- Staff / Faculty / Chairman
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Strength of the program. Dr. Schwab, the chair, is a great guy who is interested in seeing the residents do well and in improving the program. Dr. Schmeling, the PD, is an excellent resident advocate whom all the residents respect highly. Overall the staff here are excellent, and take teaching/education very seriously. The residents seemed very happy with them.
- Didactics / Teaching
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Good without being overbearing. Faculty are great about teaching residents. Conferences/lectures are fine. Probably a few less didactic sessions per week relative to other programs, but still sufficient.
- Operating Experience
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Outstanding. Residents here graduate very confident with their OR skills because they get a great amount of autonomy & independence. Being a level 1 trauma center for adult & peds means they get plenty of trauma, both blunt & penetrating. That it gets cold in winter, though, means you're not constantly being overwhelmed with it every year of residency. I rotated on the trauma service & with the exception of pelvic cases or otherwise big complex stuff the chiefs basically get to run their own rooms. PGY4s run the room alone for more straightforward cases. And this is all at the main hospital--the residents still get rotations at the VA where they operate alone a ton. Residents also get 10 week 4th and 5th year electives to round out their education as they see fit, which is cool.
- Clinic Experience
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Clinic is clinic. Fortunately it generally runs pretty smoothly. Usually about 2 days of clinic per week for each resident, it seemed, though on a busy service they'd still go back to the OR to help out after clinic was done.
- Research Opportunities
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Research is there and you can do plenty, but you might have to seek it out. It's not a place where there's tons of research in your face 24/7. It's not a big part of the program--only 1 month during intern year, I think. So, you can do it, but it's not a research-heavy residency.
- Residents
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Awesome bunch. Some of the finest residents I have worked with in any specialty at any location. One of the residents told me that he felt Dr. Schmeling (PD) to be an excellent judge of character & one who considers fit into the program to be critical. Consequently, the residents here have some of the best personalities you could hope for. 10+.
- Lifestyle
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There's something for everyone here. Downtown Milwaukee has the big-city stuff, the suburbs are quiet & peaceful. There's lots to in the city or in the outdoors. There are busy months & rotations, of course, but the chair stresses the importance of outside interests & all the residents seemed to have at least one or two non-medical things that they were able to do & enjoy. The residents are about 60:40 married +/- kids to single.
- Location / Housing
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See lifestyle. Housing here is very affordable to quite pricy based on where you want to live. It can also be high-density downtown to out in the country, if you want. I gave the location an "8" only because it does get pretty cold in winter.
- Limitations
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The goal of the program is to make you a well-rounded orthopod who could go straight into general practice. It does this well, while giving you the tools to pursue a more academic, specialty-focused career. That said, since it's not a research powerhouse and doesn't have a huge "name," if you want that to be a huge part of your career it may not be the best place for you.
- Overall Rotation Experience / Conclusion
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This is a fantastic program, especially if you want to do either private practice or work in a setting similar to MCW--academic and level-one trauma but not a research machine. I had a great time on my rotation. Residents get a great education and pretty much all get fellowships in what they want.
