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This was posted on the IM forum yesterday and I thought MedPeds people would like to know about it. I'm not sure how it will affect my rank list either...
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University of Chicago update
- Thread starter GopherUDoc
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i'm not exactly sure how directly all of this will impact the medpeds program, but i've heard from residents that the medicine program is going to downsized a bit. and the hospital is taking a more for profit approach and accepting fewer medicaid patients and making a greater effort to transfer pts without insurance.
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http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1420722,u-of-chicago-job-cuts-020908.article
Check out this article.... it talks about the 450 person layoff at U of C.
It also talks about the closure of 1301A E47th Street Clinic. This is the same address as the Med Peds clinic that the program uses as their resident clinic.
Has anyone spoken to the PD about this? What are they going to be doing about clinic in the upcoming months to years? Will this effect accreditation?
Check out this article.... it talks about the 450 person layoff at U of C.
It also talks about the closure of 1301A E47th Street Clinic. This is the same address as the Med Peds clinic that the program uses as their resident clinic.
Has anyone spoken to the PD about this? What are they going to be doing about clinic in the upcoming months to years? Will this effect accreditation?
From the Peds forum...
Anyone get any communication from the MedPeds PD?? It seems like some sort of general update should have been sent out, unless they are really trying to hide something....
Anyone have any thoughts about the recent news from and about the University of Chicago? I had a great feeling about this place and have been planning to rank them highly, but seems like there is a lot of flux there right now. The new chairman (peds), who they told us about on interview day but wasn't there yet, has just started, but the program director is stepping down and moving this summer, which we did not know during interview season and sounds like it is a bit of a surprise. She seemed like a huge resident advocate and honestly appeared to be one of the programs best assets. So now, wondering about starting intern year with a dept chair who's been there for a few months and a program director starting at the same time as us. Anyone know anything about the new leadership?
In addition, there has also been bad financial news out of U of C as a whole recently, including a significant number of job cuts. IM, in particular, appears to be having the hardest time, but the institution as a whole seems to be confronting this. There has also been a lot of talk about diverting more and more ER patients from the surrounding community to smaller hospitals or County. The whole medical center has been getting some rough press in Chicago over the past couple weeks.
I liked the program a lot, but am not sure what to make of all this. Any residents or anyone else there have any thoughts on the direction of the program? Thanks...
Anyone get any communication from the MedPeds PD?? It seems like some sort of general update should have been sent out, unless they are really trying to hide something....
From the Peds forum...
Anyone get any communication from the MedPeds PD?? It seems like some sort of general update should have been sent out, unless they are really trying to hide something....
They recently sent this update out to peds applicants from the new chairman. He mentions med peds, but on here it doesn't sound like you guys have gotten anything, so I wasn't sure if med peds got it as well. As noted above, I'm not sure what to make of all of it one way or the other, but here it is (posted on the categorical peds website as well):
,
Given the importance of your upcoming decision about residency, I wanted first
to introduce myself and then describe to you some of the important aspects of
the Pediatric Residency Program at the University of Chicago.
My name is David Gozal, and I am the new chairman of pediatrics at the
University of Chicago, a position that I assumed as recently as February 1st.
Therefore and for obvious reasons, I missed meeting you personally during the
interview season. I wanted to take this time to offer you some of my thoughts
about the residency experience, emphasize to you my commitment to residency
education, and then tell you a little bit about the U of C.
I believe that the residents (Peds and Med-Peds) are absolutely vital to my
department; they are the windows to the world of any program, anywhere, and
therefore it is justified to state that the image and essence of the
department resides in its residency programs. The residency and training
programs are clearly the reason most academic physicians choose to remain at a
university hospital, and I am no exception.
There are some exciting developments that I would like to share with you.
During this academic year and throughout the interview season, the University
of Chicago has been in discussion with Northshore hospital in Evanston,
Illinois to open opportunities for resident and fellow education. Those doors
are now open and although there are no required or mandatory rotations in
Evanston, there will be pediatric rotations at Northshore for residents who
want a community oriented experience in general pediatrics and/or in neonatal
intensive care being provided by a cadre of teachers and pediatricians with a
long track record of excellence in training. Because of these opportunities,
we will increase the intern class from 18 to 20 for the 2009 match while the
Med-Peds program will continue its current match of 4 residents.
Many of you have seen or read recent news reports about job cuts at the
University of Chicago. Because of the current difficult economic time the
University did cut approximately 350 staff positions. However, our commitment
to excellence in education, training, and patient care is so deep and defines
us in such an overarching manner that no residents or fellows were cut, no
resident extenders lost their positions, and bedside nursing numbers were not
decreased. Administrative staff and other support staff positions were
however eliminated in an effort to be fiscally responsible and at the same
time, be sensitive not to compromise education or patient care. In the Comer
Children's hospital this resulted in a loss of 9 positions.
Finally, Dr. Kahana will step down as program director this summer. Although
we are all saddened by her departure and wish her the best of success and
happiness in her new personal and professional venues, I am delighted to let
you know that Dr. Heather Fagan will take over as the Director of the
Residency Program. As you probably know, Dr. Fagan and Dr. Kahana have worked
side by side for a decade, and Dr. Fagan brings to this position the same
energy, passion and dedication to resident education that has become the
reputation and signature mark of the University of Chicago. From my
perspective, I plan to be integrally and personally involved in the
educational program, to get to know each and every one of you, and to enhance
even further the existing array of extraordinary opportunities that are
already in place in our program for research activities, leadership
development, and tailored academic career pathway development. I hope that you
can appreciate our unwavering commitment to train the next generation of
pediatric leaders for our communities, our scientific frontiers and the world.
I therefore strongly believe that if you wish to make a difference, your place
is with us here at the University of Chicago.
See you soon,
David Gozal, MD
Thanks for that update Amoeba! THe MedPeds PD did finally send out a message through ERAS with some of the language verbatim to your message ("Because of the current difficult economic time the University did cut approximately 350 staff positions. However, our commitment to excellence in education, training, and patient care is so deep and defines us in such an overarching manner that no residents or fellows were cut, no resident extenders lost their positions, and bedside nursing numbers were not decreased. Administrative staff and other support staff positions were however eliminated in an effort to be fiscally responsible and at the same time, be sensitive not to compromise education or patient care").
The rest of the message just explained the move of the medpeds continuity clinic. There was no mention about the changes in the Peds program leadership however so thank you for sharing that message. I certainly feel more comfortable with keeping them ranked highly now that we have a better idea of what is going on.
For the Med-Peds ppl, I would suggest checking out the IM board as there is a post there of the IM PD's statement as well. Best of luck to all in figuring out your ROLs!!
The rest of the message just explained the move of the medpeds continuity clinic. There was no mention about the changes in the Peds program leadership however so thank you for sharing that message. I certainly feel more comfortable with keeping them ranked highly now that we have a better idea of what is going on.
For the Med-Peds ppl, I would suggest checking out the IM board as there is a post there of the IM PD's statement as well. Best of luck to all in figuring out your ROLs!!