- Joined
- Oct 17, 2006
- Messages
- 1,444
- Reaction score
- 5
Alright guys, the season is upon us. Let the opinions fly, but please keep it civil and on topic.
And for reference, here is last years thread
And for reference, here is last years thread
Interview-Trail Impressions: version 2008
- Thread starter JayneCobb
- Start date
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2005
- Messages
- 764
- Reaction score
- 4
Pro's:
1) Location (if you're into the beach
), and there's a pretty active nightlife due to the local university and constant stream of tourists. If you're single, get ready to mingle... There are also several REALLY nice restaurants within the area. Wish I had the opportunity to explore a little further outside of the downtown area.
2) pretty cush call, Q6 on the floor, Q7-8 in the CCU
3) building a new Critical Care Hospital exclusively for Cards and GI patients. There will be 3 cards teams, so you get lots of exposure.
4) flexibilty in 1st year schedule, 5-6 months of subspecialty rotations in intern year and PGY2.
5) PD was a genuinely nice guy...came around and spoke to each of us at breakfast and commented on various parts of our application.
6) The residents were all very friendly, and appears that they all get along and go out regularly
7) The hospital is very old (built in the 1940's) but has been renovated very well...numerous times I imagine. There is carpet on the floors (something I was particularly surprised by) and hardwood doors throughout giving the subconscious impression of a hotel rather than a ward.
8) Lunches are provided 2-3 days per week, and you get a very nice meal allowance. the cafeteria has a subway, as well as several others chains that I can't remember at the moment.
Con's
1) pretty cush call, Q6 on the floor, Q7-8 in the CCU...not sure if that's enough exposure.
2) I can see how the nightlife could wear thin...the downtown area seems to cater to tourists more than locals.
3) one of my interviewers didn't even bother to read over my app. It wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't driven 11hrs I mean, if you can't be bothered to read through my application at least have something to discuss...I felt like I was interviewing him! Asking about what his days in clinic were like, how long he had lived in the area, where he grew up...you get the idea. I don't see why I couldn't have just teleconferenced the interview.
4) They did not provide a matchlist. They did however have a powerpoint slide listing names of places people matched...unfortunately, there was no mention of specialty.
When you visit, make sure you request Horace(sp?) by name when asking for a cab...he knows all about SDN and Scutwork.com
Plus he can give alot of insider info. that you won't/can't get anywhere else. Apparently, he's also the man to go to if you wanna buy a house in the area...
1) Location (if you're into the beach
), and there's a pretty active nightlife due to the local university and constant stream of tourists. If you're single, get ready to mingle... There are also several REALLY nice restaurants within the area. Wish I had the opportunity to explore a little further outside of the downtown area.2) pretty cush call, Q6 on the floor, Q7-8 in the CCU
3) building a new Critical Care Hospital exclusively for Cards and GI patients. There will be 3 cards teams, so you get lots of exposure.
4) flexibilty in 1st year schedule, 5-6 months of subspecialty rotations in intern year and PGY2.
5) PD was a genuinely nice guy...came around and spoke to each of us at breakfast and commented on various parts of our application.
6) The residents were all very friendly, and appears that they all get along and go out regularly
7) The hospital is very old (built in the 1940's) but has been renovated very well...numerous times I imagine. There is carpet on the floors (something I was particularly surprised by) and hardwood doors throughout giving the subconscious impression of a hotel rather than a ward.
8) Lunches are provided 2-3 days per week, and you get a very nice meal allowance. the cafeteria has a subway, as well as several others chains that I can't remember at the moment.
Con's
1) pretty cush call, Q6 on the floor, Q7-8 in the CCU...not sure if that's enough exposure.
2) I can see how the nightlife could wear thin...the downtown area seems to cater to tourists more than locals.
3) one of my interviewers didn't even bother to read over my app. It wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't driven 11hrs
I mean, if you can't be bothered to read through my application at least have something to discuss...I felt like I was interviewing him! Asking about what his days in clinic were like, how long he had lived in the area, where he grew up...you get the idea. I don't see why I couldn't have just teleconferenced the interview.4) They did not provide a matchlist. They did however have a powerpoint slide listing names of places people matched...unfortunately, there was no mention of specialty.
When you visit, make sure you request Horace(sp?) by name when asking for a cab...he knows all about SDN and Scutwork.com
Plus he can give alot of insider info. that you won't/can't get anywhere else. Apparently, he's also the man to go to if you wanna buy a house in the area...
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2007
- Messages
- 25
- Reaction score
- 0
I guess I'll this forum up with the first review. I'm basing the sections on the reviews of an excellent poster from last year (AdCadet), but admittedly probably haven't taken the time to find as much info as he did. Where I basically agreed with him I had few reservations about using cut and paste.
Disclaimer - I've only been to the program during interview day. If I've made any factual errors, please somebody point them out to me.
The Program Director - The PD has been at WashU for a while now it seems. Residents report that he's a very good advocate for them and their problems and meets with them yearly at least. They say he's quite accessible for questions and concerns and none have any worries about bringing their problems to him. He came around and shook hands with each resident and said a few word. We each got a card from him and he made it a point for us to feel free to email him with any questions or concerns we might have. Overall, very welcoming and personable.
The Chair - The Chair was only present and speaking at the opening session. Report from the residents is that he's very pleasant and personable as well as dedicated to education. Per my faculty interviewer, this is a change from the previous chair who was a bit more intimidating.
Residents - Diverse resident population with people from all over the country. I was at the first interview day so attendance was probably better than it will be later in the year but there were a large number of residents at dinner the night before and lunch on the day of the interview. Generally, they seem very happy and very eager to push their program. Multiple residents as well as the PD mentioned that the residents are what makes their program stand out. Everyone was quite friendly and seemed like they generally get along most of the time. I also had at least two residents tell me that despite the size of the program they know their fellow residents well and that the size is actually beneficial as it provides more people you're likely to get along with (and more people to cover for you if you need time off for any reason).
Faculty - I spoke with a few faculty members (one at interview, one at breakfast, and a couple at pizza rounds). All of them seemed very pleased with the facility, their residents, and their lives in general. Residents mentioned that a portion of the faculty are on a first name basis with the residents and that they're quite approachable. The faculty I got a chance to speak with were certainly friendly and very happy to be of service to the applicants. Every person I spoke with more than about three seconds gave me a business card and let me know I could contact them for just about anything. Faculty also have a reputation for high achievement and bringing in patients from outlying areas their reputation and skills. Teaching is reported to be quite good.
Patients - Serves as the primary hospital for a large number of inner city patients as their is no real county hospital in St. Louis. In addition, good reputation and specialties bring in a great number of referral patients from other areas as well as the fact that it's the only tertiary care center in at least 200 miles. Residents think this provides a good mix between indigent population with bread and butter concerns and the zebras inherent in a tertiary center. In past years the private patient population has been cited as a problem, but a hospitalist service was devised to deal with these patients and seems to be doing the job. Apparently, there are still a few private patients on cardiology, but not one resident or intern cited these private patients as a problem. Resident clinic mainly serves medicare and medicaid patients and apparently provides lots of opportunities to deal with the bread and butter HTN, DM, CHF, COPD, etc... on an outpatient basis. Now the clinic will also take completely uninsured patients, which it apparently didn't until one to two years ago. This basically means you can convert any patient you see in the hospital into your clinic patient if they are in need of a primary and vice-versa that any clinic patient who needs to be admitted can get admitted to an inpatient firm. Residents spoke highly of their clinic social worker.
Conferences - They claim a 100% board pass rate. Pizza rounds (held at 3pm Friday afternoon on interview dates and 4 pm regularly) is basically a social opportunity for everyone from IM to get together, eat, and sample some nice local beer each week. Given the free food and drink this was quite well attended by residents as well as several of the faculty and the chair. Morning conference was split given the large interview group (around 30) but was good if not particularly unique. Interestingly, my group wasn't run by a chief but by a third year on an elective that focuses on medical teaching (I forget the exact name). Afternoon CPC conference was very well attended and interesting. Apparently, outside of interview season journal club and morning report are split with one for interns and one for residents. Drug reps apparently sponsor lunches a few times a week and I saw a lot of pharma stuff around the resident clinics and in one or two other areas.
Sites/Facilities - There is a VA, which seems somewhat universally reviled by the residents in terms of quality though they appreciate the experience there. Huge hospital with 1200+ beds. All of the medicine floors have been completely remodeled in the last two years or so and are appropriately impressive. I also saw the CCU, which is similarly recently redone as are the other two ICUs supposedly. The new Center for Advanced Medicine is also gorgeous, but one only goes there as a resident for subspecialty clinic. The resident's clinic is the dodgiest looking part of the hospital we saw with that old prison look of cinderblocks and little windows (Its apparently being redone). In the center of campus is a giant hole that is being turned into their genomics research center. All buildings are connected by skyway, including the Children's Hospital. No computer order entry yet, but its anticipated relatively soon. Regarding the EMR H&Ps are in the computer and usually dictated whereas daily notes are written in the chart (on templates with labs and meds on them spit out by the computer). The resident and other clinics are on a system that automatically faxes prescriptions and carries out other orders so you shouldnt have to write scripts.
Location Have very little knowledge of St. Louis. Residents and faculty admit that the downtown has had problems with crime and urban decay that are improving with a new stadium and a loft district but definitely arent fully resolved. The medical center is in the Central West End neighborhood, however, which is quite nice and reportedly very safe within its bounds. Saw lots of ethnic restaurants, nice homes, and people on foot. They showed a map of all resident residences and about 2/3 live within a mile or two of the hospital in that neighborhood. The hospital is also next to Forrest Park, which is apparently the largest contiguous city park in the United States and has a very nice free zoo and museum. For those who want to live a bit farther afield medical center is easily accessible by a short rail ride from many locations in the suburbs if theyre picked appropriately.
Schedule - WashU must have one of the more resident-friendly schedules. There is no overnight call for interns except on the MICU (1 month) and CCU (1 month). All other inpatient rotations are q4 but residents stop admitting patients at 8:30 pm (8:30 pm when they get the call, not when the patient hits the floor but they note that ED turnaround time is pretty good) and are to be gone by 9:30-10 pm. Generally, the interns report 63-73 hours per week depending on service. Resident hour reporting is informal, with residents occasionally having to fill out a form with their hours. The program seems to take a systems approach to hours violations, changing rotations instead of blaming residents. WashU uses a firm system, with 3 firms at Barnes-Jewish and a fourth at the VA. Interns do 2-3months of firms, one month at the VA, one month of CCU, one month of MICU, one month of oncology inpatient, 2-3 months of ambulatory and/or elective, 2-6 weeks of night float, 1 week of sick call, and 3 weeks of vacation. For an intern, this adds up to 2 months of q3 overnight call, and 6-8 months of q4 non-overnight call. Junior residents do 4-5 months inpatient non-overnight q4 call and 2 months q3 overnight call. Senior residents do 1-2 months on MICU/SICU with q3 overnight call, 2-3 months of q4 non-overnight call on the firms. The firms are "geographically" located, minimizing the need to run all over this huge hospital. There is a triage resident in ED who controls which service patients go to (which firm, subspecialty service, or non-teaching hospitalist service). While this resident can't refuse admissions, he/she does reportedly do a great job of keeping cases with low educational value off the teaching services. Residents spend one-half day per week in their continuity clinic in addition to one month per year.
Research - In addition to the Physician Scientist Training Program (ABIM short track), they also have a Clinical Scientist Training And Research (C-STAR) program that allows a 3-month block of non-call rotations and includes some graduate classes in epi, study design, etc. They also have the Mentors in Medicine program, in which residents can apply for $5,000-10,000 of funding for a 3-months project. Last year 29 applied and 21 were funded. The PD implied that those who dont get it tend to not apply particularly seriously.
Fellowships : They hand out a fellowship list that is quite impressive. 15 out of about 48 residents from this years third year class are doing Cards! This proportion is actually fairly within normal limits for their residency.
Disclaimer - I've only been to the program during interview day. If I've made any factual errors, please somebody point them out to me.
The Program Director - The PD has been at WashU for a while now it seems. Residents report that he's a very good advocate for them and their problems and meets with them yearly at least. They say he's quite accessible for questions and concerns and none have any worries about bringing their problems to him. He came around and shook hands with each resident and said a few word. We each got a card from him and he made it a point for us to feel free to email him with any questions or concerns we might have. Overall, very welcoming and personable.
The Chair - The Chair was only present and speaking at the opening session. Report from the residents is that he's very pleasant and personable as well as dedicated to education. Per my faculty interviewer, this is a change from the previous chair who was a bit more intimidating.
Residents - Diverse resident population with people from all over the country. I was at the first interview day so attendance was probably better than it will be later in the year but there were a large number of residents at dinner the night before and lunch on the day of the interview. Generally, they seem very happy and very eager to push their program. Multiple residents as well as the PD mentioned that the residents are what makes their program stand out. Everyone was quite friendly and seemed like they generally get along most of the time. I also had at least two residents tell me that despite the size of the program they know their fellow residents well and that the size is actually beneficial as it provides more people you're likely to get along with (and more people to cover for you if you need time off for any reason).
Faculty - I spoke with a few faculty members (one at interview, one at breakfast, and a couple at pizza rounds). All of them seemed very pleased with the facility, their residents, and their lives in general. Residents mentioned that a portion of the faculty are on a first name basis with the residents and that they're quite approachable. The faculty I got a chance to speak with were certainly friendly and very happy to be of service to the applicants. Every person I spoke with more than about three seconds gave me a business card and let me know I could contact them for just about anything. Faculty also have a reputation for high achievement and bringing in patients from outlying areas their reputation and skills. Teaching is reported to be quite good.
Patients - Serves as the primary hospital for a large number of inner city patients as their is no real county hospital in St. Louis. In addition, good reputation and specialties bring in a great number of referral patients from other areas as well as the fact that it's the only tertiary care center in at least 200 miles. Residents think this provides a good mix between indigent population with bread and butter concerns and the zebras inherent in a tertiary center. In past years the private patient population has been cited as a problem, but a hospitalist service was devised to deal with these patients and seems to be doing the job. Apparently, there are still a few private patients on cardiology, but not one resident or intern cited these private patients as a problem. Resident clinic mainly serves medicare and medicaid patients and apparently provides lots of opportunities to deal with the bread and butter HTN, DM, CHF, COPD, etc... on an outpatient basis. Now the clinic will also take completely uninsured patients, which it apparently didn't until one to two years ago. This basically means you can convert any patient you see in the hospital into your clinic patient if they are in need of a primary and vice-versa that any clinic patient who needs to be admitted can get admitted to an inpatient firm. Residents spoke highly of their clinic social worker.
Conferences - They claim a 100% board pass rate. Pizza rounds (held at 3pm Friday afternoon on interview dates and 4 pm regularly) is basically a social opportunity for everyone from IM to get together, eat, and sample some nice local beer each week. Given the free food and drink this was quite well attended by residents as well as several of the faculty and the chair. Morning conference was split given the large interview group (around 30) but was good if not particularly unique. Interestingly, my group wasn't run by a chief but by a third year on an elective that focuses on medical teaching (I forget the exact name). Afternoon CPC conference was very well attended and interesting. Apparently, outside of interview season journal club and morning report are split with one for interns and one for residents. Drug reps apparently sponsor lunches a few times a week and I saw a lot of pharma stuff around the resident clinics and in one or two other areas.
Sites/Facilities - There is a VA, which seems somewhat universally reviled by the residents in terms of quality though they appreciate the experience there. Huge hospital with 1200+ beds. All of the medicine floors have been completely remodeled in the last two years or so and are appropriately impressive. I also saw the CCU, which is similarly recently redone as are the other two ICUs supposedly. The new Center for Advanced Medicine is also gorgeous, but one only goes there as a resident for subspecialty clinic. The resident's clinic is the dodgiest looking part of the hospital we saw with that old prison look of cinderblocks and little windows (Its apparently being redone). In the center of campus is a giant hole that is being turned into their genomics research center. All buildings are connected by skyway, including the Children's Hospital. No computer order entry yet, but its anticipated relatively soon. Regarding the EMR H&Ps are in the computer and usually dictated whereas daily notes are written in the chart (on templates with labs and meds on them spit out by the computer). The resident and other clinics are on a system that automatically faxes prescriptions and carries out other orders so you shouldnt have to write scripts.
Location Have very little knowledge of St. Louis. Residents and faculty admit that the downtown has had problems with crime and urban decay that are improving with a new stadium and a loft district but definitely arent fully resolved. The medical center is in the Central West End neighborhood, however, which is quite nice and reportedly very safe within its bounds. Saw lots of ethnic restaurants, nice homes, and people on foot. They showed a map of all resident residences and about 2/3 live within a mile or two of the hospital in that neighborhood. The hospital is also next to Forrest Park, which is apparently the largest contiguous city park in the United States and has a very nice free zoo and museum. For those who want to live a bit farther afield medical center is easily accessible by a short rail ride from many locations in the suburbs if theyre picked appropriately.
Schedule - WashU must have one of the more resident-friendly schedules. There is no overnight call for interns except on the MICU (1 month) and CCU (1 month). All other inpatient rotations are q4 but residents stop admitting patients at 8:30 pm (8:30 pm when they get the call, not when the patient hits the floor but they note that ED turnaround time is pretty good) and are to be gone by 9:30-10 pm. Generally, the interns report 63-73 hours per week depending on service. Resident hour reporting is informal, with residents occasionally having to fill out a form with their hours. The program seems to take a systems approach to hours violations, changing rotations instead of blaming residents. WashU uses a firm system, with 3 firms at Barnes-Jewish and a fourth at the VA. Interns do 2-3months of firms, one month at the VA, one month of CCU, one month of MICU, one month of oncology inpatient, 2-3 months of ambulatory and/or elective, 2-6 weeks of night float, 1 week of sick call, and 3 weeks of vacation. For an intern, this adds up to 2 months of q3 overnight call, and 6-8 months of q4 non-overnight call. Junior residents do 4-5 months inpatient non-overnight q4 call and 2 months q3 overnight call. Senior residents do 1-2 months on MICU/SICU with q3 overnight call, 2-3 months of q4 non-overnight call on the firms. The firms are "geographically" located, minimizing the need to run all over this huge hospital. There is a triage resident in ED who controls which service patients go to (which firm, subspecialty service, or non-teaching hospitalist service). While this resident can't refuse admissions, he/she does reportedly do a great job of keeping cases with low educational value off the teaching services. Residents spend one-half day per week in their continuity clinic in addition to one month per year.
Research - In addition to the Physician Scientist Training Program (ABIM short track), they also have a Clinical Scientist Training And Research (C-STAR) program that allows a 3-month block of non-call rotations and includes some graduate classes in epi, study design, etc. They also have the Mentors in Medicine program, in which residents can apply for $5,000-10,000 of funding for a 3-months project. Last year 29 applied and 21 were funded. The PD implied that those who dont get it tend to not apply particularly seriously.
Fellowships : They hand out a fellowship list that is quite impressive. 15 out of about 48 residents from this years third year class are doing Cards! This proportion is actually fairly within normal limits for their residency.
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2007
- Messages
- 22
- Reaction score
- 0
Thanks a lot for the information zebra hunter! I am interviewing at Wash U next week and found that your information was very valuable. So there is only one formal interview during the day?
Again, keep up the good work and best of luck in your application process.
Again, keep up the good work and best of luck in your application process.
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2007
- Messages
- 25
- Reaction score
- 0
Yeah, unless you're physician scientist or one of the other tracks only one formal interview (and that's remarkably informal). Good luck.
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2007
- Messages
- 28
- Reaction score
- 0
General impression: Strong program NYC that is very front loaded, with chill bunch of residents. Only there once for interview day, applying categorical, first interview.
Program Director/Chairman: The day began with a free breakfast from 7:30-8am followed by a talk by the PD and Chairman. Both seemed extremely nice with the PD often making the entire room laugh. She seemed enthusiatic, liberal, open minded, and responsive to residents needs. She also seemed like she was trying to sell the program a little 'too much.' This is most likely because most people would rather live in Manhattan than the bronx. Overall, both seemed very pleasant, and education oriented.
Residents: There was limited interaction with the residents. There was only 5-6 accessible throughout the day, with two of them being cheifs, and the others PGY2's. With an incoming class of 110 people (60 categoricals) it would be completely inaccurate to comment on the residents with such limited exposure. Some information obtained though was that they all got along, would attend happy hours in the city once a week, and were very close because of such an intense first year. The residents were from mainly strong east coast schools, with a predominance from NY schools.
Lifestyle: Apparently first year is a drag with questionable 80 hour compliance...openly admitted that first years would stay to 1am on short call days. They also have this funny system where night floats (6 weeks over 3 years) doesn't do any admits, which is good...but then who does them overnight? You do, every 4th call you come in in the morning, round, go home for 10 hours, come back, stay over night, then stay the whole next day. Not sure if I like this. The reason is to provide you with you continuity of care. I think I would rather just have the typical long call to 10pm. Also, on your call day, q4, you have to be in at 6am to recieve your first patient!!! Yikes.... 1/4 of the residents live in the city, 1/4 in really cheap housing. The area is not fun. The action for a social life exists in the city which is easily accessible by 2 different subway trains a 2 minute walk away from the hospital.
Research: Apparrently there is alot of research at the hospital, but interns typically do not have the time or the will power to participate. This is a shame because despite the hospital being strong academically, they do not take their own for GI or Cards (with the only people to get them being cheifs). Not sure what this implies about how they view their own residents.
Future of residents: Despite not having time for research, or not being taken by your own, residents place 89% into subspecialties, with 20% doing GI, and 20% doing cards. This is pretty impressive, even though the areas that these people matched for these fields were mainly state schools, or community programs. The match list was very impressive for other subspecialties such as pulm, heme/onc, renal etc...
The Hospital: Montefiore is academic seed of AECOM, being located in the northern bronx which is definitly different and a lot safer/nicer then the southern bronx. However it is not exactly the lower east side. The area is still kind of run down. The hospital recently underwent renovation with a brand new medicine wing where you spend your entire three years. The time is spent between montefiore and weiller, with the latter being more community and the former more urban. Both have very little private patients and excellent teaching staff. The pathology apparently is unbeatable, and when combined with no private attendings to chase around, this probably makes for an excellent learning experience. There are phlebotomists, but you usually have to do IV's, BCX, and definitly ABG's. Housing is provided across the street, which is supposedly nice, and very cheap (1bdrm for 600 bucks). There are 3 firm teams, you are assigned to one, and that is the one you are with for the entirety of the three years, appparently this helps foster stronger relationships, and that residents all do intermingle.
Conclusion: Pros: Good placement, strong PD, excellent pathology, hands on, no privates, well known academic reputation, a good blend of autonomy plus supervision, new medicine wing, very close to NYC with cheap housing. Cons: very front loaded, mediocre ancillary staff, don't take their own for competitive subspecialities, questionable 80 hr compliance, the area stinks, large program (good or bad).
Will rank it highly...intern year is terrible at all nyc academic programs
If you read the post, try to post one as well, so we can all benefit
Program Director/Chairman: The day began with a free breakfast from 7:30-8am followed by a talk by the PD and Chairman. Both seemed extremely nice with the PD often making the entire room laugh. She seemed enthusiatic, liberal, open minded, and responsive to residents needs. She also seemed like she was trying to sell the program a little 'too much.' This is most likely because most people would rather live in Manhattan than the bronx. Overall, both seemed very pleasant, and education oriented.
Residents: There was limited interaction with the residents. There was only 5-6 accessible throughout the day, with two of them being cheifs, and the others PGY2's. With an incoming class of 110 people (60 categoricals) it would be completely inaccurate to comment on the residents with such limited exposure. Some information obtained though was that they all got along, would attend happy hours in the city once a week, and were very close because of such an intense first year. The residents were from mainly strong east coast schools, with a predominance from NY schools.
Lifestyle: Apparently first year is a drag with questionable 80 hour compliance...openly admitted that first years would stay to 1am on short call days. They also have this funny system where night floats (6 weeks over 3 years) doesn't do any admits, which is good...but then who does them overnight? You do, every 4th call you come in in the morning, round, go home for 10 hours, come back, stay over night, then stay the whole next day. Not sure if I like this. The reason is to provide you with you continuity of care. I think I would rather just have the typical long call to 10pm. Also, on your call day, q4, you have to be in at 6am to recieve your first patient!!! Yikes.... 1/4 of the residents live in the city, 1/4 in really cheap housing. The area is not fun. The action for a social life exists in the city which is easily accessible by 2 different subway trains a 2 minute walk away from the hospital.
Research: Apparrently there is alot of research at the hospital, but interns typically do not have the time or the will power to participate. This is a shame because despite the hospital being strong academically, they do not take their own for GI or Cards (with the only people to get them being cheifs). Not sure what this implies about how they view their own residents.
Future of residents: Despite not having time for research, or not being taken by your own, residents place 89% into subspecialties, with 20% doing GI, and 20% doing cards. This is pretty impressive, even though the areas that these people matched for these fields were mainly state schools, or community programs. The match list was very impressive for other subspecialties such as pulm, heme/onc, renal etc...
The Hospital: Montefiore is academic seed of AECOM, being located in the northern bronx which is definitly different and a lot safer/nicer then the southern bronx. However it is not exactly the lower east side. The area is still kind of run down. The hospital recently underwent renovation with a brand new medicine wing where you spend your entire three years. The time is spent between montefiore and weiller, with the latter being more community and the former more urban. Both have very little private patients and excellent teaching staff. The pathology apparently is unbeatable, and when combined with no private attendings to chase around, this probably makes for an excellent learning experience. There are phlebotomists, but you usually have to do IV's, BCX, and definitly ABG's. Housing is provided across the street, which is supposedly nice, and very cheap (1bdrm for 600 bucks). There are 3 firm teams, you are assigned to one, and that is the one you are with for the entirety of the three years, appparently this helps foster stronger relationships, and that residents all do intermingle.
Conclusion: Pros: Good placement, strong PD, excellent pathology, hands on, no privates, well known academic reputation, a good blend of autonomy plus supervision, new medicine wing, very close to NYC with cheap housing. Cons: very front loaded, mediocre ancillary staff, don't take their own for competitive subspecialities, questionable 80 hr compliance, the area stinks, large program (good or bad).
Will rank it highly...intern year is terrible at all nyc academic programs
If you read the post, try to post one as well, so we can all benefit
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2005
- Messages
- 764
- Reaction score
- 4
Historical antecdote: Baylor Dallas and Baylor Houston were, long ago, one program located in Dallas. Apparently, at one point there were administrative problems and the medical school packed up and moved "overnight" to Houston. The Dental school stayed behind (though now it is only connected physically not administratively). Baylor Houston continues to have administrative problems and looks again like it will be "packing up."
Pro's:
1) Very small program, tiny infact...they take 9 residents a year and 8 prelims.
2) Laid back vibe - Many of the prelim applicants on interview day were from UTSW and seemed to desire a "cush" intern year here rather than what they would be exposed to at Parkland. Residents told me they're in around 7 and leave anywhere between 2 and 5 pm.
3) Incredible facilities - being a private hospital, the ammenities were well beyond any state hospital I've ever seen. The ER was brand new, and looked like it had been designed for a television series. The cafeteria was actually beyond words in terms of food choices. Private call rooms.
4) In house journal (Baylor Proceedings) makes it easy to get published in a peer-reviewed journal. A staff physician is also the editor-in-chief of a well renowned journal (can't remember at the moment) which, according to the residents, also helps in increasing publications.
5) Procedures - I was told by several residents that it quite easy to rack up a sizeable number of procedures during your residency. Because the program is small and the patient population is large, apparently you can notify services that you're available for procedures and they'll page you when they need a line placed.
6) Teaching was emphasized throughout the day. The afternoon lecture on colon cancer was excellent, however, it was heavily skewed towards basic science focusing more on tumor supressor genes than clinical presentation and management.
7)Because multiple private physicians follow your patients you contact the attending physician directly, likewise for specialty consults...you speak with the specialist rather than the fellow.
8) Fellowship matching seemed good to great. A match list was provided, but no distinction was made as to when fellows matched or how many matched per year. Also nothing was provided on the number that did not match. The program takes 2 cards fellows and 2 GI fellows, as well as all other specialties, and it appeared that they fill at least half the slots with their own residents. I asked for a fellowship match list from the past 2 years and was greeted with another furrowed brow.
9) Small program and everyone is known on a first name basis
10) (Outstanding) lunch provided everyday and $50 meal card provided.
11) Dallas is cheap to live and residents are well paid. They also get a 401K plan.
12) They love inbreeding and many graduates stay to take staff positions.
Neutral's:
1) No rounding...this can be a + or - depending on your outlook. There is a "teaching attending" who does sit down rounds 2-3 times a week.
2) No morning report...again, depending on your outlook. There is very little structure to the program and residents are responsible for reading and learning the basics. Apparently, because of the ample free time the PD stressed 100% board pass rates over the last 16 years.
Negative's:
1) Research did not seem to be encouraged. I got furrowed brows everytime I brought up getting a MPH or pursuing a PhD. The PSDP (or ABIM tract) was not being offered...one individual in the program is doing the "fast track" but he is an exception as he worked in a lab with a gastroenterologist at the hospital for many years.
2) Small program, would theoretically be hard to match into a fellowship if you did not match at Baylor. Also, there are no chief residents so if you don't match you are sent out to pasture...
. It appeared that about half the graduates take hospitalist positions with a large private group. Not really sure what % were unable to match into their specialty, no one on interview day spoke of not matching.
3) Unsure of what percentange of patients are uninsured/underserved. PD stressed that admissions to the team were filtered so that you get a "good mix" of bread and butter (CHF, MI, Sickle Cell, COPD, etc.) as well as zebras.
Pro's:
1) Very small program, tiny infact...they take 9 residents a year and 8 prelims.
2) Laid back vibe - Many of the prelim applicants on interview day were from UTSW and seemed to desire a "cush" intern year here rather than what they would be exposed to at Parkland. Residents told me they're in around 7 and leave anywhere between 2 and 5 pm.
3) Incredible facilities - being a private hospital, the ammenities were well beyond any state hospital I've ever seen. The ER was brand new, and looked like it had been designed for a television series. The cafeteria was actually beyond words in terms of food choices
. Private call rooms.4) In house journal (Baylor Proceedings) makes it easy to get published in a peer-reviewed journal. A staff physician is also the editor-in-chief of a well renowned journal (can't remember at the moment) which, according to the residents, also helps in increasing publications.
5) Procedures - I was told by several residents that it quite easy to rack up a sizeable number of procedures during your residency. Because the program is small and the patient population is large, apparently you can notify services that you're available for procedures and they'll page you when they need a line placed.
6) Teaching was emphasized throughout the day. The afternoon lecture on colon cancer was excellent, however, it was heavily skewed towards basic science focusing more on tumor supressor genes than clinical presentation and management.
7)Because multiple private physicians follow your patients you contact the attending physician directly, likewise for specialty consults...you speak with the specialist rather than the fellow.
8) Fellowship matching seemed good to great. A match list was provided, but no distinction was made as to when fellows matched or how many matched per year. Also nothing was provided on the number that did not match. The program takes 2 cards fellows and 2 GI fellows, as well as all other specialties, and it appeared that they fill at least half the slots with their own residents. I asked for a fellowship match list from the past 2 years and was greeted with another furrowed brow.
9) Small program and everyone is known on a first name basis
10) (Outstanding) lunch provided everyday and $50 meal card provided.
11) Dallas is cheap to live and residents are well paid. They also get a 401K plan.
12) They love inbreeding and many graduates stay to take staff positions.
Neutral's:
1) No rounding...this can be a + or - depending on your outlook. There is a "teaching attending" who does sit down rounds 2-3 times a week.
2) No morning report...again, depending on your outlook. There is very little structure to the program and residents are responsible for reading and learning the basics. Apparently, because of the ample free time the PD stressed 100% board pass rates over the last 16 years.
Negative's:
1) Research did not seem to be encouraged. I got furrowed brows everytime I brought up getting a MPH or pursuing a PhD. The PSDP (or ABIM tract) was not being offered...one individual in the program is doing the "fast track" but he is an exception as he worked in a lab with a gastroenterologist at the hospital for many years.
2) Small program, would theoretically be hard to match into a fellowship if you did not match at Baylor. Also, there are no chief residents so if you don't match you are sent out to pasture...
. It appeared that about half the graduates take hospitalist positions with a large private group. Not really sure what % were unable to match into their specialty, no one on interview day spoke of not matching.3) Unsure of what percentange of patients are uninsured/underserved. PD stressed that admissions to the team were filtered so that you get a "good mix" of bread and butter (CHF, MI, Sickle Cell, COPD, etc.) as well as zebras.
H
happytime
? Baylor College of Medicine in Houston? Not going anywhere. Building new hospital due 2010, and just renewed agreement with St. Luke's. New NCI designated Cancer Center. Still with the Ben Taub County Hospital & VA. New PD making positive changes, very nice guy, very pro-resident.
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2007
- Messages
- 79
- Reaction score
- 0
General impression: Good community program in NYC, Large (incoming categorical n=45), house staff seemed to get along well (great camaraderie), two sites in NYC (could be plus or minus), great subsidized housing, program leadership dedicated to house staff and their concerns, residents have a lot of autonomy
Program Director/Chairman: The interview started at 7:45am with a slide show presentation re the program by the senior associate PD. The actual PD was on jury duty for the next couple of weeks. Everyone, including the house staff, spoke VERY highly about the PD!! He's very original (always has innovative ideas to improve the program) and always dedicated to house staff concerns. The presentation in the AM was essentially all the information they have on their website.
The chairman also talked to us for a few minutes. He does do service months on the floors and if he works with you he will know you for life. Teh chairmans name is Dr Lesch, he is the "Lesch" in "Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome". He is a cardiologist (i believe brigham trained) and so does help teh residents interested in cardiology to get fellowships. It felt as if you were able to work with him on the floors you were golden (especially in matching for fellowship), but if you didn't you would a slightly more difficult time.
Residents: We met a variety of residents throughout the day from all years. Most of the time was spend with senior and chief residents. I guess all the interns were very busy, but we did spend some time with them during intern morning report and lunch. All admit that it is a busy program and you work hard. But there is a lot of autonomy and the clinical training is excellent. All describe being able to handle any and all clinical situations that arise b/c of their training. Stats on house staff: unofficially (again this is just from my impression), all prelims are from top schools with excellent academic standing (avg step 1 for prelim ~ 245); ~70-80% (general impression) are foreign grads with step 1 also in ~240s, the remaining 20-30% of categoricals are US grads with avg Step 1 ~ 210. (the step scores were provided during morning orientation) In addition to foreign grads also a decent presence of DO's.
Lifestyle: As mentioned its very busy. Typical day for intern starts before 7am when they may preround. Signout is at 7am. They round with residents and get work done 8-9am, and then rounds with attending 9am-11am. Once a week intern report from 11am-12pm, whereas residents have report the remaining days of the week from 11am-12pm. 12pm is usually noon conference (with free food...some residents said free food for lunch every day while others said it was every other day). From 1pm-4:30pm was work rounds and signout at 4:30pm. Most agree'd that they maynot always get out at 4:30pm....especially at the beginning of the year. All residents also have 1/2 day continuity clinic every week. Bottom line is that all residents admitted they work hard, the learn alot, and they all get along. Some said that b/c it is a big program and split b/w two hospitals (free shuttle b/w the hospitals is provided every hour) you may not see every one in your class. Also...no 24 hr call anywhere. THey have a "drip" system where everyone admits every day (~3 new admits per day, 2 new + 1 transfer) and you still have long call q 4. They do this so that you don't get slammed with 10 new admissions q4d, rather have a steady stream of admissions every day. All residents admitted that this gave them time to know their patients and gave them time to read more often. I didn't meet any resident/intern who didn't like this setup. Also...moonlighting is allowed within the hospital for PGY2 and PGY3. Each intern is capped at 10 or 11 patients...and as per residents they are strict about the cap.
Research: Apparently there is a big focus of research at these hospitals. Although this program is affiliated with Columbia, didnt get the feeling that research caliber and faculty caliber was same as that of columbia. Nonetheless, they described significant research with many of their residents publishing (see website). Not sure how common this is but intern year they actually have a dedicated block of research time (you're also covering sick call at the time). The research done is mostly clinical but some do basic science as well.
Future of residents: My biggest pet peeve is programs that give you a summary of fellowship placements rather then listing each resident's name and exactly where they matched for EVERY year. This program did the former where they only provided summary stats for the last 3 years (see website for the list). They fare better in cards matches than GI. As per one of the chiefs, last two years its been about 7/9 matching into cardiology (some within the same institution). Those who don't match usually take a year to do research and then reapply. Some may even do a 1 year fellowship (in CHF or Echo) and then reapply for cardiology. For the less competitive fellowships (geriatrics or rheumatology) residents go to MGH or BIDC.
The Hospital: two sites, st lukes hospital which is in upper manhattan and roosevelt hospital which is in midtown (near columbus cirlce). Both hospitals have computerized systems (for orders, labs, vitals, and imaging). Only daily progress notes are hand written. Both hospitals seem to have excellent facilities (including COW = computer on wheels) so you can round and look at labs enter orders at same time. Both hospitals have ER. It seems as if at st lukes (which has two buildings connected by walkways) there may be a little more running around. Ancillary staff is mediocre. They don't have dedicated phlebotomy teams but the nurses will attempt to draw labs from patients in the AM. If unsuccessful only them are interns paged (as per one resident this occurs 1-2x per week).
Conclusion:
Pros: Residents, program leadership, autonomy, benefits package (PGY 1 salary = > $51,000), location, awesome subsidized housing (thee apartment buildings all together, two with 24 hr doorman, one considered luxury with dishwasher in each apartment), focus on academics and clinical training, moonlighting allowed.
Cons: Significant amount of foreign grads (although all are cream of the crop), b/c of large size and two locations may not get to know your entire class, uncertain/NOT upfront about fellowship placement per year (it seemed as if this year there were 20 people applying to cardiology).
This was my first interview so don't know where (if) I will rank it. I gotta say I was more impressed with the program than I thought I was going to be. I interview at the top tier programs in a few weeks so I'm pretty sure I won't rank this as high (mostly b/c the securing cards + GI fellowship is probably easier coming from top tier program). But if I wanted a good primary care with fantastic clinical experience, i would keep this program in the back of my mind.
WEBSITE: www.slrmed.org
Cheers!
Program Director/Chairman: The interview started at 7:45am with a slide show presentation re the program by the senior associate PD. The actual PD was on jury duty for the next couple of weeks. Everyone, including the house staff, spoke VERY highly about the PD!! He's very original (always has innovative ideas to improve the program) and always dedicated to house staff concerns. The presentation in the AM was essentially all the information they have on their website.
The chairman also talked to us for a few minutes. He does do service months on the floors and if he works with you he will know you for life. Teh chairmans name is Dr Lesch, he is the "Lesch" in "Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome". He is a cardiologist (i believe brigham trained) and so does help teh residents interested in cardiology to get fellowships. It felt as if you were able to work with him on the floors you were golden (especially in matching for fellowship), but if you didn't you would a slightly more difficult time.
Residents: We met a variety of residents throughout the day from all years. Most of the time was spend with senior and chief residents. I guess all the interns were very busy, but we did spend some time with them during intern morning report and lunch. All admit that it is a busy program and you work hard. But there is a lot of autonomy and the clinical training is excellent. All describe being able to handle any and all clinical situations that arise b/c of their training. Stats on house staff: unofficially (again this is just from my impression), all prelims are from top schools with excellent academic standing (avg step 1 for prelim ~ 245); ~70-80% (general impression) are foreign grads with step 1 also in ~240s, the remaining 20-30% of categoricals are US grads with avg Step 1 ~ 210. (the step scores were provided during morning orientation) In addition to foreign grads also a decent presence of DO's.
Lifestyle: As mentioned its very busy. Typical day for intern starts before 7am when they may preround. Signout is at 7am. They round with residents and get work done 8-9am, and then rounds with attending 9am-11am. Once a week intern report from 11am-12pm, whereas residents have report the remaining days of the week from 11am-12pm. 12pm is usually noon conference (with free food...some residents said free food for lunch every day while others said it was every other day). From 1pm-4:30pm was work rounds and signout at 4:30pm. Most agree'd that they maynot always get out at 4:30pm....especially at the beginning of the year. All residents also have 1/2 day continuity clinic every week. Bottom line is that all residents admitted they work hard, the learn alot, and they all get along. Some said that b/c it is a big program and split b/w two hospitals (free shuttle b/w the hospitals is provided every hour) you may not see every one in your class. Also...no 24 hr call anywhere. THey have a "drip" system where everyone admits every day (~3 new admits per day, 2 new + 1 transfer) and you still have long call q 4. They do this so that you don't get slammed with 10 new admissions q4d, rather have a steady stream of admissions every day. All residents admitted that this gave them time to know their patients and gave them time to read more often. I didn't meet any resident/intern who didn't like this setup. Also...moonlighting is allowed within the hospital for PGY2 and PGY3. Each intern is capped at 10 or 11 patients...and as per residents they are strict about the cap.
Research: Apparently there is a big focus of research at these hospitals. Although this program is affiliated with Columbia, didnt get the feeling that research caliber and faculty caliber was same as that of columbia. Nonetheless, they described significant research with many of their residents publishing (see website). Not sure how common this is but intern year they actually have a dedicated block of research time (you're also covering sick call at the time). The research done is mostly clinical but some do basic science as well.
Future of residents: My biggest pet peeve is programs that give you a summary of fellowship placements rather then listing each resident's name and exactly where they matched for EVERY year. This program did the former where they only provided summary stats for the last 3 years (see website for the list). They fare better in cards matches than GI. As per one of the chiefs, last two years its been about 7/9 matching into cardiology (some within the same institution). Those who don't match usually take a year to do research and then reapply. Some may even do a 1 year fellowship (in CHF or Echo) and then reapply for cardiology. For the less competitive fellowships (geriatrics or rheumatology) residents go to MGH or BIDC.
The Hospital: two sites, st lukes hospital which is in upper manhattan and roosevelt hospital which is in midtown (near columbus cirlce). Both hospitals have computerized systems (for orders, labs, vitals, and imaging). Only daily progress notes are hand written. Both hospitals seem to have excellent facilities (including COW = computer on wheels) so you can round and look at labs enter orders at same time. Both hospitals have ER. It seems as if at st lukes (which has two buildings connected by walkways) there may be a little more running around. Ancillary staff is mediocre. They don't have dedicated phlebotomy teams but the nurses will attempt to draw labs from patients in the AM. If unsuccessful only them are interns paged (as per one resident this occurs 1-2x per week).
Conclusion:
Pros: Residents, program leadership, autonomy, benefits package (PGY 1 salary = > $51,000), location, awesome subsidized housing (thee apartment buildings all together, two with 24 hr doorman, one considered luxury with dishwasher in each apartment), focus on academics and clinical training, moonlighting allowed.
Cons: Significant amount of foreign grads (although all are cream of the crop), b/c of large size and two locations may not get to know your entire class, uncertain/NOT upfront about fellowship placement per year (it seemed as if this year there were 20 people applying to cardiology).
This was my first interview so don't know where (if) I will rank it. I gotta say I was more impressed with the program than I thought I was going to be. I interview at the top tier programs in a few weeks so I'm pretty sure I won't rank this as high (mostly b/c the securing cards + GI fellowship is probably easier coming from top tier program). But if I wanted a good primary care with fantastic clinical experience, i would keep this program in the back of my mind.
WEBSITE: www.slrmed.org
Cheers!
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2006
- Messages
- 94
- Reaction score
- 1
This is not regarding any program in particular, but with the trend in medicine programs to less overnight call, it is becoming more important to evaluate how the day/nighfloat systems are being implemented when you look at programs. If the program is in the mist of transitioning there can be quite a few bumps in the road and holes in the system which can have some adverse effects.
First, longer hours--you could be in the hospital 12-14 hours every day for some stretches without a "post-call" day to break it up. This often improves as the system of admitting caps, time cutoffs and holdovers is tweaked.
Second, in a way it just compresses all your work into the daytime hours, which sometimes makes it difficult to get to educational conferences and do sit-down teaching on a regular basis.
Third, if you're admitting every day it can be more difficult with arranging days off amongst the team (particularly with continuity clinics thrown into the mix); you can often feel short staffed when every day is short call.
That said, it appears that most programs are going this route by necessity, and since there are a finite number of residents and hours in the day, the problems are often universal, although some institutions have more ability to alleviate the pressure, such as expanding hospitalist coverage and other non-teaching services.
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2005
- Messages
- 764
- Reaction score
- 4
For Nuts and Bolts of program see Spumoni620's post below.
Random thoughts:
1) one of the most intense clinical training programs I've interviewed for. I am basing this in terms of volume of patients seen, number of ward and ICU months intern year, level of autonomy and hands-on procedurally-oriented training. It was stressed over and over that "Residents run the hospital," from the morning introduction by the new PD to the attending on wards, and even the UTSW M4s looking for some respite at the Baylor-Dallas interview...
The "mission statement" given in the introduction summarizes this with the ABCs - Autonomy, Back-up, and Comraderie. I definitely believed that autonomy was encouraged, if not expected...you will hit the ground running full speed with bullets whizzing by here. I cannot comment on the level of back-up as I only saw interview day, but on wards you obviously have an R3 whom I suspect will help out with problems encountered. The comraderie was questionable from the R3 I observed on rounds...he seemed to focus his positive comments on the fact that "the program is so large that if you have a problem with other residents you will probably never have to see them again." If this is a shared perspective then it's concerning. There was absolutely no talk from the residents about going out together (or even going out for that matter) or team building exercises, or any other shared activities. So, again this calls into question the level of comraderie. There appears to be less here than any other program I've interviewed at.
2) I got the impression from speaking with an R2 at lunch that residents don't get much time to enjoy Dallas or outside interests. Everytime I brought up something interesting about the city or things I hope to do during residency the resident sitting with us at lunch quipped, "when do you think you're gonna find time to do that?"
3) Parkland is a very old hospital and it shows in the facilities. I think this lends well to the intense training experienced here. Contrast this with the newly built Grady hospital decked out in marble, which seems a little extravagant for the purposes of indigent care. <While touring Grady, it's hard to forget the close relationship with Coca-Cola>.
Call me old-fashioned, but if I'm in the trenches I'd rather be surrounded by beige paint and floors needing a fresh coat of wax...rather than enclaved in marble and exotic wood. Again, purely a personal sentiment.
4) I was pretty disappointed by the lack of variety in food choices. With such a large population of employees and patients, I expected more than a single cafeteria and a McDonald's. I must admit that though I asked to tour the cafeteria, it never happened...so I'm basing this on what I was told by my tour guide (an R2). Lunch was held in a very nice dining room that, from what I understand is open daily to attendings but residents rarely step foot into.
5) Dallas is a great city. Lots of world class restaurants, plenty of bars and clubs, and extremely friendly people. I made friends in every bar I went to. I was in town for 4 days, so I was able to see most of the nightlife spots within the downtown area. It's reasonably cheap to live close to the hospital, and many residents choose to do so. Traffic can get backed-up, but it's nothing compared to Houston. It might be hard to ride a bicycle within the city, if you're the type, which was a disappointment cause I'd like to bike to work for exercise as well as to avoid the traffic.
6) Historically, fellowship matching has been very strong to excellent (will update later, don't have sheet on me). Unfortunately...and this is a BIG "unfortunately", the old PD just moved on to UT-San Antonio, and this might greatly affect Cards matching because he was kind of a big deal in the field - co-authored Lange, many pubs, well known in other programs. Most people within the program simply shrug their shoulders and say "it was time for a change," but this seems like a very BIG change if you're interested in Cards. Also, the new PD is freshly minted from UTSW's IM residency, so her networking (i.e. word of mouth, name-dropping) ability is questionable.
7) Potpouri was quite fascinating. First of all, this was an opportunity to witness the sheer size of the housestaff, even with many interns and residents absent, the large amphitheater was filled. I didn't necessarily get the feeling that the entire housestaff was cohesive, rather that there were "pockets of friends." Again this was one day of interviewing. Everyone enjoyed a good laugh at the expense of the attending or intern on the spot...though, as spumoni620 stated, it was all in good fun.
Summary:
- intense training...prepare to work ur arse off.
- level of autonomy unsurpassed...any more autonomy and you'd be the attending.
- old facilities
- lack of dining choices (given the size of the hospital).
- questionable comraderie among the housestaff
- lack of free time
- new PD (outgoing PD highly respected in the field of, and probably very influential in residents matching into Cards).
Overall, all of the above are positives and/or acceptable given the size and reputation of the program. The reputation of the program (positives and negatives) is well known within the south, and as a result I was not surprised by what I saw on interview day. I plan to rank this program high.
Random thoughts:
1) one of the most intense clinical training programs I've interviewed for. I am basing this in terms of volume of patients seen, number of ward and ICU months intern year, level of autonomy and hands-on procedurally-oriented training. It was stressed over and over that "Residents run the hospital," from the morning introduction by the new PD to the attending on wards, and even the UTSW M4s looking for some respite at the Baylor-Dallas interview...
The "mission statement" given in the introduction summarizes this with the ABCs - Autonomy, Back-up, and Comraderie. I definitely believed that autonomy was encouraged, if not expected...you will hit the ground running full speed with bullets whizzing by here. I cannot comment on the level of back-up as I only saw interview day, but on wards you obviously have an R3 whom I suspect will help out with problems encountered. The comraderie was questionable from the R3 I observed on rounds...he seemed to focus his positive comments on the fact that "the program is so large that if you have a problem with other residents you will probably never have to see them again." If this is a shared perspective then it's concerning. There was absolutely no talk from the residents about going out together (or even going out for that matter
) or team building exercises, or any other shared activities. So, again this calls into question the level of comraderie. There appears to be less here than any other program I've interviewed at.2) I got the impression from speaking with an R2 at lunch that residents don't get much time to enjoy Dallas or outside interests. Everytime I brought up something interesting about the city or things I hope to do during residency the resident sitting with us at lunch quipped, "when do you think you're gonna find time to do that?"
3) Parkland is a very old hospital and it shows in the facilities. I think this lends well to the intense training experienced here. Contrast this with the newly built Grady hospital decked out in marble, which seems a little extravagant for the purposes of indigent care. <While touring Grady, it's hard to forget the close relationship with Coca-Cola>.
Call me old-fashioned, but if I'm in the trenches I'd rather be surrounded by beige paint and floors needing a fresh coat of wax...rather than enclaved in marble and exotic wood. Again, purely a personal sentiment.
4) I was pretty disappointed by the lack of variety in food choices. With such a large population of employees and patients, I expected more than a single cafeteria and a McDonald's. I must admit that though I asked to tour the cafeteria, it never happened...so I'm basing this on what I was told by my tour guide (an R2). Lunch was held in a very nice dining room that, from what I understand is open daily to attendings but residents rarely step foot into.
5) Dallas is a great city. Lots of world class restaurants, plenty of bars and clubs, and extremely friendly people. I made friends in every bar I went to. I was in town for 4 days, so I was able to see most of the nightlife spots within the downtown area. It's reasonably cheap to live close to the hospital, and many residents choose to do so. Traffic can get backed-up, but it's nothing compared to Houston. It might be hard to ride a bicycle within the city, if you're the type, which was a disappointment cause I'd like to bike to work for exercise as well as to avoid the traffic.
6) Historically, fellowship matching has been very strong to excellent (will update later, don't have sheet on me). Unfortunately...and this is a BIG "unfortunately", the old PD just moved on to UT-San Antonio, and this might greatly affect Cards matching because he was kind of a big deal in the field - co-authored Lange, many pubs, well known in other programs. Most people within the program simply shrug their shoulders and say "it was time for a change," but this seems like a very BIG change if you're interested in Cards. Also, the new PD is freshly minted from UTSW's IM residency, so her networking (i.e. word of mouth, name-dropping) ability is questionable.
7) Potpouri was quite fascinating. First of all, this was an opportunity to witness the sheer size of the housestaff, even with many interns and residents absent, the large amphitheater was filled. I didn't necessarily get the feeling that the entire housestaff was cohesive, rather that there were "pockets of friends." Again this was one day of interviewing. Everyone enjoyed a good laugh at the expense of the attending or intern on the spot...though, as spumoni620 stated, it was all in good fun.
Summary:
- intense training...prepare to work ur arse off.
- level of autonomy unsurpassed...any more autonomy and you'd be the attending.
- old facilities
- lack of dining choices (given the size of the hospital).
- questionable comraderie among the housestaff
- lack of free time
- new PD (outgoing PD highly respected in the field of, and probably very influential in residents matching into Cards).
Overall, all of the above are positives and/or acceptable given the size and reputation of the program. The reputation of the program (positives and negatives) is well known within the south, and as a result I was not surprised by what I saw on interview day. I plan to rank this program high.
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2005
- Messages
- 764
- Reaction score
- 4
Overview: Atlanta is a very large (~3.5 million), very sprawled out city. This is a factor if you live outside of the immediate vicinity of the hospital, traffic gets bad on the 2 lane roads leading to-and-from the hospital. The downtown area underwent extensive renovations during the Olympic games and the downtown area remains relatively safe with lots of parks and restaurants. The area surrounding Emory is very trendy, and very different from other parts of ATL...kinda reminds me of the trendy areas of Hermosa beach and Santa Barbara, without the ocean of course. It's a very young/hip area due to the undergrad campus adjacent to the hospital. I don't recall where residents said they lived or what kind of rent they paid.
It's been quite some time since I interviewed...random thoughts of what I remember:
1) GRADY IS NOT CLOSING contrary to popular belief, the hospital is alive and well. This is the hospital that Coke built, it ain't going anywhere anytime soon. All county hospitals are going through financial troubles and Grady is no different.
2) Fellowship placement is very strong...they especially love inbreeding. Glancing at the fellowship match list, it looks like 80-90% of cards slots go to Emory grads.
3) We did not observe rounds and I cannot comment on resident autonomy. I got the sense that the program is pretty cush. Nothing to back it up, just a gut feeling.
4) I did not get the feeling that residents perform that many procedures. An interviewee asked our tour guid (R2) if she felt comfortable putting in lines, thoracentesis, etc. and he/she basically said no.
5) Research opportunities abound, with opportunities to rotate at the CDC.
I will clean up this review later when I have the supplied info. <killing time at the hospital right now>.
It's been quite some time since I interviewed...random thoughts of what I remember:
1) GRADY IS NOT CLOSING contrary to popular belief, the hospital is alive and well. This is the hospital that Coke built, it ain't going anywhere anytime soon. All county hospitals are going through financial troubles and Grady is no different.
2) Fellowship placement is very strong...they especially love inbreeding. Glancing at the fellowship match list, it looks like 80-90% of cards slots go to Emory grads.
3) We did not observe rounds and I cannot comment on resident autonomy. I got the sense that the program is pretty cush. Nothing to back it up, just a gut feeling.
4) I did not get the feeling that residents perform that many procedures. An interviewee asked our tour guid (R2) if she felt comfortable putting in lines, thoracentesis, etc. and he/she basically said no.
5) Research opportunities abound, with opportunities to rotate at the CDC.
I will clean up this review later when I have the supplied info. <killing time at the hospital right now>.
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2007
- Messages
- 77
- Reaction score
- 0
Hopefully, this is the appropriate thread to make such a request, but could anyone who's interviewed at USC, UCONN, Winthrop, St. Luke's Roosevelt, or Washington Hospital Center post how well the programs have done in terms of matching in cardio? This is something they usually provide you with in your interview packet.
Thanks in advance.
Thanks in advance.
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2006
- Messages
- 69,368
- Reaction score
- 61,671
USC residents into Cards
Class of
2003: 2 out of 56
2004: 4 out of 58
2005: 1 out of 59
2006: 3 out of 55
2007: 3 out of 51
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2007
- Messages
- 77
- Reaction score
- 0
Wow, that's not nearly as good as I though it would be. I'd prefer to return to CA, but some of the NY programs I've been interviewing at have more like 15 - 20% matching into cards.
Thanks, that's going to play a huge role in whether or not I decide to take a pre-match outside of CA.
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2006
- Messages
- 69,368
- Reaction score
- 61,671
I didn't know what to think of USC prior to interview, based especially on some of the talk around here about the program, but I was impressed. ~35-45% of residents go onto fellowships of some sort, ~10% go general/primary care, and the rest go Hospitalist.
The program is largely hospital based, which I really, really liked. Call months are backing off from 11 to 8 when the new hospital opens, but the residents working in the 11 month system don't seem to have too many complaints - it's def manageable and everyone I talked to seemed pretty happy. They program KNOWS about all the call an things are pretty streamlined, some of calls are nothing more covering the specific service floor with 1-2 scheduled admissions - as in once you've admitted those 1-2 you won't be admitting anymore that night. The pathology they see there is ridiculous, for example diagnosing ~5% of ALL TB (including extrapulmonary dz) cases in the country, as well as seeing the kind of parasites you won't regularly get this side of South America or Africa - they have cases of malaria every year.
If you want to learn how to take care of sick people, while becoming competent and comfortable working alone, I think USC will hand that to you better than probably anywhere else in the country (not bad about finding fellowship either!).
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2007
- Messages
- 290
- Reaction score
- 4
Well, that statistic doesn't elucidate is how many residents who actually applied to cards got it, am I wrong? It's not as if everyone in IM would do cards if given the chance.
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2007
- Messages
- 77
- Reaction score
- 0
Well, that statistic doesn't elucidate is how many residents who actually applied to cards got it, am I wrong? It's not as if everyone in IM would do cards if given the chance.
Yeah, I realize that but I think it's fair to say that variation isn't enough to account for 5% (at USC) versus 15% (at some of the programs that I've liked in NY). Is there a good reason to believe that there is 3x interest in cards in university programs at NY as opposed to USC?
When you consider that the number is an average over the last 5 years, that diminishes the impact of preferential variation from place to place.
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2005
- Messages
- 764
- Reaction score
- 4
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2006
- Messages
- 69,368
- Reaction score
- 61,671
Oh, don't hold back on my account . . .
What you got killer?
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2005
- Messages
- 764
- Reaction score
- 4
Rolling my eyes that USC will train you to "take care of sick people better than anywhere in the country"...quite a subjective claim.
Biting my tongue because the numbers speak for themselves: a little over 2 residents match in cards each year...the most objective data provided.
I'm sure someone might say "maybe only 2 chose cards," however, it's highly unlikely that USC is the only program in the country with 4% of its housestaff choosing this subspecialty.
I'm sure USC is a great program(I haven't bothered to look), but gimme a break...
In the words of B. A. Baracus, "The numbers don't jive, turkey!"
Biting my tongue because the numbers speak for themselves: a little over 2 residents match in cards each year...the most objective data provided.
I'm sure someone might say "maybe only 2 chose cards," however, it's highly unlikely that USC is the only program in the country with 4% of its housestaff choosing this subspecialty.
I'm sure USC is a great program(I haven't bothered to look), but gimme a break...
In the words of B. A. Baracus, "The numbers don't jive, turkey!"
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2003
- Messages
- 2,326
- Reaction score
- 3
Interview Day: I interviewed a while back at UTSW. Well organized. LOTS of people - ~ 40 in the small room when I went. Takes place in a rather hard to find area of the school; for sure I'd have been lost if I hadn't fortuitously found a UTSW med student wandering the halls (who even then didn't really know where this odd room was). Lots of UTSW interviewees and I felt the majority of students were from within Texas. Definitely if not in Texas, had roots in Texas (like me). Corny as it sounds, the Texan twang and general super-niceness of everyone from the staff to faculty made me feel as though I were "back home" - I think people really are friendlier in the South. The day began with an intro by the PD, followed by intro from chiefs talking about the amazing pathology you see at Parkland. One of the chiefs pulled out a book of cases and read some off just seen from the past two days, including tularemia, mycosis fungoides, elephantiasis or something similar, lots of TB. Then we were escorted on rounds, attended conference, lunch, tour, interviews, and then a faculty meet & greet ("liver rounds") at the faculty club. Day was longest I've been on among several interviews, ended around 4:30 - 5:30 but could have gone on longer if you wanted to schmooze.
Didactics[/B]: My favorite part of the day was the "Potpourri" conference. This was a session in which interns call on basically anyone in the audience (attendings, residents, not interviewees) and present a case which they have to work up in front of everyone. And the cases are tricky. It's of course all in good fun. It was actually really interesting and the cases were awesome - unusual cases that left you wondering until the punch line at the end. It was also nice to see the camaraderie everyone seemed to share - there was a laid-back, non-malignant air that was enjoyable to see. Residents and attendings do seem to have a great relationship of "equals".
Rounds Was placed with a post-call team, so they all understandably looked exhausted. They were finishing up sit-down rounds in a rather dingy, poorly lit room when we came. The resident was no-nonsense but helpful, seemed a decisive leader who was working hard to get his team out on time. amazingly, he was not in the least irritated at the prospect of being followed around by relatively unhelpful suit-clad interviewees while trying to tie loose ends and attack a pile of work post-call. Lots of new admissions, including UGIB, LGIB, a man with end-stage esophageal cancer requiring esophagectomy, liver disease, altered mental status, etc. Attending was really nice, young, seemed to be a caring/good teacher who actually took time to incorporate us into rounds and explain things to us. There is no question the teams work hard here. The med student had about 4 patients, if I recall correctly. Presence of med student is actually a factor that determines how many patients you can admit!
Hospital: Bulk of training is at Parkland, some at the VA, also have private hospital rotation (forgot name of hospital, but only a month or two I belive). To be blunt, Parkland will never place in the "100 most glamorous hospitals in America". It's crowded, poorly lit and has the general smell of "things are really busy here". We walked by the ER and there were literally people lined up outside the door and crammed in the waiting room- I have never seen such a busy ER before! People apparently have waited 10 hours to be seen. Residents state the hospital functions well and the ancillary staff are good, but do admit to there being some tension when calling consults on certain fields, i.e. surgery. No electronic medical records here, so much is still handwritten. Residents didn't seem particularly bothered by it. Although, of course, they are working to change that. I have to double check (things are bit blurry) but I think labs were online. I also believe there is no access given to UpToDate, which I found surprising. Most info is found on patients by looking at discharge summaries which contain the H&P, meds, etc and are dictated.
Residents: I talked to a few interns and a resident. I did not attend the dinner before so do not have as comprehensive of a view on this. Overall, they seemed to be happy but tired. They also seemed very knowledgeable, competent and hard-working. There was the general attitude that "you work really really hard but you come out competent and capable of handling everything". Now a night-float system is in place for 2nd years but the resident I talked to did express some concern about whether this was really better, as hand-offs and late admissions can sometimes pose trouble in getting out on time. However, all residents I spoke to stated they were within 80 hours. ICU months, however, they stated it was difficult to meet this at times. Another oft-repeated theme was resident autonomy. The intern I had lunch with rattled off a list of procedures she had done including intubation, para/thoracentesis, LPs, lines, etc. etc. I sensed from the rounds and the general atmosphere that residents do seem to run the show.
PD: Young, recently appointed, but seems very genuine and dedicated to students and education. She has the advantage of being "closer" in terms of age and memories to that stage of training.
Fellowships/Research/Career: The match list for fellowships is really, truly impressive. They routinely place several in cards/GI every year and the sites are stellar. I don't know what the secret is, as my gut feeling is that as a resident or intern you would have to be very proactive to find time to research something substantial. There is no formal program for mentorship or research that I know of, although opportunities apparently abound if you are so inclined.
City: Dallas in itself is not really so bad. People tend to live in Uptown, about 10-20 minutes away. Rent is beautifully cheap in many cases. Some live in houses in suburbia and commute. Weather is nice in fall/spring, somewhat cold (rarely snows, rarely ices) in winter, very hot and humid in the summer. I actually don't mind this at all as I'm a warm-weather/sun type of person. For example, it was 75 degrees when I went to interview. As far as things to do, there is a pretty active nightlife scene, tons of good restaurants, trails and parks, etc. etc. Traffic is congested at predictable times but otherwise not bad at all from what I've seen.
Overall impression: The day was organized if quite long, but I left with a positive impression of the program. I feel this program is not for the faint of heart as you would work very, very hard here. There may almost be too much autonomy for some. However, in exchange, you get to experience a vast array of patient pathology and seem to be able to leave as a very capably trained physician. At least by track record, you'd also have a decent chance at matching at top fellowships in the country. I worry about there not being more of a structured curriculum or path for things like research, international electives, career exploration, mentorship, etc. Not clear how well residents can get to know one another.
Didactics[/B]: My favorite part of the day was the "Potpourri" conference. This was a session in which interns call on basically anyone in the audience (attendings, residents, not interviewees) and present a case which they have to work up in front of everyone. And the cases are tricky. It's of course all in good fun. It was actually really interesting and the cases were awesome - unusual cases that left you wondering until the punch line at the end. It was also nice to see the camaraderie everyone seemed to share - there was a laid-back, non-malignant air that was enjoyable to see. Residents and attendings do seem to have a great relationship of "equals".
Rounds Was placed with a post-call team, so they all understandably looked exhausted. They were finishing up sit-down rounds in a rather dingy, poorly lit room when we came. The resident was no-nonsense but helpful, seemed a decisive leader who was working hard to get his team out on time. amazingly, he was not in the least irritated at the prospect of being followed around by relatively unhelpful suit-clad interviewees while trying to tie loose ends and attack a pile of work post-call. Lots of new admissions, including UGIB, LGIB, a man with end-stage esophageal cancer requiring esophagectomy, liver disease, altered mental status, etc. Attending was really nice, young, seemed to be a caring/good teacher who actually took time to incorporate us into rounds and explain things to us. There is no question the teams work hard here. The med student had about 4 patients, if I recall correctly. Presence of med student is actually a factor that determines how many patients you can admit!
Hospital: Bulk of training is at Parkland, some at the VA, also have private hospital rotation (forgot name of hospital, but only a month or two I belive). To be blunt, Parkland will never place in the "100 most glamorous hospitals in America". It's crowded, poorly lit and has the general smell of "things are really busy here". We walked by the ER and there were literally people lined up outside the door and crammed in the waiting room- I have never seen such a busy ER before! People apparently have waited 10 hours to be seen. Residents state the hospital functions well and the ancillary staff are good, but do admit to there being some tension when calling consults on certain fields, i.e. surgery. No electronic medical records here, so much is still handwritten. Residents didn't seem particularly bothered by it. Although, of course, they are working to change that. I have to double check (things are bit blurry) but I think labs were online. I also believe there is no access given to UpToDate, which I found surprising. Most info is found on patients by looking at discharge summaries which contain the H&P, meds, etc and are dictated.
Residents: I talked to a few interns and a resident. I did not attend the dinner before so do not have as comprehensive of a view on this. Overall, they seemed to be happy but tired. They also seemed very knowledgeable, competent and hard-working. There was the general attitude that "you work really really hard but you come out competent and capable of handling everything". Now a night-float system is in place for 2nd years but the resident I talked to did express some concern about whether this was really better, as hand-offs and late admissions can sometimes pose trouble in getting out on time. However, all residents I spoke to stated they were within 80 hours. ICU months, however, they stated it was difficult to meet this at times. Another oft-repeated theme was resident autonomy. The intern I had lunch with rattled off a list of procedures she had done including intubation, para/thoracentesis, LPs, lines, etc. etc. I sensed from the rounds and the general atmosphere that residents do seem to run the show.
PD: Young, recently appointed, but seems very genuine and dedicated to students and education. She has the advantage of being "closer" in terms of age and memories to that stage of training.
Fellowships/Research/Career: The match list for fellowships is really, truly impressive. They routinely place several in cards/GI every year and the sites are stellar. I don't know what the secret is, as my gut feeling is that as a resident or intern you would have to be very proactive to find time to research something substantial. There is no formal program for mentorship or research that I know of, although opportunities apparently abound if you are so inclined.
City: Dallas in itself is not really so bad. People tend to live in Uptown, about 10-20 minutes away. Rent is beautifully cheap in many cases. Some live in houses in suburbia and commute. Weather is nice in fall/spring, somewhat cold (rarely snows, rarely ices) in winter, very hot and humid in the summer. I actually don't mind this at all as I'm a warm-weather/sun type of person. For example, it was 75 degrees when I went to interview. As far as things to do, there is a pretty active nightlife scene, tons of good restaurants, trails and parks, etc. etc. Traffic is congested at predictable times but otherwise not bad at all from what I've seen.
Overall impression: The day was organized if quite long, but I left with a positive impression of the program. I feel this program is not for the faint of heart as you would work very, very hard here. There may almost be too much autonomy for some. However, in exchange, you get to experience a vast array of patient pathology and seem to be able to leave as a very capably trained physician. At least by track record, you'd also have a decent chance at matching at top fellowships in the country. I worry about there not being more of a structured curriculum or path for things like research, international electives, career exploration, mentorship, etc. Not clear how well residents can get to know one another.
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2006
- Messages
- 69,368
- Reaction score
- 61,671
Way to misrepresent what I said smart guy . . . look at the post, here is what I said: "If you want to learn how to take care of sick people, while becoming competent and comfortable working alone, I think USC will hand that to you better than probably anywhere else in the country"
What are some of the things I said, but you left out of your "misquote"? Two things jump out 1) the phrase "comfortable working alone" - as in you're in the boondocks without the "cards" guys you seem to worship, will you feel comfortable after three years working up this MI on your own, you know keeping people alive until patient can actually to get to whatever fancy place you think you'll be working (let me know so I can send them to you); 2) the word "probably" denoting the subjective and opinionated nature of the comment.
Furthermore what do residents matching into cards have anything to do with a programs amazing general medicine training? Walk me through that logic smart guy - I really, really, really want to see this short-bus sized leap of logic put together in a "rationale" (pay attention to the quotes) manner. People match into cards mainly by who you know. Matching into cards says NOTHING about the strength of a program's general medicine training. Matching cards is all about reputation and letter of rec's. USC trains at Los Angeles County Hospital - have you ever stepped foot into a county medical center in a major metropolitan area? The pathology, patient population diversity, an sheer numbers dictate you will have an amazing general medicine training. Of course some folks can't hack it . . .
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2007
- Messages
- 136
- Reaction score
- 1
hahahahahaha
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2005
- Messages
- 764
- Reaction score
- 4
Settle down there little fella, nobody slapped your puppy dog. Unfortunately, there's always one d#ucheb@g every year that has to huff-&-puff and turn the "interview impression" thread into an ego showdown...I'm not gonna be your huckleberry.
You sound like a USC fanboy, and I wish you the best. Hope the fellowship match works out for you. If not, I'm sure you'll do well in the boondocks of Las Angeles.
I guess in SoCal, boondocks = a place without a nail salon or Sunset Tan. Try not to catch a hang nail when you're working up that MI. Our 3rd year Med students feel "comfortable working up these cases alone", oh wait...you meant after 3 years of residency
I'll keep an eye out for you on the interview trail...I'm guessing you'll be the guy in the youth medium suit with freshly waxed eyebrows.
You sound like a USC fanboy, and I wish you the best. Hope the fellowship match works out for you. If not, I'm sure you'll do well in the boondocks of Las Angeles.
I guess in SoCal, boondocks = a place without a nail salon or Sunset Tan. Try not to catch a hang nail when you're working up that MI. Our 3rd year Med students feel "comfortable working up these cases alone", oh wait...you meant after 3 years of residency
I'll keep an eye out for you on the interview trail...I'm guessing you'll be the guy in the youth medium suit with freshly waxed eyebrows.
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2006
- Messages
- 1,444
- Reaction score
- 5
Please keep this thread professional. this is for impressions only, not commentary.
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2003
- Messages
- 373
- Reaction score
- 5
Jerry Jerry Jerry!!
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2006
- Messages
- 69,368
- Reaction score
- 61,671
You sound like a USC fanboy, and I wish you the best. Hope the fellowship match works out for you. If not, I'm sure you'll do well in the boondocks of Las Angeles.
I thought USC had an awesome general medicine training program I'm not all the interested in doing a residency after my residency - so the fellowship match is a moot point. I'm not ever going to stay and live in LA. I'm going back to rural Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota
I guess in SoCal, boondocks = a place without a nail salon or Sunset Tan. Try not to catch a hang nail when you're working up that MI. Our 3rd year Med students feel "comfortable working up these cases alone", oh wait...you meant after 3 years of residency
Thought you weren't going to be the "ego huckleberry"? Knowing what to do is one thing, and then actually doing it and being resposible professionally for said treatment is another. I'm sure this will all become painfully clear your first on-call come July.
I gawd, I hope I didn't apply anywhere anywhere you did. But if we do run into each other . . . you'll find you guessed wrong. I'm the guy in 56 regular, who looks like I played college footbal, because I did - eyebrows intact. Thanks for playing the "guessin' game' tho . . .
BTW, you still, never established how a programs ability to train general medicine residents. translates into cardiology match spots. You didn't so this and avoid it because you cannot.
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2006
- Messages
- 69,368
- Reaction score
- 61,671
Right on. No more from me.
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2005
- Messages
- 764
- Reaction score
- 4
You're right, there's no direct correlation b/w training and fellowship placement. My viewpoint is that ALL major programs will train you well...allowing you to feel comfortable working alone, which was the reason for the initial ''rolling eyes'' comment. I do plan to pursue a fellowship, not necessarily cards, so this is a big part of my selection process. (The only reason I mentioned cards is b/c that's the only fellowship data that was provided).
Again, I'm sure USC has a great program...
Again, I'm sure USC has a great program...
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2003
- Messages
- 2,326
- Reaction score
- 3
Overall: This impressed me as a program very dedicated to teaching, incredibly responsive to residents, with a great PD. Has been ranked as the #1 site by UCLA students for IM for at least 3-5 years in a running (this struck me as a very big +). Focus here is on education and clinical training; basic research possible as well although perhaps not THE strongest area of the program. For me, the day provided confirmation of the general impression - on these boards, in any case - that the program is just all around nice, friendly and a very benign place (though NOT NOT cush by any stretch of the imagination) to train.
PD: Dr. Wali spoke to us for about 30-45 minutes at the beginning of the day. She gave a very nice, non-rehearsed and comprehensive speech that actually answered nearly every single question I had about the program. It was actually somewhat eerie. From what I gained by hearing her speak and talking with the residents, she is terrific - incredibly dedicated to resident education, very responsive, really working genuinely to address any grievances with the program. She also has an impressive background: http://www.uclasfvp.org/management.htm . As you can see from the rest of the site, the whole "management team" is well credentialed with lots of recognition/awards for clinical teaching.
Residents: We ate lunch with the residents (no pre-interview day dinner) and I was interviewed by a resident. By the way, the latter does confirm one nice point about the program- residents are able to be as heavily involved in the "education" and "residency training" process from an administrative angle as they want. Their input is taken quite seriously and they are involved in all aspects of curriculum reshaping, etc. This is nice for me coming from a medical school where students were treated the same way. Anyway, I spent some time talking to the chief resident (really, really nice and knowledgeable, going into Pulm/CC), a 2nd-year resident, two med students and an intern. The intern had just come off a MICU month and did seem a bit tired, although she was quite personable and nice. She admitted that you "do work harder than you ever have" and that at times the county population (very underserved, often with chronically untreated problems) can get a bit depressing (in that you can't really help them at times). However she loved the program and emphasized the great teaching she had received. Autonomy is also amazing here. Another resident mentioned he did a rotation at Cedars/UCLA where the difference was tremendous in terms of how involved he was in decision making. Also, (I think - hopefully I'm not confusing this with Harbor) you have a dedicated procedures rotation where you get to specifically insert all types of lines, tubes, etc. The intern also mentioned that even though it was a county hospital, there were phlebotomists at all times, no scut/blood draws/wheeling etc. etc. The med students seemed to love the program and raved about it: "There is something really special about this place - the attendings are just amazing, some of the nicest people you have ever met" etc. etc. I talked to some other UCLA students on the interview trail who pretty much gave the same impression. Morning report was attended by attendings, residents/interns who all knew their stuff quite well. .
Hospital: Okay, so much like Parkland or perhaps any county hospital this is not your VIP luxury private facility. It's sparse but clean and well-maintained. I entered to security detectors and the front room looked sort of like an INS immigration office in terms of decor (plastic chairs attached to bars and a bleak looking tile floor). No-one was at the information "desk" but I did manage to find my way to the right place (just take the elevators to the right floor and then there are signs). ICU beds are separated by blue curtains instead of doors. Rooms are small but everything did look clean. The cafeteria food was actually quite good, in a different way - i.e. more authentic-tasting homemade Cal-Mex food (yum!) as opposed to make-your-own-salad-grab-a-bag-of-baked-lays-and-odwalla-smoothie etc. Cafeteria only open until 7:30 pm though, after which...you're kind of on your own. You do get free meals/parking 365 days/year though. Nice things: since you're affiliated with UCLA, you get the UCLA "perks" of online journal access, UpToDate, etc. Note there is NO electronic medical record - intern I spoke with didn't mention this as a big problem. There is supposedly plans in place to switch to an EMR due to national regulations, but people are somewhat skeptical as to when.
Research/Mentorship: I got the feeling that people would be very willing to work with you at this program. Dr. Wali mentioned that since Olive View per se did not have a lot of "basic" science opportunities, she had put together a booklet of basic science research opportunities available at UCLA which interns/residents could select from. Apart from that, residents are encouraged to present abstracts (from the vast pathology you see here) at national conferences (this is paid for) and often win awards. Apart from research, there is focused teaching on things like echocardiograms, treadmill tests, scopes (you can apparently become certified in these and sign off on the latter two if you want), workshops on suturing, casting, etc.
Fellowships: Looks like 1/2 - 2/3 of the class went to pursue subspecialty training in the past two years. From their website: "There is a fairly equal balance between residents who choose to go into general internal medicine (primary care or hospitalist practice) and those who go on to do subspecialty training. Most of the residents pursuing additional training choose to stay in the Los Angeles area for their fellowships. Those who decide to leave the UCLA system often get their first choice of fellowship. However, given the changing nature of internal medicine training and the nationwide movement towards decreased availability of subspecialty training, future trends cannot be predicted and fellowship positions are not guaranteed."
Rotations: Mostly at Olive View. 4 months wards as a PGY1, 3 months ambulatory, 2 elective months, 1 month vacation. Cap of 5 new admits per intern. Call q4 on wards, q3 ICU (I think), overnight. However, for CCU/MICU (2 months) you have the option of rotating at Cedars or UCLA. This is a plus if you want to experience the private or tertiary-care setting but don't want your entire residency to take place in this setting. Also, there is a combined IM/EM residency which (as the APD and other residents mentioned) sets up for a "camaraderie" between IM and EM...so no bogus admits, poorly worked up pts, IM-EM battles, etc. On that note, the interns mentioned consulting other services here is a breeze in that you never are made to feel small or ignorant and everything is always imbued with teaching. There is a really cool feature of the program - the "Post-Discharge Clinic" - where you see patients you admitted before, maintaining some continuity (especially when a lot of the patients are poor and you weren't able to keep them in house long enough to f/u on test results, finish w/u, etc.) During your ward months, this counts as your continuity clinic, I belive. Also, there are opportunities to do international rotations - Olive View residents who had done this mentioned their in-house training left them feeling well-equipped to handle the actue issues abroad.
Location: I'm not familiar with Sylmar, but apparently most residents live south or west of Sylmar and drive "against traffic" so that it only takes 20-25 mins to reach work in the am and pm. (The only time when this is a problem is during the night float shift where you actualy are driving "with" traffic. Then I think it takes 40-45 minutes)This is great in LA (where I was ready to burn my driver's license after 1 week of facing traffic in this city) and also means you can live in an area with more to do. There is definitely not much going on in the immediate vicinity of the hospital. The scenery is gorgeous - there are huge mountains and things - but even the comfort inn I stayed at was more than a tad ghetto...I kind of get the impression you are slightly isolated from the city. However, others can feel free to correct me as I am not from CA and my only knowledge of the area comes from Google Maps...
Summary:
Pros (for me, at least): GREAT teaching, attendings who are truly great teachers, teaching opportunities (med students on rotations very frequently), very benign attitude overall, responsive to residents, amazing outreach/service opportunities with patient population, focus on clinical education, international training possible (certain sites paid for), PD who really seems to care, stability of program (too popular/important of a site for UCLA to close down, for ex.).
Cons: location (kind of isolated), smallish w/o all subspecialty exposure (i.e., must refer complex cardiac cases to Harbor), no EMR (big change from what I'm used to), hospital faciltiies may not be as luxurious as some are used to (not a big problem for me, but you do have to come here to work every day - might turn others off), county hospital means needing to f/u on tests, etc., patient population means it could get frustrating/depressing trying to address issues stemming from neglect/lack of access to care/lack of education.
Other things, FWIW: According to other UCLA students I talked to, it's not as "academic" as Harbor (whatever that means) This program is definitely not for everyone: you would work hard in a relatively unglamorous setting...you would be taking care of indigent patients for the most part...it's a county hospital. The focus of this program is definitely clinical education, but if you're interested in specific research areas I really do think you could achieve that as well...after all, you are in the UCLA system...there were plenty of residents I talked to who seemed fellowship-bound.
Anyway, that's my take on it. I liked the program a LOT and at least as of now, will be ranking it pretty highly.
PD: Dr. Wali spoke to us for about 30-45 minutes at the beginning of the day. She gave a very nice, non-rehearsed and comprehensive speech that actually answered nearly every single question I had about the program. It was actually somewhat eerie. From what I gained by hearing her speak and talking with the residents, she is terrific - incredibly dedicated to resident education, very responsive, really working genuinely to address any grievances with the program. She also has an impressive background: http://www.uclasfvp.org/management.htm . As you can see from the rest of the site, the whole "management team" is well credentialed with lots of recognition/awards for clinical teaching.
Residents: We ate lunch with the residents (no pre-interview day dinner) and I was interviewed by a resident. By the way, the latter does confirm one nice point about the program- residents are able to be as heavily involved in the "education" and "residency training" process from an administrative angle as they want. Their input is taken quite seriously and they are involved in all aspects of curriculum reshaping, etc. This is nice for me coming from a medical school where students were treated the same way. Anyway, I spent some time talking to the chief resident (really, really nice and knowledgeable, going into Pulm/CC), a 2nd-year resident, two med students and an intern. The intern had just come off a MICU month and did seem a bit tired, although she was quite personable and nice. She admitted that you "do work harder than you ever have" and that at times the county population (very underserved, often with chronically untreated problems) can get a bit depressing (in that you can't really help them at times). However she loved the program and emphasized the great teaching she had received. Autonomy is also amazing here. Another resident mentioned he did a rotation at Cedars/UCLA where the difference was tremendous in terms of how involved he was in decision making. Also, (I think - hopefully I'm not confusing this with Harbor) you have a dedicated procedures rotation where you get to specifically insert all types of lines, tubes, etc. The intern also mentioned that even though it was a county hospital, there were phlebotomists at all times, no scut/blood draws/wheeling etc. etc. The med students seemed to love the program and raved about it: "There is something really special about this place - the attendings are just amazing, some of the nicest people you have ever met" etc. etc. I talked to some other UCLA students on the interview trail who pretty much gave the same impression. Morning report was attended by attendings, residents/interns who all knew their stuff quite well. .
Hospital: Okay, so much like Parkland or perhaps any county hospital this is not your VIP luxury private facility. It's sparse but clean and well-maintained. I entered to security detectors and the front room looked sort of like an INS immigration office in terms of decor (plastic chairs attached to bars and a bleak looking tile floor). No-one was at the information "desk" but I did manage to find my way to the right place (just take the elevators to the right floor and then there are signs). ICU beds are separated by blue curtains instead of doors. Rooms are small but everything did look clean. The cafeteria food was actually quite good, in a different way - i.e. more authentic-tasting homemade Cal-Mex food (yum!) as opposed to make-your-own-salad-grab-a-bag-of-baked-lays-and-odwalla-smoothie etc. Cafeteria only open until 7:30 pm though, after which...you're kind of on your own. You do get free meals/parking 365 days/year though. Nice things: since you're affiliated with UCLA, you get the UCLA "perks" of online journal access, UpToDate, etc. Note there is NO electronic medical record - intern I spoke with didn't mention this as a big problem. There is supposedly plans in place to switch to an EMR due to national regulations, but people are somewhat skeptical as to when.
Research/Mentorship: I got the feeling that people would be very willing to work with you at this program. Dr. Wali mentioned that since Olive View per se did not have a lot of "basic" science opportunities, she had put together a booklet of basic science research opportunities available at UCLA which interns/residents could select from. Apart from that, residents are encouraged to present abstracts (from the vast pathology you see here) at national conferences (this is paid for) and often win awards. Apart from research, there is focused teaching on things like echocardiograms, treadmill tests, scopes (you can apparently become certified in these and sign off on the latter two if you want), workshops on suturing, casting, etc.
Fellowships: Looks like 1/2 - 2/3 of the class went to pursue subspecialty training in the past two years. From their website: "There is a fairly equal balance between residents who choose to go into general internal medicine (primary care or hospitalist practice) and those who go on to do subspecialty training. Most of the residents pursuing additional training choose to stay in the Los Angeles area for their fellowships. Those who decide to leave the UCLA system often get their first choice of fellowship. However, given the changing nature of internal medicine training and the nationwide movement towards decreased availability of subspecialty training, future trends cannot be predicted and fellowship positions are not guaranteed."
Rotations: Mostly at Olive View. 4 months wards as a PGY1, 3 months ambulatory, 2 elective months, 1 month vacation. Cap of 5 new admits per intern. Call q4 on wards, q3 ICU (I think), overnight. However, for CCU/MICU (2 months) you have the option of rotating at Cedars or UCLA. This is a plus if you want to experience the private or tertiary-care setting but don't want your entire residency to take place in this setting. Also, there is a combined IM/EM residency which (as the APD and other residents mentioned) sets up for a "camaraderie" between IM and EM...so no bogus admits, poorly worked up pts, IM-EM battles, etc. On that note, the interns mentioned consulting other services here is a breeze in that you never are made to feel small or ignorant and everything is always imbued with teaching. There is a really cool feature of the program - the "Post-Discharge Clinic" - where you see patients you admitted before, maintaining some continuity (especially when a lot of the patients are poor and you weren't able to keep them in house long enough to f/u on test results, finish w/u, etc.) During your ward months, this counts as your continuity clinic, I belive. Also, there are opportunities to do international rotations - Olive View residents who had done this mentioned their in-house training left them feeling well-equipped to handle the actue issues abroad.
Location: I'm not familiar with Sylmar, but apparently most residents live south or west of Sylmar and drive "against traffic" so that it only takes 20-25 mins to reach work in the am and pm. (The only time when this is a problem is during the night float shift where you actualy are driving "with" traffic. Then I think it takes 40-45 minutes)This is great in LA (where I was ready to burn my driver's license after 1 week of facing traffic in this city) and also means you can live in an area with more to do. There is definitely not much going on in the immediate vicinity of the hospital. The scenery is gorgeous - there are huge mountains and things - but even the comfort inn I stayed at was more than a tad ghetto...I kind of get the impression you are slightly isolated from the city. However, others can feel free to correct me as I am not from CA and my only knowledge of the area comes from Google Maps...
Summary:
Pros (for me, at least): GREAT teaching, attendings who are truly great teachers, teaching opportunities (med students on rotations very frequently), very benign attitude overall, responsive to residents, amazing outreach/service opportunities with patient population, focus on clinical education, international training possible (certain sites paid for), PD who really seems to care, stability of program (too popular/important of a site for UCLA to close down, for ex.).
Cons: location (kind of isolated), smallish w/o all subspecialty exposure (i.e., must refer complex cardiac cases to Harbor), no EMR (big change from what I'm used to), hospital faciltiies may not be as luxurious as some are used to (not a big problem for me, but you do have to come here to work every day - might turn others off), county hospital means needing to f/u on tests, etc., patient population means it could get frustrating/depressing trying to address issues stemming from neglect/lack of access to care/lack of education.
Other things, FWIW: According to other UCLA students I talked to, it's not as "academic" as Harbor (whatever that means) This program is definitely not for everyone: you would work hard in a relatively unglamorous setting...you would be taking care of indigent patients for the most part...it's a county hospital. The focus of this program is definitely clinical education, but if you're interested in specific research areas I really do think you could achieve that as well...after all, you are in the UCLA system...there were plenty of residents I talked to who seemed fellowship-bound.
Anyway, that's my take on it. I liked the program a LOT and at least as of now, will be ranking it pretty highly.
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2005
- Messages
- 764
- Reaction score
- 4
Discalimer: Any errors in the info. provided are unintentional. Everything written is from memory of the interview day...rather than notes taken.
Overall: Well known program, with a very strong reputation in the SE. My impression (through word of mouth from Chairs, PDs, and residents) is that it would rank just behind Duke and just ahead of UAB as far as regional reputation. Nashville is a great town with plenty of entertainment (stong music industry presence), shopping, etc. with the population est. at 1,000,000. The area is beautiful, with rolling hills, hardwoods, and moderate weather. The city is locate near the foothills of the Appalachian mtns...so hiking, camping, white water rafting (Tennessee has some of the best white water) and Mt. biking is easily accessible. The cost of living is cheap, even when comparing to other southern cities with less to offer. About half the residents purchase condos (downtown within minutes from the hospital), with the other half purchasing homes in the surrounding suburbs. Condos range $160-180s per the residents I spoke with. The undergrad campus is located directly across the street...the immediately surrounding area has a young, "hip" vibe. Restaurants and pubs a-plenty. Nashville is to CMT what NY/LA is to MTV...i.e. the musicians/celebrities live, eat and recreate here.
Interview day: Breakfast consisted of bagels and coffee...somewhat of a step down from that provided on other interview days. Bagels, muffins, coffee, and cereal bars were available at morning report...not sure if this is normal or present for the benefit of interviwees. The PD and Chair spoke during introductions, which was followed by rounding with the teams. Then we were escorted to our one and only interview of the day. Morning report followed, then off on a tour of the hospitals. Lunch with the residents lasted about an hour and a half, then a wrap up Q&A with the PD. My interview was laid back, but I really appreciated the fact that my interviewer had thoroughly read through my application. I got the feeling that he/she was really screening applicants based on how well they'd mesh with the program. I know this is the norm, but it was really apparent on this particular interview, and highlighted the fact that comraderie is very strong here.
Teaching/Research:The teaching at morning report is slanted heavily towards basic science, I'd estimate the ratio to be 60/40 (basic/clinical) at least. Lots of research going on, again seems to be much more heavily focused on basic science, not much talk of clinical trials. This might be due to the fact that there is very little pharma penetration into the program. Mentorship was easily accesible for those wishing to undertake research projects. I get the impression that pharm hosts 1-3 lunches/month and is given almost no input during hosted lectures (However, lunch is provided every day). Strong NIH funding, steadily increasing every year. The PD credits the NIH funding growth to a newly established informatics program that is just now coming online.
It was stressed that teaching on the wards is a major focus. Attendings get paid to teach on house months, and is conditional based on evaluations from residents and students. I shadowed a MICU team for about 35 minutes...so I can't attest to the quality of teaching. However, the residents consistently praised the attendings and it was mentioned multiple times throughout the day that the attendings have authored major studies in their respective fields.
PD:The PD is a very personable person, and I get the impression that feed back from residents is appreciated and he provided examples of where it was incorporated into program objectives. He spoke with us for abouth 30-45 minutes during the morning introduction, and the chair spoke for about 10 minutes. The PD was present throughout the day, and the interview concludes with a Q&A session with him.
Residents/Call: Pre-interview dinner was scheduled the night before the interview. (cannot comment...was unable to make it). Lunch during the interview was very very nice, and provided ample time to ask questions of residents. Residents were very personable and there was a strong sense of comraderie. The a rotating group from the intern class (as dictated by call schedule) hung out weekly. Not sure how hands on the program was...I get the sense that all procedures are done in the MICU, and much less so on the floor. The R3 I spoke with said he felt comfortable putting in lines.
Approximately 38 categorical residents are selected each year, with 4 chiefs.
Call at the Univ. hospital is Q4, at the VA is Q8, and in the MICU is Q3. The residents consistently said they actually had more time off during ICU months and were also least likely to infringe on the 80hr/week during this rotation.
Fellowships:Approximately 75-80% of residents pursue fellowship training, with many staying at Vandy. No fellowship match list was provided during the interview, however, a roster of graduated residents with the location of fellowship is provided online (http://medicine.mc.vanderbilt.edu/Templates/TemplateDivision.aspx?qs=cElEPTI5Nw==). Fellowship placement appears to be very good.
Hospital: Very, very nice facilities. It is a "private" hospital associated with a VA located adjacent to the university hospital. Tunnels allow you walk from hospital to hospital, if necessary as dictated by the weather. The VA is typical, though the VA conference room looks like the plasma TV aisle at Bestbuy...a temple of visual delights.
The MICU is 29 beds, a convenient printout of pts reduces note taking, and C.O.W.s (computer on wheels) were used for pulling up x-rays on rounds...not sure if it was possible to enter orders from the C.O.W.s. There were private call rooms, as well as large work rooms with multiple computers. Did not see the cafeteria during the interview. Did not see the library.
Despite the fact that the hospital is "private," Tennessee has a form of universal coverage known as Tenn-Care, assuring that every resident of the state has access to healthcare as well as prescription meds. Indigent care was reported to me to be in the high teens (10-20%). There is a community hospital in the area that is not affiliated with the University.
Summary:
PRO's
- A very strong academic program with a well regarded reputation (regionally > nationally)
- Ample opportunity for research (within the normal time constraints of residency).
- Great mentorship
- Strong fellowship placement
- Safe, affordable, beautiful city...Nashville has to be seen to be appreciated. When you visit, make sure you drive along 21st/Hillsboro (opposite the direction of downtown) and take a look at some of the homes nestled in the foothills
- Strong emphasis on Quality improvement...each resident has to prepare and present a case where quality of care could have been improved and errors minimized.
CON's
- I did not get a sense the residents here were granted as much autonomy as I've seen at other programs (i.e. Parkland)...however, with that comes the fact that the program didn't seem quite as intense as other programs (i.e. Parkland)
- I didn't get the feeling that the program was as procedurally-oriented as at other institutions (comparing mainly to my home program).
Overall: Well known program, with a very strong reputation in the SE. My impression (through word of mouth from Chairs, PDs, and residents) is that it would rank just behind Duke and just ahead of UAB as far as regional reputation. Nashville is a great town with plenty of entertainment (stong music industry presence), shopping, etc. with the population est. at 1,000,000. The area is beautiful, with rolling hills, hardwoods, and moderate weather. The city is locate near the foothills of the Appalachian mtns...so hiking, camping, white water rafting (Tennessee has some of the best white water) and Mt. biking is easily accessible. The cost of living is cheap, even when comparing to other southern cities with less to offer. About half the residents purchase condos (downtown within minutes from the hospital), with the other half purchasing homes in the surrounding suburbs. Condos range $160-180s per the residents I spoke with. The undergrad campus is located directly across the street...the immediately surrounding area has a young, "hip" vibe. Restaurants and pubs a-plenty. Nashville is to CMT what NY/LA is to MTV...i.e. the musicians/celebrities live, eat and recreate here.
Interview day: Breakfast consisted of bagels and coffee...somewhat of a step down from that provided on other interview days. Bagels, muffins, coffee, and cereal bars were available at morning report...not sure if this is normal or present for the benefit of interviwees. The PD and Chair spoke during introductions, which was followed by rounding with the teams. Then we were escorted to our one and only interview of the day. Morning report followed, then off on a tour of the hospitals. Lunch with the residents lasted about an hour and a half, then a wrap up Q&A with the PD. My interview was laid back, but I really appreciated the fact that my interviewer had thoroughly read through my application. I got the feeling that he/she was really screening applicants based on how well they'd mesh with the program. I know this is the norm, but it was really apparent on this particular interview, and highlighted the fact that comraderie is very strong here.
Teaching/Research:The teaching at morning report is slanted heavily towards basic science, I'd estimate the ratio to be 60/40 (basic/clinical) at least. Lots of research going on, again seems to be much more heavily focused on basic science, not much talk of clinical trials. This might be due to the fact that there is very little pharma penetration into the program. Mentorship was easily accesible for those wishing to undertake research projects. I get the impression that pharm hosts 1-3 lunches/month and is given almost no input during hosted lectures (However, lunch is provided every day). Strong NIH funding, steadily increasing every year. The PD credits the NIH funding growth to a newly established informatics program that is just now coming online.
It was stressed that teaching on the wards is a major focus. Attendings get paid to teach on house months, and is conditional based on evaluations from residents and students. I shadowed a MICU team for about 35 minutes...so I can't attest to the quality of teaching. However, the residents consistently praised the attendings and it was mentioned multiple times throughout the day that the attendings have authored major studies in their respective fields.
PD:The PD is a very personable person, and I get the impression that feed back from residents is appreciated and he provided examples of where it was incorporated into program objectives. He spoke with us for abouth 30-45 minutes during the morning introduction, and the chair spoke for about 10 minutes. The PD was present throughout the day, and the interview concludes with a Q&A session with him.
Residents/Call: Pre-interview dinner was scheduled the night before the interview. (cannot comment...was unable to make it). Lunch during the interview was very very nice, and provided ample time to ask questions of residents. Residents were very personable and there was a strong sense of comraderie. The a rotating group from the intern class (as dictated by call schedule) hung out weekly. Not sure how hands on the program was...I get the sense that all procedures are done in the MICU, and much less so on the floor. The R3 I spoke with said he felt comfortable putting in lines.
Approximately 38 categorical residents are selected each year, with 4 chiefs.
Call at the Univ. hospital is Q4, at the VA is Q8, and in the MICU is Q3. The residents consistently said they actually had more time off during ICU months and were also least likely to infringe on the 80hr/week during this rotation.
Fellowships:Approximately 75-80% of residents pursue fellowship training, with many staying at Vandy. No fellowship match list was provided during the interview, however, a roster of graduated residents with the location of fellowship is provided online (http://medicine.mc.vanderbilt.edu/Templates/TemplateDivision.aspx?qs=cElEPTI5Nw==). Fellowship placement appears to be very good.
Hospital: Very, very nice facilities. It is a "private" hospital associated with a VA located adjacent to the university hospital. Tunnels allow you walk from hospital to hospital, if necessary as dictated by the weather. The VA is typical, though the VA conference room looks like the plasma TV aisle at Bestbuy...a temple of visual delights.
The MICU is 29 beds, a convenient printout of pts reduces note taking, and C.O.W.s (computer on wheels) were used for pulling up x-rays on rounds...not sure if it was possible to enter orders from the C.O.W.s. There were private call rooms, as well as large work rooms with multiple computers. Did not see the cafeteria during the interview. Did not see the library.
Despite the fact that the hospital is "private," Tennessee has a form of universal coverage known as Tenn-Care, assuring that every resident of the state has access to healthcare as well as prescription meds. Indigent care was reported to me to be in the high teens (10-20%). There is a community hospital in the area that is not affiliated with the University.
Summary:
PRO's
- A very strong academic program with a well regarded reputation (regionally > nationally)
- Ample opportunity for research (within the normal time constraints of residency).
- Great mentorship
- Strong fellowship placement
- Safe, affordable, beautiful city...Nashville has to be seen to be appreciated. When you visit, make sure you drive along 21st/Hillsboro (opposite the direction of downtown) and take a look at some of the homes nestled in the foothills
- Strong emphasis on Quality improvement...each resident has to prepare and present a case where quality of care could have been improved and errors minimized.
CON's
- I did not get a sense the residents here were granted as much autonomy as I've seen at other programs (i.e. Parkland)...however, with that comes the fact that the program didn't seem quite as intense as other programs (i.e. Parkland)
- I didn't get the feeling that the program was as procedurally-oriented as at other institutions (comparing mainly to my home program).
H
happytime
Not as exhaustive as some, but here are the high points ...
University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Medical Center, Miami, FL
Jackson Memorial (county hospital) plus VA plus newly acquired private hospital, residents should be rotating through there soon
Level of happiness of residents: high
Fellowship placement: seemed mostly local/regional; many return to home country after training; one resident I spoke is to going into cards locally after graduating (quite happily)
What you liked most about this program: Location, high patient volume with advanced/unusual pathology, strong clinical focus, emphasis on mentoring, diversity of patients and residents, warm & friendly locals, help with board exams & fellowship placement, four weeks of vacation annually, night float, procedure team available to help you with procedures during the day so you get out on time when post-call (or whenever), strong emphasis on supporting the interns (no leaving you stranded), you get paid extra for shifts where you get called in to cover another residents emergency absence, they went out of their way to declare themselves family friendly, pretty grounds, nice enough facilities for being a county hospital
What you liked least: No work rooms for each team there are conference rooms for rounding with attendings, but the rest of the time you carry your bag around like a vagrant (or just stuff your pockets). There is a lounge, but I like having a dedicated workspace where I can sit and think and have a little personal space. Also some concern about prestige (for future outside fellowship placement).
Overall impression/Other comments: I think this program is something of a hidden gem the people were so great, the location is amazing, the cost of living is fair. Id recommend it to someone considering IM and especially ID. Spanish would make your life easier in Miami, but they kept telling us you can get by without it. You need to be comfortable with using translators in any case because about 20% of the patients speak Haitian Creole. I had a great interview day there overall.
University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Medical Center, Miami, FL
Jackson Memorial (county hospital) plus VA plus newly acquired private hospital, residents should be rotating through there soon
Level of happiness of residents: high
Fellowship placement: seemed mostly local/regional; many return to home country after training; one resident I spoke is to going into cards locally after graduating (quite happily)
What you liked most about this program: Location, high patient volume with advanced/unusual pathology, strong clinical focus, emphasis on mentoring, diversity of patients and residents, warm & friendly locals, help with board exams & fellowship placement, four weeks of vacation annually, night float, procedure team available to help you with procedures during the day so you get out on time when post-call (or whenever), strong emphasis on supporting the interns (no leaving you stranded), you get paid extra for shifts where you get called in to cover another residents emergency absence, they went out of their way to declare themselves family friendly, pretty grounds, nice enough facilities for being a county hospital
What you liked least: No work rooms for each team there are conference rooms for rounding with attendings, but the rest of the time you carry your bag around like a vagrant (or just stuff your pockets). There is a lounge, but I like having a dedicated workspace where I can sit and think and have a little personal space. Also some concern about prestige (for future outside fellowship placement).
Overall impression/Other comments: I think this program is something of a hidden gem the people were so great, the location is amazing, the cost of living is fair. Id recommend it to someone considering IM and especially ID. Spanish would make your life easier in Miami, but they kept telling us you can get by without it. You need to be comfortable with using translators in any case because about 20% of the patients speak Haitian Creole. I had a great interview day there overall.
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2005
- Messages
- 764
- Reaction score
- 4
Did the PD or Chair at Miami comment on the recent acquisition of Cardiology "bigwigs" from Duke*? I assume this will dramatically affect the fellowship match within the next couple of years.
*basing this on info. posted in this forum last year.
*basing this on info. posted in this forum last year.
H
happytime
The PD and residents all mentioned the new faculty - lots of new cards people, a new chairman, I think some other prestigious additions ... I'm not interested in cards so I wasn't memorizing the details, but they seemed excited about it. The resident I met going into cards at Miami next year is extremely happy with the program.
I also liked that the PD emphasized that their primary mission was caring for the underserved people of Dade County while training physicians. I just thought that was nice ... instead of endless bragging about this or that, he plainly stated, you need to be interested in our mission, we care about our patients. Not that anyone doesn't - he just made a point of mentioning it several times.
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2007
- Messages
- 79
- Reaction score
- 0
Overall: Very short interview day (9am 12pm). Day started with one hour overview by PD, then ½ of us went on tours while others had interview (only 1 interview). Then we switched. At noon they had optional noon conference (which everyone sticked around for) and then optional tour of housing. Was out of there by 1:10pm. Very nice hospital with happy residents. Appears to be a cush program (especially during PGY2 and PGY3 years. Clinical + Academic training appear to be mediocre. Main affiliations are with NYU and AECOM.
PD/Chairman: We met with the PD @ 9am where she gave us a one hour overview of the program. She appeared to be very cheery with the chiefs, but didnt get to see her interact with the any of the other residents. She seemed like she looks out for housestaff first and appeared like she was open to housestaff concerns. Infact, they try to make changes to curriculum as concerns are brought up.
We didnt have any interaction with the chairman at all. He is the chairman for both NSUH AND LIJ (the same does not hold true for the PD ie: there is a different PD for the LIJ IM program). Didnt get a real sense of how much time he actually spends with the housestaff either. This is important since those who want to apply to competitive fellowships need to have good relationship with PD and chairman. Not sure if that is the case here. There is this chairmans rounds q week, but with 7-8 other vice-chairmans, they really didnt clarify who actually runs the chairmans rounds.
Residents:
Overall seemed very nice, happy, and were constantly joking around with each other. Most of them were from new york MD programs, a few were from local DO schools. I believe there are 24 categorical spots and 12 prelim q year. Did not meet any FMGs during interview day. There are a lot of department sponsored events which everyone goes too. In addition the housestaff hang out a lot as well. Cooperation with other IM departmetns is good, however didnt get a great sence of cooperation with other departments in the hospital (i.e. Surgery, radiology, etc.)
Most lived in housing on campus. The housing was REALLY nice and it was CHEAP for the new york area. I belive there were 3 apt buildings, which have studios, 1-3 bedroom apartments.
As for workload, they described tough intern year (but I guess thats expected) but then once you get to PGY2 PGY3 its supposed to be pretty chill. As per the PD, on average when on the floors average work week is 60 hrs. Only in the ICU do you get up to 80 hrs/wk.
Compensation: as per PD, this is one of the highest paying residencies in the US. PGY1s start at > $56,000 with a raise q 6 months!!!!
Hospital:
The hospital is considered a quaternary care facility. Its really nice and clean. Im not 100% on this but I belive there are about 800 beds of which half are medicine. The ancillary services are supposed to be AMAZING. In fact, they have to give PGY2s a dedicated 2 week procedure time so they can go around with phlebotomists to practice doing blood draws. Since most patients (approx. >50%) are private, not sure how many procedures housestaff get to do anyway (ie: LP).
Surprisingly for such a big hospital, which is considered to be one of the few hospitals making money in NY state, they still have written notes and orders. Labs and Imaging is digitized, but not progress notes and orders. Apparently you just write the orders out and a secretary inputs them. As per the PD, they are in the process of phasing in an electronic system but the residents made it seem like they say that every year. From speaking with a few of the residents and my interviewer, I dont think itll be up and running in the next 3 years.
Research/Mentorship:
For not having their own dedicated medical school, they actually have tons of research. They actually handed us packets of recent publications and presentations done by housestaff .it was a lot. They do have a research building where many of the MDs do some kind of bench research. From the PD and housestaff standpoint, the program does encourage a lot of research but like everywhere else, you have to be proactive. They have a list of mentors and their research interests provided to housestaff. If you do get research done and is gets accepted for presentation at a conference, the department will pay for your trip. They department also has its own research day.
Fellowships:
They provided the name of each graduating resident for last 3 years and spelled out exactly where they went (I love it when they do this). For last year class (n=23) to name a few: 8 going to be hospitalists, 3 into cardio (2 were chiefs), 1 cardiac imaging fellowship (I guess you do this if you didnt match into cardio?), 3 heme onc, 2 nephrology, 2 pulm/crit care. Most of the fellowship matches are into the North shore so they like to take their own graduates.
As for how many people actually applied to cardio last year? Not sure, but given current trends Im sure it was more than 3 and given the large number of their housestaff going onto hospitalist position, I would assume it was more than 3.
Rotations:
6 months inpatient. Now eventhough there are 400 medicine beds, the housestaff are NOT responsible for all of them. The PD described that housestaff census is usually 8-10 but do admit that sometimes it can get up to 12. There are 8 teams total, 3 are service only, and the remainder are basically private patietns. With the service teams obviously there is greater autonomy and more teaching. With the non-service teams, there apparently is a teaching attending who you round with 3x/wk, but the physician of record is the patients private physician who (as per one resident) you do have to hunt down sometimes. You admit up to 5 pts on your call days which is q4 and you can admit up to 2 on post call days. However, you dont admit on the other two days. B/c of this setup it is possible to dwindle down your list to < 3-4 before your call comes up.
Other rotatiosn, 4 weeks each: night float, CCU, MICU, amb, Hem/Onc, elective, vacation
Location:
SUBURBIA!!! There were trees everywhere. Its located in Manhasset, which I believe is <30 minute express train ride into NYC. Its a nice area with Macys nearby, some decent shopping and restaurants. Its not NYC, but it has a big little town type feel. Appeared to be a safe area.
Summary:
Pros
Small incoming class, great housestaff, excellent ancillary support, PD seemed cool and cordial, salary + benefits (forgot to mention food with q conference, and you get meal points to use in cafeteria), relatively strong in research
Cons:
No electronic medical records, having to hunt down attending when not on service teams, suburbia, didnt seem like you have significant exposure to chairman,
PD/Chairman: We met with the PD @ 9am where she gave us a one hour overview of the program. She appeared to be very cheery with the chiefs, but didnt get to see her interact with the any of the other residents. She seemed like she looks out for housestaff first and appeared like she was open to housestaff concerns. Infact, they try to make changes to curriculum as concerns are brought up.
We didnt have any interaction with the chairman at all. He is the chairman for both NSUH AND LIJ (the same does not hold true for the PD ie: there is a different PD for the LIJ IM program). Didnt get a real sense of how much time he actually spends with the housestaff either. This is important since those who want to apply to competitive fellowships need to have good relationship with PD and chairman. Not sure if that is the case here. There is this chairmans rounds q week, but with 7-8 other vice-chairmans, they really didnt clarify who actually runs the chairmans rounds.
Residents:
Overall seemed very nice, happy, and were constantly joking around with each other. Most of them were from new york MD programs, a few were from local DO schools. I believe there are 24 categorical spots and 12 prelim q year. Did not meet any FMGs during interview day. There are a lot of department sponsored events which everyone goes too. In addition the housestaff hang out a lot as well. Cooperation with other IM departmetns is good, however didnt get a great sence of cooperation with other departments in the hospital (i.e. Surgery, radiology, etc.)
Most lived in housing on campus. The housing was REALLY nice and it was CHEAP for the new york area. I belive there were 3 apt buildings, which have studios, 1-3 bedroom apartments.
As for workload, they described tough intern year (but I guess thats expected) but then once you get to PGY2 PGY3 its supposed to be pretty chill. As per the PD, on average when on the floors average work week is 60 hrs. Only in the ICU do you get up to 80 hrs/wk.
Compensation: as per PD, this is one of the highest paying residencies in the US. PGY1s start at > $56,000 with a raise q 6 months!!!!
Hospital:
The hospital is considered a quaternary care facility. Its really nice and clean. Im not 100% on this but I belive there are about 800 beds of which half are medicine. The ancillary services are supposed to be AMAZING. In fact, they have to give PGY2s a dedicated 2 week procedure time so they can go around with phlebotomists to practice doing blood draws. Since most patients (approx. >50%) are private, not sure how many procedures housestaff get to do anyway (ie: LP).
Surprisingly for such a big hospital, which is considered to be one of the few hospitals making money in NY state, they still have written notes and orders. Labs and Imaging is digitized, but not progress notes and orders. Apparently you just write the orders out and a secretary inputs them. As per the PD, they are in the process of phasing in an electronic system but the residents made it seem like they say that every year. From speaking with a few of the residents and my interviewer, I dont think itll be up and running in the next 3 years.
Research/Mentorship:
For not having their own dedicated medical school, they actually have tons of research. They actually handed us packets of recent publications and presentations done by housestaff .it was a lot. They do have a research building where many of the MDs do some kind of bench research. From the PD and housestaff standpoint, the program does encourage a lot of research but like everywhere else, you have to be proactive. They have a list of mentors and their research interests provided to housestaff. If you do get research done and is gets accepted for presentation at a conference, the department will pay for your trip. They department also has its own research day.
Fellowships:
They provided the name of each graduating resident for last 3 years and spelled out exactly where they went (I love it when they do this). For last year class (n=23) to name a few: 8 going to be hospitalists, 3 into cardio (2 were chiefs), 1 cardiac imaging fellowship (I guess you do this if you didnt match into cardio?), 3 heme onc, 2 nephrology, 2 pulm/crit care. Most of the fellowship matches are into the North shore so they like to take their own graduates.
As for how many people actually applied to cardio last year? Not sure, but given current trends Im sure it was more than 3 and given the large number of their housestaff going onto hospitalist position, I would assume it was more than 3.
Rotations:
6 months inpatient. Now eventhough there are 400 medicine beds, the housestaff are NOT responsible for all of them. The PD described that housestaff census is usually 8-10 but do admit that sometimes it can get up to 12. There are 8 teams total, 3 are service only, and the remainder are basically private patietns. With the service teams obviously there is greater autonomy and more teaching. With the non-service teams, there apparently is a teaching attending who you round with 3x/wk, but the physician of record is the patients private physician who (as per one resident) you do have to hunt down sometimes. You admit up to 5 pts on your call days which is q4 and you can admit up to 2 on post call days. However, you dont admit on the other two days. B/c of this setup it is possible to dwindle down your list to < 3-4 before your call comes up.
Other rotatiosn, 4 weeks each: night float, CCU, MICU, amb, Hem/Onc, elective, vacation
Location:
SUBURBIA!!! There were trees everywhere. Its located in Manhasset, which I believe is <30 minute express train ride into NYC. Its a nice area with Macys nearby, some decent shopping and restaurants. Its not NYC, but it has a big little town type feel. Appeared to be a safe area.
Summary:
Pros
Small incoming class, great housestaff, excellent ancillary support, PD seemed cool and cordial, salary + benefits (forgot to mention food with q conference, and you get meal points to use in cafeteria), relatively strong in research
Cons:
No electronic medical records, having to hunt down attending when not on service teams, suburbia, didnt seem like you have significant exposure to chairman,
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2007
- Messages
- 79
- Reaction score
- 0
In my (unexpert) opinion I would have to say North Shore. Mostly I say that b/c I think North shore is more academic.
that being said, I only applied to north shore and not LIJ so I don't have their fellowship match list to compare who goes on to better fellowships. Maybe someone who interviewed at LIJ can comment?
that being said, I only applied to north shore and not LIJ so I don't have their fellowship match list to compare who goes on to better fellowships. Maybe someone who interviewed at LIJ can comment?
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2006
- Messages
- 69,368
- Reaction score
- 61,671
I'm not as organized or fancy in my review . . . but here's some of what I remember and my gut feelings
I really, really, really, liked this program. Three hospitals the U, the VA, and a brand new hospital IHC (replaced the old LDS hospital). Mostly electronic record system - great ancillary staff per the house staff. Heavy inpatient/critical care training, especially first year - 5 months gen med, 2 months ICU (these months seem to have BOTH MICU and CCU patients on service - so you will round with more than one attending while on service, but the residents seemed to think this was as streamlined as possible). Oppourtunity to do shock/trauma month at the IHC 2nd and 3rd year - two months ICU 2nd and 3rd year. Call is par for the course q4 - no night float for interns (interns didn't seem to think this was a problem). Night floats for junior and senior residents. Busy, but rarely cap, normally 5-8 patients per day (busy is a positive feature for me and I'm not interested in "cush"). Facilities are mostly new - VA is only a few years old and the U is very nice (if this matters). Residents seemed happy. I was very impressed with the PD - personable, easy to talk to - residents feel like she is a big advocate for them. Lots of fellowship oppourtunities, especially heme/onc - with a nice cancer hospital. Research oppourtunities if you want them. Large referral area - look at a map, nothing like a university program anywhere near until you get to Colorado, UCSF, UW - like I said, look at a map - same for the VA. If the "social scene" is very important to you, SLC is not a Chicago, or SanFran, or a NYC, but the residents seemed to think it was much more "interesting" than they expected. Lots of "outdoorsy" stuff to do, trail running, mountain biking, hiking, camping - SKIING! (spoke to a junior resident who said he made it up onto the mountain like 47 times during internship). Clean city. Affordable housing.
edit: almost forgot mountain climbing
I really, really, really, liked this program. Three hospitals the U, the VA, and a brand new hospital IHC (replaced the old LDS hospital). Mostly electronic record system - great ancillary staff per the house staff. Heavy inpatient/critical care training, especially first year - 5 months gen med, 2 months ICU (these months seem to have BOTH MICU and CCU patients on service - so you will round with more than one attending while on service, but the residents seemed to think this was as streamlined as possible). Oppourtunity to do shock/trauma month at the IHC 2nd and 3rd year - two months ICU 2nd and 3rd year. Call is par for the course q4 - no night float for interns (interns didn't seem to think this was a problem). Night floats for junior and senior residents. Busy, but rarely cap, normally 5-8 patients per day (busy is a positive feature for me and I'm not interested in "cush"). Facilities are mostly new - VA is only a few years old and the U is very nice (if this matters). Residents seemed happy. I was very impressed with the PD - personable, easy to talk to - residents feel like she is a big advocate for them. Lots of fellowship oppourtunities, especially heme/onc - with a nice cancer hospital. Research oppourtunities if you want them. Large referral area - look at a map, nothing like a university program anywhere near until you get to Colorado, UCSF, UW - like I said, look at a map - same for the VA. If the "social scene" is very important to you, SLC is not a Chicago, or SanFran, or a NYC, but the residents seemed to think it was much more "interesting" than they expected. Lots of "outdoorsy" stuff to do, trail running, mountain biking, hiking, camping - SKIING! (spoke to a junior resident who said he made it up onto the mountain like 47 times during internship
). Clean city. Affordable housing.edit: almost forgot mountain climbing
H
happytime
Any feedback yet for Emory/Grady?
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2007
- Messages
- 79
- Reaction score
- 0
Overall:
A pretty long interview day starts at 8am and ended near 4pm. Actual interviews are later in the day after lunch. At first I wasnt a huge fan of this, but it wasnt a problem at all. The day itself was awesome. Had tons of exposure to interns and senior residents right from the moment we arrived. We saw resident report in the morning (led by PD and chairman which was awesome), then tours, 1 hr meeting with the chair and PD, lunch/noon conference, interviews, and one hour wrap-up (with wine, beer, and cheese). All residents/interns seemed happy, ancillary support excellent, big focus on academics and developing leadership skills.
PD/Chairman: We met both of them first thing on the morning. They are absolutely awesome. They kept the entire room laughing for the entirety of the day. Both are very smart and know their stuff. Residents were getting grilled during the report. While the residents admit this is stressing, but it keeps them on their toes and they really get to know there material and their patients. One PGY3 said that once you finish PGY2, it seems as if the chairman and PD start treating you as colleagues.
Both of them are also heavily involved in research and promote this onto their housestaff. They also love teaching and it shows. In summary: they spend a lot of time with hoursestaff and the housestaff love them!!
Residents:
Like I said, when we got there at 8am, interns were already there. Applicants (we) did not waste any time asking questions. All of them said they love the program. They work hard, and are tested/pimped a lot, but they appreciate it and it makes them better physicians. Interviews were held in a 2 hr block, and in between interviews we would hang out in the conference room where again there were tons of interns. At the one hour wrap up sessions there were more interns (I think the free beer and wine helped!).
Incoming categoricals are 35, not sure how many prelims. Although they have subsidized housing, not everyone gets it. Apparently there were many problems with housing in the recent past, most of which was due to the lady in charge. As per some interns, they have now replaced this lady so the housing situation for next years class should be better.
They said that the program was pretty compliant with the 80 hr work week.
Hospital:
Mt Sinai is a huge private hospital that doesnt have any big university associated with it. There are 2-3 buildings (at minimum), but all the patietns are in one building. The patient population is mixed with the rich upper east side folks with their private attendings and then also the indigent population of south harlem.
Computers are everywhere, but progress notes are still hand written. The one and only complaint I heard all day from the housestaff is that there are so many different computer softwares. There is one for imaging, another for labs, another which gets labs faster, another for entering orders, the ED has its own separate system, the outpatient clinics have a separate system, etc. They said yes it is a pain in the ass but everyone kind of gets used to it. No idea if they have any future plans to consolidate everything and get one system with electronic medical records.
Ancillary staff at Mt Sinai is supposed to be excellent. Most of imaging studies are done the same day with all being completed within 24 hrs. The only time residents get called is if nurses have tried 4-5 x for blood draw and then resident usually just has to do an arterial stick.
The other hospitals that residents rotate through are Elmhurst and Bronx VA. Elmherst hospital apparently has the most diverse population anywhere. People get off of planes at LGA and go straight to this hospital. Pathology is second to none here! Its very busy when you rotate through here but the residents say that everyone gets through
The Bronx VA is supposed to be like every other VA in the country. I believe you do 1-2 months over there q year.
Research/Mentorship:
In the last 6 yrs they have gone from being #40 in research funds to I believe this year they will be somewhere around 11-12. This is huge especially considering they dont have a huge university associated with them.
Scholarly activity is required of all housestaff and you are paired up with someone almost immediately. You are assigned a mentor right after match day. Apparently one of the associate PD contacts the incoming interns shortly after match day and gets their interests and they are immediately paired up with a mentor. You then work with this mentor figuring out what kind of research needs to be done and when to do it. Almost everyone gets stuff published or at least presented at some meeting. At the end of every year they have a big research day where everyone presents their stuff.
Fellowships:
Last year only one of the outgoing residents didnt match into a fellowship, but the rest did. Even the one who didnt is gonna do 1 yr hospitalist stint and then reapply. The PD spends a lot of time making phone calls and getting people into fellowship spots. The match for GI from mt sinai is sick( mt sinai, BIDC, nyu, UPENN, to name a few)!!! This is not surprising since Mt Sinai is one of the world leaders in GI (i.e. this is where Chron's was discovered by...you guessed it...Dr. Crohns).
Cardio match was ok (most going onto local places like a few at mt sinai, Elmhurst, Montefiore)
Rotations:
For categoricals you spend majority of your year on the wards at the three hospitals.
Remaining time: 1 month elec., 1 month vac, 2 month outpatient, 1 month ER, and 1 month CCU.
No MICU rotation for itnerns. MICU is run only by 2nd and 3rd years.
Location:
Great location! Its at 100th and Madison. Great views of NYC, tons of restaurants, not a lot of parking, housing nearyby, subways nearby. C'mon....its NYC....greatest city in the world (I know i'm gonna get grief for saying that!!)
Summary:
Pros
Loved the PD and chairman, great camaraderie b/w housestaff, ancillary staff excellent, excellent fellowship placement, NYC
Cons:
No EMR, too many computer softwares, cant think of anything else
A pretty long interview day starts at 8am and ended near 4pm. Actual interviews are later in the day after lunch. At first I wasnt a huge fan of this, but it wasnt a problem at all. The day itself was awesome. Had tons of exposure to interns and senior residents right from the moment we arrived. We saw resident report in the morning (led by PD and chairman which was awesome), then tours, 1 hr meeting with the chair and PD, lunch/noon conference, interviews, and one hour wrap-up (with wine, beer, and cheese). All residents/interns seemed happy, ancillary support excellent, big focus on academics and developing leadership skills.
PD/Chairman: We met both of them first thing on the morning. They are absolutely awesome. They kept the entire room laughing for the entirety of the day. Both are very smart and know their stuff. Residents were getting grilled during the report. While the residents admit this is stressing, but it keeps them on their toes and they really get to know there material and their patients. One PGY3 said that once you finish PGY2, it seems as if the chairman and PD start treating you as colleagues.
Both of them are also heavily involved in research and promote this onto their housestaff. They also love teaching and it shows. In summary: they spend a lot of time with hoursestaff and the housestaff love them!!
Residents:
Like I said, when we got there at 8am, interns were already there. Applicants (we) did not waste any time asking questions. All of them said they love the program. They work hard, and are tested/pimped a lot, but they appreciate it and it makes them better physicians. Interviews were held in a 2 hr block, and in between interviews we would hang out in the conference room where again there were tons of interns. At the one hour wrap up sessions there were more interns (I think the free beer and wine helped!).
Incoming categoricals are 35, not sure how many prelims. Although they have subsidized housing, not everyone gets it. Apparently there were many problems with housing in the recent past, most of which was due to the lady in charge. As per some interns, they have now replaced this lady so the housing situation for next years class should be better.
They said that the program was pretty compliant with the 80 hr work week.
Hospital:
Mt Sinai is a huge private hospital that doesnt have any big university associated with it. There are 2-3 buildings (at minimum), but all the patietns are in one building. The patient population is mixed with the rich upper east side folks with their private attendings and then also the indigent population of south harlem.
Computers are everywhere, but progress notes are still hand written. The one and only complaint I heard all day from the housestaff is that there are so many different computer softwares. There is one for imaging, another for labs, another which gets labs faster, another for entering orders, the ED has its own separate system, the outpatient clinics have a separate system, etc. They said yes it is a pain in the ass but everyone kind of gets used to it. No idea if they have any future plans to consolidate everything and get one system with electronic medical records.
Ancillary staff at Mt Sinai is supposed to be excellent. Most of imaging studies are done the same day with all being completed within 24 hrs. The only time residents get called is if nurses have tried 4-5 x for blood draw and then resident usually just has to do an arterial stick.
The other hospitals that residents rotate through are Elmhurst and Bronx VA. Elmherst hospital apparently has the most diverse population anywhere. People get off of planes at LGA and go straight to this hospital. Pathology is second to none here! Its very busy when you rotate through here but the residents say that everyone gets through
The Bronx VA is supposed to be like every other VA in the country. I believe you do 1-2 months over there q year.
Research/Mentorship:
In the last 6 yrs they have gone from being #40 in research funds to I believe this year they will be somewhere around 11-12. This is huge especially considering they dont have a huge university associated with them.
Scholarly activity is required of all housestaff and you are paired up with someone almost immediately. You are assigned a mentor right after match day. Apparently one of the associate PD contacts the incoming interns shortly after match day and gets their interests and they are immediately paired up with a mentor. You then work with this mentor figuring out what kind of research needs to be done and when to do it. Almost everyone gets stuff published or at least presented at some meeting. At the end of every year they have a big research day where everyone presents their stuff.
Fellowships:
Last year only one of the outgoing residents didnt match into a fellowship, but the rest did. Even the one who didnt is gonna do 1 yr hospitalist stint and then reapply. The PD spends a lot of time making phone calls and getting people into fellowship spots. The match for GI from mt sinai is sick( mt sinai, BIDC, nyu, UPENN, to name a few)!!! This is not surprising since Mt Sinai is one of the world leaders in GI (i.e. this is where Chron's was discovered by...you guessed it...Dr. Crohns).
Cardio match was ok (most going onto local places like a few at mt sinai, Elmhurst, Montefiore)
Rotations:
For categoricals you spend majority of your year on the wards at the three hospitals.
Remaining time: 1 month elec., 1 month vac, 2 month outpatient, 1 month ER, and 1 month CCU.
No MICU rotation for itnerns. MICU is run only by 2nd and 3rd years.
Location:
Great location! Its at 100th and Madison. Great views of NYC, tons of restaurants, not a lot of parking, housing nearyby, subways nearby. C'mon....its NYC....greatest city in the world (I know i'm gonna get grief for saying that!!)
Summary:
Pros
Loved the PD and chairman, great camaraderie b/w housestaff, ancillary staff excellent, excellent fellowship placement, NYC
Cons:
No EMR, too many computer softwares, cant think of anything else
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2007
- Messages
- 44
- Reaction score
- 0
Has anyboby been there to have interview at their IM program for prelim year? Please share some impressions, thanks!
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2005
- Messages
- 764
- Reaction score
- 4
I will try to review Emory by the end of the week.
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2005
- Messages
- 764
- Reaction score
- 4
Overview: Pittsburgh is a beautiful city with loads to see and do. It was ranked "Most livable city for 2007" by Rand Mcnally, and "#1 Adventure city" by National Geographic. No small feat. for a city that was recently known for its steel mills and smoke stacks (of which I saw none). The air was very clean and crisp while walking downtown. I'd say the city is reasonably safe despite its looks...I had a few beers while watching the Steelers game in a bar on South side and walked back to the Wyndham downtown (bout a 25 min walk across the bridge). I was lucky to be in town during the Steeler's game and got to experience Pittsburgh's fanatic football fans. Pittsburgh is a 3 sports team city (so there's ample sporting events if you're so inclined) and also has an aquarium. Many residents purchase homes in the surrounding area, conversely, many choose to rent in the downtown area.
Program Director/Chairman: The interview started around 7:45am with an introduction by the chair, the only time he was present. Multiple comparisons were made to Harvard, both in regard to his perception of the strength of the UPMC program as well as noting his own BWH training. The hospital has consistently made the US News & WR honor roll as a "Best Hospital" and the banners are on every street corner (even the trainstation and in the restrooms!! this particular info. was via a PM from another member) you really can't visit Pittsburgh without noticing. The chair was very enthusiastic about the hospital, but his emphasis was definitely more on the business/financial aspect of UPMC. He drilled home the fact that UPMC has its own insurance, is undergoing international expansion, and is fiscally secure, yet, I don't recall him mentioning anything about patient interaction or patient care. The so-called ABC's here, according to the chair, were 1)Tertiary care with a large referral population, 2)Bread & Butter, 3) Indigent care...I did not get an impression of what % indigent patients make-up of overall patient population.
The PD was very enthusiastic, young, and vibrant. It's obvious she enjoys her job and I got the impression that she was very pro-resident. She was present throughout the day coordinating the transitions throughout the day. The emphasis of her presentation was on Individualization of the residency to suit the house staff examples included the fact that she created a "homeless patient care" program while she was a resident and drove home the point that the IM program will "accomodate your career goals" and if "we don't have it, we'll help you create it." Secondly, she emphasized mentorship and described as a coach/advisor who you're paired with for 3 years. Education on ward months was stressed, and she stated that this is paid/protected time and the attendings are present throughout the full four weeks. Lastly, she mentioned resident career development which is an extension of the mentorship where you meet with division chiefs and fellowship directors to help you network and plan the "next step." Again, very energetic and very pro-resident. She truly appears to be an asset to the program.
Residents: We met a variety of residents throughout the day from all years. Morning report is for upper level residents only. It was explained that the purpose was to go over the principles of work-up and management efficiently and not get caught up explaining rationale to the lowest common denominator (i.e. interns). The residents seemed to be knowledgeable and no one dropped the ball. Interns were present during lunch and seemed quite content with the schedule and work hours. One prelim intern switched into the medicine program which in my opinion speaks well of the lack of malignancy. Our tour guide was an R2 who was very happy with the program and would choose it again for training. He stated there's a great deal of autonomy at the university hospital and the VA and that the clinical training is excellent. One downside he noted was that the Heme Onc. service lacked the autonomy of other rotations (in my opinion this is understandable) and that procedures are a little harder to come by. This might be due to the fact that a fellow stays overnight in the MICU with the medicine team, given that most procedures during residency are learned while rotating in the ICU. I have to admit, that while the program is very large (~35 categorical housestaff in each year) we saw a very small percentage of the residents throughout the day, and I'm not sure why.
The chief resident gave a ppt presentation that again included US News & WR rankings (not saying this is a bad thing, just be prepared). He also gave the impression that residents had the opportunity to enjoy the city. He showed slides of monthly "Liver rounds" where the residents choose a bar in the city and meet for drinks.
Lifestyle: None of the residents I spoke with had any real complaints about the work hours...again, I saw a VERY small percentage of the housestaff. Call is typical Q4 on wards and Q3 in the MICU, however, there's 3 MICU teams and one nightfloat team covering the MICU...not sure how this works out, maybe this contributes to the difficulty gaining proficiency doing procedures. There's a daily noon conference (with free food) though, for some reason we did not attend!?!. Moonlighting is apparently allowed as it was brought up by the chief during his presentation and said to ask him questions about it if anyone is interested. The actual schedule of intern year was never discussed, but was provided in our packet.
PGY1: One month is provided for an ambulatory roation during the intern year as well as 2-3 months for electives. One month on Cards, One month on Heme/Onc, 3-4 General IM months, one MICU month and one CCU month.
Research: There is a big emphasis on mentoring here. You receive a mentor to guide you through the residency, as well as being put in touch with the directors of the fellowship programs. Research blocks are provided.
Fellowships: A list was provided with each resident's name and exactly where they matched for EVERY year dating back to 1998. They appear to do reasonably well in the match, with many matching in cards and GI. To my surprise, there weren't ANY matches at "the Brigham." This was VERY surprising given that both the chair of the IM program and the director of Rheumatology are both Brigham trained From a cursory once over, it appears that the chiefs do somewhat better in the match, as would be expected.
Conclusion:
Pro's
- Great city, loads to do
- strong academic program, consistently ranked among the top 20 (if you're into that)
- Private hospital, financially secure
- variety of career tracks: Primary care, Women;s Health, International scholars, Clinician scientist, Global Health track
- UPMC does appear take their own for fellowships, though, I don't know how many slots are available and how many of the slots are filled by UPMC grads
Con's
- Cards matching is questionable with 3 graduates doing a year in CHF/transplant, Cardiac imaging, and CHF...which I'm assuming is to increase the chance of matching into cards the following year?
- private hospital, questionable emphasis on indigent care
- questionable autonomy, honestly I got the feeling that residents were being groomed for private practice with a strong emphasis on consulting (a negative for me).
- questionable procedure/line placement...in the MICU this would seem to be relative to which fellow you happen to be on call with.
- with all the comparisons to Harvard, I expected to see graduates placing there as well as JHU, Cleveland Clinic, etc...unfortunately I did not see this on the provided fellowship list.
Fellowships 2006-07
Gastro:
Univ. of Pitt
Penn State
Univ. of Michigan
Univ. of Cincinatti
Cards
Temple Univ. x 2
Baylor College of Med.
UT Houston
Pulm
None
2005-06
Gastro
Wake Forest
Loyola
Univ. of Pitt
Cards
MCG
Univ. of Pitt x 3
Pulm
Univ. of Pitt
Program Director/Chairman: The interview started around 7:45am with an introduction by the chair, the only time he was present. Multiple comparisons were made to Harvard, both in regard to his perception of the strength of the UPMC program as well as noting his own BWH training. The hospital has consistently made the US News & WR honor roll as a "Best Hospital" and the banners are on every street corner (even the trainstation and in the restrooms!! this particular info. was via a PM from another member) you really can't visit Pittsburgh without noticing. The chair was very enthusiastic about the hospital, but his emphasis was definitely more on the business/financial aspect of UPMC. He drilled home the fact that UPMC has its own insurance, is undergoing international expansion, and is fiscally secure, yet, I don't recall him mentioning anything about patient interaction or patient care. The so-called ABC's here, according to the chair, were 1)Tertiary care with a large referral population, 2)Bread & Butter, 3) Indigent care...I did not get an impression of what % indigent patients make-up of overall patient population.
The PD was very enthusiastic, young, and vibrant. It's obvious she enjoys her job and I got the impression that she was very pro-resident. She was present throughout the day coordinating the transitions throughout the day. The emphasis of her presentation was on Individualization of the residency to suit the house staff examples included the fact that she created a "homeless patient care" program while she was a resident and drove home the point that the IM program will "accomodate your career goals" and if "we don't have it, we'll help you create it." Secondly, she emphasized mentorship and described as a coach/advisor who you're paired with for 3 years. Education on ward months was stressed, and she stated that this is paid/protected time and the attendings are present throughout the full four weeks. Lastly, she mentioned resident career development which is an extension of the mentorship where you meet with division chiefs and fellowship directors to help you network and plan the "next step." Again, very energetic and very pro-resident. She truly appears to be an asset to the program.
Residents: We met a variety of residents throughout the day from all years. Morning report is for upper level residents only. It was explained that the purpose was to go over the principles of work-up and management efficiently and not get caught up explaining rationale to the lowest common denominator (i.e. interns). The residents seemed to be knowledgeable and no one dropped the ball. Interns were present during lunch and seemed quite content with the schedule and work hours. One prelim intern switched into the medicine program which in my opinion speaks well of the lack of malignancy. Our tour guide was an R2 who was very happy with the program and would choose it again for training. He stated there's a great deal of autonomy at the university hospital and the VA and that the clinical training is excellent. One downside he noted was that the Heme Onc. service lacked the autonomy of other rotations (in my opinion this is understandable) and that procedures are a little harder to come by. This might be due to the fact that a fellow stays overnight in the MICU with the medicine team, given that most procedures during residency are learned while rotating in the ICU. I have to admit, that while the program is very large (~35 categorical housestaff in each year) we saw a very small percentage of the residents throughout the day, and I'm not sure why.
The chief resident gave a ppt presentation that again included US News & WR rankings (not saying this is a bad thing, just be prepared). He also gave the impression that residents had the opportunity to enjoy the city. He showed slides of monthly "Liver rounds" where the residents choose a bar in the city and meet for drinks.
Lifestyle: None of the residents I spoke with had any real complaints about the work hours...again, I saw a VERY small percentage of the housestaff. Call is typical Q4 on wards and Q3 in the MICU, however, there's 3 MICU teams and one nightfloat team covering the MICU...not sure how this works out, maybe this contributes to the difficulty gaining proficiency doing procedures. There's a daily noon conference (with free food) though, for some reason we did not attend!?!. Moonlighting is apparently allowed as it was brought up by the chief during his presentation and said to ask him questions about it if anyone is interested. The actual schedule of intern year was never discussed, but was provided in our packet.
PGY1: One month is provided for an ambulatory roation during the intern year as well as 2-3 months for electives. One month on Cards, One month on Heme/Onc, 3-4 General IM months, one MICU month and one CCU month.
Research: There is a big emphasis on mentoring here. You receive a mentor to guide you through the residency, as well as being put in touch with the directors of the fellowship programs. Research blocks are provided.
Fellowships: A list was provided with each resident's name and exactly where they matched for EVERY year dating back to 1998
. They appear to do reasonably well in the match, with many matching in cards and GI. To my surprise, there weren't ANY matches at "the Brigham." This was VERY surprising given that both the chair of the IM program and the director of Rheumatology are both Brigham trained From a cursory once over, it appears that the chiefs do somewhat better in the match, as would be expected. Conclusion:
Pro's
- Great city, loads to do
- strong academic program, consistently ranked among the top 20 (if you're into that)
- Private hospital, financially secure
- variety of career tracks: Primary care, Women;s Health, International scholars, Clinician scientist, Global Health track
- UPMC does appear take their own for fellowships, though, I don't know how many slots are available and how many of the slots are filled by UPMC grads
Con's
- Cards matching is questionable with 3 graduates doing a year in CHF/transplant, Cardiac imaging, and CHF...which I'm assuming is to increase the chance of matching into cards the following year?
- private hospital, questionable emphasis on indigent care
- questionable autonomy, honestly I got the feeling that residents were being groomed for private practice with a strong emphasis on consulting (a negative for me).
- questionable procedure/line placement...in the MICU this would seem to be relative to which fellow you happen to be on call with.
- with all the comparisons to Harvard, I expected to see graduates placing there as well as JHU, Cleveland Clinic, etc...unfortunately I did not see this on the provided fellowship list.
Fellowships 2006-07
Gastro:
Univ. of Pitt
Penn State
Univ. of Michigan
Univ. of Cincinatti
Cards
Temple Univ. x 2
Baylor College of Med.
UT Houston
Pulm
None
2005-06
Gastro
Wake Forest
Loyola
Univ. of Pitt
Cards
MCG
Univ. of Pitt x 3
Pulm
Univ. of Pitt
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2003
- Messages
- 1,168
- Reaction score
- 11
I'm not as organized or fancy in my review . . . but here's some of what I remember and my gut feelings
I really, really, really, liked this program. Three hospitals the U, the VA, and a brand new hospital IHC (replaced the old LDS hospital). Mostly electronic record system - great ancillary staff per the house staff. Heavy inpatient/critical care training, especially first year - 5 months gen med, 2 months ICU (these months seem to have BOTH MICU and CCU patients on service - so you will round with more than one attending while on service, but the residents seemed to think this was as streamlined as possible). Oppourtunity to do shock/trauma month at the IHC 2nd and 3rd year - two months ICU 2nd and 3rd year. Call is par for the course q4 - no night float for interns (interns didn't seem to think this was a problem). Night floats for junior and senior residents. Busy, but rarely cap, normally 5-8 patients per day (busy is a positive feature for me and I'm not interested in "cush"). Facilities are mostly new - VA is only a few years old and the U is very nice (if this matters). Residents seemed happy. I was very impressed with the PD - personable, easy to talk to - residents feel like she is a big advocate for them. Lots of fellowship oppourtunities, especially heme/onc - with a nice cancer hospital. Research oppourtunities if you want them. Large referral area - look at a map, nothing like a university program anywhere near until you get to Colorado, UCSF, UW - like I said, look at a map - same for the VA. If the "social scene" is very important to you, SLC is not a Chicago, or SanFran, or a NYC, but the residents seemed to think it was much more "interesting" than they expected. Lots of "outdoorsy" stuff to do, trail running, mountain biking, hiking, camping - SKIING! (spoke to a junior resident who said he made it up onto the mountain like 47 times during internship
edit: almost forgot mountain climbing
I would say Utah wasn't too bad of a place - very friendly. Residents are down to earth and easy going. They love to have fun outside of the hospital like you said. I didn't feel too impressed with the morning report, however. I also didn't feel that the program had as much academic strength. It was a little too laid back. I think the program compares well with Oregon and below Colorado. But decent training though I will have to say - even though there is a large referral area, you get almost no exposure to African American population which I think would be good to have.
Hands down has to be the most beautiful place I've interviewed at though.
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2006
- Messages
- 69,368
- Reaction score
- 61,671
Thanks for chiming in . . . it's all about finding the right fit, and your thoughts probably put this program somewhere on your list but not at the top nor at the bottom. Allows some folks to get more than one perspective which is a good thing for this thread.
Personally, I thought the morning report was pretty par for the course, and I liked that they brought up teaching points pertinent to the previous day's report. The case my interview day was pretty wild, and I didn't see anything done that I haven't seen done at many other morning report. Truth is, I don't know how to really spice one of these up . . .
I am curious though, how one assesses "academic strength"? Did you think the teaching wasn't good or that the "reputation" was "less than"? And, for the purpose of giving people here a better understanding, what was your comparator? Or was it just more of a "gut feeling"?
I personally didn't ask about the black patient population, and maybe falsely assumed that since there is a VA one would definitely see black patients considering the armed force's high percentage of blacks who serve their country. Although, I'm not personally convinced that not seeing many blacks would hurt my ability to treat blacks when done with training - there are some diseases that a higher prevalence in the black cohort, but there is nothing about those particular diseases that I think would require me to spend large amounts of time with this population in order to treat them. I appreciate your concern, will probably also be a concern of others, and it's a consideration I'm glad you raised.
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2007
- Messages
- 189
- Reaction score
- 1
albert einstein jacobi
overview
the program seemed to really emphasize that they are the main teaching hospital of the albert einstein college of medicine. all teams have at least 2 medical students and the PD really emphasized that as a resident, you are responsible for teaching. there are no private patients and residents are responsible for decision-making.
details
specialty wards: HIV, oncology, pulmonary.
call: no overnights. night float in place.
patient load: residents carry 14-15 pts. interns carry 6-7 pts.
computer system
notes, labs, vitals are all computer-based. the PD really emphasized that the computer system is state of the art and it's really easy to look anything up on pts. EKGs are on the computer system.
research
most residents do research through albert einstein. it seems like you have to take the initiative to get involved though.
ancillary staff
jacobi has a reputation of problems with the ancillary staff. the PD and some of the residents said that this was no longer a problem. but another resident said that they still end up doing things like blood draws and IVs and that this was his least favorite part of the program. not sure what to make of that.
conferences
resident report is every weekday at 11 am. interns don't attend. the conference was in an old looking room where none of the chairs matched. it sounded like they would be moving the IM department and the conferences to the new building by next year.
hospital
jacobi has a brand new hospital. the old building is still there, however, and the chief resident said they probably won't close it down just b/c of the heavy volume of pts. there is no cafeteria but there is an au bon pain which is also the only coffee shop.
location
the hospital is located in a residential area of the bronx. the area around the hospital is nice and appears safe. a lot of the residents live around the hospital especially during intern year, but it sounded like a lot of residents also live in uptown manhattan. the hospital is about 6 blocks from a train stop. it took me about 30 min to get there from manhattan.
resident happiness
this was what worried me about the program. none of the residents were really smiling or extremely happy. it didn't seem like the residents really hang out much outside of the hospital. i also only saw one female resident the whole time we were there. i'm not sure if this b/c they are really worked hard or just the whole new yorker attitude. the other interviewees noticed this too. but i guess if you live in nyc, there are enough people around that you don't need to hang out with other residents.
summary
jacobi seems like a solid program in nyc. the residents they take are average US grads and top foreign grads (from germany, south america, india, and china). the PD seems friendly but we didn't really see much of him. i think this is a good program if you really want to live in nyc. i kind of get the impression that their is very little hand-holding and residents are kind of just thrown into the fire. the fellowship matching though is good.
cards fellowships
2008 - 2 - at NYU, lennox hill
2007 - 3 - at AECOM, germany
2006 - 2 - both at AECOM
2005 - 6 - at PA giesinger, UIC, tufts, NY medical college, st lukes roosevelt, UMDNJ
2004 - 6 - at beth israel, AECOM, giesinger, AECOM, arkansas, AECOM
2003 - 5 - at AECOM, UIC, u washington, AECOM, AECOM
overview
the program seemed to really emphasize that they are the main teaching hospital of the albert einstein college of medicine. all teams have at least 2 medical students and the PD really emphasized that as a resident, you are responsible for teaching. there are no private patients and residents are responsible for decision-making.
details
specialty wards: HIV, oncology, pulmonary.
call: no overnights. night float in place.
patient load: residents carry 14-15 pts. interns carry 6-7 pts.
computer system
notes, labs, vitals are all computer-based. the PD really emphasized that the computer system is state of the art and it's really easy to look anything up on pts. EKGs are on the computer system.
research
most residents do research through albert einstein. it seems like you have to take the initiative to get involved though.
ancillary staff
jacobi has a reputation of problems with the ancillary staff. the PD and some of the residents said that this was no longer a problem. but another resident said that they still end up doing things like blood draws and IVs and that this was his least favorite part of the program. not sure what to make of that.
conferences
resident report is every weekday at 11 am. interns don't attend. the conference was in an old looking room where none of the chairs matched. it sounded like they would be moving the IM department and the conferences to the new building by next year.
hospital
jacobi has a brand new hospital. the old building is still there, however, and the chief resident said they probably won't close it down just b/c of the heavy volume of pts. there is no cafeteria but there is an au bon pain which is also the only coffee shop.
location
the hospital is located in a residential area of the bronx. the area around the hospital is nice and appears safe. a lot of the residents live around the hospital especially during intern year, but it sounded like a lot of residents also live in uptown manhattan. the hospital is about 6 blocks from a train stop. it took me about 30 min to get there from manhattan.
resident happiness
this was what worried me about the program. none of the residents were really smiling or extremely happy. it didn't seem like the residents really hang out much outside of the hospital. i also only saw one female resident the whole time we were there. i'm not sure if this b/c they are really worked hard or just the whole new yorker attitude. the other interviewees noticed this too. but i guess if you live in nyc, there are enough people around that you don't need to hang out with other residents.
summary
jacobi seems like a solid program in nyc. the residents they take are average US grads and top foreign grads (from germany, south america, india, and china). the PD seems friendly but we didn't really see much of him. i think this is a good program if you really want to live in nyc. i kind of get the impression that their is very little hand-holding and residents are kind of just thrown into the fire. the fellowship matching though is good.
cards fellowships
2008 - 2 - at NYU, lennox hill
2007 - 3 - at AECOM, germany
2006 - 2 - both at AECOM
2005 - 6 - at PA giesinger, UIC, tufts, NY medical college, st lukes roosevelt, UMDNJ
2004 - 6 - at beth israel, AECOM, giesinger, AECOM, arkansas, AECOM
2003 - 5 - at AECOM, UIC, u washington, AECOM, AECOM
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2006
- Messages
- 1,444
- Reaction score
- 5
For anyone who has privacy concerns and do not wish to post the information under your account, feel free to pm me the information and I will post it with my account
Jayne.
Jayne.
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2006
- Messages
- 1,444
- Reaction score
- 5
posted for someone
Similar threads
