Program Review
Staff / Faculty / Chairman
Over 100 orthopaedic surgery attendings in this huge institution, spread amongst Tisch, Bellevue, and HJD. Many of these attendings are huge names and very well known in the academic world of orthopaedics. The chair, Dr. Zuckerman, seems to be very dedicated to the residents, attending most, if not all, of the weekly didactic sessions (doing one himself every month), and almost becomes like a father-figure for the residents. Dr. Egol (PD), although may initially seem very intimidating to med students, seemed to really goes out of his way to make HJD one of the finest residency programs in the country.
Didactics / Teaching
Weekly didactics that residents are required to attend, lasting about 3 hours. Residents are expected to read up before hand on the topics discussed, and pimping (IMO appropriate for the resident level) occurred, but nothing malignant at all. One of the best didactic sessions I saw on the rotation trail, but not too overbearing either as other programs which have them almost every day. Each 1 hour session followed clicker type Q&As dedicated to the OITEs.
Operating Experience
What really stood out to me for the operating experience was the high volume of this place, especially when it comes to the bread and butter trauma cases. Residents were rarely double scrubbed, and if they were, it was mostly because a junior wanted to check out a case that the senior often walked them through. The attendings were hit-or-miss in terms of how much they would let residents do in the OR, but honestly, this was the case at all the institutions I rotated at. Some cases the resident literally did the entire thing with the attending sitting down and chatting, while others the resident was mostly just involved in the approach and closing, with little in between--it's attending dependent especially in this large institution.
Clinic Experience
Clinic is clinic here. Not the fastest, not the slowest. The staff though was pretty good at getting patients placed into the clinic rooms in time, and the fact that the EMR was Epic made it very easy to put in orders, write notes quickly with dot phrases, etc.
Research Opportunities
This may be the biggest strength of HJD. If you're trying to publish, this is the place to go, tons and tons of research opportunities. Almost felt like residents were getting thrown papers at them by attendings. IRB is also taken care of for you as well as recruiting patients for prospective RTPs, which makes the task a whole lot easier. A few residents I met here at 40+ publications, and HJD also has it's own research journal (the Bulletin) on pubmed, so your work will be published somewhere worst case scenario. The requirements for the program is 1 original research, 1 review, and 1 case report.
Residents
Best group of guys I saw on the trail, but I can see why it's not for everyone. Dr. Egol and the residents stress a very particular set of residents that they want to come to their program, and it's very clear during the rotation and during interview day. Very A-type personality and at the same time very bro-y too (they even have a gym right above the OR where residents lift in between cases, and if you bench 300 you'll have your name placed in the 300-club). Almost seemed like a mix between an ortho military squadron and a fraternity.
Lifestyle
Not the best, but not the worst, either. This is a very work hard play hard program, with the emphasis on work. But let's be real, if you're trying to get into a program like HJD or similar, you're not looking for a cake residency either.
Location / Housing
It's in the Kips' Bay/Gramercy Park area of Manhattan, need I say more? Also, NYU provides subsidized housing for incoming residents (preference for those coming from outside of the NYC area), with 1 BR apartment from $1750 to $2100, significantly cheaper than anything else in that area.
Limitations
The biggest limitation in my opinion is the cost, but hey, it's manhattan, you pay for the city experience.
Overall Rotation Experience / Conclusion
Overall, an excellent experience during this rotation.
As a rotating medical student:
1. Typical day is usually around 430-5 AM to 6 PM, rarely later, but of course depending on the service.
2. Your role is to manage the patient list in the morning and write notes and see patients independently in clinic. Absolutely do not mess up those two tasks and see as many patients as possible so that your residents don't have to.
3. You'll have to present one 10-15 min ppt presentation to your team at the end on a topic of your choice (don't do something obscure that no one will care about, but do an interesting bread and butter topic and really do a good job on this--aka do NOT just copy orthobullets). You'll also have to do a short case presentation with Dr. Zuckerman during the end as well where you will be asked questions so know your X-rays!
4. There will be one weekend call you take at Bellevue, which is actually pretty fun and a very different experience than HJD and Tisch
5. There's one sawbones and one splinting session that all sub-I's should go to, it's fun, you'll learn a lot, you'll meet other residents, and it's free pizza
6. Every Sub I will scrub in at least once with either Dr. Zuckerman and Dr. Egol. Don't expect them to be super chatty with the sub I so don't take it personally if they don't talk to you--I'm pretty sure they forgot me right after the case.
7. Most importantly, do NOT be annoying and do not try to outdo your co-sub I(s)
