Salary & Benefits

General work benefits are provided by the County of Los Angeles and are negotiated for residents by the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR).

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is available for review at http://dhs.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/dhs/lacusc/GME

Salary Data

As negotiated through the CIR, Los Angeles General Medical Center residents are entitled to 24 days paid vacation excluding weekend and holidays each year. The department allows residents to take up to four weeks of paid vacation per year.*

Sick Leave is accrued to a maximum of eight days per year. Three of these eight days may be used for personal days with permission of the program director. In compliance with the Family and Medical Leave Act, residents may take up to 12 weeks leave of absence without pay.*

Residents are provided three meals per day up to $28 while on duty at Los Angeles General Medical Center. Keck Medical Center provides $28 per day for meals while rotating at Keck Hospital. The County will reimburse residents for meal expenses at work, not to exceed $27 per day, for resident physicians rotating at CHLA.

Each service at the medical center provides call rooms for interns and residents. The call rooms include amenities such as beds, telephones, computers, printers and bathroom.

White coats and scrubs are furnished and laundered by the hospital without charge.

Malpractice insurance is provided without charge for all resident physicians during training. This coverage also includes legal defense and protection against awards from claims reported or filed after the completion of graduate medical education if the alleged acts or omission of the house staff are within the scope of the educational program.

Medical and dental insurance are provided without charge. A term life insurance policy is also provided without cost.

All residents are provided free parking in a parking lot adjacent to the hospital.

We believe it is in the best interest of the resident and our department to have as much resident involvement with research as possible. Therefore, we will financially support the travel costs associated with resident presentations at meetings up to $1500 per year (restrictions apply). Chief residents will receive an additional stipend to attend the AAO-HNS annual meeting if presenting. We will also reimburse each resident for the California medical license application fees and renewal, and a paid DEA license. Residents receive $500 annually from LAC+USC for additional academic expenses.

The medical center no longer offers resident housing. However, current residents live all over the LA basin including Los Feliz/Silverlake/Echo Park (10-15 minutes away from Los Angeles General Medical Center); the Westside including Santa Monica, Venice (approximately 40 minutes away from the medical center); Pasadena (20 minutes away from the medical center); Alhambra (20 minutes away from the medical center); Downtown (3 miles away from the medical center) ; and the San Fernando Valley/Burbank (15-40 minutes away from the medical center).

The County will provide an annual housing allowance of $10,000 per intern/resident. The housing allowance will be taxed per IRS laws.

The website Discover Los Angeles provides information on the city and area surrounding the medical center: http://www.discoverlosangeles.com/

Graduates of the USC Caruso Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery pursue both academic and private practice positions. Over the last 10 years, roughly two-thirds of our graduates have pursued fellowship positions. Roughly one-third of our graduates from this same time period are in academic positions. Most of our graduates match into one of their top fellowship choices. Representative fellowship positions include: facial plastics and reconstructive surgery, head and neck surgery, laryngology, endocrine surgery, otology/neurotology, pediatric otolaryngology, and rhinology and anterior skull base surgery.

Resident wellness is a priority not only for our department but also for the institution. Los Angeles General Medical Center recently hired a Director of Wellness, who has implemented a number of programs aimed at improving resident wellness and quality of life. Residents have access to 4 campus psychologists, as well as the SAFE Committee (Safety, Fairness, and Equity), where concerns can be confidentially and anonymously reported. There is an annual resident wellness retreat for all residents and fellows across Los Angeles General Medical Center and seminars throughout the year focusing on resident quality of life. Within our department, we promote resident wellness in a variety of ways. We require strict adherence to duty hours and have a system in place to allow for fatigued residents to be relieved of their daily duties if necessary. Furthermore, we provide education on fatigue mitigation, and we provide education to prevent physician burnout.

The USC Tina and Rick Caruso Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery is committed to increasing the diversity of clinicians and leaders pursuing careers in otolaryngology. Indeed, we hope our leaders represent the diversity of faces seen in our patient population. In accordance with the Office of Equity and Diversity (http://equity.usc.edu), we aim to increase the diversity of thought, experience, and people that contribute to our Trojan community. As such, we strongly encourage underrepresented minorities to apply to our training program.

While residency is a demanding time, our residents do have opportunities to take advantage of life in Los Angeles outside the hospital. There are innumerable museums, cultural events, culinary experiences, hikes, and nightlife venues. So whether you are a nature-lover or a party-goer, Los Angeles has something for everyone.
About Los Angeles:

• City of Angels, Hooray for Hollywood!
• Los Angeles is the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States
• A diverse melting pot of races, ethnicities, languages, and religions
• Home to a host of education centers, including public and private colleges and universities
• Sunshine, sunshine, and more sunshine!!
• 25 miles from the beach, 15 miles from the Griffith Observatory, 30 miles from the Angeles National Forest
• Professional sports, including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey
• Host to 2028 Olympics

Residents live in a variety of neighborhoods around Los Angeles, including South Pasadena, Downtown, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Echo Park, Alhambra, Monterey Park, Pasadena, Santa Monica, Culver City, and West Los Angeles.

1. Residency is definitely a challenging time, but we strive for our residents to maintain a good work/life balance. We do this by adhering to ACGME duty hour requirements and providing a variety of wellness activities and resources for our residents.
2. Of our various rotation sites, Los Angeles General Medical Center is truly a jewel of this program. Residents participate in a continuity clinic where they see and book their own cases. In this way, they become “the doctor” to an extremely grateful patient population.
3. Both attendings and residents play a large role in the education of residents. We maintain a balance of attendings present and eager to train, while also seeing the value in residents teaching residents.
4. Residents typically present at one to two meetings, although are welcome to present more if they are accepted to any major society individual meetings and conferences.
5. Our residents work on a wide variety of research projects. Our residents have conducted high-quality work in clinical research, translational research, bench research, systematic reviews, and global health research. Our goal is to provide the necessary support for residents to pursue their own research interests at the highest level.
6. Our philosophy for teaching residents is progressive autonomy under supervision.
7. The call schedule isgood overall. Each rotation varies, but all rotations utilize home call. Los Angeles General Medical Center call tends to be busier with procedures than call at Keck or CHLA.
8. We have a great balance between clinic and OR. The PGY2 and PGY5 years have a perfect balance while on their Los Angeles General Medical Center rotation. They rotate each day between clinic and OR. PGY3 and PGY4 residents spend time in the Keck attendings’ clinics and the operating rooms, with more time in the clinic as a PGY3 and more time in the operating room as a PGY4.
9. We do lots of cases. Residents have no issue surpassing their index case minimums.
10. As part of our application review, we aim to find residents who are dedicated to learning otolaryngology and push themselves to grow both personally and professionally. We find that this is best exemplified by the applicant’s previous clinical and academic record, and expounded upon in their personal statement. Resourceful and hard-working people do well in this program. Residents must often function as the primary advocate for their patients, serving as the surgeon, social worker, and home health coordinator to ensure our patients’ complex health care needs are met. We seek people that are committed to enhancing our Trojan family.
11. No resident has left the program prior to graduation.
12. We have happy residents! Residents enjoy learning in residency but are also able to spend time with their families and friends while taking advantage of Los Angeles has to offer.
    Residents do lots of things for fun, according to their varied interests. Some enjoy going to karaoke in Koreatown, while others enjoy going hiking or having quiet culinary experiences with their significant others. Most residents attend movies and concerts regularly and enjoy traveling internationally whenever possible.

* Please note: Per the American Board of Otolaryngology- For Board eligibility, the total of leaves (parental, caregiver, or personal medical leave) and vacation may not exceed six weeks in any one post-graduate year (PGY) with the following exception: for one year during residency training, a resident can take parental, caregiver, or medical leave for up to six weeks with the balance of time up to a total of eight weeks (leaves plus vacation) used for vacation time.