FAQs
No! We offer a civilian spot and we get along great with our Army colleagues. In fact, it's hard to actually tell who is in the military and who is not. The civvies are fully integrated into the program, but it may take a little time to get used to the military acronyms and lingo.
Don't worry about getting on to base, you'll get all your badges and access, just like you'll need for all the other hospitals, your intern year. As far as working with the military, it's likely a once in a lifetime experience that we would champion only makes for producing a better orthopaedic surgeon. But don't take our word for it, come visit us for a rotation and see for yourself!
See this link for our discussion of the call. Junior call at WBAMC is taken from home. Junior call (2 / 3) at UMC is in house. Senior call (4 / 5) is taken from home at both locations.
No! Some of our "home" applicants just really liked the program and wanted to stay. But we actually have more civilians represented from other programs in our residency. Come visit us to see if you could envision yourself training here!
Pay is consistent with the GME salary commensurate with level of training, which is outlined below in a table for PGY1-5. Here is a link to the GME website.
2023-2024 Salaries
|
PGY-1 |
PGY-2 |
PGY-3 |
PGY-4 |
PGY-5 |
|
$57,606.15 |
$59,486.93 |
$61,362.91 |
$63,241.42 |
$65,118.59 |
In addition to the salary, benefits include health insurance, dental, vision, disability.
The residency program also purchases lead and loupes for you intern year.
Vacation days: 15 days for PGY-1 and PGY-2. 20 days for PGY-3 through PGY-5.
Residency is a challenging time and will inevitably cause stress. We value the mental, physical, and spiritual well-being of our co-residents, and there are several ways the program supports those aims. We provide protected academic and wellness days, we provide ample vacation and sick time, and our attendings are keenly aware and respectful of post-call days. We also have a significant other support group that meets weekly and provides monthly wellness events.
As a program, we pride ourselves in creating an atmosphere of support and a culture of diversity and well-being. We feature lectures on the topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The military staff surgeons are an important aspect of our training and it’s true that they have military obligations that entail deployment or transferring duty stations. Thankfully, many of our staff are able to be stationed here on an extended basis as long as they want. While it is sad to see staff transfer or transition out of the military, new attendings bring different perspectives.
While deployments are an inevitable aspect of a training program with a military component, they are usually known well in advance and appropriate planning and accommodations to the schedule will be made, to ensure residents are getting the appropriate educational opportunities and similar experiences in their training.
If you have a specific question about our program that is not covered by the website, please contact us!