2006-07 Interview season

[zedpol]

Starting a new interview season thread. I'd love to hear other peoples experiences.

University of Wisconsin
I guess I'll be the first to put my input in for a 2006 interview trail.

I attended the pre-interview dinner at a resident's house which was very nice. About 4-5 residents showed up, some with spouses and kids. I got a sense that people were really happy at the program and there was a lot of comraderie.

The interview was also very stress free. We toured the pediatric floor which currently is 1 floor BUT the university is completing a brand new, free standing 84 bed peds hospital right next door. The entering interns will be the first to use this hospital so it will be an exciting time. Faculty are very nice and approachable. The Chair met with us a couple of times and it seemed that he had an open door policy with the resident. Generally, I got a sense that the residents and faculty really worked well together and acted as a team. Med students are also highly involved and residents are highly involved with the teaching. For those interested in research, they are also building a new research building next to the hospital.

Nice program, nice residents and faculty. The brand new hospital should be awsome for the intern class next year. One down side was that it was biting cold on the day of arrival (wind chill in the teens with some flurries).
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chhsu

2006 St. Chris
I recently did my St. Chris interview which also happens to be my home program. The interview was very very laid back and friendly. If you go on a friday you will sit in on Grand rounds, this particular friday was pretty dry but they bring in some very interesting speakers and St. Chris has some great lecturers also. The residents all seemed to get along very nicely and all said they felt well supported and that the program responded to their needs. The only complaint I heard is that it sometimes take a little while for the program to make the changes that the residents ask for. Apparently GI is their least friendly department. St. Chris really went out of their way to stress how important resident education is, and how they want the residents to have as much responsibilty as possible while having someone to fall back on if need be. One of the neat parts of the program is they train all their residents (And i believe faculty) on effective teaching. Overall I felt like the program was very genuine, and very very friendly. It went through a tough time a few years back because the company that was managing st. chris went belly up (although st. chris was always profitable). Everything seems to be very stable now and they seem to be back stronger than ever. The chair has big plans on growing their specialties while keeping gen peds very strong. Oh, last thing I should mention is their community advocacy program. Some people may find that interesting. Basically the residents do some community outreach programs such as education etc etc.

Z

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[Colinator]

Nice, bright children's hospital . . . pretty much all the programs you could think of available. Expanding the PICU and NICU currently and after moving offices to a neighboring building, will have 80% single occupancy rooms in the hospital by Spring 2007. Residents were all very nice and friendly, no one looked particularly worn out. The program director was very friendly, energetic, and seems responsive to resident concerns and input. The rounds I observed were very effecient and benign. Floor teams consist of a senior, 4 interns, and 4 med students. Didactic component appears strong. Here's a point by point on pros and cons:

Pros:
1. House Staff Assistants: one per floor or so, help with anything you need help with (sitting on hold with private MD's, tracking down charts from other hospitals, getting radiology reads, etc . . . major scut reducers!)
2. 4 weeks vacation
3. One golden weekend each month
4. Parking provided, breakfast-type food in residents lounge, most lunches provided, stipend for food when on call (given as a mid-year "bonus")
5. Despite strong fellowship programs, floors are run by residents who report directly to attendings
6. Outpatient care taught by pairing up with a pediatrician in the community
7. Advocacy rotations available
8. Moonlighting opportunity on transport (helicopter) team after completing NICU/PICU months
9. Teaching rotation
10. Large program (30 interns, 80 total residents) so maternity leaves etc easily accomodated
11. St. Louis is incredibly affordable (majority of residents own homes/condos)

Cons:
1. No cap when on call
2. Progress notes and orders hand-written (though moving toward electronic charting and order entry)

Other info:
1. Traditional call, no night float system
2. Residents carry an avg of 6.8 pts and admit 6 per night on call

 

[GoSprout24]

Please note these are my personal, unabridged notes that are essentially my stream of consciousness. It's a bit disorganized and obviously very personalized towards me and my preferences, but I think it sheds light none-the-less. Note, a couple things I wasn't positive about I put a question mark in front of it. Also note, things I added for your clarification/enlightenment/enjoyment are in [brackets].
---------------------------------------------

Residents work very hard, ?til 6-7pm on wards, crazy busy NICU, interns admit avg 8 pts/ngt on wards, carry 10 pts in NICU, but appear to "work hard/play hard", often team goes out for drinks post-call, biggest problem since switch to new hospital is patient volume, there's talk of adding a non-resident hospitalist team in the future, very resident-run, fellows only 1st call in PICU (nowhere else), great balance btw general and subspecialty exposure, all subspecialties represented, about half go on to general peds and half to specialize, on electives you take 1-3 shifts in the ED (mostly as intern) or in newborn at Mahary [the Nashville General Hospital] (supposedly very easy, sleep a lot) or phone call for res clinic (as 2nd and 3rd yrs for these two), otherwise no call duties during elective months, each ward team has a major subspecialty in it (cards, GI, pulm) with the other subspecialties spread amongst them along with general patients, a separate heme/onc team, general patients are a mix of hospitalist and private attendings, a community physician volunteers to come teach at rounds approximately twice a week to add the community perspective, attendings are dedicated to teaching (though, to be honest, I didn't like the morning report format where they essentially presented the entire H&P upfront -- doesn't really require much thinking to come up with the differential that way), interns have to write H&Ps (med studs write them too, but can't be used for "legal" purposes, but you can cut & paste) [this is different from my medical school, where studs write most of the H&Ps and residents just review, edit, and sign off], residents don't do much scut work, sounds like writing notes is the main thing, apparently 100% pass rate on the Peds Boards in the last 10 yrs, able to spend 1/2 day in 2nd and 3rd years doing private practice clinic or research or anything you want, schedule is intern heavy and lighter as a res, definitely can do a month abroad, seems like they already have a lot of international contacts, including staff that work in Kenya, Costa Rica, etc, 3-4 electives totally free to do whatever you want [no requirements for them], can do all research, whatever, can do an advocacy month in state legislature for this, very good morale amongst the housestaff, they really support one another and are one big family, new children's hospital is GORGEOUS, computer records and computer ordering system, sounds like there is a lot of socioeconomic and racial diversity amongst the patients, but it didn't seem like there was a ton of racial diversity amongst the residents and faculty (I should look into this more to see if I'm right or not...), program really responds to resident's wishes, residents are extremely friendly, I felt like everyone I met was married, but they swore it was 50/50, they said Nashville actually has a great singles scene [obviously, I'm single], all the benefits of a large city (music, bars, sports, museums, outdoors) without the hassles of a big city, residents can work out in the rehab center's gym next door to the hospital [I like to work out, so this is cool], housing is very affordable, most people buy a house or condo, sounds like East Nashville is the up-and-coming trendy place to live with lots of restaurants/bars/?singles but still cheap, apparently ?South Nashville used to be the trendy place to live but has gotten more expensive, program admins seemed great, though to be honest I thought the PD was a bit odd, her first question to me was "so, why are you in Nashville?" [I have no connection with the South], but the Chiefs and others I met were all just great, and I'm told the PD is actually really great, I think she just wanted to gauge my interest and was generally curious as to how others get interested in Vandy bc they're not as good at attracting residents outside of the SE, most people I met did seem to be from the South, though one res stated that the Peds dept was very liberal/democrat [yeah, I asked. I had to. I've never lived in a Red State before ]. I think I would definitely be happy here, I could own a condo and live in a hip, moderate-sized city, I could make a schedule to really suit my interests to international health/public health, and they would support me in anything that I did. Overall, I absolutely loved the program, it suits everything I'm looking for... just not sure if I want to live in the South. Even though I love it, the Southern accent still kinda freaks me out [not in a bad way, I just feel like I stick out and don't belong]. And everyone wears pretty preppy clothes. I'm not sure if anyone knows what a Birkenstock is down here. [I know, inappropriate comment, I'm obviously joking... but hey... I'm a weird combo of Hippie and Yankee ] Liked it way more than I thought I would.

 

[GoSprout24]

Forgot to add the call schedule bc I have that info in a different location:

PL-1: 7 mo (q4)
PL-2: 5 mo (q6)
PL-3: 5 mo (q6)
*note: an "evening float" upper level shows up from 5pm-10pm to help with call. As an upper level, you do one 4-day shift of this, I think.

 

[zedpol]

Hrmm where to start.

Facilities: Amazing and getting more amazing. The hospital has about 430 beds and they are in the process of renovating some of the older floors. The computer system looked very useable, order entry, patient tracking, radiology...good stuff.

Residents: I never got a really good read on how the residents interacted. Everyone seemed very happy but I don't know how much they hang out etc. And when i say I don't know how much they hang out...means i just don't know, not that I am saying they don't hang out. Residents all said they feel extremely well support by the program, responsive to their needs, seemed like a very good group of people. Morning report was well ran and their noon conference was equally well done. A comment I heard from a couple of different people is that this is a program that you learn by doing, busy enough where is you are a person who learns by reading it might not be the program for you.

Faculty: Morning rounds were run by a very nice attending, extremely well thought out and was a great teacher. I was very impressed. My other interactions with the faculty weren't clinical but were all very positive. Seems like a great group of people.

Lots of opportunity to do pretty much anything you can think of. International rotations, research, community advocacy, etc. All rotations and such are at CHOP or next door at HUP except for clinic which is at the farthest 5 miles away.

I was worried about it being too fellow driven and the impression that I got is that anyone who says that hasn't seen CHOP.

Can't think of anything else.

Z

 

[kidsfirstdoc]

St Chris response-keep in mind if you are remotely interested in doing a fellowship in GI, Cards Or Critical Care-This is not the best place for your training. Each of these departments has high turn over. Both Cards and GI are aweful in resident education! They will not help you with fellowships and are the least liked departments in the entire hospital. Critical Care is a good teaching department, but the turnover is very very high and the census is too low (1-6 pts at a time) when compared to CHOP or other places.

 

[ibeababydr]

I loved this program. The residents are very active in making many of the decisions. They even have some say in which applicants are chosen and interview the applicants themselves. Some things I liked about this program were:
1. They have a Q4 schedule the first year, but do night float as R2 and 3's. So, its a nice balance of both.
2. WWAMI program where they spend two months in a rural area either in Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana or Idaho.
3. Opportunities for international experience
4. I think they have two electives their first year.
5. 5 day intern retreat
6. Seattle itself. Cost of living is a little better than on the east coast.
7. Free parking!!!
8. Order entry computer system but notes are written.

Draw backs:
1. No cards or GI (?) fellowships currently.
2. Kind of got the impression the have a lot of private doctors to deal with.
3. No cap on call, but the senior resident is supposed to help.
4. Patients are spread out on multiple floors.

 

[Pedialyte]

Loyola:

Loyola is a Chicago based, academic and community blended program. Smallish, like about 10 per class, but the residents say that they like that aspect because they pretty much get to see everything and have a lot of autonomy. They are the furthest (farthest?) west of the Chicago programs, which they describe as having the benefit of drawing a large catchment area to the west and south of the city. If you know the city, Chicago is notorious for having small neighborhoods that run up against other neighborhoods of drastically different socioeconomic status. Loyola fits the bill, being situated between a very poor neighborhood and a more wealthy suburb. Although they don't have the rep of being one of the academic powerhouses of Chicago, the PD told me that 4-5 out of 10 of last year's class matched in fellowships at Northwestern or UChicago last year, and one of the residents told me she picked Loyola because she thought they had the best alumni job hookup in the city. The peds area is part of their main hospital, and it's really cute (lighting, decorations, etc.). They are a Ronald MacDonald site. They had a decent sized PICU and their NICU holds about 50. They are well-known for their NICU and it is the only fellowship at the program. No other fellows at this site!
I'll try to add an addendum later about their call schedule, but it seemed pretty chill, actually.

Pros: Call schedule, nice & friendly residents/staff, autonomy, good fellowship placement. Good parking, support, etc.
Cons: Location (a pro for some people), gets sort of overshadowed by NU, UChicago and Rush; driving on the Eisenhower(!).

Forgot to add: Loyola has a ridiculously nice health center/gym facility on campus that the residents use before/after their shifts.

 

[Pedialyte]

Alrighty... Here's my stream of thought on NU:

They consider themselves to be the "major" hospital/program in Chicago, although maybe half of the people will acknowledge that they are one of two, when it is discussed that a given faculty member left for UChicago. That being said, they have a ton of faculty, fellowships in basically everything, and clearly get a lot of referrals for difficult stuff/zebras. I think you get very bright attendings and good teaching. The residents seem very social, as many of them showed up to the happy hour for the applicants. However, the residents make it know that this is a very "work hard/play hard" program, since they have about 10 1/2 months of Q4 call their intern year (Basically 10 months, if you don't count the ED, but they do lots of shifts so I'm counting it for half). They point out that this is more call than you will see at other programs (at the very least in Chicago), but that they all came here knowing they were going to work their tails off. The residents all seem very nice, but I wouldn't call this a chill place.
Currently the hospital is in Lincoln Park (one of the really pretty and somewhat pricey neighborhoods of Chicago), but they are moving to downtown in 2012 to be part of the medical campus. They don't have EMR at this point, but they say they will transfer over from paper charts to electronic perhaps by next spring/summer. There is a large fellow presence here, but again, I think you get very good teaching.
The residents also pride themselves on (basically) never transfering out their patients, which is important because they get a lot of transfers IN from other hospitals in the area with Peds programs. Still, you do have bread and butter represented here, and Children's never turns away anybody based on financial reasons and the community knows that. It's just that you have more zebra time than at some places. Also, they are a level 1 trauma, which is pretty sweet, and they have 2 main NICUs, one 'regular' NICU in Evanston (30 min away) and one 'specialty' NICU where they are transferred in because they are a particular high risk kiddo.

Pros: Very good faculty, fun residents, location, lotta zebras, lotta fellows.
Cons: Lotta fellows, expensive parking/rent, gunner call schedule, intense with very large patient load, the future move to downtown, and no EMR.

 

[chhsu]

Alrighty... Here's my stream of thought on NU:

They consider themselves to be the "major" hospital/program in Chicago, although maybe half of the people will acknowledge that they are one of two, when it is discussed that a given faculty member left for UChicago. That being said, they have a ton of faculty, fellowships in basically everything, and clearly get a lot of referrals for difficult stuff/zebras. I think you get very bright attendings and good teaching. The residents seem very social, as many of them showed up to the happy hour for the applicants. However, the residents make it know that this is a very "work hard/play hard" program, since they have about 10 1/2 months of Q4 call their intern year (Basically 10 months, if you don't count the ED, but they do lots of shifts so I'm counting it for half). They point out that this is more call than you will see at other programs (at the very least in Chicago), but that they all came here knowing they were going to work their tails off. The residents all seem very nice, but I wouldn't call this a chill place.
Currently the hospital is in Lincoln Park (one of the really pretty and somewhat pricey neighborhoods of Chicago), but they are moving to downtown in 2012 to be part of the medical campus. They don't have EMR at this point, but they say they will transfer over from paper charts to electronic perhaps by next spring/summer. There is a large fellow presence here, but again, I think you get very good teaching.
The residents also pride themselves on (basically) never transfering out their patients, which is important because they get a lot of transfers IN from other hospitals in the area with Peds programs. Still, you do have bread and butter represented here, and Children's never turns away anybody based on financial reasons and the community knows that. It's just that you have more zebra time than at some places. Also, they are a level 1 trauma, which is pretty sweet, and they have 2 main NICUs, one 'regular' NICU in Evanston (30 min away) and one 'specialty' NICU where they are transferred in because they are a particular high risk kiddo.

Pros: Very good faculty, fun residents, location, lotta zebras, lotta fellows.
Cons: Lotta fellows, expensive parking/rent, gunner call schedule, intense with very large patient load, the future move to downtown, and no EMR.

Thanks for the post on Loyola and NWU!

I did my elective rotation at Children's Memorial and liked it very much though I did get the feeling residents appeared stressed out. The following month I was at Comer and it was like night/day - residents at Comer were super laid back and relaxed. I didn't get to interact with too many CMH residents though so I may not have received an accurate sense of how things really are. But Comer was definitely very chill and they are strict about the 80 hour cap!

 

[explore10]

University of Michigan.

Overall very nice impression of the program. It is midsized, 16 peds and 8 med-peds per year. Lots of residents from all years (1-3) showed up at the dinner the night before (at a resident's condo) and they all seemed like a nice bunch of people. They seemed to like living in Ann Arbor, although it's small it has an "intellectual" touch with lots of culture, resturants and obviously sports and people from all over (as opposed to other small midwest towns).
The program director is changing this year but it seems like the transition will be easy since the person who's taking over has been the asst dir for >10years and is not planning any big changes.


PROS (in random order):
nice computer system
involvement from all levels at morning rep (intern to attending)
strong cards program
resident assistants to decrease scutwork
hospitalist teaching and covering 24/7
lots of residents with babies...ie family friendly
residents can afford to buy places (about half of them buy)

CON:
not sure if it's a con..but they are building a new peds hospital next door which is gonna be ready 2011...might be moving hassles and no improvements of the current one over the next few years
small ER, a part of the adult one
rather small number of people to cover with so many pregnancies...but the current residents did not seem to mind.
change in leadership
location and small town depending on your needs
questionable if pt population is as varied as they wanted it to appear to be


call schedule: R1: approx. 7mo Q4. R2-3: approx. 2-4mo Q4 (I can't recall exactly but you get the idea)

And if you read this and hasn't started to post stuff about your own interview experiences yet....start doing so it's helpful for everyone to have a sense for what to expect and hear other peoples' points of view.
good luck on the trail everyone!
i'll post more as I go along....

 

[Colinator]

Just to add to the above UMich post . . .

UMich has a house officers association (resident union) which really has your back (I believe Rush in Chicago has a similar perk). They negotiate the contracts for house officers, working out a pretty nice paycheck (highest I've seen so far) with an annual cost-of-living increase of at leaset 3%, a bonus each Nov (7% of your salary; this is to make up for not having a monthly contribution to a retirement savings of any sort), mileage reimbursements for distant clinics, holiday and birthday bonus pay, and a capped employee contribution to health insurance (5%). The HOA also does some more minor but pleasant things, like arrange social events and coordinate discounts for things like home buying/selling, banking, moving, and dry cleaning.

While I was at UMich, the residents all appeared well-rested and happy. The collegial attitude was great, with attendings blending in with residents during morning report. As an applicant, I noticed several small instances of courtesy and respect that go a long way in making you feel welcome (ex. my luggage was immediately taken off my hands to a locked room, my ID said MD as I graduated last year, the program director knew my name and walked me to the cafeteria in the main hospital at the end of the day because I had no idea how to get there, etc).

Good luck all!

 

[oompaloompa]

hey guys,

greetings from the interview trail, I've been to a few already since I've had november off. I made a pro/con list the evening after every interview to help keep things straight. Keep in mind that my interests lie in acute care (Pedi ER) and I like academic centers in big cities, but if my observations are of any help ........

Cincinnati(sp?) Children's
PROS:
dedicated children's hosp
all training at one location(no "satellite" centers 40 min away)
program has focus on acute care
only children's hosp for region(no skewed population- has broad demographic base)
good social services
"family-centered" rounding - sounds like a PRO in theory, but I realize it may be a CON in practice - would welcome further input
night float kicks in at 11pm
city is affordable- could buy a townhouse
residents well taken care of - pediatrics seems to get more respect here
flexible rotation schedule- will tailor electives to specialty
specific month for procedures training
large hosp ensures choice of electives
all subspecialties covered in inpatient months - no "selectives"
CONS:
it's in Ohio
salary on the low end
program has as many fellows as residents
crappy airport - my flight was delayed 10 hours but not all at once - long story short, I ended up sleeping there and fearing for my life
residents admitted city sometimes lackluster for young & singles
area around hosp not safe - but this is pretty typical of med centers
public transit not very good or safe
it's in Ohio

Yale Children's
PROS:
excellent resources and ancillary services - after all it's Yale
Pedi ER pretty big here, many go on as fellows
population actually diverse, instead of "diverse"
unique 3-senior call system ensures teaching and backup actually happen
surrounding area has collegiate feel - lots of interesting restaurants and shopping
faculty seems genuinely supportive (PD is awesome)
resources of Yale at disposal - nice gym, beautiful campus for running, lots of cultural events
PICU in first year(may be a CON for some)
salary seems to be equitable for environment - $47,100
train ride away from Boston and New York
CONS:
not a dedicated children's hosp
paper notes, vitals not on computer- chart system seems a bit antiquated
no night float and lots of q4 call
not all specialties well represented on inpatient
pay for parking- but not hard to walk from many locales
many areas not safe outside of Yale's "protective bubble"
many facilities older
"selectives" force you to choose between specialties

Brown Children's (Hasbro)
PROS:
Pedi EM is a strong department - many fellows for its size
only children's hosp for RI
dedicated children's hosp, full facilities
online orders with online notes for next summer
Brown area nice and interesting, but not too expensive
night float system kicks in at 8pm, only sleep at hosp 1-2 times a month
very big into international work (which I am as well)
residents seem to actually be friends, instead of just "friendly"
lots of intensive care (me likey)
free food everyday
protected education - 1 month just for reading/teaching
least amount of call of all programs I've looked into
Providence airport has cheap fares, plus can take train
moonlighting opportunites in-house
lots of electives (8)
lots of autonomy (may be a CON at times)
salary good for environment - $49,000
CONS:
long days due to patient volume vs. number of residents
except Brown-related, not many young professionals in Providence
peds residents kind of isolated
pay for parking
area around hosp not safe (can't walk)
RI seems more provincial than most of New England
too much NICU(unless you're into that) plus the NICU is intense(80 beds)
maybe too much autonomy at times - 3rd year is the big boss of the PICU at nights

Well like I said, just my own observations, grain of salt and all that. I've got others , but I wait and see if people find my opinions tiresome before I bother. If anyone out there is also overly analytical, I would welcome your comments/corrections. Feel free to PM me. Cheers

 

[Pedialyte]

Come on guys, in good faith, tons of you have done an interview or two. CONTRIBUTE!!!

 

[Complications]

I was excited for my interview at Wake ... but came away pretty dissapointed.

Pros:
1) Nice new hospital (though not a stand alone)
2) Winston-Salem seems like a nice town
3) Residents that we met seemed happy

Cons:
1) We never met the program director. I thought this was really wierd. I'd love to hear from other people who have interviewed there. We heard about how great she was but never met her and never heard anything about where she was.
2) We never met an intern ... thought this was odd.
3) No interviews with an attending. I had interviews with a PhD and with a chief ... this was also wierd.

Overall, the night before with the residents was nice. They seemed happy and I was looking forward to the day. But there were just some glaring problems with the interview day that other applicants picked up on as well.

 

[chhsu]

Someone already posted about this program but I'll put in my 2-cents. I just finished an interview there.

Pros:
-very tight program that is very well developed to train a resident in general, subspecialty or academic med.
-residents are happy and get along with each other real well
-very easy second year
-Ann Arbor is a great town
-excellent research opportunities; fast track is an option for people with PhDs; each class has about 1 or 2 MD/PhDs
-graduates have no problem matching into excellent fellowships

Cons:
-it is in Ann Arbor so if you're looking for a big city, this isn't for you
-cold winters
-very expensive to live in Ann Arbor
-new hospital being built so there is some transition in the program that won't be felt this year but in a couple of years
-third year is actually harder than second year due to the way schedules are done so you won't have an easy senior year

 

[siempre595]

Pros:
Good subspeciality exposure
Residents primarily involved in patient care
Reasonable patient load (max admissions per nite ever is around 13 from what I heard).
Decent amount of teaching/didactic sessions
Residents seemed happy overall.
Enthusiasm of program director.
Great hospital environment.
Cheap living.

Cons:
Cleveland, no matter how you spin it, is not an attractive place to live...at all. (that's my opinion obviously)
Several of the residents complained about the "incompetence" of the lab and the lab reporting system.

 

[siempre595]

Pros:
HUGE facility overall
good reputation
residents seemed excited to be there mostly
program director seems open to resident input and interested in making positive changes
exposure to interesting patients


Cons:
Again...it's Cleveland.
NOT a free-standing Children's Hospital, and I felt the peds program was sort of swept under the rug amidst all the huge adult cardio coolness.
Small program with inherently less back-up.
They have a fully operative, large NICU, but the residents don't rotate there...instead they go off site somewhere, weird I thought, and kind of annoying.
Several off site rotations involving what sounded like up to a 2 hour drive for one of them.

(too many negatives for me...I'm not ranking them).

 

[siempre595]

Pros:
Excellent variety of patients and subspeciality exposure.
Large program
Program director is fairly new and very approachable.
Residents are unionized and apparently got a salary increase from this.
Good ancillary staff described.
Several large PICUs and at least one NICU that we were actually allowed to see.
Faculty was friendly, and residents seemed to get along well.
Great city to live in.
dedicated to night float system
Decent research opportunities (if you're into that).

Cons:
Somewhat expensive to live there.
Rounding teams were quite large and it was hard to tell what was going on sometimes.


(I loved this program)

 

[siempre595]

posted twice

 

[GoSprout24]

Someone already posted about this program but I'll put in my 2-cents. I just finished an interview there.

Pros:
-very tight program that is very well developed to train a resident in general, subspecialty or academic med.
-residents are happy and get along with each other real well
-very easy second year
-Ann Arbor is a great town
-excellent research opportunities; fast track is an option for people with PhDs; each class has about 1 or 2 MD/PhDs
-graduates have no problem matching into excellent fellowships

Cons:
-it is in Ann Arbor so if you're looking for a big city, this isn't for you
-cold winters
-very expensive to live in Ann Arbor
-new hospital being built so there is some transition in the program that won't be felt this year but in a couple of years
-third year is actually harder than second year due to the way schedules are done so you won't have an easy senior year

While it is true that you have more call months (ward/icu) during your 3rd year than during your 2nd year... it's only, like, 4 months of your senior year, which still isn't very difficult (compared to 2 during your 2nd year). Just wanted to clarify.

 

[jocg27]

.

 

[chhsu]

While it is true that you have more call months (ward/icu) during your 3rd year than during your 2nd year... it's only, like, 4 months of your senior year, which still isn't very difficult (compared to 2 during your 2nd year). Just wanted to clarify.

Actually, I was quoting 4 of the senior residents there. They all said second year was easier but it was hard again in the third year.

 

[Colinator]

Haven't seen any info yet on this program . . .

Pros:
Residents: about 26 interns, all seemed very friendly and laid-back
Seems like a really light work load, with residents on floors carrying 4-6 patients and only admitted that many when on
TONS of teaching (everyone into this including the faculty; saw some good teaching on work rounds from senior resident; educational conferences recorded)
Collegial atmosphere among residents/attendings
Ancillary staff great at JHMI (IV and phlebotomy avail 24/7, nurses good, nurse case managers available to help with social work issues)
1 month vacation + 1 week around winter holidays per year
Night team system (7p-8a), so only Q4 call when at St. Agnes hospital (community hospital with exposure to bread and butter peds)
New ambulatory clinic (Harriet Lane), very kid friendly
PICU is a MD State Regional Shock Trauma Unit and recently recognized as a burn center
Very active transport service
Subspecialty rotations reflect reality of practice by incorporating inpatient and outpatient responsibilities
Excellent pre-existing programs for international electives and Indian Health Service electives

+/-:
No electronic charting of progress notes, but PICU/outpt/discharge summaries (which are dictated by attendings) are available online along with labs, imaging
Computerized physician order-entry said to be in the works
Cost of living reasonable, ~50/50 own or rent

Cons:
No electives as intern
No heme or onc until PGY-2 year (my interest)
Not much in way of perks (have to pay for parking, no educational allowance, no money for conferences)
Hospital super-ugly and not at all kid friendly. New hospital being built with tentive opening in time for PGY-3 year (wouldn't count on this though)
Baltimore . . . the food and social life here are far from appealing

 

[siempre595]

Pros:
Good reputation in a good city
small patient volume seems to allow a lot of free time while on duty
program director fosters a large interest in international health
major liver transplant and bowel transplant center


Cons:
hospital is OLD and looks it
small number of residents per class
lots of the patients seem to get sent over to children's national
one of the residents was a transfer from ucsd and spent most of the time telling me why ucsd was awesome....made me worry a bit.
interview day was disorganized (people were late, food was late, everything was late).
lots of off site rotations (maybe this is a pro for some people).

 

[oompaloompa]

What does this mean?

Well, it's not a free standing hospital, if that's clearer. For it's size, there's nothing wrong with that as long as you don't have to share ancillary staff and labs/imaging( which Yale doesn't). They call it a "hospital within a hospital," but I just don't see 3 floors in one wing of a building as a hospital. Seems to work well enough for them though. I am NOT knocking the program. Different strokes, whatever. Hope that helps.

 

[Rybaby]

Stanford
Pros:
ADORE residents. Incredibly nice, fun time at happy hour, good colleagues
Fun guys !!
Elective/Selective time ample starting PGY-1
Good interaction in noon conference
Good morning report attendance
Good diversity (residents & Patients)
New facilities almost complete (Phase 1 of 3)
California... weather delightful

Cons
No Phys-sci path
Change in department chair and program director
Expensive area to live (Palo Alto, ~$1000)


UCSF:
Pros
Friends & Family near
San Francisco
Multiple locations with different environments.. (learn several healthcare environments)
Housing subsidy & cheaper housing (subsidized housing offered, and ~3000 moving allowance)
Resident cohesion good
Moving Expenses
Public transit is great
Experience w/ IRP & PSDP

Cons
Not a stand alone hospital
Not possible to buy a home.. at all
Program director seemed a bit evasive when asked questions about program
No trauma at ER.. residents indicate that program is not good for ER



Seattle (FAVORITE PROGRAM ON WEST COAST!!)
Pros:
Love city
History of placing PSDP fellows (3x in 6 years)
Support for interns (weekly groups, and 5 day retreat)
Great gym!!
Amazing Cancer facilities (Hutchinson Cancer Center)
Large, fun, liberal environment that is embracing of divrsity
Large ICU service (NICU 32, IICU 22, PICU 20)
1st name with faculty
Heme/Onc 1st year elective
2 months elective in 1st year
Good spirit amongst residents and faculty (goofy, alternative, welcoming)

Cons:
weather... cloudy and rainy during visit
Can't buy a home, but not overly costly price of living
No level 1 trauma center at childrens

Denver (Weakest program in my opinion)
Pros:
Brand new Hospital and amazingly nice county facility
11 community clinics with good citywide coverage
Residents make own call schedule
Significant entry to academic careers for subspecialist graduates (60-70%)
Great interviews (Shira & Rosencraze) No major downtown
Faculty exquisitely nice

Cons:
NOT DIVERSE (2/3 white females & only 2 underrep minorities per class)
Spanish-speaking deficiency in residents despite large hispanic community
Lots of couples in R1 (few singles)


I hope that this is helpful. If anybody has questions, they can email mmy account here.

 

[Rybaby]

Forgot to mention this.. Stanford also doesn't publicize a few things in its materials. It appears that they provide a $3000 moving allowance for new interns, an additional $1000/ year for any educational expenses, and they provide substantial research funding through unofficial routes.

R

 

[chhsu]

I had a wonderful interview time at Rainbow. I have to also add that the hotel they put applicants in is one of the nicest hotels I've stayed in during my interview path (huge bed and bedroom that looks like you've just walked into a Crate/Barrel catalogue and a 42" plasma tv) plus the interview lunch is really good too. Not reasons to rank a program but it was certainly made fora memorable interview experience. Anyway, here's my 2-cents on the program.

Pros:
-Really a great group of residents that seem to work very well together.
-Faculty are EXCELLENT. If you follow research trends, a great number of world renowned clinicians come from here. We were told by the chair that 12 of the nation's pediatric chairs of academic programs are straight from Rainbow. Also, the "fathers of neonatology" are on faculty here.
-Huge hospital with a big patient volume especially in neonatology (though for some this can be a con).
-6 weeks of guaranteed vacation!!!
-extra money for books, computers, etc. and a PDA for entering class.
-cheap standard of living in Cleveland.
-The nation's first and probably one of the top international health tracks in peds; there's also a disaster medicine conference held here annually.
-no morning conference. Instead it's held in the afternoon in smaller groups since it's such a large program (some consider this a con).
-every subspecialty represented except PMNR.

Cons:
-it's in Cleveland (just my opinion).
-no established alternate tracks (i.e. fast track, research track, academic track) though research is required of all residents
-Chair is out of town a lot. We were told we were lucky to see him during our interview.
-level 3 ED so don't get to see much trauma.
-majority of faculty are from Rainbow so there seems to be a lot of inbreeding. Faculty and Chair admit this is the case. (this could be a Pro or Con).
-mixed reviews on amount of cooperation between surgery and peds departments.
-parts of the hospital are old. Renovations in some floors are in progress.

 

[GoSprout24]

I'm feeling very borderline (as in personality) with regards to Columbia. I both love it and hate it at the same time.

PROS:
- The biggest children's hospital in NYC, sees the sickest of the sick kids. All subspecialties represented. Lots of faculty in all subspecialties. Really train with complicated kids (They stress this. May be a con for some.)
- Nice new free standing children's hospital built in last few years.
- Residents were really cool and fun. Laughed alot with them. Thought they were down-to-earth.
- Teaching is reportedly strong on the wards (did not get to witness any teaching during my interview day, though).
- Computerized labs, radiology, and transitioning to records (though not all records are computerized -- for example, some subspecialty clinics still use paper notes, so sometimes you have to search both computer and paper charts to get the full story)
- Strong community pediatrics emphasis -- including a community pediatrics track.
- Strong international health support/mentors. Lots of faculty involved. Lots of recent graduated residents currently working in Africa.
- One of my interviewers was amazing. I loved her.
- NYC is rad.

+/-:
- During your 2nd and 3rd years, your continuity clinic is a full day. During all years, they will rearrange your call schedule (i.e. sometimes you will be q3, sometimes q5) so that you will never be post-call or on-call during your clinic day - thus will never have to miss your clinic day.
- After residency, about 70% specialize, 30% primary care.
- TONS of liver/liver transplant kids.
- Didn't get to meet the program director. She was out of town. No real apologies were made for this. I actually didn't realize we didn't meet her until half way through the day when a fellow applicant mentioned it.

CONS:
- IV team only there from 7am - 3pm. Phlebotomy is now 24hr.
- No "resident assistant" or any other position to help with secretarial duties such as arranging for radiology studies, outpatient appointments, etc.
- NYC is super expensive. You get a $3000/year housing stipend, which residents admit is as good as a pat on the back.
- "Intake report", which is their case presentation morning report, is only attended by 2nd and 3rd years, not interns. Interns have a morning "intern report" once a week. Noon conf is attended by interns. I don't like this dichotomy of teaching.
- Residents work really hard. They really tried to convince us that they didn't work any harder than any other program, but objectively I don't believe it. On inpatient months, they are approximately q4, which is all fine and dandy. However, they also take q4 call during both outpatient and elective months. For example, you'll take q4 of cardiology call when on your adolescent month... or q4 PICU call during your rheum elective. So... you're basically ALWAYS taking call. Big boo. Also, when asked if they adhere to the 80 hour work week, one 2nd year was very squirrelly, hesitated a lot, and said "I'm sure we do. But I don't really keep track of my hours." Suspicious. The interns were quicker to say "yes, we adhere", though.
- Huge fellow presence. In particular this appears to be a negative in the PICU/NICU. Residents actually admit (which is scary) that they don't do a lot of the procedures in the ICU. Fellows basically do them all. Residents state that if you are proactive/vocal, the fellows will let you do them -- but it is certainly a "fellows first" culture in the ICUs. Big boo.
- Community pediatrics track competitive to get into. 3 spots per year. Last year 6 people applied. (You apply early in your intern year.)

OVERALL: Amazing training - you'll see every zebra under the sun, plus serve as the community hospital for a largely underprivileged Dominican population. Have no doubt you will come out ready to face the world. And you will have amazing connections through Columbia. Strong empasis on community pediatrics, including international health. But you work crazy hard (always on q4 call) and the fellows pretty much own the ICUs. Unclear to me at this point if this is a fair trade.

 

[blanche]

Seattle/UW
Pros:
-Beautiful hospital, very nice inpt rooms, pool, cafeteria, privacy areas for families to 'escape' hospital atmosphere
-Cool City
-Happy-appearing residents, and plenty to talk to on interview day (even ones that were post call)
-5 day long intern retreat, where physicians from around the community volunteer to cover the floors while you're gone
-WWAMI rotation in second year--everyone seemed to love this chance to work out in more isolated areas, and residents seem to really mature after they've returned. Sites are around WA and one in Idaho, I believe..
-PD and Chairman appeared very friendly and responsive to resident concerns
-Resident assistant/pt care coordinators to eliminate scutwork
-Huge referral area
-Diversity of sites for continuity clinic
-Harborview rotation during 2nd and 3rd years, large county hospital/trauma center where you are 'the pediatrician' in house!
-They matched me with interviewers based on my interests, who had obviously read my application and were very pleasant to talk with (Can't say that about everywhere!)
-Morning report and noon conference were well attended and appeared good (at least on my day)
-Electives (2 I believe) in year one
-Good fellowship match, and about 50/50 primary care/fellowship

Cons:
-Seattle isn't uber pricey, but expensive enough that most residents ren
-Well I'm not sure about the weather, but everyone seemed to emphasize that numerous cities including NYC actually get more rain per year than Seattle...
-??

 

[seattlepeds]

OHSU
Pros:
- VERY nice faculty and residents
- dedicated children's hospital, fairly good facilities
- Portland is a really nice, medium-sized city
- residents seemed really happy, very well supported, and seemed to hang out a lot outside of work
- program director has been there for a long time and seems really committed to the residents

Cons:
- smaller program (13 res); this may be a plus depending on your personality
- no electronic orders
- ER only open from 11a-11p or something like that
- night float doesn't really apply to interns, just 2nd/3rd years (the intern on call still admits all night long)

NYU
Pros:
- great diversity of patients/residents; residents seem to LOVE it and all commented on the strength of the people
- location in downtown NYC
- amazing new chairman and (young) program directors who are SO excited about being there and love their program... this was the single biggest thing that made an impression on me; they seem fantastic
- ER sees pts up to 24 y/o - being interested in Peds EM I think this is great and you see a big variety of stuff

Cons:
- no (or very little) subsidized housing
- as this is not a freestanding children's hosp and in NYC, ancillary services are not great (you will do your own IVs, phlebotomy, and even give your own shots in clinic)
- currently no GI or Pulm service (they're working on it)

Cornell
Pros:
- good exposure to broad variety of specialties (although cards mostly at Columbia)
- diversity of patients better than you would think for Upper East side - lots of Medicaid and pts from all over NYC
- location, location, location AND *subsidized housing* (as in $1500 for a 1 bedroom)
- night float even as intern, so only a few overnight calls/month (but still q3-4 at the hosp they rotate at in Queens)

+/-:
- LOTS of heme/onc given Sloan-Kettering association; if you like it it's great, if not so much you will see a lot
- research exp built into curriculum (I like this and it can be very non-basic science if you're not into that)

Cons:
- although much less overnight call w/ night float system you're there after 6 every night to sign out to night team
- phlebotomy, etc. not great (again, NYC and not dedicated children's hosp)
- a pretty tertiary experience except at the Queens hosp
- ED fairly small volume

 

[blanche]

Rainbow Babies
I like this program alot.

Pros:
-Happy residents, seemed to have lots of good things to say about the program and a cohesive bunch. Down to earth and seemed to be genuinely interesting people.
-Beautiful hospital, and apparently they in the process of renovating new space for NICU, may be redoing the ED
-Interview day very relaxed, awesome hotel that they foot the bill for, nice presentation by PD, lots of residents to talk with
-Teaching appeared to be something that was emphasized, there are protected noon lectures with feeding (non-drug rep sponsored) daily
-Appeared busy but not ovewhelmed, and they do things like split a general peds into two teams during winter to prevent interns from getting completely slammed during these months. There is a night float resident to help with uncomplicated admissions to lighten things also.
-Not supposed to be there any earlier than 7AM.
-International peds track
-Book $ and PDA, meal tickets--in general, seems like peds is funded quite well there.
-Reasonable call schedules and some call-free elective months, others that only involve 'jeopardy' call
-Computerized ordering, labs, and signout system
-24 hr IV/phlebotomy
-Good fellowship placement (something crazy like 7 or 8 people did cards last year?)
-Overall seems strong in most departments, good reputation, NICU bigwigs (Chairman is one)

Cons:
-Heard grumbling about the lab services and computer systems
-Cleveland, if you're not used to gritty cities. The university area looked nice however.
-It's cold there too
-Everyone is in the same hospital/outpt clinic for continuity, may not be a drawback for some (hey no commuting) but I liked programs that gave you a choice of sites

 

[Pedialyte]

Okay, I had been planning on cancelling this interview, but I was actually really impressed with their program---it's pretty sweet.

Pros:
Awesome general and subspecialty coverage--literally subspecialists in everything (including Peds Rheum, CVTS, BMT, etc).
BEAUTIFUL hospital-gorgeous. Very patient oriented, nice patient rooms, even a pretty family learning center (where parents research the conditions)
Lots of community outreach.
Very good didactics, very nice PD.
High volume, few fellows, lots of procedural experience
Cheap, across street sub'd housing
Bronx population
Awesome chairman who teaches---heard he's becoming permanent

Cons:
Bronx location
Huge patient volume
New York nursing (i.e. they often don't do blood draws, start IVs)
Commute (my other half won't be in to living in the Bronx)
Major call schedule---they said that second year is basically the same call schedule as first year (lotsa Q4). Don't remember the exact amount but it's definitely a lot.
Call rooms are bad and not changing because they seem to really never get to sleep in them!

Summary: Commute for me, feel like I'd get creamed, but really good training. Would be well prepared and people place well for fellowships. Liked residents.

Forgot to mention: You only have one interview here, which is with a faculty member. Even though we spent a big part of the day with the PD in a group, I did feel like it was kind of weird that there was no one-on-one time with the PD, but that's just me. Anyway, she was very nice.

 

[blanche]

St Christopher's
very laid back, fun interview day. lots of residents around to talk to in the AM and during lunch. I got a good vibe here.

Pros
-facilities-I thought the hospital environment was very nice, very kid and resident friendly
-"family" like feel to the program (alot of people reiterated this during interview day)
-there are fellows but residents get to run the show most of the time (exceptions where you'd guess--NICU, PICU, etc)
-residents seemed happy
-pt floors, call rooms, work rooms looked comfortable
-advocacy rotation that one resident spoke about seemed pretty cool--you really get to go out and see the community that you are serving
-very multicultural pt community, start brushing up on that Spanish!
+/-
-night float during ward months, but they do Q4 during NICU for some balance
per residents' requests
-higher acuity NICU at St Chris for transfers (no one is giving birth there....) and then another one that residents rotate in Center City philly (Drexel)
-neighborhood not so posh. residents don't take public transport to/from the hospital. i didn't see this as too big of a deal.
Cons
-faculty turnover/leaving: not sure how good of an idea I got about this during interview day. something crazy like 4 total PICU attendings, one always in house (don't want to think about THAT call schedule)
-night float seems to lend to long hours for day people (i heard come in 6-ish, leave 6-7 ish)

CHOP

Interview day consists of either attending radiology rounds or a mock code (that was interesting...), attending rounds, and listening to talk by PD. Noon conference, 2 interviews and tour.

Pros
-well, it's CHOP.
-every single subspecialty you could fantasize about, and tons of research opportunities.
-nice facilities, albeit huge
-Seashore house for rehab/chronic care kids connected to hospital
-resident feedback seems to be important-this was stressed
-residents seemed happy, but tired
-Noon conference very good (my day at least)
-Attending rounds that I stood in on involved good discussions, teaching
-Great computer system for labs, orders, signouts, radiology all integrated. Notes however are still on paper, but was told they are gearing up for a computerized note system
-learn by doing, not reading
-large pt volume with mix of bread/butter peds and the zebra stuff
-Senior community/advocacy projects
+/-
-I don't feel that I really got to meet many residents on my interview day
-very large program, 43 PL-1s, but every resident I met said they don't feel that they are 'lost', and that it quickly comes to feel like a small place
-you will work very hard, but also be very very well trained in the end
Cons
-call heavy-you can expect q4 most of the time, few call free electives
-the 'fellow run' reputation exists, and although people disputed it I'm not sure how much you really get to see on an interview day
-unlike St. Chris, I just didn't get a good "vibe" during my day. I heard numerous times about how great CHOP and Boston are...not sure why everyone wanted to mention Boston, but whatever.

 

[chhsu]

I didn't get an overall good feel of this program but here are the pros/cons.

Pros:
-small program with a tight group of residents who get along as a team
-supportive faculty

Cons:
-Located in Maywood (20-30 minute commute from the city with nothing really in town); it took me 2 hours to get there on my interview because of an accident
-practically no research done
-small program
-very little fellowships offered
-appear to take a lot of their own students
-need to walk outside between buildings
-no resident's dinner! Strange but all places except Loyola offered a resident dinner to talk to residents
-The chair told me they concentrate on training for general peds though there are some who go on to fellowship. This may be an issue for those planning on fellowship

 

[zedpol]

Brown
PROs
-Advantages of a freestanding hospital but still part of the RI facility so you won't be totally isolated in your "peds" world
-PD is awesome, and the residency coordinators(not sure their real titles...but the people who help make the program happen) all seemed to be genuinely nice people who were very pro-resident.
-relaxed attitude
-Work hard while you are at the hospital but the program seems very interested in protecting your time outside of the hospital.
-PICU during first year
-moonlighting starting 2nd year
-high wages
-I like how they do their call schedule, q4 for 3 months during intern year which allows team members to sign out around 5, residents start the day around 7.
-Night float
-Their program director is a very dynamic guy
-I liked Providence, good size, traffic is reasonable, lots of food, near the beach, woods, and boston.
-almost ideal program size (for me)
-appears to be strong academically, high % of people going into fellowships
-very strong international program (they sent something like 11/82 residents away last year and this year are planning on 19..if i remember correctly)
-electronic order entry, radiology
-very stable leadership
-good vibe
-gigantic NICU, almost overwhelming
-residents
- advocay program (its new though so take that with a grain of salt)
-Big push for the residents to take responsibility early in their training
-diversity (large immigrant population in brown)

Cons
-No electronic records (should be in place next yearish, i heard a couple of different answers ranging from, when you get here to by your 2nd year so I'm not entirely sure)
-


Overall impression
This program will be ranked near the top of my list. Training appears to be top notch, their noon conference was well put together, friendly yet not at the expense of education (sometimes i think pediatricians can be too nice and education can suffer). Morning report was reasonable. I wish I could spend more time there to get a better idea how the floors work.


Dartmouth

Pros
-Program size (on the smaller end of what I would like but I don't want a big program]
-facilities are amazing, nicer than any I have seen so far (CHOP, Brown, St. Chris)
-Location Location Location, I love how it is in the middle of nowhere
-faculty, very strong faculty which amazing backgrounds so when it comes time to apply for fellowship they will have lots of sway
-computer system, 2nd to none so far. Everything is done on the computer, orders, notes, etc. All is accessible from any computer with an internet connection
-They take care of very sick children as they are the only major hospital around
-Good vibe
-good wage
-relaxed attitude
-best overall resident/attending interaction I've seen (granted that was only one day)
-morning report and noon conference were both very well done
-lots of resident responsibility
-I really liked their Chair of Peds, he went out of his way to meet all of us
-obviously very well funded
-advocacy is very strong

Cons
-Lots and lots of q4
-not a lot of patient racial diversity
-Their PD had to leave due to medical reasons so they currently have an temporary PD. My understanding is they were about to extend an offer to a new PD


Overall impression
Dartmouth and Brown are competing for my top ranking now. I got that “gut” feeling that I would be happy at both programs (at st. chris too). I wish I could combine the two programs but alas, that is a pipedream.

 

[redpiolet]

Hey there, i'm half way through the interview path and here is where i've been. Of course these are the pro's and cons for me and probably not the same for everyone.

UCONN
Pros
-Childrens hospital
-happy residents
-good welcoming director
-call reasonable
-good moonlighting
-lots of elective opportunities
-extras interns to cover leave
-not all couples (aka some single people)
Cons
-Hartford
-no hem onc fellowship
-lousy call room

Rainbow babies
-great childrens hospital
-call is good
-excellent intl experience
-good research
-nice library, good resources
-cheap housing
-good sports teams, aka they have a baseball and football team with new facilities
-bike trails
-nice campus
-well endowed program
-has a little italy
-no crosscover as intern

Cons
-large program
-manditory project
-no morning report
-lotsof married couples
-questionable singles scene
-cleveland, need i say more
-bad computer per residents
-no holding room in ER
-in bread program
-no real night float
-limited moonlighting

Yale
Pros
-good program
-fellowship opportunities
-intl experiences
-food carts
-good money for books
-good retreats
-yale decent area
-schedule improves as you go
-good jeopardy system
-no prerounding
-PICU as intern
-stem cell tx
-call rooms ok
-vaca good
Cons
-no moon lighting
-lots of call q4 overnight!
-hospital- ok
-pay to park
-boring city
-combined hemonc/resp
-library- ok
-no moring report
-no prerounding
-commute to OSH
-no redistribution of patients post call
-not all intl funded
-continuity clinic in basement- colorful

 

[siempre595]

Pros:
Residents seem really happy and are a fun group who talked about life outside the hospital most of the time
Excellent reputation
Good city
Free standing hospital with plans for a totally new building in 2012
Good subspeciality exposure
Patient diversity
Good didactic sessions, at least I was impressed.

Cons:
SO incredibly cold in Chicago when I was there, I was actually in pain.
Interviews were the highest pressure questions I've gotten ("design a research protocol for me, right now"...you're kidding, right?)
Expensive housing
SO COLD, did i mention that?

 

[Complications]

I'll start off by saying I loved this program! It was a great interview day.

Pros:
New facilities - 2002
Getting resident assistants this year
Nice program director
Residents seemed happy
Just adjusted to call schedule - only 6 mo of call
Potentially 2 electives intern year
Advocacy rotation 2nd year
Medium size
Great city
Affordable place to live
Good fellowship placement

Cons:
Lesser known program

That's really it for me. I know there's not a ton of info here ... it was just a gut feel. I really liked to program. It's not a "top" program ... but I have a feeling it will probably be high on my list.

 

[Colinator]

Going to have to practice spelling Cincinnati correctly in case I go there! Loved this program! (comparing to Rainbow, UMich, MGH, Hopkins, WashU so far)

Here are all my notes:
475 bed hospital
2nd busiest ED for children in US
Breakfast and lunch daily, +$5/night on call
Individual call rooms with computer and phone (and comforter!)
Book stipend ($300 + bonus if complete monthly eval)
Travel money ($1000) for one educational mtg or elective experience
Ticket lottery for local events
Intern retreat in mid-Jan, end-of-intern year canoe trip
Housestaff committee
4 wks vacation
Cheap parking
Most well organized didactics I've seen, including daily morning report; bimonthly Firms; daily noon conferences; monthly Watson rounds; weekly Chairman’s rounds; biweekly senior rounds; the next level weekly; monthly intern rounds; weekly rads rounds; patient simulator, procedure lab when on NICU; self-directed online learning modules; 1 article per week to be discussed in continuity clinic
Call schedule: Q4 with night float taking new admits after 11 pm (PL-1, 9 months, PL-2 6 months, PL-3 5 months); Average 6-10 admits/night
Endocrine/Cards only teams which cross-covers when on call
PGY-2: get a 2nd ½ day clinic, can do in a subspecialty outpatient setting
Option for 1 wk anesthesia on PICU; also transport
Has CPOE, discharges and sign-out online; daily progress notes handwritten, though in process of starting EPIC for EMR (will take 3-5 years to implement)
Family centered bedside rounds unique; team with computer, nurses, and family involved, everyone on the same page
Get “Pocket Senior” when match (excellent resource, let's you know what to expect on a given service, general info about moving to Cinci)
Fellows very involved in care—could sit back as a resident but won’t be ignored if want to take charge of pt care—report to fellows except on general teams where no fellows (residents don't feel it's a "fellow-run program")
Only program in city admitting kids, so not just weird tertiary cases, also see all the gen peds
Moonlighting: mostly scut work rounding; ex. BMT $350 for a weekend morning
International rotations: formal connections in Dominican Republic, Balkans, UAE, Kenya; has an internat’l dept, funding available ($1000 travel money)
Research track/Alt tracks available; lots of residents involved in research anyway
50/50 Primary care/Specialty
Advocacy: bike helmets, delay intercourse, car seats, etc; establish relationship with legislative staffers; AAP involvement
Most patients followed by General Inpatient Service (70-80%), rest by community docs
Palliative/home care well established here
Dr. Boat’s (Peds chair) retiring, down to 2 finalists, both are current chairs, no planned changes in infrastructure
Tax levy pays for indigent care in Hamilton Cty
Social services/discharge coordinators largely involved
Continuity clinic: 1/3 private (suburban/rural); 1/3 in-house; 1/3 clinic in city (Spanish speaking, indigent)
Only 5 electives, but not dictated, can do whatever you want; get good exposure to basic subspecialties on floor teams
Only patient population underrepresented: HIV/AIDS

Pretty much all positives, except it's Cincinnati. Apparently a lot to do . . . Bengals, Reds, a hockey team, symphony, Broadway shows, parks, etc. Cost of living rocks! I'll definitely buy a spacious house if I move here.

For those considering interviewing here but worried about the expensive flight to Cinci, check out flying into Dayton (1 hr away) and renting a car. I saved a bunch of money this way.

 

[googoodolljen]

Particularly Syracuse (SUNY); Robert Wood (Cooper), Camden NJ; Children's Hospital of Orange County; White Memorial, Los Angeles; New York programs-Maimonides, Good Samaritan?

 

[Pedialyte]

U Minnesota

Okay this will be rambling. You go to a night before dinner with the residents and (like all night before dinners so far!) eat pasta, etc. Start around 8:15-8:30 with the PD (a nice, non-pretentious person) and get the powerpoint, then one of the chief residents does one. Next you interview with two faculty, and for one of them you get chauffeured (literally) to one of the satellite locations and have lunch there. Then you come back and take a tour of 2/3 locations. Between the group of applicants all three sites are visited. Here are the stats (that I can remember)...

Three locations: tertiary site=university, I think there are 100-150 beds at this campus (not stand alone, but very good nursing); a community county hospital=HCMC (Level 1 trauma, interpreters, very diverse patient population---Somali, Hmong, Vietnamese, Latino, Af-Am, Caucasian, etc); private children's hospital (large patient volume).

Basically they have really good gen peds and subspecialty coverage in everything (examples: 4CVTS cards surgeons, renal, BMT, small bowel transplant, peds rheum).

 

[Pedialyte]

U Minnesota

Okay this will be rambling. You go to a night before dinner with the residents and (like all night before dinners so far!) eat pasta, etc. Start around 8:15-8:30 with the PD (a nice, non-pretentious person) and get the powerpoint, then one of the chief residents does one. Next you interview with two faculty, and for one of them you get chauffeured (literally) to one of the satellite locations and have lunch there. Then you come back and take a tour of 2/3 locations. Between the group of applicants all three sites are visited. I really like that there's the three sites: you get three examples of career paths (academic, county, private). Here are the stats (that I can remember)...

Three locations: tertiary site=university, I think there are 150-200 beds at this campus (not stand alone, but very good nursing); a community county hospital=HCMC (Level 1 trauma, interpreters, very diverse patient population---Somali, Hmong, Vietnamese, Latino, Af-Am, Caucasian, etc); private children's hospital (large patient volume).

Basically they have really good gen peds and subspecialty coverage in everything (examples: 4CVTS cards surgeons, renal, BMT, small bowel transplant, peds rheum, etc). Call schedule gets easier over three years. Free garage parking, class retreats, job fairs, morning report, noon conference, journal club, organized board review, sports/ortho workshop, genetics. Discharge coordinators.

They have this global peds track that you can choose to do when you get there that sounds really cool. You learn about disease in developing countries, medical care for new immigrants & refugees, and can apply all of it on an abroad rotation. There's also an international adoption clinic. Most people choose to add it to their training (additional lectures, etc).

Rando other facts: One of top three kidney transplant places in world, does heart transplant, longest CF survival rate in country.
Minneapolis is very much a mini-big city. Sushi, theater, several pro teams, liberal politics, lotta music, fusion restaurants. Very livable, cheap lifestyle, social residents (they offered to take us out that night), ranked as one of the top livable cities, clean, etc.

 

[Pedialyte]

Duplicate Oops.

 

[Rybaby]

Here are a couple more notes about programs. Drop me a line if need more info.

Boston Childrens Hospital (BCRP):
Pros :
Numerous men (12/28 PGY1, 9/29 PGY2, 8/26 PGY3)
Large ICU (24 PICU, 24 CICU, 26 NICU, 13 SCT)
Get to practice formal procedures & ER Scenarios in ER, CC, and simulator
Resident dominance in program
Partner with Dana Farber, if interested in Onc
Powerful fellowship opportunities with almost assured admittance
Career Development block
Active leadership training for residents
Largest pediatric research facility (150 million/yr)
Good orientation (6 days) w/ summer and winter retreats
Good mass transit
Medicolegal presence for underserved populations
Active diversity in residents (Ethnicity, sex, LGB)
4-6 complicated pts/intern w/ good time to read
Ridiculously friendly faculty at meetings
Strong development of academic careers (85% enter academia)
Personal Touch (Fleischer - Chairman, Lovejoy - Program Chair, Lux - Intern Selection Chair) all individually shaked hands and greated each applicant

Cons :
Call heavy (q4 & ER shifts 11 months)
Not possible to buy a home
Boston Medical Center kind of pales compared to BCH

CHOP
Pros :
consistently good noon conferences with HIGH attendance
Great ER with huge admission (72,000/yr) and new façade
Experience with alternate paths and PSDP
Orientation for 7 days, retreat 3 days, and holidays, 4 weeks vacation
Great faculty - resident relationships (Best I have seen)
good morning report attendance
NICE attendings (Best I have seen)
Moonlight (2-3rd years) for ~60/hr in ED, Gen peds, Comm clinics, and PICU
Appreciate diversity
Good subspecialty exposure 1st year
Housing opportunities through Upenn (Discount mortgages & search assistance)
Building largest NICU in world, +70 beds (or so they say)

Cons :
Rumors that Philadelphia is not a friendly city overall
Night float system is confusing and haphazard

 

[rollin4thyear]

Syracuse

Overall, this place is probably going to be a very attractive place to train in about 5 years. However, now, it didn’t appeal to me. They are currently building a new Children’s hospital (or two new floors on the existing hospital), which will encompass all necessary patient rooms, PICU and surgery, but will not have a NICU. The NICU will remain where it is now in an adjacent hospital (crouse Irving) where the OB?GYN services are. This is because it is a private run NICU and actually a pretty nice NICU, not in much need of remodling. Right now, the place is a little confusing…there are PEDS floors/wings on many different floors in two hospitals. The NICU is in Crouse Irving, while the PICU is in University hospital and is old and small (7 beds). This NICU does have a plus, especially if you are not interested in it…call is every 4th night, but only until 11PM.

The best thing about this program are the PD and the Chair….in my conversations with both of them they definitely seem as if they are setting their right foundation down for a good program, however, again this probably won’t be finished until 2009 or 2010 when the new hospital opens. I also liked that there seems to be a lot of one on one time with the attendings as well as the subspecialists, because there are very few fellows. There are probably only one or two in the entire place and Syracuse has just about every subspecialty. SO, there are a lot of residents who go onto great fellowship programs from here.

I just didn’t get a good feel from the place…besides the confusing nature of the place. The residents weren’t friendly…you almost had to start every conversation and only one or two really wanted to talk with you. They didn’t seem very friendly to each other and the ones that were friendly appeared “cliquey” (asking some residents to go out this weekend, but not others).

There doesn’t seem to be a strong push for residents to pursue research. The residents say the teaching on rounds and the wards is strong, however what I saw in morning report and noon conference was average at best…additionally in their meeting room it was very hard to hear what everyone was saying because there was a loud vent blowing hot air out, which overpowered most people’s voices.

Overall, I just wasn’t too impressed on my first look, however, as I said it does have two very important benefits…with closer attention with attendings and the future improvements of the program upcoming. If you are in the area…give the program a look. You may have a better impression than I had.

Post any other questions that you have and I'll try to answer.

 

[rollin4thyear]

Rochester

This is a solid program and is definitely a place that should be on anyone’s list if they want a nice balance of teaching, research and clinical training. The children’s “floor” or hospital is just one part of this conglomerate called Strong Hospital. It is one of the largest if not the largest employers in Rochester at this point and when you are there it is pretty impressive. When on the campus, you do feel you are a part of an educational campus, rather than a “hospital”. It is unique in that way and something you have to think if it is for you.

The residents were very friendly and really wanted to meet the applicants and answer questions. Many were from the northeast, but Rochester also pulls from all over the country. The residents definitely talk about hanging out together and having dinner parties or going out downtown at least monthly.

The PD and Chair were very convincing in explaining their dedication to teaching and resident support throughout their speeches. They were definitely proud of their program and loved to talk about its strengths. Yet, they wanted to stress their wanting to improve. Surprisingly, they spoke about that one of their mild weaknesses was their subspecialties….so they want to make an effort to recruit stronger individuals who can do solid clinical work, teaching and research and integrate the three things well. The new Chair is a physician who just moved to the program from Pittsburgh and she stresses that her strength is to communicate between the researchers and the clinicians so that everyone understands each other’s mutual goals. I think this is the ideal person to lead a person at a place such as Rochester, where things often don’t happen because people from different disciplines don’t talk to each other. I think with her the program will continue to make improvements.

The hospital in itself is one main floor with several wings for different groups of patients. There is a heme/onc wing, two young patient wings, an adolescent wing and a PICU and a NICU. The facility throughout was very nicely decorated and seemed very updated/renovated. However, the way the wings were actually set up were a little “cramped” for my taste. But, it is a hospital and most can be like this…it just seemed like it was more cramped than most places.

The people there stress their “tract” systems and it is innovative. You can do a lot of advocacy, research or additional clinical work if your want as part of a “tract”. This gets you an extra afternoon off the wards where you can do this extra work in addition to your continuity clinic. So, it sounds like a great time to diversify your experience. The residents say that when everyone goes for an extra afternoon a week, this doesn’t put too much of a burden on the people covering the floors as the chiefs try their best to make great coverage for the time residents are away.

If anyone has any other specific questions...post them.

 

[rollin4thyear]

Children’s Hospital of Buffalo

I did a couple sub-specialty electives as well as my Sub-I here and really enjoyed my time in the hospital here. This is a free standing hospital in Downtown Buffalo situated in a nice area around Elmwood Avenue (which has a lot of nice restaurants and shops near by). Additionally, there is quite a bit of housing and apartments nearby that are affordable. If you are more interested in living in the burbs, then, the commute isn’t too bad (from 10 minutes to 45 minutes, depending on how far you live).

I think the teaching on the inpatient floors and the electives is solid and there are a lot of in house attendings who enjoy teaching. Rounds on inpatient floors is done in both “family centered” and “attending (teaching rounds). This may seem like a lot but you still get done in the morning before your protected noon conference teaching time. Rounds are done in a conference room prior to going to the bedside. This way, all of the decision making is not totally done in front of the patients. This was a change this past year…so there could be more cohesive plans being explained to the patients’ families during family centered rounds. Then, during family centered rounds it is nice because the attendings and senior residents will point out things at the bedside to teach both the team and the families. The families also have a chance to ask questions and hear what the plan is.

The PICU and NICU were both recently remodled and are beautiful and spacious! I’ve now relized how good I had it as a student while there…when I visit other ICUs and they are cramped or old. I did the PICU for my SubI and it is one of the best teaching environments at the hospital with good teaching attendings and fellows. You do get to do procedures if you are interested and get to carry a manageable patient load (usually 3-6 patients). The NICU is very nice…good teaching, I guess the major complaint from residents is constantly imputing data on the patients into the computer. This is the only place in the hospital where notes are computerized and it really takes a lot of time to learn the system. The hours here are the only ones that push the 80 hour limit, but you learn a ton…I’ve been told from many residents.

I really like the PD and the Chair and feel they are really trying to make changes for the future…like expanding the hospital, centralizing care and improving the curriculum and teaching even more. However, one disadvantage is the buffalo hospital system is like gridlock and involves many, many small steps and progress takes forever. They have thoughts and plans of building a new outpatient clinic adjacent to the hospital (the present subspecialty clinics are a little bit old and run down), however, This will probably take quite a while and we probably won’t see it for a few years.

If you like the underserved there are some great clinics in downtown buffalo to work at and I had some of my best experiences there learning from the patients and the attendings. The curriculum is fairly normal…but there are a few differences. There is a skills block in the first year where you learn pediatric intubation and doing A-Lines and other procedures. Also, the program has put in a research requirement where you design a project and present at least a poster presentation at the end of your third year.

The residents were very friendly and family oriented. Most of the women residents have been pregnant sometime during their three years and it is totally manageable according to them to do it while in residency.

Well, I really like the atmosphere at this program and would be willing to answer any questions you guys have about the program.

 

[siempre595]

Pros:
Free standing children's hospital, huge place with everything you could ever want exposure to.
Residents talked a lot about the quality of faculty teaching
good city if you're cool with traffic
residents seemed nice, social, but not the best i've seen
some Q5 call since they've hired more residents
nearby housing option for super cheap
good ancillary staff

Cons:
the nearby housing option for super cheap is super cheap for a reason
traffic, everywhere you look
would be helpful to know spanish inside out
got the impression there are some gunners floating about
my interviewer was the first i had who i would call "unwelcoming"...borderline unkind....not a selling point.
grumbling about the quality of radiology reads
grumbling about the lack of gen peds exposure