General Program/Hospital Info: 2 residents per year rotating through Level 1 Trauma Center JPS Hospital in Fort Worth. 3rd years do operate at local surgical centers/hospitals
Attendings: Motley (Director), Garret, Levine, Rhodes are at JPS Main. The 3rd years do rotate with Downey (Former fellow of Justin Fleming), Ryba, Jaryga, local grads from the program
Residents: 2 residents per year. Residents take primary call for everything foot and ankle related. Great relationship with ortho such that any isolated trauma to the ankle/foot goes to Podiatry. Seemed like even the polytraumas with talus and calcaneus would go to Podiatry as well. Interns truly run all the infectious cases and are on call the most (10-12 days a month). I saw interns handle basic trauma well too (fibula, met fx). 2nd years are in clinic quite a bit but also handle majority of the trauma, easier elective cases. 3rd years get their pick of the cases but definitely do more of the forefoot electives that came in
Didactics: Once a month journal club. Not an emphasis here but the residents definitely do have to read up/defend their treatment plans with attendings as they truly are a resident-run clinic like ive never seen before.
OR Experience: Truly difficult to find a better OR experience. The residents do everything and anything in the OR. The attendings are in the room to guide them but rarely did I even see an attending scrub. The residents are confident in the OR and have some of the best hands ive seen on my clerkships. Very hands on with students as well – all the injections, easy amputations they let me do which made the experience so worthwhile as a student. Interns are confident with trauma, 2nd years are running clinics of 80-100+ at times by themselves and booking cases themselves, 3rd years almost function as a junior attending overseeing the program and teaching.
Clinic Experience:
Students can do all procedures/debridements/splints in clinic. I left JPS feeling more confident in working up a patient, suturing and placing splints. They see 80-100 patietns on Mondays, Tues and sometimes Thursdays. VERY busy. Patients are very noncompliant, uninsured and have a lot of financial/social burdens that make treatment often difficult but I never saw a clinic where patients were so thankful for their care. Great relationship between residents and patients which was unique.
Research Opportunities:
Not an emphasis. Seems like each resident has one project they work on for their term. Lots off opportunites though through UNT Health Science Center (Medical School in Fort Worth)
Lifestyle:
JPS is controlled chaos – the volume is insane and the pathology includes some of the worst trauma/infection cases ive seen as a student but the residents/attendings do a great job controlling this. Interns work a lot seemed like they would work 12-14 hours daily when on service but with each subsequent year the call and hours get better. Best OR experience ive seen, the residents do all the cases skin to skin. Theres no hand holding there. You are held to a high standard so if that does not occur in the OR , the attendings will get onto the resident so they were all thick skinned but also very nice. I spent majority of time with the PGY2 and PGY1s who were some of the nicest ive met
Pros:
Autonomy – residents do all cases skin to skin
Continuity of care – clinic can be a lot but they are able to follow patients very well from consults, OR, post op
TRAUMA – most i have seen on clerkships
Rearfoot/hindfoot reconstruction
Cons:
Less forefoot elective cases than most programs
Did not see much ankle scopes
The call can be difficult/demanding
Overall Conclusion:
as a student, I had the best time at JPS in terms of learning and getting hands on experience. The residents and confident, fun to work with and are laid back. The best autonomy ive seen with a high volume of trauma and infection. The residents were the most confident in the OR that I saw on my clerkships with some of the best hand-skills. Attendings are there for guidance but very hands-off. You have to be able to be thrown into the water and immediately swim there. The inpatient infection cases can fill up the OR boards which can be frustrating for the residents. The residents are all leaving this program with great jobs. Working with Dr Downey seems to have opened up a lot of sports medicine/TAR cases for the PGY3 as well.
