– Attendings/Residents/Students (lifestyle, criticism, aura): Dr. Rhodenizer is very patient and laidback dr to work with. Taylor (pgy3) was an incredible teacher and very sweet. the pgy1s were all very educated and helpful during my month (august). You get to rotate with a lot of different attendings so some of them I only met once but there weren’t any that were inherently mean or crazy about pimping. They more so cared about what you were like as a person. i got a lot of questions about where i was from what i like to do etc more so that just textbook questions. they’d only ask questions pertinent to the case and about what we were doing/why we were doing it in that moment, nothing off the wall. A very professional environment, but not stuffy or fake.
– Didactics: every monday radio rounds which were going over radiographs from the cases that week and discussing how it looks, what could look better, pathologies, etc. Journal club is virtual once a month; students presented when i was there it was very easy just read an article and talk about your thoughts on it. no powerpoint necessary. they had a CPC as well, which was held at Hyde Park and the attendings and residents shared cases and had a pharm rep present a new graft product. students were questioned on radiograph reads and complications in the cases.
– OR Experience: TONS. i was in the OR probably everyday during my rotation. sometime just for one case, sometimes 4 stacked back to back. students are in charge of pre-op paperwork and the usual TANGLES in the OR (if you don’t know what that is id highly recommend buying Podiatrist2Be’s Externship Guide; every tip i needed was written out for me in that booklet).
– Clinic Experience: Clinic is half days thursday friday and full days MW. no clinic tuesday and depending on what cases you’re scheduled in that week sometimes you don’t have to go to morning clinic.
– Research Opportunities: i was told residents have to do 1 research project throughout their whole residency.
– City Life: Grosse Point is so much fun don’t let the “detroit is scary” mindset get you: this place is far enough outside the inner city that i was never worried about my safety or anything (as a woman). the main hospital is a short walk to the lake, so you can walk out there on your lunch break if you choose. my favorite area was the strip off kercheval, with restaurants like brine oyster house and LeRouge bakery (cute little cafe to study in).
– Favorite Part: Exposure in the OR. All of the residents were incredibly patient and very willing to teach. This program definitely values didactic knowledge so you should know watkins/mcglamrys pretty well (i just studied throughout the month, but definitely would’ve helped me to read up a little before coming)
– Constructive Criticism: If you’re looking for a more academic program, then this is definitely a place for you. Not necessarily what I was looking for but i was not disappointed in any way. This was a huge learning month for me, which will only help me down the road. you’ll definitely get lots of surgical experience in addition to the academics: the PGY3s were doing the cases all by themselves, and the PGY1s were also doing skin to skin, but with some assistance/advice from the attending.
– addtl tips: park in the east parking lot if you want to be closest to the clinic (it’s free). mapping to st. john’s will send you to the west lot (also free) but it’s all the way across the campus by the ED. definitely faster to park in the east.
– bring a pair of bandage scissors for rounding on the floors.
– they send out the surgical/clinic schedule the night before so not a lot of planning can be done for the next day
