**Anonymously Submitted**
Program Name: Medstar Washington Hospital (Washington DC)
General Program/Hospital Info:
Medstar hospital system. Main hospital is Washington Hospital. Also spend quite a bit of time in Georgetown Hospital. Most cases are out of the surgery centers in the area. They are taking 6 residents starting this year.
Georgetown hospital offers a unique and amazing experience if you are into wound care. While at georgetown I learned that wound care is actually a surgical field. If you are to provide complete wound care in your practice, you must be able to take your patients into the OR.
As a student you spend 2wks at Washington Hospital (1wk rounds, 1wk surgery), 2wks at Georgetown (1wk rounds, 1 wk surgery).
Attendings:
Dr. Steinberg took over almost 2 years ago and has since been turning the program around. Dr. Attinger runs the Georgetown side but residents barely interact with them.
Ortho experience is at Georgetown with Dr. Cooper. Cooper is a fellowship trained F&A ortho surgeon. Residents spend about 2 months total with him. I never saw the experience first hand but the residents didn't have nice things to say about him and questioned his decision making/surgical skills.
Residents:
Previously they took 5 residents per yr but this year they are taking 6. In my opinion the program should not be taking 6 residents. Even 5 was too many. I overheard a 2nd year at the time contemplating on how to log a case as a rear foot case. Regardless of whether the case was a true rear foot case or not he didn't care and "needed the rear foot case". For the most part the current 2nd and 3rd years aren't impressive. I got the sense that the 2nd years were lazy and the 3rd years realized that they might have wasted the past 2 years and were scrambling to get the last bit of training into their last year. 2 of the 3rd years went on to do a fellowship. They were not comfortable with the training they received. A lot of them scrambled into the program. I've heard the current 1st years are solid though.
Didactics:
Journal club, resident lectures, student lectures, guest lectures/rep lectures.
OR Experience:
Surgery at WHC was limited when I was there. The attendings that take call at WHC only do forefoot surgery. All trauma went to Ortho. Steinberg was looking to hire a well trained attending to take over but I'm not sure what became of it.
Georgetown is run a little differently. Podiatry and Plastics work together in 1 department headed by Dr. Attinger (Plastics). There is a 1st yr Medstar resident, 2nd yr Medstar resident, and 3rd yr INOVA resident in the podiatry team. All the residents split inpatient AM rounds (~40 patients). 1st yr pod works with 1st yr plastics throughout the day to cover consults, etc. 2nd yr Medstar and 3rd yr INOVA runs 1 OR while plastics runs the other OR. Cases are DM all day every day. Pretty much back to back 8-10 cases of debridements, washouts, secondary closure, amps, etc. Very long days and a lot of monotonous cases but you have the potential to learn great debridement and amputation techniques to preserve the blood supply. Unfortunately Steinberg doesn't do any bone work (except for amputations) therefore any reconstruction (charcot, deformity correction, etc) goes to Ortho.
The majority of surgical numbers come from surgery centers. I never saw any rear foot cases. They get a decent number of forefoot cases. I was able to observe 1st and 2nd yr residents and the majority of the time they retracted.
Clinic Experience:
The two main attendings at WHC have the typical podiatry clinics with lots of nails, calluses, wounds, orthotics. As a student you spend some time with them in their clinics. I never saw the residents in their clinics.
Another clinic at WHC has different attending coverage each day of the week. Residents spent a lot of time in this clinic. A decent amount of pathology comes through the door. For the most part it is resident run.
Clinic at Georgetown is covered by either Attinger, Steinberg, or Kim. Residents and students help out when they are free. Its a wound care center.
Research Opportunities
Steinberg wants Medstar to be known for its research in the near future. Definitely a lot of opportunities. If you are interested in research, in particular wound care research, then this is the program for you.
Lifestyle:
Georgetown hours suck. The day starts at ~6am and doesn't end until 7-8pm sometimes even midnight. The on call resident barely slept. Otherwise the program is the usual 8-5. It seemed like the residents always stayed at the hospital until atleast 5pm, even if they had nothing to do. Maybe it's a rule at the program? Not sure.
Pros:
- Dr. Steinberg is a fantastic leader. He is def trying to turn the program around and he has a lot of plans for the program. I believe he is taking the program in the right direction. The connections he has is definitely helpful. I believe it is because of him that 2 of the past 3rd yrs were able to land some competitive fellowships. One of them got Saxena's program.
- Georgetown provides a great experience if you are interested in wounds.
- Research opportunities.
Cons:
- Low rear foot numbers. From hearing one of the 2nd years talk it seems like they have a difficult time getting them. I'm not sure if this has changed with the addition of a well trained attending.
- Low trauma numbers. At WHC, ortho gets the trauma not podiatry.
- Georgetown sucks if you aren't interested in wounds.
Overall Conclusion:
Up and coming program. With Steinberg in control I'm sure this program will be above average in a few years. I know they've been making changes but from what I saw when I was there, I'm not sure how they can support 1 additional resident per year. If you like wounds then this is the program for you. Also, Steinberg has a lot of connections. Otherwise there are better programs out there.
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