Program Review
Staff / Faculty / Chairman
Big names. Fu is a big name, but a strange dude.
Didactics / Teaching
Rotation specific conference once per week. Grand rounds/teaching on Wednesdays for 3-4 hrs. Several big names and interesting topics during the month that I was there, but hard to stay attentive for that long.
Rotating students present one case the morning after their night on call and are pimped thoroughly by trauma attendings/residents. If you're not prepared, you will be embarrassed. I felt like sometimes they would challenge student assessments to see if you really knew what you were talking about and to see if you would stand up for yourself and explain your decisions. Even though I hated trauma conference, I realized how well this prepared me for other rotations and increased my knowledge.
Operating Experience
The PGY 2's I operated with had very poor operating skill compared to other programs I observed. That being said, PGY 4 and 6 had a room they double scrubbed and did a majority of the case and they seemed fairly confident in their decisions.
Clinic Experience
I never went to clinic on my service and the PGY 2, 4, and 6 on my service didn't either. So I can't speak to any clinic experience.
Research Opportunities
Plentiful. Tons of money, opportunity, great facilities. If this is what you're interested in, then this is a great place for you.
Residents
Large program, very diverse, female friendly, not cohesive and don't work as a team. they've some issues with the PGY-2 class (class of 2013) and have lost some residents from that year and had to replace them. For whatever reason this occurred, it wasn't able to be answered at the interview. Pittsburgh is a big city and residents are spread out all over the place and rotate at lots of hospitals. Many residents don't know each other at all. About 1/3 of the residents I interacted with were awesome, 1/3 were people I thought I could work with, but weren't people I wanted to get a beer with after work and 1/3 were the most annoying, arrogant people I had ever met.
Lifestyle
PGY 2's get killed preparing presentations and are scutted out by senior residents on several services. Life seemed to get better as a senior.
Location / Housing
There is lots to do in Pittsburgh and housing is affordable. Traffic isn't terrible, but can be a nightmare if you're trying to go across a bridge.
Limitations
The lack of teamwork was an enormous turnoff for me. I really wanted to love this program because it has a big name and am from western PA. Terrible amenities, residents have meal coupons for use ONLY when on call and otherwise food is pretty expensive in the hospitals. No free books, no free loupes. Faculty readily admitted to me that their residents don't get along.
Overall Rotation Experience / Conclusion
Not a place I wanted to end up at all. It was a very good rotation as far as learning goes and helped me at my other two away rotations because I had studied so much here and was ready for the standard pimp questions. If research is your thing or you're interested in a big name in an affordable city.
