Frequently Asked Questions

Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center Responds To: The Most Important Questions to Ask When Interviewing for a GPR Position

1. Is the program accredited? Yes, our program is fully accredited by the commission on Accreditation of the American Dental Association. Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations.
2. Is the Program Director full or part time? The Program Director is full-time.
3. How many residents? There are nine resident positions. Usually there are six PGY-1’s (1^st year residents) and three PGY-2’s (2^nd year residents) or seven PGY-1’s and two PGY-2’s.
4. How many attending staff members are actively involved in the program? We have six salaried Attendings: five full-time general practitioners and one part-time endodontist. Additionally, we have an active voluntary attending staff: a group of dedicated private practitioners that teach in our program. This translates into continuous resident supervision as well as providing for continuity of patient care.
5. Are the attendings general practitioners or specialists? Our department Chairman, Director, and other full time attendings are all general practitioners. We believe that in a G.P.R. program general dentists should be the primary role models. In addition to our salaried endodontist, other specialists are frequently scheduled to teach and assist residents with specialty procedures.
6. What percent of clinics are covered by Attendings? Both the Gengras Clinic and the Burgdorf Clinic have attending dentist coverage full time.
7. What rotations does the program provide? How long? Are they block rotations? We have rotations in medicine (4 weeks), emergency medicine (4 weeks), anesthesia (2 weeks), I.V. rotation (1/2 week), oral surgery (6 weeks). All rotations except oral surgery are completed in blocks.
8. What specialties are represented and how much opportunity is there to work directly with them? We have specialists in endo, perio and oral- surgery. These attendings are a select group of dedicated private practitioners that are available to the residents in clinic on a regular basis. We encourage residents to work with these specialists on challenging cases.
9. What is the patient mix like? Our patient mix in both clinics is approximately 80% comprehensive care and 20% emergency care.
10. What support staff is available? i.e.: assistants, reception, secretarial? Residents have the support of assistants, reception, and secretarial staff 100% of the time with rare exception.
11. Salary? Vacation? Our PGY-1 residents receive an annual stipend of $ 50,000, as well as two weeks paid vacation, with an additional week for continuing education.
12. Benefits? What Kind? We do provide residents with medical, dental and disability benefits. Malpractice coverage is provided by the hospital.
13. What opportunities are there for C.E. off campus? A hallmark of our residency program is to send residents to St. Petersburg Florida for a three-day course with Dr. Peter Dawson. In addition to the Dawson course, residents have two additional CE days available for individual courses.
14. How many hours per week seminar? How many hours clinic? Residents are in seminar 4+ hours each week, and in clinic 32 hours each week.
15. Is there opportunity for second or even third year training? Yes, we do offer a second year, which is a recruited position, and offered to outstanding first year residents.
16. Call responsibilities, in house vs. from home? We require in house call, however those residents that live in resident housing on campus may take call from home.
17. Is the hospital a level one trauma center? No, we are not a level one trauma center. We handle 40% of the trauma in the greater metropolitan Hartford area.
18. What is typically treated in the E.R. when called? Trauma; Lacerations; Toothaches. General practice residents are on first call for all maxillofacial trauma at S.F.H. and M.S.H.. The most common calls are for lacerations, infections, and fractures. Toothaches are referred to the clinics.
19. Is there an oral surgery residency at the same hospital? How do they interact with GPR’s? No, we do not have an O.M.F.S. program. We consider this a plus for our residents in that they are able to obtain experiences they would not get if we did have O.M.F.S. residents. However, we do have O.M.F.S. residents from the University of Connecticut School of Dentistry that work very closely with our residents in the E.R. on a consultation basis.
20. Does the hospital provide housing? What is the typical rent? Yes, we provide subsidized housing directly across the street from the hospital. A two bedroom townhouse goes for approximately $ 660 monthly, and a one bedroom apartment is approximately $ 550 monthly. We strongly encourage residents to consider this option for the sake of convenience, on-call duties and economy.
21. How often are the residents evaluated and appraised by the program? Who conducts the evaluations? Residents are evaluated a minimum of three times each year by the program director and the teaching staff. You will also be evaluated on your off service rotations.
22. How successful are the previous graduates at getting the opportunities of their choice? Approximately 90% of our residents elect to go onto private general practice and are successful at finding practices in desirable geographic locations. Approximately 10% of our residents go onto specialty training of their choice.
23. Does the program participate in a consortium? With whom? No. We do not depend on other institutions for any component of our training program. This gives us complete control of our educational programs.
24. Do the GPR’s perform care in the OR? How many performed last year? Yes, residents do provide comprehensive care in the O.R. on a rotational basis. We did 300 cases last year.
25. Does the program provide sedation experience? Nitrous? IV sedation? Yes, residents are trained in both inhalation and I.V. sedation. There is the opportunity for each resident to obtain proficiency in I.V. sedation, which will allow for licensing in most states.
26. What percent of patient pool is medically compromised? What kind of medical conditions? Between 35-40% of our patients are medically compromised. These conditions include, diabetes, sickle cell disease, cancer, COPD, chronic heart disease, HIV, as well as a variety of others.
27. Describe the commitment of the institution to the dental department? Saint Francis has shown continued dedication to the Department of Dentistry, resulting in the largest free standing dental department in Southern New England.
28. Do the dental residents have the same rights and privileges as other house staff? Yes, dental residents get all of the rights and privileges of other house staff.
29. Does the program offer time for personal field study? Research? This is an option left up to the individual resident. Participation in research or in a unique field of study related to dentistry is strongly encouraged.
30. Is there a hospital library? Dental publications? Yes, we have a very strong library, with most current dental journals readily available. The library staff is also very supportive in that they will do literature searches, obtain and copy articles as needed. Residents have easy access to the Internet and various dental/medical databases.