Anybody in the know about the program? No reviews on scutwork and search is out. Thanks- Coach

Overall a benign community-based MSU program in a small Midwestern city. Two main hospitals in Sparrow and Ingham Medical Center; the former seems to have gotten a bit busier over the last couple of years. Good attendings with good staff. Almost no scutwork. A certain percentage of their 10 slots are reserved for osteopaths - I think the quota varies somewhat.

I would disagree that it's a benign program. They see tons of blunt trauma as a level I, are a regional pediatric referral hospital, and have an extremely high acuity level. They see a combined census of approx. 103,000 patients a year (adult plus peds.). They're building a new peds ED and then a new adult ED. They are the 4th oldest EM program in the country, and are closely tied to SAEM, and ABEM, both of which originated in Lansing and are still there. They have one of two combined MD/DO programs in the country, so there are usually 5 MD/5 DO's. East Lansing is home to Michigan State Univ. so when they lose a big football or basketball game Sparrow tends to get busy from the drunken kids falling off light poles trying to escape the flames!

I would definitely say not 'flashy' though. One of the pluses I saw: you can moonlight as a first year in their "C hall" as an additional resident after 6 months. The pay is like $65/hr. They also allow you to moonlight at one of their satellite hospitals up in the middle of nowhere after passing step 3 and having your own lisence. This allows you experience as an attending with the options of calling your attending down in Lansing if you run into trouble, and also the option of transferring what you can't handle to the mothership.

I would disagree that it's a benign program. They see tons of blunt trauma as a level I, are a regional pediatric referral hospital, and have an extremely high acuity level. They see a combined census of approx. 103,000 patients a year (adult plus peds.). They're building a new peds ED and then a new adult ED. They are the 4th oldest EM program in the country, and are closely tied to SAEM, and ABEM, both of which originated in Lansing and are still there. They have one of two combined MD/DO programs in the country, so there are usually 5 MD/5 DO's. East Lansing is home to Michigan State Univ. so when they lose a big football or basketball game Sparrow tends to get busy from the drunken kids falling off light poles trying to escape the flames!

I would definitely say not 'flashy' though. One of the pluses I saw: you can moonlight as a first year in their "C hall" as an additional resident after 6 months. The pay is like $65/hr. They also allow you to moonlight at one of their satellite hospitals up in the middle of nowhere after passing step 3 and having your own lisence. This allows you experience as an attending with the options of calling your attending down in Lansing if you run into trouble, and also the option of transferring what you can't handle to the mothership.

By benign, I mean that the residents are generally treated well, and have good releationships with the faculty. Most of the MSU GME programs, particularly the primary care specialties, have been traditionally benign in nature, and are both DO and IMG friendly.

Yes, they do get lots of blunt trauma, and their overall census has crept up a little over the last couple of years, but in the words of Dr. Clark, who was the residency director there for years, it's not a "knife and gun club." If you've rotated there recently and seen differently, correct me.

thanks for the reviews on this program - anyone else have an opinion? my long term bf is a grad student at msu (with 3+ years to go) and my family is in the area, so it's up there on my list of considerations for EM. :)

By benign, I mean that the residents are generally treated well, and have good releationships with the faculty. Most of the MSU GME programs, particularly the primary care specialties, have been traditionally benign in nature, and are both DO and IMG friendly.

Yes, they do get lots of blunt trauma, and their overall census has crept up a little over the last couple of years, but in the words of Dr. Clark, who was the residency director there for years, it's not a "knife and gun club." If you've rotated there recently and seen differently, correct me.

Sorry, I guess you were using 'benign' as the opposite of 'malignant', I thought you meant nothing much happened there. It's definitely not a knife and gun club, but as someone who did clinical training in NYC I feel the 'knife and gun clubs' are what young people who dream of the ED feel is the way to go, too much ER on television if you asked me. I became extremely tired of seeing these supposed 'tough' thugs shooting each other in the legs and arms, like it was some game to show off for the girls. You can almost train a monkey to manage a hole in the leg. The blunt trauma is much harder to manage in my opinion, and there's a lot of it in these smaller urban level I trauma departments.