Program Review
Staff / Faculty / Chairman
Flatow is a pretty down-to-earth guy, teaches in the OR, not as intimidating as one might think once you get a chance to speak with him (though from a student's perspective, I think all chairpersons are intimidating). The rest of the faculty that I worked with were awesome. Shame that they lost Capozzi this year, but there are still a ton of excellent faculty members there.
Didactics / Teaching
Resident-run didactic session every AM, ranges from Miller lectures to topic-specific review questions, etc. Sometimes AM lecture is given by faculty. Also, once a week grand rounds with several other lectures given. Overall a much better than average didactics program.
Operating Experience
Excellent. 2's, 3's, and 5's spend time at Elmhurst in Queens, which gives them plenty of trauma experience. 2's are there to operate only, 3's run the service, and 5's do plenty of operating as well. Sinai (main hospital) is a cold or no trauma place where the residents seem to operate a ton on all specialty services. Plenty of joints, peds, hand (Hausman et al), spine, and now tumor with Wittig. Overall the most skilled residents I saw during my 3 aways.
Clinic Experience
Not sure about all of the services, but it seems to be 1 and a half days a week, with a good mix of patient population, seeing your own clinic pts as well as seeing the private pts with the boss.
Research Opportunities
Very available, but not shoved down your throat. I got the impression that you could do as much or as little (but at least 1 project) as you wanted. That said, I think they are very proud of the fact that resident education is their #1 priority, which I think is a plus.
Residents
Awesome group of residents. Very down-to-earth, laid-back but hard-working, very smart group. Most if not all are very eager to teach if student is willing to put forth the effort to learn. Learned more from the residents here than anywhere else I have been.
Lifestyle
It's ortho residency (I put a 7 because I've seen worse, but I've also seen slightly better). That said, it seems that, as in many programs, life gets better as a 3, and then even better as a 4 and 5.
Location / Housing
On the border of the upper east side and harlem in manhattan - great location. If you were being picky you could say that further downtown would be a better location, but hey, you're still in manhattan. Re: housing, there is some housing subsidizing going on, but don't expect great rents - the places are still expensive. A lot of the residents seem to live a little further away from the hospital and hoof it that little bit extra to avoid the rent of the neighborhood just south of Sinai.
Limitations
I guess the main thing would be that there doesn't seem to be a 'post-call' type of day for the 2's when at Sinai because as far as I know the call is considered home call. Also, I would rather see more AM lectures given by faculty rather than residents.
Overall Rotation Experience / Conclusion
Incredible program - I would even venture to say that, having interviewed at most NYC area programs, it is top 3 if not (I'm sure I'll be contested here) the best, when taking into account operative/clinic/research experience balance. Of course, preferences will vary and there are those that wish to be at a more research-heavy program (there are other places in NYC to which you may be better suited). However, given the overall culture at Sinai, combined with dedicated but fun residents and excellent attendings, it's hard to find a better program, in my opinion.
