Chairman & PD: Dr. Orchowski
Location:
Spots: 4
Reputation: Decent military program at highly desirable location.
Pros: Strong in sports with excellent didactics. Home base is the "Pink Palace" of Tripler which is like any other VA hospital - old and falling apart. Multiple away rotations - Trauma at University of Hawaii Queens Hospital, Pediatrics in California, Trauma at Baltimore Shock Trauma. Lots of clinic.
Final Word: Not the best operative program but great location. You would be lucky to match in Ortho through the military match let alone land in Hawaii.
Website:
Rotation Information: Lots of rotators.
Interview Date:
If you are a student, resident, attending or have recently rotated, please feel free to post any information, additions, changes, or comments.
I am the current Chief Resident at Tripler. I would agree with thegunners statement that more cases could be had at our program. However, having worked with other residents from programs across the country (NY Hosp for Joint Disease, UT Southwestern, Columbia for example) I feel we are as well trained as any residents in the country. Each program will have it's strengths and weaknesses. This is universal. A weakness that is seen in all military programs is staff instability. The military will send surgeons where they are needed and that sometimes comes at the expense of graduate medical education. However, I have met and worked with many surgeons who I might not otherwise due to being at Tripler. Dr. Green being foremost on that list.
With respect to being in Hawaii, I will say this. During your orthopaedics residency you go to work in the dark and you go come home in the dark. I don't think there are many who would state otherwise. If they do, they probably aren't working hard enough.
Regarding morning report. If you can present your cases to our staff and hold your ground you will have no problem passing your oral boards. The format is meant to encourage you to be prepared. When you are not prepared, you feel it.
Regarding operative experience. I will graduate with about 1400 cases. This doesn't count all the procedures that ACGME wants you to log such as reductions etc. This may not be as many as some other high volume progams. My experience working with people while on rotations at Dallas Childrens, Texas Scottish Rite and Shock Trauama has shown me that being at a big volume, big name program doesn't make you a good surgeon.
We do get a lot of sports because that is our patient population. This is one reason I favored Tripler over other Army programs.
The current staff are very committed to our education and improvement of the orthopaedics department in general. You generally work one on one with staff starting in your R2 year so there is no "holding hook" here.
Our clinic was remodeled this year and we are the process of renovating the OR's with all new Stryker equipment.
Having come to this point in my residency I can speak with some perspective. Any orthopaedics residency you match to will only be as good as you make it. The difference will be the big names and perhaps the volume and variety of cases you get. I joined the military to serve and feel fortunate to be at Tripler. If anyone has questions or comments I would be glad to hear from them.
Sincerely,
CPT J. Scott Reid, M.D.
TAMC Honolulu, HI
bonedoc45@gmail.com
Posted by: Scott Reid | July 19, 2009 at 12:12 AM