How affordable is San Francisco?
Imagine great weather year-round; amazing food and drink scene; gorgeous beaches and forests within a short drive or hike; progressive; truly diverse; beautiful; stylish; illustrious sports teams; technology and transportation hub; Napa, Sonoma, Santa Cruz, Pacific coast northward and southward – how could you turn down the opportunity to live and train in San Francisco?!
Besides a highly competitive resident salary that increases each year, we offer significant subsidies over the 4 years of residency:
- San Francisco Housing Allowance: $3500 / year
- Moving Stipend: $1000
- Educational Stipend: PGY 1 & 2 – $1250 / year; PGY 3 & 4 – $1500 / year
- Bridge tolls and travel stipend for WCR rotation (PGY 3): $1000
- Travel/gas stipend for Clinic-SSF Rotation (PGY 4): $250
- Board Review Course for PGY 4: $1500
- Gym membership subsidy: $720 / year
- Licenses fully paid, including renewals: California Medical License; DEA License
- USLME Step III fully paid
- Daily Parking: fully paid
- ABOG Junior Fellow Dues: fully paid
- ABOG Written Exam fee: significantly subsidized
- Meals: daily lunch, as well as Night Float and weekend call
Visit our Salary & Benefits page for more information.
How does your Medical Center and Residency Program support physician Well-Being?
Physician Well-Being is a major priority of the leadership at our Medical Center. Our training program works in partnership with our faculty leadership to take advantage of many resources for wellness. Every week the Wellness Report outlines activities that can be taken advantage of (e.g. game challenges, bike to work day, women’s health month, workplace safety fair, lunchtime lecture series, cancer survivor’s day relay, lunchtime call-in meditation, on-site farmer’s market, bean sprouts family days). A major priority at our Medical Center are efforts to proactively prevent and combat burnout and depression.
Our training program works with the San Francisco Medical Center Faculty Wellness Committee on joint programs, planning and initiatives. Efforts include making the hospital environment reflective of our values for wellness and fostering inter-collegiality between departments. In addition to a gym stipend, there is free access to a fitness center at the French Campus. Each year the residents select one of their own to champion and organize monthly resident social events. Chiefs often organize rotational end of rotation events for Gyn/Gyn-Onc and Ob services. The night float team frequently has end of rotation breakfast with the nurses off-site. Regional events include attending Warrior’s basketball games and A’s and Giant’s baseball games.
Within the OBGYN Department we have faculty and resident Wellness Champions. Joint faculty-resident activities include yoga, local service events, and international medical missions. We recognize that working in a small training program requires close support and collaboration between faculty and residents, particularly when dealing with unpredictable circumstances in which residents may be unable to attend to work, such as fatigue, illness and family emergencies. We have a long history of strong support from faculty for this.
Here is how our current residents responded when asked how they attended to wellness:
- Group exercise classes at Soul cycle, Barry’s boot camp or running Lyon street steps
- Sending gratitude thank you letters through Dohje
- For wellness I rent vespas and scoot around San Francisco with my husband, go to the beach, and do Pilates in my living room
- workout
- hang out with classmates/friends
- workplace mentorship from attendings, fun events with attendings
- workplace support from other residents – team events, gratitude rounds
- local spa services
- I ride my bike to work. It gives me a half-hour to wake up in the morning and wind down in the evening, especially helpful on intense rotations. Bonus – I can spend all my off time playing with my kid instead of worrying about getting to the gym!
- Free sporting events
- Free massages on the mezzanine in hospital
- Resident retreat
- Research half days
- Getting coverage for graduation
- Having wonderful co-residents and attendings who don’t make it feel like work most of the time 🙂
- Monthly resident socials to check out new restaurants, bars, activities around the city
- Monthly team events (mini golf at UrbanPutt, trivia night, happy hour, Nightlife at Academy of Sciences or Exploratorium)
- Meet up with residents in my year for drinks/meals to talk through stuff
- Group text with my year of residents essentially everyday
- Plan vacations during which I have plenty of time to relax
- “gratitude rounds” in which we go around and say what we’re grateful for
- Talk to EAP when I need an emotional sounding board who understands my situation but isn’t directly involved
- Hip hop dance class with co-resident
- Go on “city hikes” to explore different areas of sf
- Write a gratitude journal
- Talk to family on the phone or FaceTime
How do you describe the patient population at Kaiser San Francisco?
In San Francisco, Kaiser provides care to over one-third of the entire population. Our patients’ demographics mirror those of the local community we serve: 40% white; 34% Asian; 20% Hispanic; 6% black. Our patients’ socioeconomic demographics are similarly diverse, including: service industry employees and their families; techies; and health care workers such as UCSF physicians and employees. Additionally we are one of the largest providers to Healthy San Francisco, an innovative health access program designed to make health care services available and affordable to uninsured San Francisco residents.
How robust is the volume of patients for residents training at Kaiser San Francisco?
At the completion of 4 years of training our graduates leave with exceptional surgical experience. Survey of former graduates consistently finds them well prepared for: full-scope surgical practice, particularly laparoscopic procedures; managing high-risk obstetric patients; and providing a complete range of family planning services.
Here are the means of procedures tracked by ACGME for our 2023 graduates, which remained robust despite the impact of COVID.
| Procedure | 2023 Graduate Mean | National Minimums |
| Spontaneous Vaginal Deliveries | 397 | 200 |
| Cesarean Deliveries | 219 | 145 |
| Operative Vaginal Deliveries | 37 | 15 |
| Obstetric Ultrasound | 451 | 50 |
| Abdominal Hysterectomy | 16 | 15 |
| Vaginal Hysterectomy | 23 | 15 |
| Laparoscopic Hysterectomy | 104 | 15 |
| Total Hysterectomy | 143 | 85 |
| Incontinence and pelvic floor | 56 | 25 |
| Cystoscopy | 102 | 10 |
| Laparoscopic Surgery | 131 | 60 |
| Hysteroscopy | 65 | 40 |
| Abortion procedures | 75 | 20 |
| Transvaginal Ultrasound | 63 | 50 |
| Cancer Surgery | 48 | 25 |
Where do your program’s residents typically come from?
Applicants to our program come from medical schools throughout the entire United States. Last year we received over 720 applications for our 4 positions. Applicants came from 140 US Medical Schools in 45 different states. Our current residents attended the following medical schools: UC San Francisco; UC Davis; Stanford; Drexel; OHSU; Loyola U Chicago Stritch; U of Pittsburgh; Temple; Howard University; Brown University; UT San Antonio; University of Hawaii; University at Buffalo; University of Colorado; and Tufts University.
Does your program have protected teaching time?
Our training program values and prioritizes educational experiences. Tuesday mornings are protected for didactic curriculum. We assign extra faculty to in-house services to cover L&D, in-patient gynecology and the Emergency Department so that residents can attend. The morning starts off with departmental Grand Rounds or M&M. This is followed by core didactics which include: Gyn-onc; REI; MFM, Urogynecology, Surgical Skills, CETT, Communication Sessions, Clinical Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, and Journal Club. Visit our curriculum page for more information.
How are residents evaluated in your program?
We provide comprehensive ongoing evaluation and assessment of residents’ performance in curricular and rotational experiences, and this is reviewed in detail with each individual resident every 6 months at their Semi-Annual review. These evaluations are competency-based and include multiple evaluators. Semi-annual reviews include: individual Milestone assessment in 32 areas; semi-annual and rotational faculty evaluations; peer evaluations; medical student evaluations; RN evaluations; Patient evaluations; Focused Assessment of Competency assessment for procedures; simulation and critical event team training assessment; research progress; standardized training exam review; selected self-reflections; ambulatory care performance; Clinical quality improvement and Patient safety project review; management of your patient panel; and performance of mandated training (e.g. Fetal heart rate course).
We also use myTIP to provide milestone and procedural evaluation and feedback. The practice of high-quality Obstetrics and Gynecology involves: the ability to perform a wide variety of surgical and technical procedures with skill; as well as ability to master the 6 core competencies (patient care; medical knowledge; systems-based practice; interpersonal and communication skills; professionalism; practice-based learning and improvement). To provide a mechanism for receiving immediate faculty feedback as well as to assist in assessing progress and documenting competency, specific key procedures have been identified for focused observations to be completed in which the resident is the primary surgeon. With the use of the myTIP mobile application, we can easily track residents’ progress throughout the year as we have constructed these assessments to integrate into our milestones evaluations.
What are the unique advantages of training at Kaiser San Francisco?
Our ObGyn residency training program fully harnesses the many strengths and advantages that have made Kaiser Permanente a model for health care in this country. We have achieved nation leading quality outcomes as reported by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). Kaiser San Francisco was one of five Northern California Kaiser hospitals to receive the Five Ribbon Recognition by Newsweek Magazine and named one of “America’s Top Maternity Hospitals” in 2023. We are at the cutting edge of technology for health care systems, and our use of technology, particularly video, is the best in the nation. We provide care to almost half the population of Northern California.
At Kaiser San Francisco we have earned the confidence and trust of our patients and have a faculty that identifies this as being the best place to work. Our organization has a long history of providing a diverse and inclusive work environment and we are recognized as leaders for diversity in the workplace. Our training program shares our organization’s commitment to helping shape the future of healthcare and dedication to care, innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. Our expert and caring faculty are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management.
Our program is also unique in that we train our residents to provide full scope family planning; including complex contraceptive management, medical abortion, and office and OR based D&C or D&E. We also have a nation-leading program in transgender care and surgery, and our residents all get exposure and comfort with supporting our transgender community through hormonal management, routine care and surgery. We truly offer holistic and compassionate care to meet the needs of our patients in San Francisco and Northern California.
What mentorship opportunities are offered in your program?
Our residency training program offers strong mentorship that starts prior to arrival at intern orientation. Newly matched residents are paired with a faculty mentor who reaches out to the new interns in the weeks before starting residency. This four-year relationship focuses on growth, educational, and career development. The mentor is both an advocate and advisor. It is expected that the mentor-mentee meet regularly outside of the hospital.
Residents who are considering fellowship training will also have a sub-specialty mentor to help advise and guide the resident through building their resume and applying to fellowship. Each resident will also have a separate research mentor for their primary research project. The program director will work closely with each resident through the initial stages of selecting a research project and will help each resident select an appropriate research mentor. Residents also establish big sib-little sib mentoring relationships. Each intern is paired with a third-year resident to act as an advisor for their initial two years.
