Can I get some info on this GPR program?
Yale-New Haven GPR Program
- Thread starter halitofu
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2009
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 0
I was goin to apply there since its Yale and the program description sounded amazing. Then i met someone who interviewed there a year before, he told me that apparently they do a lot of extractions, cleanings and more public health stuff....and because there is no dental school at Yale, the attendings are not always there, and when they are not there you cant treat pts. The person told me that the resident said if he had the choice of do-over, he might have not applied there. I didnt apply there myself, and this is all heresay, (who knows how many % = truth) so hopefully i am not offending anyone.....Just merely retelling the story and if u r interested you should apply and go check it out.
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2006
- Messages
- 1,532
- Reaction score
- 57
Let's see ... unpopular program director, unhappy residents, absent attendings, grumpy staff ... what else ?
There are good reasons they have 3 for 3 post match spots.
I personally cut my interview short last year. I made my mind up halfway through the interview that I was not going to rank them (and I am not one to make hasty decisions).
Do not believe anything you read on their website. It is totally misleading.
It was "I seriously considered suing them for my time and travel expenses" kind of bad.
There are good reasons they have 3 for 3 post match spots.
I personally cut my interview short last year. I made my mind up halfway through the interview that I was not going to rank them (and I am not one to make hasty decisions).
Do not believe anything you read on their website. It is totally misleading.
It was "I seriously considered suing them for my time and travel expenses" kind of bad.
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2007
- Messages
- 3,118
- Reaction score
- 15
What were the top ones on your rank, Nile?
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2006
- Messages
- 1,513
- Reaction score
- 1,167
From these posts come a very interesting pearl of wisdom. When interviewing at any residency, it is important to ask what type of attending coverage is present, and if the attending staff is paid or voluntary. Voluntary staff may not show up on all of their scheduled days, and have little to lose. The program needs to keep them on the books for accreditation purposes. Attendance will be spotty if there is no paycheck involved, and/or benefits. Something to keep in mind.
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2006
- Messages
- 380
- Reaction score
- 2
do you know any info about the GPRs at Mountainside- Montclair, Morristown hospital- Morristown , NJ?
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2006
- Messages
- 103
- Reaction score
- 0
message me if you needed reasons why not to join , I mean not even consider the program!
what Nile BDS had mentioned is absolutely true!!(But how did you find out from just the interview...)
what Nile BDS had mentioned is absolutely true!!(But how did you find out from just the interview...)
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2009
- Messages
- 105
- Reaction score
- 3
Smile2007,
What makes you the expert on Yale's GPR? What do you know about it and how? I've actually heard some very positive things about their program so I'm wondering why there is such negative things to say about it here....
What makes you the expert on Yale's GPR? What do you know about it and how? I've actually heard some very positive things about their program so I'm wondering why there is such negative things to say about it here....
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2006
- Messages
- 103
- Reaction score
- 0
Well, I would be really interested in hearing about those "Very Positive things" about the program!!!
and also I guess I may not be the expert on this program, but I do not give wrong information on a forum! If you need more details pm me as I'm not really comfortable writing what I know!!!
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2010
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 0
I have spent the past 6 months at Yale's GPR program and I can honestly tell you it was the worst experience of my life. They flat out lied in the interview process, and did not tell us about certain responsibilities until the program had begun (by this I mean biweekly trips to the prosthodontic attending's office lab 30 min away (one way) to do lab work I learned in dental school).
You are on call every third week for week straight with no on call room. You have to field everything, including first call on facial fractures (hello, I'm a GPR, not OMFS resident!!). And traveling to New Haven at 3 am because we have no on call room is just awesome. My co-resident was attacked by a gang of men wielding baseball bats. 3 months later still no on call room solution.
Forget about any support if you have a problem. The chair of the department "does not negotiate with residents". Moreover, you will "learn what [she] wants you to learn." And the attendings will tell you to suck it up.
It took 6 months of hell and 1 resident leaving for them to realize that maybe something is wrong. Too little too late. And the resident who left was not a crappy dentist. She was well prepared, well educated and cared very deeply for the welfare of her patients.
I am not a slacker. I bust my butt because that's the kind of persone I am. I have no problem with an increased patient load from dental, or 12+ hour days. I was expecting this and looking forward to learning a great deal. I have a problem with the lying, lack of respect and support, and general lack of leadership of any kind in this program.
My only advice is to not go to this program. It's only going to get worse with 6 residents and 2 locations.
You are on call every third week for week straight with no on call room. You have to field everything, including first call on facial fractures (hello, I'm a GPR, not OMFS resident!!). And traveling to New Haven at 3 am because we have no on call room is just awesome. My co-resident was attacked by a gang of men wielding baseball bats. 3 months later still no on call room solution.
Forget about any support if you have a problem. The chair of the department "does not negotiate with residents". Moreover, you will "learn what [she] wants you to learn." And the attendings will tell you to suck it up.
It took 6 months of hell and 1 resident leaving for them to realize that maybe something is wrong. Too little too late. And the resident who left was not a crappy dentist. She was well prepared, well educated and cared very deeply for the welfare of her patients.
I am not a slacker. I bust my butt because that's the kind of persone I am. I have no problem with an increased patient load from dental, or 12+ hour days. I was expecting this and looking forward to learning a great deal. I have a problem with the lying, lack of respect and support, and general lack of leadership of any kind in this program.
My only advice is to not go to this program. It's only going to get worse with 6 residents and 2 locations.
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2010
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 0
Hello Doc, NOted your concerns. WOW!! Is there a chance perhaps we can chat privately about this.
- Joined
- May 15, 2009
- Messages
- 9
- Reaction score
- 3
Hey guys just wanted to bump this topic. Any new takes on the Yale GPR?
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2015
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 1
I think its time to update this thread.
There has been a lot of changes at Yale over the years...
We have 1 chief resident and 5 residents. We have 2 locations, one in the hospital with the hospital setting and one just outside of New Haven with private clinic setting.
Yale encourages 4-handed dentistry and have 1 assistant per resident (who works with you- takes radiographs, stays the whole time during procedures, keeps everything stocked and organized), multiple hygienists (you rarely do cleanings, you do it only if it’s a special case or you really want to do it yourself...), your own operatory, front desks staff who handles patients/appointments for you, and multiple attendings in different specialties.
On call schedule is light with 6 residents, and there is an on-call room, but we never really use it because we live close to the hospital and don’t get called in all that often. We handle dental related emergencies (e.g. avulsions, displacement, odontogenic infection…). We do handle some minor alveolar fractures and odontogenic infections with significant facial swellings, but the hospital knows to call OMFS for serious cases. And if you can’t do it, you can call the OMFS yourself and do it together or hand the case over to them. Let’s be honest, no one likes being on call, and I still hate being on call because I get anxious that my beeper is going to ring and that I am going to miss it, but I guess it’s something I signed up for when I decided to do GPR. Good thing is that the call at Yale is on the lighter side, and most of the cases I’ve seen I could handle and I’ve learned a lot by doing them.
Yale is not production driven. No one forces you to produce unlike some other GPR/AEGD programs. And you're not booked 15 patients a day (unless you want to...). We have some restrictions of what we do because a lot of our patients are on Medicaid and we have to follow its guidelines (e.g. posterior amalgam vs. composite, partial vs. implants), but when we have cool cases, a lot of faculty members are willing to work with you to make them teaching cases at little to no cost. For example, I have a patient who has amelogenisis imperfecta that I am doing full mouth restorations on.
Piggy backing off of that, Yale has a prosthodontic attending and we do cases with him in his lab, which is 30 minutes away. Yes, we follow the steps we learned in dental school, but have you really tried making a denture from start to finish with a prosthodontist? Because you really learn a lot by doing it. This prosthodontist has so much to teach you. You learn to do things the right way. I think for the education I get with him, I think 30 minutes is worth the drive. Plus, he’s really funny, cool, and really supportive. If you don't want to do a case with him, you never have to go to his lab. He won't make you. But I think it will be your loss... My co-residents are working on a lot of cool cases with him, including implants, hybrids, partials, completes including obturators. I am looking forward to restoring a case with this prosthodontist for a patient with ectodermal dysplasia.
We also place implants, restore implants, do perio surgeries (e.g. crown lengthening, flap debridement, gingival grafts) and endo (posteriors and anteriors, no re-tx). A lot of restorations too. We do hospital things (dental cases in the OR) and rotations (internal medicine, anesthesia, etc- I personally liked anesthesia. I saw so many cool surgeries and got to intubate people when all I've done in the past was on dummys in BLS classes).
With all that said, Yale is not a perfect program. What previous post said are probably true at that time it was written. I would be miserable too if I was on call 7 days straight every 3 weeks… This program has its flaws and there is always room for improvement… but there are already a lot of positive changes going on, and I think this program is really what you make out of it. You can do so many cases if you are really into it. If you don’t want to, you can get by doing nothing.
There has been a lot of changes at Yale over the years...
We have 1 chief resident and 5 residents. We have 2 locations, one in the hospital with the hospital setting and one just outside of New Haven with private clinic setting.
Yale encourages 4-handed dentistry and have 1 assistant per resident (who works with you- takes radiographs, stays the whole time during procedures, keeps everything stocked and organized), multiple hygienists (you rarely do cleanings, you do it only if it’s a special case or you really want to do it yourself...), your own operatory, front desks staff who handles patients/appointments for you, and multiple attendings in different specialties.
On call schedule is light with 6 residents, and there is an on-call room, but we never really use it because we live close to the hospital and don’t get called in all that often. We handle dental related emergencies (e.g. avulsions, displacement, odontogenic infection…). We do handle some minor alveolar fractures and odontogenic infections with significant facial swellings, but the hospital knows to call OMFS for serious cases. And if you can’t do it, you can call the OMFS yourself and do it together or hand the case over to them. Let’s be honest, no one likes being on call, and I still hate being on call because I get anxious that my beeper is going to ring and that I am going to miss it, but I guess it’s something I signed up for when I decided to do GPR. Good thing is that the call at Yale is on the lighter side, and most of the cases I’ve seen I could handle and I’ve learned a lot by doing them.
Yale is not production driven. No one forces you to produce unlike some other GPR/AEGD programs. And you're not booked 15 patients a day (unless you want to...). We have some restrictions of what we do because a lot of our patients are on Medicaid and we have to follow its guidelines (e.g. posterior amalgam vs. composite, partial vs. implants), but when we have cool cases, a lot of faculty members are willing to work with you to make them teaching cases at little to no cost. For example, I have a patient who has amelogenisis imperfecta that I am doing full mouth restorations on.
Piggy backing off of that, Yale has a prosthodontic attending and we do cases with him in his lab, which is 30 minutes away. Yes, we follow the steps we learned in dental school, but have you really tried making a denture from start to finish with a prosthodontist? Because you really learn a lot by doing it. This prosthodontist has so much to teach you. You learn to do things the right way. I think for the education I get with him, I think 30 minutes is worth the drive. Plus, he’s really funny, cool, and really supportive. If you don't want to do a case with him, you never have to go to his lab. He won't make you. But I think it will be your loss... My co-residents are working on a lot of cool cases with him, including implants, hybrids, partials, completes including obturators. I am looking forward to restoring a case with this prosthodontist for a patient with ectodermal dysplasia.
We also place implants, restore implants, do perio surgeries (e.g. crown lengthening, flap debridement, gingival grafts) and endo (posteriors and anteriors, no re-tx). A lot of restorations too. We do hospital things (dental cases in the OR) and rotations (internal medicine, anesthesia, etc- I personally liked anesthesia. I saw so many cool surgeries and got to intubate people when all I've done in the past was on dummys in BLS classes).
With all that said, Yale is not a perfect program. What previous post said are probably true at that time it was written. I would be miserable too if I was on call 7 days straight every 3 weeks… This program has its flaws and there is always room for improvement… but there are already a lot of positive changes going on, and I think this program is really what you make out of it. You can do so many cases if you are really into it. If you don’t want to, you can get by doing nothing.
Last edited:
