Montefiore Internal Medicine Residency AMA

[newyorkst8ofmind]

I am a senior resident at Montefiore.
I'm happy to answer any questions about the IM program at Moses and Weiler campuses.
Good luck, everyone!

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[ShuperNewbie]

Great program up in the Bronx! Thanks for taking questions

 

[lurker291]

How's the work/life balance?

 

[newyorkst8ofmind]

How's the work/life balance?

Balanced, lol.
I think it's pretty good. Our schedules are built so there is always at least one calendar day off per week. It is not hard to get away for a weekend on elective or clinic rotations - I've gotten in a few ski weekends this winter. The program has events about monthly, usually at a bar or restaurant in the city
Also, most of the residents live in either the housing or Manhattan so there is always a group to be social with.
Having a two-week ambulatory block every 8 weeks is also a nice break because you have your nights and most of your weekends to yourself then.

Inpatient floors and units are the biggest work>life months, but as a resident in the unit you will get one long weekend per rotation off (post call Friday, off Saturday and Sunday) which is great.

The general attitude of the program is also pro-balance, if that makes sense. Residents are interested in keeping up the rest of their lives and the program supports that. There is a good sense of camaraderie in the program and people are interested in having fun outside of work

Overall, I've had some tough weeks and months but I enjoy my life outside of work. Hope that helps - let me know if I can answer anything else about that.

 

[gutonc]

Balanced, lol.
I think it's pretty good. Our schedules are built so there is always at least one calendar day off per week. It is not hard to get away for a weekend on elective or clinic rotations - I've gotten in a few ski weekends this winter. The program has events about monthly, usually at a bar or restaurant in the city
Also, most of the residents live in either the housing or Manhattan so there is always a group to be social with.
Having a two-week ambulatory block every 8 weeks is also a nice break because you have your nights and most of your weekends to yourself then.

Inpatient floors and units are the biggest work>life months, but as a resident in the unit you will get one long weekend per rotation off (post call Friday, off Saturday and Sunday) which is great.

The general attitude of the program is also pro-balance, if that makes sense. Residents are interested in keeping up the rest of their lives and the program supports that. There is a good sense of camaraderie in the program and people are interested in having fun outside of work

Overall, I've had some tough weeks and months but I enjoy my life outside of work. Hope that helps - let me know if I can answer anything else about that.

I just want to point out that you could change the "where residents live" sentence and this review would apply to about 98% of IM residency programs.

Also WRT the bolded part above, that's not them being particularly magnanimous, that's them following the ACGME rules.

 

[tantacles]

I just want to point out that you could change the "where residents live" sentence and this review would apply to about 98% of IM residency programs.

Also WRT the bolded part above, that's not them being particularly magnanimous, that's them following the ACGME rules.

Not exactly. It's averaged over the calendar month. My program, for example, favors giving residents an occasional golden weekend while on the wards. The trade off is that you occasionally have a black weekend. So not one day off per week.


Large dogs

 

[gutonc]

Not exactly. It's averaged over the calendar month. My program, for example, favors giving residents an occasional golden weekend while on the wards. The trade off is that you occasionally have a black weekend. So not one day off per week.


Large dogs

Actually, a golden weekend gives you a day off in 2 different weeks. So unless you're working Saturday to Friday the two weeks before the golden weekend, or Monday to Sunday the 2 weeks after, both the letter and spirit of the rule are fulfilled.

 

[tantacles]

Actually, a golden weekend gives you a day off in 2 different weeks. So unless you're working Saturday to Friday the two weeks before the golden weekend, or Monday to Sunday the 2 weeks after, both the letter and spirit of the rule are fulfilled.

True, but if we're nitpicking, I've gotten Monday and Friday off in the same week and it counted (ICU).

 

[dcc23]

It's interesting to hear that many residents live in Manhattan. How difficult of a commute does that seem to be for them? Is finding non-outrageously priced housing that fits a resident's budget doable?

I'd love to consider Montefiore for residency but my wife would rather not live in the Bronx.

 

[fventricle]

Could you please post the fellowship match list for this year? Thank you!

 

[whoknows2012]

GI

Monte
NSLIJ
Downstate
U of Miami
Einstein Philly

Cards

Monte x 2
Drexel
Yale

Pulm/CC

Cornell

Hem/onc

Cornell x 2
MSKCC
NIH
Monte

ID

U of Washington
NIH

Rheum

NYU
Monte

Allergy

Monte
U of Rochester

 

[newyorkst8ofmind]

It's interesting to hear that many residents live in Manhattan. How difficult of a commute does that seem to be for them? Is finding non-outrageously priced housing that fits a resident's budget doable?

I'd love to consider Montefiore for residency but my wife would rather not live in the Bronx.

I hear you on all points. From the Upper east side, door to door is about 30-45 minutes depending on where, specifically, you live. The B, D, and 4 lines all stop near the Moses campus. It is a little tougher to get to the Weiler campus, but plenty do.
Some people also live in Riverdale which is the Bronx, but much less urban, or Westchester. There is housing there, but also regular apartments/houses, too.
A lot of people also live in Queens and a few in Long Island which is an option if you're able to drive. Rents are cheaper but you have to drive.
I guess it depends on what your wife is doing and where she'd have to be for work/school/life.

I personally would never want to live in Manhattan, but that's me.

 

[pl017]

Thanks for making yourself available! I really enjoyed my interview there, hd a great time with the residents and felt like the programs vision was very similar to my own. I also live in the area so it would be ideal for me to stay. With that said, I am a little concern with the work life balance when you are on call q2(if I remember correctly) and with the long hours when working on night float since you have to stay and present during rounds which can be until from 8pm to 11am or so. Does this make wards/night float extremely difficult?

 

[newyorkst8ofmind]

Floors are definitely the hardest rotation.
It's manageable, though, and you really have ownership over the team because you are there.
It's also only 5 months of intern year and 5 months between years 2 and 3.

I do like the night system - you get the weekend off. In terms of staying late, you often leave before 10 - if your team is capped and you get no admissions, you can leave at 7.

 

[shapeshifter13]

I am a senior resident at Montefiore.
I'm happy to answer any questions about the IM program at Moses and Weiler campuses.
Good luck, everyone!

Hi, can you tell me anything about the primary care program?

 

[Psai]

Why q2 call

 

[Uncle Albert]

Why q2 call

Several NYC programs are q2 call. Just the volume of patients i guess.


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[gutonc]

Several NYC programs are q2 call. Just the volume of patients i guess.

As if you needed another reason to avoid an NYC program. Screw that.

 

[Uncle Albert]

As if you needed another reason to avoid an NYC program. Screw that.

q2 call isn’t even the worst part. The worst is the NYC nurses union that PROHIBITS nurses from drawing blood. Smh


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[whoknows2012]

In all fairness to the way it's actually handled, q2 call is not how it is perceived by the residents. One day you're done at 5 or sometimes earlier (4-430 esp as you become more comfortable half way through the year) the next day working until 8 admitting until 6. Id much prefer this to the way it used to work or the way it works at other programs where it's q3 or q4 but your call day is supposed to end at 10 but you're there until midnight doing admissions. To each their own though as I know some of you probably would prefer q3 or q4. Also day floors intern year come out to like 3 months 1.5 months 2nd and 3rd year so most of your training this is not the schedule.

 

[whoknows2012]

Several NYC programs are q2 call. Just the volume of patients i guess.


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At least at monte it has nothing to do with volume it has to do with how the schedule is structured (no cross coverage, more nights than most programs)

 

[Psai]

q2 call isn’t even the worst part. The worst is the NYC nurses union that PROHIBITS nurses from drawing blood. Smh


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Which lazy person told you this nonsense? Nurses definitely can draw blood, they just choose not to.

 

[Uncle Albert]

Which lazy person told you this nonsense? Nurses definitely can draw blood, they just choose not to.

i have never seen a nurse at montefiore draw blood. Close friends at Bellevue and Downstate have said the same.


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[868853]

i have never seen a nurse at montefiore draw blood. Close friends at Bellevue and Downstate have said the same.

The nurses at Mount Sinai St Luke's-Roosevelt do blood draws. It wasn't the case a few years ago but it was written into their most recent contract. The times they are a changin'

 

[shapeshifter13]

The nurses at Mount Sinai St Luke's-Roosevelt do blood draws. It wasn't the case a few years ago but it was written into their most recent contract. The times they are a changin'

Soo? Aside from the blood draws, anyone know anything about their primary care program?

 

[868853]

Soo? Aside from the blood draws, anyone know anything about their primary care program?

The primary care program is expanding. The program has a new PD who used to work in primary care. I don't know as much about the primary care track. For categoricals, like myself, the outpatient experience was primarily at 1 of 3 federally funded Ryan Centers that serve diverse patient populations in underserved areas. Ryan Chelsea, Ryan 97th St on the UWS, and Ryan Thelma Adair in Harlem. They offer excellent training in primary care, especially managing complex primary care patients (for example, the Thelma Adair catchment area has among the highest A1C levels in the country). As a graduate of this program, not in the primary care track, I would feel extremely comfortable in primary care. The program utilizes a 6+2 model plus some additional clinic blocks, I think people on the PC track do more clinic blocks with their elective time. Traditional categoricals spend approx 30% of residency in the outpatient setting, so PC track people probably somewhat more than that.

 

[whoknows2012]

Soo? Aside from the blood draws, anyone know anything about their primary care program?

We're you asking about monte's pc program? I assumed you were given your original question a couple posts back

 

[AlexMack12]

Hi! Thanks so much for doing this.
I interviewed here and I really loved the program and the residents and faculty I interacted with.

I just wanted to ask a couple of questions about the schedule that I’m a little confused about.
I’ve seen on this thread and a few others that the program has more nights than other programs. Are night float blocks two weeks at a time, and they’re just more frequent than seen in other programs? Or are the blocks longer than two weeks at a time?

And I believe if I’m not mistaken the program is 6+2, but during the “+2,” one of those weekends is spent on nights on inpatient. Is that the schedule every 8 weeks for all three years?

Monte is definitely one of my top choices so far but I was just hoping for some clarification about schedule. I did get the sense that the training is amazing, though, no question about that ! Thank you so much!

 

[whoknows2012]

Hi! Thanks so much for doing this.
I interviewed here and I really loved the program and the residents and faculty I interacted with.

I just wanted to ask a couple of questions about the schedule that I’m a little confused about.
I’ve seen on this thread and a few others that the program has more nights than other programs. Are night float blocks two weeks at a time, and they’re just more frequent than seen in other programs? Or are the blocks longer than two weeks at a time?

And I believe if I’m not mistaken the program is 6+2, but during the “+2,” one of those weekends is spent on nights on inpatient. Is that the schedule every 8 weeks for all three years?

Monte is definitely one of my top choices so far but I was just hoping for some clarification about schedule. I did get the sense that the training is amazing, though, no question about that ! Thank you so much!

To answer your first question; almost all programs have nights in blocks of two weeks so that's not unique but at monte the total amount of nights is probably 2-4 weeks more than you would do at your average program because of the "night medicine" blocks where you only admit to one team as an intern and cover that team instead of cross covering multiple teams patients. Grand total nights when I was an intern (including ed, ccu/micu, floors, wknd coverage) was 4 months. Now it's closer to 10-12 weeks due to some changes in the schedule.

As far as the other question about the 6+2 block system and working one of those weekends on the "+2," you generally work anywhere from 4-6 wknd coverages per year (closer to 4 intern year, 5-6 2nd and 3rd year). So intern year it works out that roughly every 10-12 wks (on average) you do a wknd coverage, so it does work out that for each 2 week non inpatient block (clinic, elective) you will do one wknd of wknd coverage. Keeping in mind though that some 2 week blocks are 3 wknds. Sorry if this was overly complicated.

 

[AlexMack12]

To answer your first question; almost all programs have nights in blocks of two weeks so that's not unique but at monte the total amount of nights is probably 2-4 weeks more than you would do at your average program because of the "night medicine" blocks where you only admit to one team as an intern and cover that team instead of cross covering multiple teams patients. Grand total nights when I was an intern (including ed, ccu/micu, floors, wknd coverage) was 4 months. Now it's closer to 10-12 weeks due to some changes in the schedule.

As far as the other question about the 6+2 block system and working one of those weekends on the "+2," you generally work anywhere from 4-6 wknd coverages per year (closer to 4 intern year, 5-6 2nd and 3rd year). So intern year it works out that roughly every 10-12 wks (on average) you do a wknd coverage, so it does work out that for each 2 week non inpatient block (clinic, elective) you will do one wknd of wknd coverage. Keeping in mind though that some 2 week blocks are 3 wknds. Sorry if this was overly complicated.

Not overly complicated at all- that makes a lot more sense now. Thank you for taking the time to explain! Really loved the program and will definitely be ranking it high when I sit down to do my ROL

 

[Psai]

To answer your first question; almost all programs have nights in blocks of two weeks so that's not unique but at monte the total amount of nights is probably 2-4 weeks more than you would do at your average program because of the "night medicine" blocks where you only admit to one team as an intern and cover that team instead of cross covering multiple teams patients. Grand total nights when I was an intern (including ed, ccu/micu, floors, wknd coverage) was 4 months. Now it's closer to 10-12 weeks due to some changes in the schedule.

As far as the other question about the 6+2 block system and working one of those weekends on the "+2," you generally work anywhere from 4-6 wknd coverages per year (closer to 4 intern year, 5-6 2nd and 3rd year). So intern year it works out that roughly every 10-12 wks (on average) you do a wknd coverage, so it does work out that for each 2 week non inpatient block (clinic, elective) you will do one wknd of wknd coverage. Keeping in mind though that some 2 week blocks are 3 wknds. Sorry if this was overly complicated.

4 months of nights
:O

 

[whoknows2012]

4 months of nights
:O

Ya it was rough for sure.

 

[shapeshifter13]

The primary care program is expanding. The program has a new PD who used to work in primary care. I don't know as much about the primary care track. For categoricals, like myself, the outpatient experience was primarily at 1 of 3 federally funded Ryan Centers that serve diverse patient populations in underserved areas. Ryan Chelsea, Ryan 97th St on the UWS, and Ryan Thelma Adair in Harlem. They offer excellent training in primary care, especially managing complex primary care patients (for example, the Thelma Adair catchment area has among the highest A1C levels in the country). As a graduate of this program, not in the primary care track, I would feel extremely comfortable in primary care. The program utilizes a 6+2 model plus some additional clinic blocks, I think people on the PC track do more clinic blocks with their elective time. Traditional categoricals spend approx 30% of residency in the outpatient setting, so PC track people probably somewhat more than that.

Thanks for the good info!, the program sounds pretty legit. I am interviewing for both tracks, but I was curious about the primary care especially. I would assume you all have quite a bit of Spanish speaking patients as it is NYC and I think I noticed medical Spanish as part of the resident curriculum?

 

[shapeshifter13]

We're you asking about monte's pc program? I assumed you were given your original question a couple posts back

Indeed I was. The other post gave some great information, but if you have anything to add, it would be much appreciated!

 

[whoknows2012]

Thanks for the good info!, the program sounds pretty legit. I am interviewing for both tracks, but I was curious about the primary care especially. I would assume you all have quite a bit of Spanish speaking patients as it is NYC and I think I noticed medical Spanish as part of the resident curriculum?

Fyi just to be clear it appears he's talking about the slr pc program not monte...

 

[shapeshifter13]

Fyi just to be clear it appears he's talking about the slr pc program not monte...

Ah ok, do you know anything about Monte?

 

[whoknows2012]

Ah ok, do you know anything about Monte?

The Pc program is quite well regarded. They have an excellent curriculum including medical Spanish as your question above inquired. Most of the time is spent in the outpt setting but you still spend several months each year on inpatient services. It's among one of the best pc programs in the country and has been around for nearly 30 years.

 

[shapeshifter13]

The Pc program is quite well regarded. They have an excellent curriculum including medical Spanish as your question above inquired. Most of the time is spent in the outpt setting but you still spend several months each year on inpatient services. It's among one of the best pc programs in the country and has been around for nearly 30 years.

Wonderful, Thanks!

 

[whoknows2012]

Saw you post on the Rank megathread. Was wondering if you know how Monte compares to the Southern California programs like Cedars, Harbor UCLA, and USC in regards to fellowships. I feel like those 3 match Cali fellowships and Monte matches NE fellowships but there isn't much crossover. Is this because Monte residents want to stay in the Northeast or simply have issues getting competitive fellowships (GI/Cards) out west?

There is most definitely a regional bias. The few residents I know of that tried to match west coast have (Endo at UCLA, cards at UCI, cal pacific) it’s just quite uncommon for people coming from monte to apply/match anywhere but the northeast for fellowship due to regional preference.

To be fair I don’t know that much about SoCal programs but do know that usc is at least in the same tier as Monte. As far as cedars and harbor I don’t know enough to comment.

 

[whoknows2012]

I know it was mentioned briefly but for those who decide to live in UES manhattan and commute, how is the safety of the area of the subway stop next to Moses? I am worried about being a target at weird hours from that subway stop, but if no issues have occurred with residents who commute from Manhattan than I may feel more relieved.

I myself commuted as did many of my colleagues. As far as the Bronx goes the area around the hospital is quite safe. In my 4 yrs there, never heard of a scenario where a resident was robbed or approached or anything like that. It’s a very well lit well patrolled by NYPD area but it does take some getting used to. The vast majority of the time you’ll be using the subway at hours that you’ll feel safe regardless (ie morning through late aftn evening)

 

[Anicetus]

I myself commuted as did many of my colleagues. As far as the Bronx goes the area around the hospital is quite safe. In my 4 yrs there, never heard of a scenario where a resident was robbed or approached or anything like that. It’s a very well lit well patrolled by NYPD area but it does take some getting used to. The vast majority of the time you’ll be using the subway at hours that you’ll feel safe regardless (ie morning through late aftn evening)

Thanks for answering these. Would you say their salary was helpful for covering CoL in upper east side if you had a +1 making similar salary?

 

[whoknows2012]

Thanks for answering these. Would you say their salary was helpful for covering CoL in upper east side if you had a +1 making similar salary?

My rent was expensive but my wife made a whole lot more than I did, but if you live in a 1br for $3500 a month $120,000 (between the two of you) will be enough. After taxes that’s like 80 ish, rent would be $42,000 per year giving you guys another roughly 40k of spending/savings.