Questions to Ask While Interviewing for Orthopedic Residencies

A little preparation can go a long way to showing your interest, this was provided by one of the fourth year students:


General Questions
What is the structure of didactic curriculum?
Is there time allotted for electives?
Do the residents have a high operative volume?
How busy is the ER? Level 1 trauma center? What types of trauma?
Do residents attend national conferences? Is it funded?
Where do the graduating residents go?

Questions for Residents
What are the strengths/weaknesses?
Did you ever consider leaving the program?
How many facilities do you cover? How do you like that? A lot of driving? Any required rotations in different cities?
Do fellows take away from learning experience?
What is call schedule like? How are the call rooms? Do you sleep while on call?
Do you have ample time to read?
How is the balance between autonomy and supervision?
How is ancillary staff? Are they helpful and pleasant to work with?
Is there a lot of scut work?
How is your relationship with the staff?
How do the residents get along? Do you hang-out outside of work? Are there any sports teams that you play on?
Do the residents get along with other residents in the hospital?
How do you like the city?
How are the benefits? Parking? Meals paid for?
Do you have moonlighting opportunities?

Questions for Chairman/PD/Attendings
What are your plans for the future?
How do you see the program changing in size or structure over the next five years?
How long have you been here? Do you plan on staying at this program for the next 5 years?
What is the status of the programs accreditation?
How highly do you emphasize resident education?
How do you feel the relationship is between the staff and the residents?
What are the research opportunities like? Is it required? How is it funded?
How are the residents evaluated?
How do the residents perform on OITE? Boards?
What do you look for in a candidate? How many people do you rank?