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UW
#11
(12-01-2021, 12:55 AM)Guest Wrote:
(11-30-2021, 09:35 PM)Guest Wrote: on the meet and greet they boasted about coming in at 4 am and leaving at 10. brutal.

Coming in at 4am and leaving at 10pm isn't as bad as it sounds if you're doing meaningful work. If you're drowning in trauma (UW, USC, Miami, etc) it gets really old really fast.

Agree with this. Long hours aren't that long if you're doing procedures or doing other things you find meaningful. If you're spending it trying to get vegetables placed at LTACs, managing non-op skull fractures, ICH and SAH, doing admission and discharge paperwork all day, replacing electrolytes etc. it's much less fun. Unfortunately, the latter is often your bread and butter as a resident, you just have to learn to live with it, become competent at it and earn more and more trust.
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#12
(12-01-2021, 08:23 PM)Guest Wrote:
(12-01-2021, 12:55 AM)Guest Wrote:
(11-30-2021, 09:35 PM)Guest Wrote: on the meet and greet they boasted about coming in at 4 am and leaving at 10. brutal.

Coming in at 4am and leaving at 10pm isn't as bad as it sounds if you're doing meaningful work. If you're drowning in trauma (UW, USC, Miami, etc) it gets really old really fast.

Agree with this. Long hours aren't that long if you're doing procedures or doing other things you find meaningful. If you're spending it trying to get vegetables placed at LTACs, managing non-op skull fractures, ICH and SAH, doing admission and discharge paperwork all day, replacing electrolytes etc. it's much less fun. Unfortunately, the latter is often your bread and butter as a resident, you just have to learn to live with it, become competent at it and earn more and more trust.

Good mid-level support and resident morale are clutch for this. Can be hard to assess on the trail though.
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#13
Does anyone know if they get a true post call day at UW?
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#14
(12-01-2021, 12:55 AM)Guest Wrote:
(11-30-2021, 09:35 PM)Guest Wrote: on the meet and greet they boasted about coming in at 4 am and leaving at 10. brutal.

Coming in at 4am and leaving at 10pm isn't as bad as it sounds if you're doing meaningful work. If you're drowning in trauma (UW, USC, Miami, etc) it gets really old really fast.

If doing 4am-10pm is the norm... that's just misery. I don't know how things run at UW but I really hope it's not like that. Such a big program should have figured out how to improve their resident's hours by now. We are not in the 90s anymore. Neurosurgery is hard and demanding; it's a lifestyle. However, there is life outside the hospital. Resident from high volume program here.
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#15
Am family of a mid-level resident in the UW program. 4am-10pm is not the norm, except maybe intern year. For onsite call at Harborview (large hospital with high trauma volume, vs. the UW hospital where call is taken from home) you do get a post-call day. That said, and this is a direct quote, "If you don't want to work hard, don't come to UW." The learning curve is steep. I will also add that resident camaraderie is high, and for the most part, the residents are extremely supportive of one another.
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#16
Current senior resident at UW

We have 4 hospitals. You spend 2/3 of your time at Harborview, 1/3 at University. Seattle Children's is 8 months and VA 4 months.

For the R2 (busiest year), your day start at 5am. 5.30 if you are really good and knows the service. Film round with Chief starts at 6. The day ends when the work is done. When your day ends is a direct function of how organized you and your interns are. There will be days when you get out before 6. This is rare. 8/9pm probably the norm. 

Interns have similar hours when on Neurosurgery, but has 6 months of neurology, GK, ophthalmology, ICU etc when you don't work NSG hours.

Interns learn how to be a doctor and do NSG procedures A-line, LP, lumbar drain, Licox and EVD. We expect them to be independent by Thanksgiving. Your R2 obviously has a vested interest to teach you.

The three R2s run Harborview Trauma, Harborview Vascular and University services. R2s are expected to be independent for VPS, trauma craniotomy, set up a pterional craniotomy and start a spine case by end of the year.

R3 year is pretty great right now with VA and Endovascular rotations.

We have mid level support at all our hospitals so you are primarily responsible for ICU.

You have 4 weeks vacation a year with weekends on both ends ie 9 days x 4. Depending on location you have at least 1 golden weekend per month (more at University). Calls are Q4 in house at Harborview and Q3 home call at University. At Harborview you get post call but at University you don't.

Camaraderie is great amongst residents, ICU nurses, NPs, and OR staff. My scrub techs are some the best people I know.

Research opportunity is everywhere if you have the drive. Our R2 went to CNS and gave 2 talks this year and won an award.

People find time for personal lives. One of my chiefs had 2 kids during residency. Everyone start to absorb the PNW culture and get a dog, SUP and hike and surf, home brew etc.

We are high volume. Hours are long. And probably oncall more often then most other programs. However you learn when you are oncall and most of us want to become the best version of ourselves. We have an unrivaled cranial experience. Since I started, we have graduated 4 cerebrovascular surgeons and none of them needed to do a dedicated open fellowship. Our spine experience is fantastic and a balance of old school big whacks and MIS/endoscopic spine. If you put in the effort, it's really hard to graduate from here and be incompetent. And the nice thing is that this training preps you well for general neurosurgery and also allows you to go into whichever subspecialty with ease.

I think you will receive great training at any of the top 30 programs. Yes, you will operate just fine even if you go to a "cush" research program (if they exist). Ultimately it's about the fit and culture of the place and you decide what feels best for you.
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#17
Sounds incredible.... now if only UW had given me an interview ?

*there wasn’t supposed to be a question mark at the end of that Smile
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#18
(12-17-2021, 12:16 AM)Guest Wrote: Current senior resident at UW

We have 4 hospitals. You spend 2/3 of your time at Harborview, 1/3 at University. Seattle Children's is 8 months and VA 4 months.

For the R2 (busiest year), your day start at 5am. 5.30 if you are really good and knows the service. Film round with Chief starts at 6. The day ends when the work is done. When your day ends is a direct function of how organized you and your interns are. There will be days when you get out before 6. This is rare. 8/9pm probably the norm. 

Interns have similar hours when on Neurosurgery, but has 6 months of neurology, GK, ophthalmology, ICU etc when you don't work NSG hours.

Interns learn how to be a doctor and do NSG procedures A-line, LP, lumbar drain, Licox and EVD. We expect them to be independent by Thanksgiving. Your R2 obviously has a vested interest to teach you.

The three R2s run Harborview Trauma, Harborview Vascular and University services. R2s are expected to be independent for VPS, trauma craniotomy, set up a pterional craniotomy and start a spine case by end of the year.

R3 year is pretty great right now with VA and Endovascular rotations.

We have mid level support at all our hospitals so you are primarily responsible for ICU.

You have 4 weeks vacation a year with weekends on both ends ie 9 days x 4. Depending on location you have at least 1 golden weekend per month (more at University). Calls are Q4 in house at Harborview and Q3 home call at University. At Harborview you get post call but at University you don't.

Camaraderie is great amongst residents, ICU nurses, NPs, and OR staff. My scrub techs are some the best people I know.

Research opportunity is everywhere if you have the drive. Our R2 went to CNS and gave 2 talks this year and won an award.

People find time for personal lives. One of my chiefs had 2 kids during residency. Everyone start to absorb the PNW culture and get a dog, SUP and hike and surf, home brew etc.

We are high volume. Hours are long. And probably oncall more often then most other programs. However you learn when you are oncall and most of us want to become the best version of ourselves. We have an unrivaled cranial experience. Since I started, we have graduated 4 cerebrovascular surgeons and none of them needed to do a dedicated open fellowship. Our spine experience is fantastic and a balance of old school big whacks and MIS/endoscopic spine. If you put in the effort, it's really hard to graduate from here and be incompetent. And the nice thing is that this training preps you well for general neurosurgery and also allows you to go into whichever subspecialty with ease.

I think you will receive great training at any of the top 30 programs. Yes, you will operate just fine even if you go to a "cush" research program (if they exist). Ultimately it's about the fit and culture of the place and you decide what feels best for you.

Thanks a lot for the info. It is very helpful!!
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#19
If your R2 went to CNS and presented work then clearly that was from before residency. It doesn’t seem like UW grads do any significant basic science work these days.
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#20
This stuff isn't very hard to find out. https://neurosurgery.uw.edu/news-and-res...arch-grant
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