ENT

[chase]

ENT service is comprised of VA, Otology, Head and Neck Surgery, and sometimes Peds.
Most students are on one service for only a week, but there's a movement to let students
do one thing for all two weeks if they show interest/are able.

Most days consistent of half the day in surgery and half the day in clinic, no matter which subspecialty you're on for the week. It's generally good hours, usually 7ish to 5ish during the weekdays and usually just one day during the weekend for about 2-3 hours of rounding.

The majority of the residents are very nice and helpful. Dr. Lana is one of the current chiefs and is very laidback and helpful. Dr. Vaughn, Sebyt, Moretz, and Weinberger are all tremendously nice, will teach, and give you helpful hints with the attendings.

The attendings are all pretty good, too. Dr. Terris is brilliant and will teach a good bit and certainly makes up for what he lacks in personality. He's usually very busy, anyhow. Dr. Chen is fun to work with as he works two half days of Plastics ENT a week and he'll let you assist in procedures and teach a good bit. Dr. Gourin does lots of interesting research and is a real go-getter and will teach. Dr. Austin on Peds is a fun fellow to work with... he loves to teach about the business aspect of medicine. He's pretty funny but some people think his sense of humor can be abrasive, but if it doesn't bother you he'll turn out to be a great mentor and will impart a great deal of knowledge.

You get to work with all the attendings in clinic for the most part. You'll be asked to dictate on the recorder some, but they'll help you learn--a valuable thing to pick up for the future.

There's always tons of research going on in ENT and those who show interest will surely be given the opportunity to seek some out.

I give the rotation an A-.

[chuang05]

I absolutely love my experience over at the ENT. It is by far the best rotation for me so far. The residents over there are REALLY nice and very willing to teach you both the skills and the knowledge. Dr. Gourin can be really intimidating when you first present to her, especially during Tumor Board, but remember this: it is not personal. And her attitude convey that message really well, so it is actually a very valuable experience and great way to learn.
If you are REALLY not into surgery, most of the time the residents won't mind work around with you to get you to see as much clinic as possible if you are over at the MCG side. But the OR is not bad at all. Dr. Das and Dr. Klipper are both great and very willing to teach as long as you show your interest in learning. I absolutely LOVE this rotation

[Kim]

Now that there are only 3 students on ENT, the 1 week rotations are VA, Peds, or MCG. I did VA and then MCG.
VA was nice b/c there was only 1 resident there the week I was there (sometimes there's also an intern which would probably make it even better). VA clinic seemed to be more relaxed and slower paced than MCG (and there's no dictation - you just write the notes on the computer). Also, since there was only one resident, I got more one on one time w/ the attendings.
MCG was my second week and I really hated it. I spent most of my time in the clinic (I got to go to the OR for one morning the whole week). There were people everywhere - residents, 2 rotators from oral and maxillofacial surgery, and we had 2 visiting 4th years. There was tons of downtime in the clinic (with 5 people seeing patients, the load is pretty light) so I felt like I did A LOT of sitting around and wasting time. Dictating is super intimidating at first, but they give you a booklet that spells out what to say and you get really good at it after a day or two.

Overall, ENT was the worst 2 weeks of my 3rd year to this point (I've only done medicine and surgery). In two weeks I was at the hospital 10-11 hours/day and spent maybe 7 hours in the OR. It all depends on the schedule your week and the luck of the draw. The student at MCG the week before me got done early a few days. There was some free food every so often - that's a plus!!