"See below; this is an incredible program - on par with really any other of the "Top 10". Residents are well taken care of w/perks - moving assistance, free laptop, holiday bonuses, moonlighting, real nice scholarship program if you wanna do academics." | More from this Member | Report Response

"Tough intern year with 3xm ICU. After intern year, CA1's are incredibly prepared. 120 ICU beds!!! Building new ICU towers. Robbins pathway with fellowship guarantee, research and $$. Relocation $$ ($1500 single, $2500 couple/fam). Great didactics tailored to level. Fantastic internal moonlighting at mid-CA1. Great leadership development..CA1's act as seniors in ICU. CA2 can direct board. " | More from this Member | Report Response

"See below; up to you to decide if Nashville is a plus or minus. Program Director mentioned alumni networks and practice management lectures for all, but the resident we sat with at dinner the night before mentioned that he was having trouble finding a job in a specific area, and that he didn't feel like he knew what he was in for in the real world; this complete contradiction was not lost on several of us in the interview group. Lacks five year accrediation and citations were never directly answered." | More from this Member | Report Response

"Nothing" | More from this Member | Report Response

"The Bottom Line/Impression: The Mt. Sinai of the South – good-to-excellent program in a more private-practice oriented environment and lots of perks.<p> Lodging/Dinner: Program provides nice Hampton close to campus. Dinner the night before at a nice restaurant near campus also, though the fixed “sit across from one person at a long table” setup is not my favorite. Chief made an attempt to sit down with everyone and make their sales pitch – which is a good one. Spouses/children welcome also if that matters to you. <p> Schedule: Shuttle over to medical center at 0730, intro session with assistant PD Dr. Easdown and few words from PD Dr. Algren. Only 2 interviews – which heavily rely on the “Vanderbilt behavioral interview” which is easy to prep for or read about if you Google it. If one of your “core” interviews isn’t with Algren you have an informal one-on-one with him that is more chatty. Your actual interviews can be very stilted and interrogatory in nature (very likely given the interview “agenda”) or casual/conversational. None of the questions are ones I hadn’t gotten before (“Tell me about a time you had a conflict and had to speak up for a good outcome” or “Tell me about a time you made a serious mistake and what happened”) but the fact that it’s basically the ENTIRE interview makes it unique/annoying. Tour, lunch with the residents who seemed to vary from weird/awkward to fun back-slapping good ol’ boys. Wrap-ups with chair Dr. Higgins who is very young and very down-to-earth and Dr. Algren. Shuttle back to hotel at 1430.<p> Program Info: 16 a year, 1 of which is advanced. Intern year is probably the worst categorical intern year I’ve seen – a lot of ICU and one month of peds surg (!) which reportedly had major hours compliance issues in the past but that was fixed with nightfloat system. Rotations entirely at Vandy medical center including VA for vascular/cardiac and there are plenty of cases to go around. About 40 OR’s total and lots of CRNAs.<p> Pros: Environment – a blend of academic and private practice with lots of tech to support it. This is a place with a ton of money (it’s not named after an industrial magnate for nothing) and an emphasis on throughput and money-making procedures. So, lots of perks including relocation, high book allowance, ?free? computer, EXCELLENT in-house moonlighting, etc. ICU is very strong with 12+ anesthesia intensivists covering SICU, Neuro ICU, CV ICU, occasionally burn and trauma ICUs. They do all transplants (though 200 livers/yr was VASTLY overstated from the actual 70-80/yr) especially peds and hearts and peds-hearts. Level 1 trauma center. Enough OB to go around but not a huge strength. Good at Peds, Regional, cardiac as well. <p> Cons: Location could be an issue or a plus for you. Seems like a “good ol’ boys club” a bit so if you’re more withdrawn and/or female that could be a consideration. Hours quoted at 60-65/wk “most of the time.” Otherwise, few weaknesses. " | More from this Member | Report Response

"PROGRAM: Big hospital system (not superbig, but big; mostly attached via skywalk or tunnel). 14 residents/yr, all the fellowships you can think of. 55,000 anesthetics/yr. Administration very stable. Resident at dinner the night before mentioned the prog dir was NOT very involved in residency's daily ongoings, but the assistant prog dir is very vibrant and seems very much involved. Private and seemingly doing quite well in terms of money. TRAINING: Intern year looks like great training, and will never be mistaken for a transitional year: 3 mo ICU, 2 mo surgery (including the feared Peds Surg rotation, which is reportedly never less than 85+hrs/wk), 1 mo EM, 1 mo Peds, 1 mo "periop medicine", and 2 mo anesthesiology - one is like med student rotation (stand around w/resident, read a little, no call), the other month is June, and you get your orientation and begin life as a future anesthesiologist! 2 wks vacation. Not a typo. 2, as in two..."but you'll be a great physician". CA1 and 2 yrs are the standard intro to main OR/healthy cases then do the major subspecialties - all the bad ass things you could want. Very much THE game in town, extending down to Memphis and up to whatever the hell is north of Nashville, but a big distance either way. All the really amazing stuff is here: transplanting everything, trauma everything, peds hospital, etc. One speaker told us they have regional numbers that rival Virginia Mason's, which is the only place I've seen to make that claim. OB does around 3500 cases/yr - not the highest volume ever, but you get your numbers. CA3 year is one of the best laid-out years I've seen. Once comfortable as a CA3 - reportedly very early in the CA3 yr - you do some advanced anesthesia cases, and also do rotations as the jr attending. You do supervision of 4 rooms w/CRNAs, you teach and supervise the jr residents, make the calls on anesthetic plans, etc. FACILITIES: Nice at the Main, VERY NICE at the Childrens Hospital. Ultra-wired...I mean attendings carry a little thing (bigger than PDA, smaller than laptop) w/camera-accessed views into each room they're covering, and they can set their pagers to ring if a parameter (eg: mean arterial pressure) goes too low or high on a monitor. DIDACTICS: dedicated W and F one hr lectures from 0630 - 0730, then M, T and R morning subspecialty lectures (program directors own words were "Those don't always happen"). Stats the program provide show their residents did just below 75th precentile on ITE. I didn't take note of any mentioned board pass rates. MISCELLANEOUS: Robbins Scholarship is a program for 2-3 residents in each year that asks you to commit to research every year (time is made) that works towards a major research project, and you agree to do a fellowship in a related subspecialty (once awarded the scholarship spot you are guaranteed a Vanderbilt fellowship), and then stay on as faculty for one year, continuing to do research. The ultimate goal is to introduce and hopefully retain academic anesthesiologists. Your reward is an extra $15K added to each yrs salary, then an extra 90K(!!!!!) onto your fellowship salary, then you start as an attending at (a reported) $290K - not too shabby for academic, eh? Things that will keep me from ranking this place in my top 3 are: 1) resident attrition is an average of 1 per year. 2) two weeks of vacation in intern year then 3 in CA yrs...not deal breakers in any way, but certainly not pulling me in; 3) some discrepancies between what program described as strengths and residents described as weaknesses. BOTTOM LINE: You'll be a anesthesia superstar once leaving here, without being brutalized learning your trade." | More from this Member | Report Response

"Arrive in conference room by 7:45. Overview of program by asst director. Half tour and half interview. Some had 3x interview if one 30min interview was not with program director. Interviews assess the ACGME core competencies "Describe a conflict with an attending, which resulted in better pt outcome." Lunch at 12 with residents and friendly faculty. Meeting with chair as group for 1 hour. Out by 2-230 and shuttle brings you back to hotel. " | More from this Member | Report Response