Maine Medical Center
a group of residents rafting on a river

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What are typical work hours?

A: Our residents typically work 50 hours per week, depending on rotations and call. We work hard when we are in the hospital and like to play hard when we are not!

Q: What is the call schedule?

A: The resident call scheduled is managed by our Chief Residents with oversight by the Residency Program Leadership. There are two call residents in-house every night, in addition to two attending faculty and staggered CRNA coverage. Weekday call starts at 4:45pm and concludes at 7:00am. Residents are off pre and post call. Weekend call is done as a 24-hour shift, starting at 7:00am. Call is shared equally among all residents. There is no beeper call or late call.

Q: How do our benefits & vacations compare?

A: Our residents' salaries have consistently been above the 75th percentile. On top of this is a benefit package including medical, dental and disability care, malpractice insurance and life insurance. Vacation time is 20 working days per year. The department also provides educational funds for our residents so they can attend meetings and/or buy textbooks or journals. We also have a very good child care referral service.  Please see our benefits section.

Q: Do we have fellowship?

A: We pride ourselves on providing fellowship-level experiences to our residents.  To that end we have chosen to remain a small residency program in a large tertiary medical center and only offer one high quality fellowship in Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology. With approximately 1500 cardiac cases per year, our volume easily supports both resident and fellow training goals.  Our resident cardiac rotation primarily consists of 1:1 pairing with cardiac staff and all procedures and TEE exams are part of the resident experience.

Q: Do you have a night float system?

A: No we do not have night float system.

Q: Can you go on away rotations or international electives?

A: CA2 and CA3 residents can do away rotations with ABA and Program approval. This includes, local, national and international experiences.  Over the years, our residents have done rotations all over the world, including Africa and South America. MaineHealth Maine Medical Center currently has several Global Health Scholarships available to help support this experience.  Locally, one of our newest elective rotations is a Rural Anesthesia month at MaineHealth Franklin Hospital in Farmington, Maine.

Q: How many vacation or sick days we have each year?

A: We have 20 working days of vacation each year. Also we allow 5 working days to attend conferences.

Q: Critical Care Rotation what is the structure?

A:

  • Clinical Base Year: 2 months Medical ICU
  • CA1: 1 month Surgical ICU
  • CA2: 1 month CTICU
  • CA3: 1 month senior Surgical ICU

Q: Is there Ambulatory Surgery Center experience?

A: MaineHealth Surgery Center Scarborough is a free standing ambulatory surgery center with 10 ORs . The MaineHealth Scarborough Campus is 10 minutes from the MaineHealth Portland Campus

Q: Is there an on-call meal allowance?

A: Residents are provided with a meal allowance that is determined by the number of service months each year. There is also a discount for MaineHealth employees at our Impressions Café.

Q: Do you have to travel to multiple sites for different clinical rotations?

A: MaineHealth Maine Medical Center is an 800-bed hospital with 65 anesthetizing locations and state of the art facilities, including a brand new cardiothoracic tower.  It is a Level 1 trauma and tertiary referral center for the entire State of Maine as well as parts of New Hampshire.  The vast majority of training is done at our main campus in Portland and residents are continually exposed to a wide range of cases throughout their training, whether it is high-risk OB, emergent cardiac, or extreme prematurity pediatric patients.  The only exception is Ambulatory Anesthesia and Pain that is done at our Scarborough campus 10 minutes away.