Didactics / Teaching
They have three hours of didactic teaching every Wednesday morning at 6:30am and a variety of service dependent conferences throughout the week. The residents get pimped during the weekly fracture conference, but the rest of the didactics are generally lectures. I didn't think the pimping was malignant at all, and the residents know the literature better than any other residents at other programs that I rotated.
Operating Experience
I was at HJD during my rotation and I thought that the residents were very hands-on. This is not a program where the attendings disappear and the residents do cases completely on their own. The attendings are always present, but they let the residents have a lot of autonomy, and from what I've heard they have even more autonomy at Bellevue and Jamaica Hospital. They clearly have a system that works as their chiefs were the most competent residents that I saw during my rotations. Also, this is not a fellow heavy program where the residents are always competing with the fellows for the best cases.
Clinic Experience
The residents are in clinic 1-2 days a week depending on the service and the majority of the services have a resident-run clinic once a week. The residents do everything on their own, but there is always an attending around to run questions by if they need it. I got to see a lot of patients on my own and then presented to the chief resident who would help me come up with a treatment plan. The residents were very helpful and tried to teach the sub-i's whenever they could. They also have an indications conference once a week where they present the previous week's clinic patients where they have to defend their surgical indications in front of a panel of experts in their field so that by the time they finish residency they know how to properly indicate patients for surgery.
Research Opportunities
Research is strongly emphasized because the program director is really into research. From what I heard, the residents are required to have three publications before they graduate (usually a case report, review article and clinical study) as well as submit a research grant proposal. Some residents thought that this was a little much, but in the end it's probably good for your career.
Residents
Hands down, the residents here were the most competent and knowledgeable over any other place I rotated. The program is tied for the largest in the country with 12 residents a year. I'm a fan of larger programs so this was a plus for me, and they take two residents for a research year between their 2nd and 3rd year. Almost all of residents I met were very cool, down to earth and friendly. It seemed like they hang out together when they get off of work. There were a couple of people that I didn't get along with personally, but you're not going to get along with everyone everywhere, and with 62 residents there are plenty of awesome people around.
Lifestyle
This is definitely a work hard, play hard kind of place. Work hours seem to vary based on the service, but in general the residents work close to 80 hours per week, which is pretty standard for most programs. A lot is expected from the residents, but I never got impression that they were over worked or thought that the program was malignant. In your free time you are living in the heart of NYC which is pretty awesome.
Location / Housing
The majority of residents live in apartments around the city (I've heard of a few who commute from Brooklyn). Some of the residents have subsidized housing and from what I heard from a friend of mine in med school at NYU, they are getting more options for subsidized housing. Housing isn't cheap, but that's NYC for you. As far as neighborhoods go, it's in a really nice one with good restaurants and bars close by--and if you don't like those there are millions of places to chose in Manhattan.
Limitations
I couldn't find that many weaknesses of the program. The only drawback for me is the cost of living, but in talking to the residents they are all able to manage.
Overall Rotation Experience / Conclusion
I thought that NYU was an amazing place. I thought the residents were awesome, there are great didactics/conferences, residents had a lot of autonomy in the OR, residents get their top choice of fellowship at the best places, the faculty are top-notch, there is a huge focus is on resident education, and fellows never take away from the residents' experience. It's arguably the best residency program in the country in my opinion.
