Program Review
Staff / Faculty / Chairman
All staff put resident education first. If they do not, residents do not rotate with those staff. The culture at CCF Ortho is that residency education happens in the OR. This translates to less clinic time and less floor work. Interns, for example, spend 5 out of 6 days a week in the OR. Although floor work and clinic work is a necessary evil to learning how to become a complete surgeon, it is not lost as all residents are responsible for their specific patients from preop, to surgery, to postop. That residents "owns" that patient from beginning to end. Help is always available from medical services or senior residents in managing these complex CCF patients, but it provides inpatient continuity and unmatched autonomy for the residents. The staff have their idiosyncrasies but will let
Didactics / Teaching
Formal didactics is at least twice a week for a minimum of 5 protected educational hours. you operate if you prove you know their moves and their steps.
Operating Experience
Unparalleled. See above. You are there to learn how to operate. That being said, you get what you put into it. The process is graduated and you are never left alone until you have proven yourself.
Clinic Experience
Lighter than most and geared towards PGY3-5
Research Opportunities
No pressure to do any research whatsoever, but if you're inclined you can go really big.
Residents
Great group of people - good mix of single and married.
Lifestyle
It's a pay-it-forward system where you log heavy hours as a PGY1-3 and get rewarded with less hours PGY4-5 that are almost solely dedicated to sharpening your surgical skills
Location / Housing
Extremely affordable. Many residents own 3 story houses for 250k or less in safe neighborhoods
Limitations
If you want "hot trauma" where you operate on fresh ankle fractures during the night, this is not the place. You can get it 6 months at Metro during residency but not much more thereafter since the majority is cold trauma that consists of bread and butter trauma surgery (hip fractures, ankle fractures, tibial nails). However, you will get all the trauma - hot or cold - if you seek it out.
Overall Rotation Experience / Conclusion
I believe this is one of the top 3 residency programs in the country. No resident who approaches residency casually will go far, but if you approach this residency aggressively I believe with the resources, staff, culture of learning by operating, connections, you can graduate a truly gifted surgeon capable of dealing with any degree of complexity.
