DVA – James H. Quillen Veterans Affairs

Attendings/Residents/Students (lifestyle, criticism, aura): Attendings are very well educated and surgically talented. The group itself works together extremely well and the residents are very tight knit. Lifestyle is very good-Residents do not have to come in much at all when they are on call and it is typically a short work day-like 7 to 4.

Didactics: Maybe once a week or every other week they will do didactics and review all cases, as well as what they did, what could have been better, and any suggestions. I personally really appreciated this open discussion and how open all of them were to learning and growing. It is truly an awesome group! Dr. Goring will also ask questions throughout the day to help you learn and understand, and will give little quizzes for an opportunity to teach. He is a super kind and caring person and would be a great director to have.

OR Experience: Extremely hands on. Resident is doing most of the surgery and students get hands on experience as well. A lot of teaching and patience. They get a decent amount of rearfoot cases, too. Staff is all very southern and very helpful and welcoming.

Clinic Experience: Really enjoyable experience in clinic. Each resident runs their own room and gets to see their post-ops, which I thought was great. It allowed them to assess how well they did and make more autonomous decisions. No micromanaging at all, really great atmosphere.

Research Opportunities: Dr. Chatelain presents on wound care pretty regularly and would be willing to do research if you took the initiative. I don’t think they currently have a lot of research ongoing but I think they would happily support it.

City Life: Beautiful area with mountains, hiking, watersports, scenery, and could do weekends at other major cities with a short trip. Asheville NC is only a few hour drive as well. Good restaurants downtown as well and live music pretty regularly with typical boutiques and shopping downtown.

Favorite Part: The people. The attendings are such genuinely good and caring people, and took care of the residents. The residents are also really helpful to one another and tight knit. Very family friendly program.

Constructive Criticism: Genuinely do not have any. This program definitely needs to be on more peoples radars, its really a hidden gem. They don’t see any pediatrics or much sports medicine, but I guess that is all I can think of!

Attendings/Residents/Students (lifestyle, criticism, aura): Dr. Goring (program director) is a fun guy to work with. Very easy going, like to crack jokes, and overall doesn’t make what we do feel like work. Dr. Maharias and Chatelain are also incredibly intelligent, well educated, and overall fantastic doctors to work with. everyone here is incredibly laid back and kind of goes at their own pace. no rushing and running around chaotically like some programs i externed at. Residents seem happy and not overworked. all 3 residents are very fun and easy to talk to.

Didactics: Periodically Dr Goring would give us (the students) little quizzes in the morning. very lowkey nothing you had to study for or anything, just to get an idea of what you know. We had one “formal” didactics at the end of the month where we presented some articles. Very laid back and not pretentious. no demeaning pimping which is a huge green flag.

OR Experience: Lots of experience as a student. The residents seemed very proficient with their surgical skills as well, mostly attributed to the fact that there is only 1 resident per class so they’re never fighting over cases. 3rd year only had a few first ray surgeries to finish before his numbers were complete (as of November of his 3rd year)

Clinic Experience: Clinic is very chill, running my from 8ish to 4pm ish at the latest. Students could be as hands on as they wanted to be under supervision of resident.

Research Opportunities: didn’t ask

City Life: small town country vibe. something to do for everyone: great bar strip downtown, tons of hiking and biking trails, easily walkable downtown. small but fun and comfortable. Traffic is almost non-existent, and living here would be an absolute dream.

Favorite Part: the city itself and the laidback approach to residency. Not high stress or chaotic. Plenty of surgical experience

Constructive Criticism: none. VAs get a bad reputation which is unfortunate because this is a 10/10 program, very well ran in a beautiful location.

Attendings/Residents/Students (lifestyle, criticism, aura): The attendings were great with Dr. Goring, and Dr. Chatelain and Dr. Mahairis they each brought in a new dynamic that allowed a great learning enviroment.

Didactics: Wednesday mornings we would go over the interesting cases in a non-pimping manner which I preferred

OR Experience: Very hands on for the residents and I was allowed to suture and help retract

Clinic Experience: Got to help out with the resident in the room

Research Opportunities: I am unsure

City Life: Small town country roads vibe

Favorite Part: The country life and the team

Constructive Criticism: I really enjoyed my month here and would definitly rank

Pros:

1. The people; I loved Dr. chatelain. He was new when I came to this program but is an excellent resource for wound care and surgery and is a so kind and great to work with. The residents were laid back and friendly. The people of East Tennessee are some of the nicest people ever! Get out of the apartment and you will see what I mean!

2. Pass the knife; for me 1 surgery where I am doing the work is worth 2 where I watch and retract. There are other programs that have higher numbers but many times the residents are watching not doing. Here the residents are hands on.

3. Work life balance; we got out for the day at 3:30 or 4 on most days. I have kids so this was a big plus for me.

4 outdoor life; camping and hiking and biking abound in this area.

Cons:

1. Not a major metropolitan area; no professional teams or theaters and such that you get in larger cities.

2. The numbers are not the highest; I already spoke to this in the pro’s section.