Allegheny General Hospital Orthopedic Residency Program

he residency program at Allegheny General Hospital is a well rounded 5 year community style program situated in the heart of Pittsburgh’s North Side.  It is an 420 bed teaching institution affiliated with Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia.  Part of the West Penn Allegheny Health System, Allegheny General admits approximately 32,000 patients each year while logging 56,000 emergency room visits and 28,000 surgical procedures. 

  The program accepts 3 pgy-1 residents yearly for a total of 15 residents under the guidance of approximately 24 operating attendings.  With an almost 2:1 ratio of attendings to residents, it is easy to understand why our residents are extremely busy from an operative perspective.  In fact, they have traditionally graduated with anywhere from 1,800 to 2,500 cases over the course of five years. 

In addition to their operative experience, the residents attend scheduled didactic lectures throughout the course of the work week which cover a variety of the core topics in orthopedic surgery.  Each service contributes to the lecture series either on a weekly or bi-monthly schedule, helping to broaden the knowledge base presented over the course of the year. 

Despite the number of operative cases and the frequency of lecture, the residency maintains 100% compliance with the 80 hour work week as set forth by the ACGME.  Hours are tracked by punch clock and range from 60-80 hours per week depending on the residents current service requirements. 

Residents rotate through a variety of services each year, reflected by the diversity of cases logged each month.  All major services are currently represented at AGH with the addition of tumor exposure over the past year.  Four services provide exposure to fellows, either traditional (Hand) or non-traditional (Joints, Sports, Trauma).  The operative experience of the residents at AGH is enhanced by the presence of the fellows and is in no way hampered.