Application data as an indicator for post-Katrina recovery of LSU Postdoctoral dental programs.

Devastated by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, the New Orleans campus of the Louisiana State University School of Dentistry was closed for two years. With help from the university's Systems Office, the school created a temporary campus in Baton Rouge, seventy-five miles from the New Orleans campus. The eight postdoctoral education programs, however, were forced to find clinic and seminar space in other facilities and cities. Of the seventy-nine students in these programs, only sixteen did not continue after the storm. This article describes how each program maintained its curriculum while the main campus was closed. By comparing numbers of student applications to these programs in each year since Hurricane Katrina with the average baseline for each in the ten years preceding the storm, this article illustrates the current viability of these residency programs. Total applications in 2005-07 were significantly lower than baseline measures, but applications in 2008 and 2009 have returned to pre-storm levels. A comparison of these application numbers with national trends also demonstrates that these programs have rebounded from the effects of Hurricane Katrina.