Program Review
Staff / Faculty / Chairman
A great strength of this program are the names that learn from. You have some of the biggest names in orthopedic surgery including 7 past AAOS presidents such as Dr. Azar (2014 AAOS president), Dr. Beaty and Dr. Canale, Dr. Perez in trauma etc. There is a significant younger orthopedic surgeon attendings such as Dr. Throckmorton and Dr. Spence who inject youth and forward thinking into the ever evolving field. I doubt you will find a program that brings tremendous experience and knowledge combined with youth and the future of orthopedics all in one place. All of the attendings are very nice, LOVE to teach, rather enjoy having students on service and give appropriate autonomy to residents.
Dr. Throckmorton will be the PD next year and this will definitely help the research aspect. The program focuses mostly on outcomes of orthopedic care so clinical research is the prime.
Didactics / Teaching
Trauma didactics were very good. Quick and to the point with no extraneous information to make them longer than they should be. Monday night conferences were excellent with relevant topics discussed with food and drinks provided. Also, after conference you get to enjoy some cold ones with the guys and gal.
Operating Experience
Second to none. They get very slammed year round. MVC, motorcycle wrecks, GSW, and falls galore. PGY-2's operate all day and night with guidance from the 4's and 5's when they are not working the desk. There are fellows but often teach the residents more than actually operating. PGY-3's even operate on bread butter fractures by their lonesome or with med students. As a med student you get a lot of experience on trauma often getting pulled from the desk to scrub into surgery. and its not like gen surgery where you sit around and retract, but you actually get to do a whole lot including obturating, some hammering, traction pins, reduction, suturing fascia, lots of tying, etc.
Clinic Experience
its clinic. never knew what was meant by that on here but now i completely understand. not really much teaching unless a complication arises. however, attendings and residents teach the most through imaging which really helps. Fracture clinic on peds was the best experience because of shear volume of images you see. often there will be 120 patients scheduled in the afternoon. it really helped to see the evolution of healing of the fractures and also learning classifications.
Research Opportunities
tons of research especially now that Throckmorton will be the PD. Again like I said clinical research galore. Basic science is not big but that's why we have other, more research intensive places out there. Dr. Mihalko and the peds guys are the biggest researchers.
Residents
great group of guys to be around. they like to have a lot of fun. they all work together very well. they love to give advice about getting into ortho, how to succeed, and give insight into their experience at your stage. Essentially respect you like a resident. they teach a lot and want you to learn.
Lifestyle
its orthopedics so its not going to be a dermatology residency, but the 4's and 5's have a great lifestyle, relatively speaking, on trauma. PGY-1's said they have a pretty easy year. PGY-2's get worked to death on trauma but when not on the desk can get some winks of sleep on the rare nights of low volume. its going to get a lot better fro the 2's now that 1's will be now doing 6 months for orthopedics. also, its nice that as a 2, you do get some rotation out in the community where you essentially live the life of the attending. now DO NOT GET ME WRONG. they work very, very hard and get overworked sometimes just like any other place.
Location / Housing
Memphis is not the greatest place in the world to live. in fact, it's a cruddy city to me. however, there are some people that do like it. the night life is starting to improve, downtown is getting nicer (though it couldn't have gotten any worse). lots of crime but hey that's what gives us a lot of experience right? the best aspect of memphis is BBQ and extraordinarily cheap housing and cost of living.
Overall Rotation Experience / Conclusion
Best rotation I have had. It was fun, learned a ton, and in my opinion the best training program. exactly what i look for in a residency program.
