"Great pre-interview dinner with more residents than applicants showing up. Residents were all very nice, friendly people. Easily one of the best regional programs in the country. Night float call schedule highly touted by the residents. Very strong cardiac. People are super nice in Durham, and cost of living is very cheap (especially compared to a major metropolitan area), allows residents to rent luxury apartments or buy houses in the area." | More from this Member | Report Response

"Electronic OR records, case load, research and fellowship opportunities, night float system for call (may be a minus depending on you). Great leadership. " | More from this Member | Report Response

"See below. This is one of the best anesthesiology residency programs in the country. Top 5 name, EXTRAORDINARY case load, regional that is quite possibly the best in the country (ave resident gets over 300 blocks in residency), small class size, everyone very happy, better weather than Northeast." | More from this Member | Report Response

"I know this program. Duke is an incredible hospital which DOES NOT USE ITS ANESTHESIA RESIDENTS AS ITS PRIMARY WORKFORCE. As far as I can tell, it is unique in this respect. The majority of cases are covered by CRNAs, so that the residents can take their pick of the more interesting and educational cases. You get relieved at 5pm every day, but still get an amazing education as a result." | More from this Member | Report Response

"They don't use the residents as the primary workforce-- CRNAs do most of the cases, so the residents get to pick the most interesting. You never get stuck doing simple, boring cases. Amazing regional. Residents get relieved at 5pm every day-- but because they get the best cases, they also get an amazing education. This is my home school. I've done away rotations at other top 10s, but never met such happy residents or witnessed such wonderful didactics. Duke is seriously committed to be the best in education and academics. (They had over 70 sessions at the ASA conference last year, and every CA-3 has a job or fellowship WELL in advance.)" | More from this Member | Report Response

"Clinical experience is superior in cardiac and regional and solid everywhere. They have plenty of peds., but people usually leave for fellowships. Program director is really resident friendly and passionate about education, has been there for 12 years so very stable. More research money than any other anesthesiology program. New ACES track to train for academic career. Great opportunities if you want to persue an academic career, but they don't force it on you if you want to do private practice. Residents are happy and treated well. Also collegial. Relatively nice area although not as nice as Chapel Hill. Residents can buy houses. Lots of CRNAs and a relatively small program so residents get the best cases and get relieved by 5 every day. Night float 2-3 weeks every year replaces call (basically 2-3 weeks of working 12 hour night shifts)." | More from this Member | Report Response

"PD is very resident-centric. They keep the class size small for the size of the institution (14 residents/class) to ensure a premium experience for each resident but it sounds like they don't overwork you. <p>Residents get first choice of cases over CRNAs, get relieved around 5:00ish. <p> Regional experience is among top 2 or 3 programs in the country. <p>Call is on a night-float schedule -- you do 2-3 weeks of call during CA-1 & 2 years, 4 weeks during CA-3. Occasional weekends - sounds like you get a lot of them free." | More from this Member | Report Response

"Peds experience supposedly not as good as UNC. Mostly everyone is married in Durham, and there doesn't seem to be much of a nightlife at all. Being single, this was a bit of a turnoff, despite there being a large amount of young people in the Research Triangle and supposedly a better scene in Chapel Hill." | More from this Member | Report Response

"Not a didactic type of program (lectures once a week) so must be self motivated to read on own. " | More from this Member | Report Response

"See below. I would conjecture that there are single people at Duke, but I did not meet one of them. Ditto for minority physicians. Sabiston is gone, but the surgery domination still exists in small pockets - some residents have horror stories." | More from this Member | Report Response

"No burn center-- but lots of trauma and transplant." | More from this Member | Report Response

"I've heard the intern year is a beast. The residents admit it's hard, but not malignant. Money isn't as good as most places. Overall, pretty solid program. Nice area, stable, may even improve if anything." | More from this Member | Report Response

"Have to wear short white coat during intern year. <p>Doubtful that the environment is actually as benign as they make it seem on interview day. <p>Night float call means you are at the hospital basically every day." | More from this Member | Report Response

"3 interviews (one of my interviewers was unable to meet with me), tour, nice East Carolina BBQ lunch with residents & out by 2 or so. Seeing the bariatric chamber on the tour was a nice highlight." | More from this Member | Report Response

"Night before dinner with residents. Presentation by residency director then chair - both emphasize program's strength in regional. Tour - nice facilities, electronic OR records for quite some time. Interviews, then lunch. " | More from this Member | Report Response

"ADMINISTRATION: 5 yr accredidation. PD (Dr. Kuhn) stable; has been there for almost 20 yrs, has pulse of program. Chair (Dr. Newman) was not present on my interview day...I actually know nothing about him. PROGRAM: 14 residents/yr (8 cat, 6 adv); they interview 140 to get this filled, but have reputation for not ranking everyone. Intern year is cyclical - brutalized during surgery, but up to two months can be done on hyperbaric chamber elective, but then medicine is a bit much again. Seems intern year was well thought out for anesthesia prep - ICU, pulm month, cardio month, etc. CA1 yr with mainly ORs to get you into the groove; CA 2 and 3 yrs you're dealing with monster cases and sick pts. They lead the country in lung transplants last yr, did like 1300 heart cases; they do every transplant you can name. They set up nerve block opportunities everywhere - they claim to get you over 300 blocks during residency. Neurosurgery is tops for tumors (Teddy Kennedy came here after MGH declared him "inoperable"), vascular, etc. You want it, they got it. Except burns. Peds volume is a reported weakness in the rumor mill, but one resident told me they run 5 peds rooms/day. OB is average, but still do 3K deliveries per year, so you get you numbers. Rotate thru 4 sites, all are within walking distance of one another. EDUCATION: 98% board pass rate. Not a didactic-dominant program. Lecture every Wed, followed by Grand Rounds. Thurs has a resident run series. Most divisions give a weekly conferences as well. Simulator experiences at least quarterly. Mock orals twice a yr for everyone; three staff are oral board examiners. PROS: same as I listed above; the residents were really happy...part of that is 'cause call is done in two two-week blocks. So every day, the CRNAs are sent to relieve residents as early as 3, but residents claim they're out at 5 at the absolute latest. So max hours in general ORs is 6 am - 5 pm. Rumor is only 8 or so weekends PER YEAR. Cardiac and OB have their own schedules. Big name, tons of research. Nice folks. Nice weather. THE college basketball scene, if that's your gig. VERY VERY affordable - Durham is not Miami or NYC. Everyone is married. CONS: as above. Being Black or Indian will remind you why it's called "minority", at least among the physician community there. Sabiston (the guy that did one of the big yellow surgery texts) was here, and some of that old Hopkins swagger/arrogance/entitlement is still around, especially from the "untouchables" - ask when you're there...some residents that were formerly Duke students have incredible stories of the inappropriateness. Everyone is married. Durham is, um, not Miami or NYC. OVERALL IMPRESSION: Is this place real? You want a managable size program? Check. Big name? Check. Sick as sh*t cases? Check. Decent lifestyle as a resident? Check? Research? Check. Great alumni network? Check. This is one of the two best programs I interviewed at, and I will go out to say one of the very best in the country." | More from this Member | Report Response

"Impressive." | More from this Member | Report Response

"Early pick-up at hotel (6:30 am). Lectures about the program and department from director and chair. Interviews and tours with frequent breaks. Long lunch 1.5 hrs.- program says they want you to talk to as many people as possible. Summary at end with PD- "Don't get caught up in 'match game.' Rank programs where you want them regardless of wheter or not they recruit you."" | More from this Member | Report Response

"Stay in Durham Marriott hotel the night before interveiw (you pay $70, program pays the rest). Dinner with residents the night before. Interview with Chair, PD, Associate PD, and 2 faculty. Fairly laid back interviews...common question was "what would you do if you couldn't go into anesthesiology."" | More from this Member | Report Response