Stats: Average school. Average grades. Scores are a little above avg, but not SDN Derm caliber...
1. Utah
Truly the nicest, most down to earth people I've met. PD has you call her by first name. Residents all seem super smart. All seem to have achieved a lot outside of medicine, as well as within. Seemed like a great split between University and busy Community settings. Outdoors access is phenomenal. U/S is uhmazing.
2. UNM
Another down to earth group. PD and chair are brilliant, and focused on teaching residents how to deliver the highest quality of patient care. Single site program, which blends University and County. Some boarding issues, and maybe a little too many primary care issues? These issues sort of go along w/ county environments though.. Big, nice ED, with lots of sick folks. The 7 ? bed crit/trauma pod seems to be the shining jewell of this program. Lots of CC folks on faculty. Lots of ICU time. This is one of the em/crit care meccas. 9 hour shifts. Outdoors access is pretty fantastic. ABQ is weird, but cool. Cheap living. No traffic. Badass program.
3. Loma Linda
Felt like a blend of Utah and UNM, but in SoCal. Where you have a 50/50 split between tertiary/quaternary academic center and rugged county hospital. Procedure madness. PD is nicest guy in the world. Peds is 2nd to none. Strong critical care emphasis. Residents were all super nice. The culture of the hospital is great. They really try to create a positive environment, and don't tolerate any malignant interactions - which is really important to me. I.E. doesn't get much respect. But, it's like an hour to anything you could want to do, weather is nice, and not as much traffic as LA. Wasn't completely sold on the 2 months of general surgery?!? As I understand, some of that is incorporating trauma care. But, I don't get the point of learning perioperative management of cholecystitis as an EM resident...
Another badass program.
4. U of Arizona - South Campus
80/20 split of rugged county hospital and uber-academic center. A lot like loma linda. U of A south is full of sick people. Basically no competition for procedures! Seasonal variability w/ the septic snowbirds in the winter. Walk in GSWs and some blunt comes here. All activations go to main campus. Seems like you see more than enough trauma at main campus. Faculty is shared between Main and South. There's a good mix of young enthusiastic faculty, and seasoned old timers (uh, Rosen anyone??). Residents were nice, fun, and smart. Really liked this program. Tucson is a progressive haven in the bat**** crazy state that is Arizona. If I was a little more into rock climbing, and tolerant of the heat, this might have been #1.. 12 hour shifts that apparently run late a lot are a big negative.
5. Christiana
Once again, a great mix of training sites. Urban "county" ED in wilmington. High acuity academic community center in Newark. No big egos here. Procedure madness. ***No Ortho Residents*** The few residents I met, I got along w/ great. Felt like a good fit. Seems like they go out together a lot. Didn't get to know the area too well. Seemed a little quiet. But, U of Delaware is in Newark, so there must be some fun downtown stuff to do. Lots of beach access, and outdoors stuff close by.
6. Beth Israel - NY
Good vibes. Lots of sick patients. about a third of your time is spent at Elmhurst, wearing the trauma pager, while seeing pts in the ED. Apparently, this is awesome. Faculty from all over. Manhattan could be a fun place to spend a few years. Great nursing staff. No typical NY BS like drawing blood, or wheeling pt to xr. Bitchin apartments next to the hospital which are subsidized (still expensive by non NY standards). Negs: only 2 or 3 months in ICU. Manhattan is damn expensive, and maybe a little too urban for this country bumpkin.
7. Albany
Great hospital, lots of ICU time. Really gelled w/ PD and faculty. One interviewer was HILARIOUS. Seems like a busy, fun, place to work. Lots of outdoor stuff like skiing, climbing, atv-riding. Negs were: 1 hospital site (I like the mix), and as crazy as it is, the tour just dragged on and on, which put a bad taste in my mouth (I know - silly). Would still be super psyched to end up here.
8. Maimonides
Super sick patients. Residents are super fun and close - probably the most fun I had at a dinner. PD is brash, which I liked. Procedure madness. Trauma is at Shock Trauma in Bulletmore +/-. The "critical," aka actively dying, part of the ED is nice, new, and well organized, if a little hectic. The "non-critical" pod is a disaster. Beds everywhere, stacked 3-4 pts deep. Don't know how I could get any work done, let a lone do a proper physical exam. This was a deal breaker for me. If not for this, would have ranked much higher.
9. Buffalo
Residents rotate at pretty much every major hospital in town. Uber county at Erie, and academic at main site. Beautiful new ED at main site that looks like an Apple store. Lots of sick folks. Didn't see conference, but residents seemed smart. PD is nice, and puts residents first. Buffalo was a LOT nicer than I expected. The hip downtown areas were really cool. The residents were very cohesive, and go out together a lot. Flexible vacation time. Training here seemed top notch. But, in the end, if I'm going to stay in the Northeast, I would rather be close to Philly or NYC.
10-15 in no particular order:
Vegas:
Crazy acuity. Lots of procedures. Interns wear pager for floor intubations = $$ PD was great, and got along well w/ residents. But, had terrible interactions w/ some faculty. Too bad, as this seems like a great program. I usually get along w/ everyone, but maybe it was just me?
JPS: Great PD, experienced faculty who have been pulled from various programs in TX. Residents hang outside of work. They were a lot of fun at the dinner and throughout the interview day. Downtown Ft. Worth seemed OK. High acuity ED. I don't think there's an ortho residency here??? Correct me if I'm wrong anyone. Trauma/crit bays were excellent. Program seems to be well funded. Efficient ED w/ fast throughput = more pts = more learning.
Would be happy to work here for the next 3 years. But, Tx would be a big change, and I'd rather go somewhere not QUITE so new. I think this will be one of the top programs in Tx in a couple years though..
Kaweah Delta: PD started EM in another country, the Netherlands, I think? So, starting a program is something he has done before. There are plenty of sick people in the valley here, and lots of trauma comes through the shop despite being a level 3? But, I was a little concerned about the lack of trauma experience at a level 2/level1 center. Seems like all the really big traumas will probably go to kern or Fresno. If there was a month long rotation at one of these sites, responding to traumas, this issue would probably evaporate for me. This is a contentious issue. Really, at many residencies, the EM resident has little to do w/ the Level 1 traumas (activations, whatever you call them). So, perhaps this isn't as big an issue as I have made it out to be. New program, and all the issues going a long w/ it. Small town, w/o a university, might be a tough place to live if you're single and don't have family there. The "innovative" curriculum touted by the assistant PD didn't seem so innovative. Right program for a certain type of person, I'm just not that person. No doubt, good training.
UI-Peoria:
Busy single hospital program. PD is nice. Lots of trauma and sick pts. Nice new ED. Residents were pretty cool. Peoria seems pretty boring. Really far from the airport = hard to escape. Not that into the midwest. If you are, you should check this place out.
Texas Tech:
County. Sick pts. Residents were among the friendliest I met on the trail. I felt like they'd be cool to hang out w/. Got a great family feel here.. PD is big into U/S. Lots of great outdoors activities nearby. In the end, I just didn't like El Paso as a town. Liked everything else.
Arkansas:
Felt very out of place here, as Arkansas seems to operate on a different plane. Almost everyone was from Arkansas, most were really friendly, others looked at me a little crooked.
Big, beautiful ED. Good peds experience in the ED @ Arkansas Children's. Arkansas is beautiful, and there are lots of outdoors opportunities. I guess I'm just not a southerner at heart!
hahaha
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