Swedish Medical Center – Cherry Hill Campus

Hi prospective extern/visitor,

If you have ANY concerns about the schedule as a student or as a resident, please feel free to reach out directly to me at extern@swedishfootankle.com. I can also put you in contact with previous verified externs/residents who are able to share their first hand experience regarding our program.

We take pride in creating an environment where our residents schedule and mental health is a priority. While we have some of the best surgical numbers in the country, we adhere to strict duty hour restrictions. Outside of the hospital, our residents are like family and spend a lot of time together. This includes tickets to Mariner’s games and an upcoming resident-only retreat. We also sponsor our residents to go abroad for a rotation in your third year if you choose. You can follow us on instagram @swedishfootandankle.

Great surgical training with good volume of trauma and reconstruction. Good off service rotations as well. Not able to rotate with foot and ankle guys at harborview, which kinda sucks but not a dealbreaker at all.

If you are interested in doing total ankles, probably the best program to be at because you have Dr Christensen.

In all honesty, Swedish has this big reputation of being a high powered program and one of the best in the country. I think they have went through changes in the past few years that has reshaped their program. I dont think they are one of the best in the country anymore. Nonetheless the surgical training is still very good and you will come out well trained in all aspects of foot and ankle surgery

Swedish: beautiful Seattle. Lots of attendings, many notable ones (~30). You are the one doing most of the surgeries (as appropriate – first year not fixing a trimall all alone but usually does a fair amount). Lots of great trauma (tri mall city lately- lots of reductions first year). The usual infection, etc. tons of elective surgeries (lots of RF & TAR, & bread and butter cases too) and rotations at all of the main Seattle hospitals (Swedish, Virginia Mason, Harborview, UW outpatient surgeries). My biggest takeaway after transferring was how much they teach. Attendings are patient. I actually feel respected not only by pod attendings but ER, hospitalists, etc. great team of residents. The hours can be long, but there is someone to help you. Lots of support for first years. A lot of day call first year but no more than four nights in a row— huge change for me! I have truly been so happy with this change. My knowledge is growing daily. My surgical skills are developing. We have clinic months & also a resident run clinic on Thursdays. I do not regret this transfer. Whenever I am feeling tired, I remember where I am and the kind of training I’m receiving. We also love having students here. We teach but not in an aggressive manner. We try to give them solid surgical experience and clinic on Thursdays. This group is huge with teaching so students really grow over the month.

The good

-everyone was welcoming

-residents were impressive

-the directors were kind yet had expectations (GREAT)

The bad

-not a lot of down time

-although each resident/extern were kind individually they did not seem to have muchc of a relationship outside of hospital

This program was rough on the students, we did not get much downtime. The residents and doctors had real high standards in comparison. I also felt as though it was heavily pimped. Only good thing to say about the program is it is heavy surgery based if that is what you are looking for. Not my cup of tea