Alright guys, the season is upon us. Let the opinions fly, but please keep it civil and on topic.

And for reference, here is last years thread (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=341124)

Pro's:
1) Location (if you're into the beach:rolleyes:), and there's a pretty active nightlife due to the local university and constant stream of tourists. If you're single, get ready to mingle... There are also several REALLY nice restaurants within the area. Wish I had the opportunity to explore a little further outside of the downtown area.
2) pretty cush call, Q6 on the floor, Q7-8 in the CCU
3) building a new Critical Care Hospital exclusively for Cards and GI patients. There will be 3 cards teams, so you get lots of exposure.
4) flexibilty in 1st year schedule, 5-6 months of subspecialty rotations in intern year and PGY2.
5) PD was a genuinely nice guy...came around and spoke to each of us at breakfast and commented on various parts of our application.
6) The residents were all very friendly, and appears that they all get along and go out regularly
7) The hospital is very old (built in the 1940's) but has been renovated very well...numerous times I imagine. There is carpet on the floors (something I was particularly surprised by) and hardwood doors throughout giving the subconscious impression of a hotel rather than a ward.
8) Lunches are provided 2-3 days per week, and you get a very nice meal allowance. the cafeteria has a subway, as well as several others chains that I can't remember at the moment.

Con's
1) pretty cush call, Q6 on the floor, Q7-8 in the CCU...not sure if that's enough exposure.
2) I can see how the nightlife could wear thin...the downtown area seems to cater to tourists more than locals.
3) one of my interviewers didn't even bother to read over my app. It wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't driven 11hrs:meanie: I mean, if you can't be bothered to read through my application at least have something to discuss...I felt like I was interviewing him! Asking about what his days in clinic were like, how long he had lived in the area, where he grew up...you get the idea.:thumbdown I don't see why I couldn't have just teleconferenced the interview.
4) They did not provide a matchlist. They did however have a powerpoint slide listing names of places people matched...unfortunately, there was no mention of specialty.


When you visit, make sure you request Horace(sp?) by name when asking for a cab...he knows all about SDN and Scutwork.com:laugh: Plus he can give alot of insider info. that you won't/can't get anywhere else. Apparently, he's also the man to go to if you wanna buy a house in the area...

I guess I'll this forum up with the first review. I'm basing the sections on the reviews of an excellent poster from last year (AdCadet), but admittedly probably haven't taken the time to find as much info as he did. Where I basically agreed with him I had few reservations about using cut and paste.

Disclaimer - I've only been to the program during interview day. If I've made any factual errors, please somebody point them out to me.

The Program Director - The PD has been at WashU for a while now it seems. Residents report that he's a very good advocate for them and their problems and meets with them yearly at least. They say he's quite accessible for questions and concerns and none have any worries about bringing their problems to him. He came around and shook hands with each resident and said a few word. We each got a card from him and he made it a point for us to feel free to email him with any questions or concerns we might have. Overall, very welcoming and personable.

The Chair - The Chair was only present and speaking at the opening session. Report from the residents is that he's very pleasant and personable as well as dedicated to education. Per my faculty interviewer, this is a change from the previous chair who was a bit more intimidating.

Residents - Diverse resident population with people from all over the country. I was at the first interview day so attendance was probably better than it will be later in the year but there were a large number of residents at dinner the night before and lunch on the day of the interview. Generally, they seem very happy and very eager to push their program. Multiple residents as well as the PD mentioned that the residents are what makes their program stand out. Everyone was quite friendly and seemed like they generally get along most of the time. I also had at least two residents tell me that despite the size of the program they know their fellow residents well and that the size is actually beneficial as it provides more people you're likely to get along with (and more people to cover for you if you need time off for any reason).

Faculty - I spoke with a few faculty members (one at interview, one at breakfast, and a couple at pizza rounds). All of them seemed very pleased with the facility, their residents, and their lives in general. Residents mentioned that a portion of the faculty are on a first name basis with the residents and that they're quite approachable. The faculty I got a chance to speak with were certainly friendly and very happy to be of service to the applicants. Every person I spoke with more than about three seconds gave me a business card and let me know I could contact them for just about anything. Faculty also have a reputation for high achievement and bringing in patients from outlying areas their reputation and skills. Teaching is reported to be quite good.

Patients - Serves as the primary hospital for a large number of inner city patients as their is no real county hospital in St. Louis. In addition, good reputation and specialties bring in a great number of referral patients from other areas as well as the fact that it's the only tertiary care center in at least 200 miles. Residents think this provides a good mix between indigent population with bread and butter concerns and the zebras inherent in a tertiary center. In past years the private patient population has been cited as a problem, but a hospitalist service was devised to deal with these patients and seems to be doing the job. Apparently, there are still a few private patients on cardiology, but not one resident or intern cited these private patients as a problem. Resident clinic mainly serves medicare and medicaid patients and apparently provides lots of opportunities to deal with the bread and butter HTN, DM, CHF, COPD, etc... on an outpatient basis. Now the clinic will also take completely uninsured patients, which it apparently didn't until one to two years ago. This basically means you can convert any patient you see in the hospital into your clinic patient if they are in need of a primary and vice-versa that any clinic patient who needs to be admitted can get admitted to an inpatient firm. Residents spoke highly of their clinic social worker.

Conferences - They claim a 100% board pass rate. Pizza rounds (held at 3pm Friday afternoon on interview dates and 4 pm regularly) is basically a social opportunity for everyone from IM to get together, eat, and sample some nice local beer each week. Given the free food and drink this was quite well attended by residents as well as several of the faculty and the chair. Morning conference was split given the large interview group (around 30) but was good if not particularly unique. Interestingly, my group wasn't run by a chief but by a third year on an elective that focuses on medical teaching (I forget the exact name). Afternoon CPC conference was very well attended and interesting. Apparently, outside of interview season journal club and morning report are split with one for interns and one for residents. Drug reps apparently sponsor lunches a few times a week and I saw a lot of pharma stuff around the resident clinics and in one or two other areas.

Sites/Facilities - There is a VA, which seems somewhat universally reviled by the residents in terms of quality though they appreciate the experience there. Huge hospital with 1200+ beds. All of the medicine floors have been completely remodeled in the last two years or so and are appropriately impressive. I also saw the CCU, which is similarly recently redone as are the other two ICU’s supposedly. The new Center for Advanced Medicine is also gorgeous, but one only goes there as a resident for subspecialty clinic. The resident's clinic is the dodgiest looking part of the hospital we saw with that old prison look of cinderblocks and little windows (It’s apparently being redone). In the center of campus is a giant hole that is being turned into their genomics research center. All buildings are connected by skyway, including the Children's Hospital. No computer order entry yet, but it’s anticipated relatively soon. Regarding the EMR H&P’s are in the computer and usually dictated whereas daily notes are written in the chart (on templates with labs and meds on them spit out by the computer). The resident and other clinics are on a system that automatically faxes prescriptions and carries out other orders so you shouldn’t have to write scripts.
Location – Have very little knowledge of St. Louis. Residents and faculty admit that the downtown has had problems with crime and urban decay that are improving with a new stadium and a loft district but definitely aren’t fully resolved. The medical center is in the Central West End neighborhood, however, which is quite nice and reportedly very safe within its bounds. Saw lots of ethnic restaurants, nice homes, and people on foot. They showed a map of all resident residences and about 2/3 live within a mile or two of the hospital in that neighborhood. The hospital is also next to Forrest Park, which is apparently the largest contiguous city park in the United States and has a very nice free zoo and museum. For those who want to live a bit farther afield medical center is easily accessible by a short rail ride from many locations in the suburbs if they’re picked appropriately.

Schedule - WashU must have one of the more resident-friendly schedules. There is no overnight call for interns except on the MICU (1 month) and CCU (1 month). All other inpatient rotations are q4 but residents stop admitting patients at 8:30 pm (8:30 pm when they get the call, not when the patient hits the floor but they note that ED turnaround time is pretty good) and are to be gone by 9:30-10 pm. Generally, the interns report 63-73 hours per week depending on service. Resident hour reporting is informal, with residents occasionally having to fill out a form with their hours. The program seems to take a systems approach to hours violations, changing rotations instead of blaming residents. WashU uses a firm system, with 3 firms at Barnes-Jewish and a fourth at the VA. Interns do 2-3months of firms, one month at the VA, one month of CCU, one month of MICU, one month of oncology inpatient, 2-3 months of ambulatory and/or elective, 2-6 weeks of night float, 1 week of sick call, and 3 weeks of vacation. For an intern, this adds up to 2 months of q3 overnight call, and 6-8 months of q4 non-overnight call. Junior residents do 4-5 months inpatient non-overnight q4 call and 2 months q3 overnight call. Senior residents do 1-2 months on MICU/SICU with q3 overnight call, 2-3 months of q4 non-overnight call on the firms. The firms are "geographically" located, minimizing the need to run all over this huge hospital. There is a triage resident in ED who controls which service patients go to (which firm, subspecialty service, or non-teaching hospitalist service). While this resident can't refuse admissions, he/she does reportedly do a great job of keeping cases with low educational value off the teaching services. Residents spend one-half day per week in their continuity clinic in addition to one month per year.

Research - In addition to the Physician Scientist Training Program (ABIM short track), they also have a Clinical Scientist Training And Research (C-STAR) program that allows a 3-month block of non-call rotations and includes some graduate classes in epi, study design, etc. They also have the Mentors in Medicine program, in which residents can apply for $5,000-10,000 of funding for a 3-months project. Last year 29 applied and 21 were funded. The PD implied that those who don’t get it tend to not apply particularly seriously.
Fellowships : They hand out a fellowship list that is quite impressive. 15 out of about 48 residents from this years third year class are doing Cards! This proportion is actually fairly within normal limits for their residency.

Thanks a lot for the information zebra hunter! I am interviewing at Wash U next week and found that your information was very valuable. So there is only one formal interview during the day?

Again, keep up the good work and best of luck in your application process.

Thanks a lot for the information zebra hunter! I am interviewing at Wash U next week and found that your information was very valuable. So there is only one formal interview during the day?

Again, keep up the good work and best of luck in your application process.
Yeah, unless you're physician scientist or one of the other tracks only one formal interview (and that's remarkably informal). Good luck.

General impression: Strong program NYC that is very front loaded, with chill bunch of residents. Only there once for interview day, applying categorical, first interview.

Program Director/Chairman: The day began with a free breakfast from 7:30-8am followed by a talk by the PD and Chairman. Both seemed extremely nice with the PD often making the entire room laugh. She seemed enthusiatic, liberal, open minded, and responsive to residents needs. She also seemed like she was trying to sell the program a little 'too much.' This is most likely because most people would rather live in Manhattan than the bronx. Overall, both seemed very pleasant, and education oriented.

Residents: There was limited interaction with the residents. There was only 5-6 accessible throughout the day, with two of them being cheifs, and the others PGY2's. With an incoming class of 110 people (60 categoricals) it would be completely inaccurate to comment on the residents with such limited exposure. Some information obtained though was that they all got along, would attend happy hours in the city once a week, and were very close because of such an intense first year. The residents were from mainly strong east coast schools, with a predominance from NY schools.

Lifestyle: Apparently first year is a drag with questionable 80 hour compliance...openly admitted that first years would stay to 1am on short call days. They also have this funny system where night floats (6 weeks over 3 years) doesn't do any admits, which is good...but then who does them overnight? You do, every 4th call you come in in the morning, round, go home for 10 hours, come back, stay over night, then stay the whole next day. Not sure if I like this. The reason is to provide you with you continuity of care. I think I would rather just have the typical long call to 10pm. Also, on your call day, q4, you have to be in at 6am to recieve your first patient!!! Yikes.... 1/4 of the residents live in the city, 1/4 in really cheap housing. The area is not fun. The action for a social life exists in the city which is easily accessible by 2 different subway trains a 2 minute walk away from the hospital.

Research: Apparrently there is alot of research at the hospital, but interns typically do not have the time or the will power to participate. This is a shame because despite the hospital being strong academically, they do not take their own for GI or Cards (with the only people to get them being cheifs). Not sure what this implies about how they view their own residents.

Future of residents: Despite not having time for research, or not being taken by your own, residents place 89% into subspecialties, with 20% doing GI, and 20% doing cards. This is pretty impressive, even though the areas that these people matched for these fields were mainly state schools, or community programs. The match list was very impressive for other subspecialties such as pulm, heme/onc, renal etc...

The Hospital: Montefiore is academic seed of AECOM, being located in the northern bronx which is definitly different and a lot safer/nicer then the southern bronx. However it is not exactly the lower east side. The area is still kind of run down. The hospital recently underwent renovation with a brand new medicine wing where you spend your entire three years. The time is spent between montefiore and weiller, with the latter being more community and the former more urban. Both have very little private patients and excellent teaching staff. The pathology apparently is unbeatable, and when combined with no private attendings to chase around, this probably makes for an excellent learning experience. There are phlebotomists, but you usually have to do IV's, BCX, and definitly ABG's. Housing is provided across the street, which is supposedly nice, and very cheap (1bdrm for 600 bucks). There are 3 firm teams, you are assigned to one, and that is the one you are with for the entirety of the three years, appparently this helps foster stronger relationships, and that residents all do intermingle.

Conclusion: Pros: Good placement, strong PD, excellent pathology, hands on, no privates, well known academic reputation, a good blend of autonomy plus supervision, new medicine wing, very close to NYC with cheap housing. Cons: very front loaded, mediocre ancillary staff, don't take their own for competitive subspecialities, questionable 80 hr compliance, the area stinks, large program (good or bad).

Will rank it highly...intern year is terrible at all nyc academic programs

If you read the post, try to post one as well, so we can all benefit :)

Historical antecdote: Baylor Dallas and Baylor Houston were, long ago, one program located in Dallas. Apparently, at one point there were administrative problems and the medical school packed up and moved "overnight" to Houston. The Dental school stayed behind (though now it is only connected physically not administratively). Baylor Houston continues to have administrative problems and looks again like it will be "packing up."

Pro's:
1) Very small program, tiny infact...they take 9 residents a year and 8 prelims.

2) Laid back vibe - Many of the prelim applicants on interview day were from UTSW and seemed to desire a "cush" intern year here rather than what they would be exposed to at Parkland. Residents told me they're in around 7 and leave anywhere between 2 and 5 pm.

3) Incredible facilities - being a private hospital, the ammenities were well beyond any state hospital I've ever seen. The ER was brand new, and looked like it had been designed for a television series. The cafeteria was actually beyond words in terms of food choices:love:. Private call rooms.

4) In house journal (Baylor Proceedings) makes it easy to get published in a peer-reviewed journal. A staff physician is also the editor-in-chief of a well renowned journal (can't remember at the moment) which, according to the residents, also helps in increasing publications.

5) Procedures - I was told by several residents that it quite easy to rack up a sizeable number of procedures during your residency. Because the program is small and the patient population is large, apparently you can notify services that you're available for procedures and they'll page you when they need a line placed.

6) Teaching was emphasized throughout the day. The afternoon lecture on colon cancer was excellent, however, it was heavily skewed towards basic science focusing more on tumor supressor genes than clinical presentation and management.

7)Because multiple private physicians follow your patients you contact the attending physician directly, likewise for specialty consults...you speak with the specialist rather than the fellow.

8) Fellowship matching seemed good to great. A match list was provided, but no distinction was made as to when fellows matched or how many matched per year. Also nothing was provided on the number that did not match. The program takes 2 cards fellows and 2 GI fellows, as well as all other specialties, and it appeared that they fill at least half the slots with their own residents. I asked for a fellowship match list from the past 2 years and was greeted with another furrowed brow.:rolleyes:

9) Small program and everyone is known on a first name basis

10) (Outstanding) lunch provided everyday and $50 meal card provided.

11) Dallas is cheap to live and residents are well paid. They also get a 401K plan.

12) They love inbreeding and many graduates stay to take staff positions.

Neutral's:
1) No rounding...this can be a + or - depending on your outlook. There is a "teaching attending" who does sit down rounds 2-3 times a week.

2) No morning report...again, depending on your outlook. There is very little structure to the program and residents are responsible for reading and learning the basics. Apparently, because of the ample free time the PD stressed 100% board pass rates over the last 16 years.

Negative's:
1) Research did not seem to be encouraged. I got furrowed brows everytime I brought up getting a MPH or pursuing a PhD. The PSDP (or ABIM tract) was not being offered...one individual in the program is doing the "fast track" but he is an exception as he worked in a lab with a gastroenterologist at the hospital for many years.

2) Small program, would theoretically be hard to match into a fellowship if you did not match at Baylor. Also, there are no chief residents so if you don't match you are sent out to pasture...:scared:. It appeared that about half the graduates take hospitalist positions with a large private group. Not really sure what % were unable to match into their specialty, no one on interview day spoke of not matching.

3) Unsure of what percentange of patients are uninsured/underserved. PD stressed that admissions to the team were filtered so that you get a "good mix" of bread and butter (CHF, MI, Sickle Cell, COPD, etc.) as well as zebras.

Historical antecdote: Baylor Dallas and Baylor Houston were, long ago, one program located in Dallas. Apparently, at one point there were administrative problems and the medical school packed up and moved "overnight" to Houston. The Dental school stayed behind (though now it is only connected physically not administratively). Baylor Houston continues to have administrative problems and looks again like it will be "packing up."


? Baylor College of Medicine in Houston? Not going anywhere. Building new hospital due 2010, and just renewed agreement with St. Luke's. New NCI designated Cancer Center. Still with the Ben Taub County Hospital & VA. New PD making positive changes, very nice guy, very pro-resident.

General impression: Good community program in NYC, Large (incoming categorical n=45), house staff seemed to get along well (great camaraderie), two sites in NYC (could be plus or minus), great subsidized housing, program leadership dedicated to house staff and their concerns, residents have a lot of autonomy

Program Director/Chairman: The interview started at 7:45am with a slide show presentation re the program by the senior associate PD. The actual PD was on jury duty for the next couple of weeks. Everyone, including the house staff, spoke VERY highly about the PD!! He's very original (always has innovative ideas to improve the program) and always dedicated to house staff concerns. The presentation in the AM was essentially all the information they have on their website.
The chairman also talked to us for a few minutes. He does do service months on the floors and if he works with you he will know you for life. Teh chairmans name is Dr Lesch, he is the "Lesch" in "Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome". He is a cardiologist (i believe brigham trained) and so does help teh residents interested in cardiology to get fellowships. It felt as if you were able to work with him on the floors you were golden (especially in matching for fellowship), but if you didn't you would a slightly more difficult time.

Residents: We met a variety of residents throughout the day from all years. Most of the time was spend with senior and chief residents. I guess all the interns were very busy, but we did spend some time with them during intern morning report and lunch. All admit that it is a busy program and you work hard. But there is a lot of autonomy and the clinical training is excellent. All describe being able to handle any and all clinical situations that arise b/c of their training. Stats on house staff: unofficially (again this is just from my impression), all prelims are from top schools with excellent academic standing (avg step 1 for prelim ~ 245); ~70-80% (general impression) are foreign grads with step 1 also in ~240s, the remaining 20-30% of categoricals are US grads with avg Step 1 ~ 210. (the step scores were provided during morning orientation) In addition to foreign grads also a decent presence of DO's.

Lifestyle: As mentioned its very busy. Typical day for intern starts before 7am when they may preround. Signout is at 7am. They round with residents and get work done 8-9am, and then rounds with attending 9am-11am. Once a week intern report from 11am-12pm, whereas residents have report the remaining days of the week from 11am-12pm. 12pm is usually noon conference (with free food...some residents said free food for lunch every day while others said it was every other day). From 1pm-4:30pm was work rounds and signout at 4:30pm. Most agree'd that they maynot always get out at 4:30pm....especially at the beginning of the year. All residents also have 1/2 day continuity clinic every week. Bottom line is that all residents admitted they work hard, the learn alot, and they all get along. Some said that b/c it is a big program and split b/w two hospitals (free shuttle b/w the hospitals is provided every hour) you may not see every one in your class. Also...no 24 hr call anywhere. THey have a "drip" system where everyone admits every day (~3 new admits per day, 2 new + 1 transfer) and you still have long call q 4. They do this so that you don't get slammed with 10 new admissions q4d, rather have a steady stream of admissions every day. All residents admitted that this gave them time to know their patients and gave them time to read more often. I didn't meet any resident/intern who didn't like this setup. Also...moonlighting is allowed within the hospital for PGY2 and PGY3. Each intern is capped at 10 or 11 patients...and as per residents they are strict about the cap.

Research: Apparently there is a big focus of research at these hospitals. Although this program is affiliated with Columbia, didnt get the feeling that research caliber and faculty caliber was same as that of columbia. Nonetheless, they described significant research with many of their residents publishing (see website). Not sure how common this is but intern year they actually have a dedicated block of research time (you're also covering sick call at the time). The research done is mostly clinical but some do basic science as well.

Future of residents: My biggest pet peeve is programs that give you a summary of fellowship placements rather then listing each resident's name and exactly where they matched for EVERY year. This program did the former where they only provided summary stats for the last 3 years (see website for the list). They fare better in cards matches than GI. As per one of the chiefs, last two years its been about 7/9 matching into cardiology (some within the same institution). Those who don't match usually take a year to do research and then reapply. Some may even do a 1 year fellowship (in CHF or Echo) and then reapply for cardiology. For the less competitive fellowships (geriatrics or rheumatology) residents go to MGH or BIDC.

The Hospital: two sites, st lukes hospital which is in upper manhattan and roosevelt hospital which is in midtown (near columbus cirlce). Both hospitals have computerized systems (for orders, labs, vitals, and imaging). Only daily progress notes are hand written. Both hospitals seem to have excellent facilities (including COW = computer on wheels) so you can round and look at labs enter orders at same time. Both hospitals have ER. It seems as if at st lukes (which has two buildings connected by walkways) there may be a little more running around. Ancillary staff is mediocre. They don't have dedicated phlebotomy teams but the nurses will attempt to draw labs from patients in the AM. If unsuccessful only them are interns paged (as per one resident this occurs 1-2x per week).

Conclusion:
Pros: Residents, program leadership, autonomy, benefits package (PGY 1 salary = > $51,000), location, awesome subsidized housing (thee apartment buildings all together, two with 24 hr doorman, one considered luxury with dishwasher in each apartment), focus on academics and clinical training, moonlighting allowed.
Cons: Significant amount of foreign grads (although all are cream of the crop), b/c of large size and two locations may not get to know your entire class, uncertain/NOT upfront about fellowship placement per year (it seemed as if this year there were 20 people applying to cardiology).

This was my first interview so don't know where (if) I will rank it. I gotta say I was more impressed with the program than I thought I was going to be. I interview at the top tier programs in a few weeks so I'm pretty sure I won't rank this as high (mostly b/c the securing cards + GI fellowship is probably easier coming from top tier program). But if I wanted a good primary care with fantastic clinical experience, i would keep this program in the back of my mind.

WEBSITE: www.slrmed.org

Cheers!

They have a "drip" system where everyone admits every day (~3 new admits per day, 2 new + 1 transfer) and you still have long call q 4. They do this so that you don't get slammed with 10 new admissions q4d, rather have a steady stream of admissions every day. All residents admitted that this gave them time to know their patients and gave them time to read more often. I didn't meet any resident/intern who didn't like this setup.

This is not regarding any program in particular, but with the trend in medicine programs to less overnight call, it is becoming more important to evaluate how the day/nighfloat systems are being implemented when you look at programs. If the program is in the mist of transitioning there can be quite a few bumps in the road and holes in the system which can have some adverse effects.

First, longer hours--you could be in the hospital 12-14 hours every day for some stretches without a "post-call" day to break it up. This often improves as the system of admitting caps, time cutoffs and holdovers is tweaked.

Second, in a way it just compresses all your work into the daytime hours, which sometimes makes it difficult to get to educational conferences and do sit-down teaching on a regular basis.

Third, if you're admitting every day it can be more difficult with arranging days off amongst the team (particularly with continuity clinics thrown into the mix); you can often feel short staffed when every day is short call.

That said, it appears that most programs are going this route by necessity, and since there are a finite number of residents and hours in the day, the problems are often universal, although some institutions have more ability to alleviate the pressure, such as expanding hospitalist coverage and other non-teaching services.

For Nuts and Bolts of program see Spumoni620's post below.

Random thoughts:
1) one of the most intense clinical training programs I've interviewed for. I am basing this in terms of volume of patients seen, number of ward and ICU months intern year, level of autonomy and hands-on procedurally-oriented training. It was stressed over and over that "Residents run the hospital," from the morning introduction by the new PD to the attending on wards, and even the UTSW M4s looking for some respite at the Baylor-Dallas interview...

The "mission statement" given in the introduction summarizes this with the ABCs - Autonomy, Back-up, and Comraderie. I definitely believed that autonomy was encouraged, if not expected...you will hit the ground running full speed with bullets whizzing by here. I cannot comment on the level of back-up as I only saw interview day, but on wards you obviously have an R3 whom I suspect will help out with problems encountered. The comraderie was questionable from the R3 I observed on rounds...he seemed to focus his positive comments on the fact that "the program is so large that if you have a problem with other residents you will probably never have to see them again." If this is a shared perspective then it's concerning. There was absolutely no talk from the residents about going out together (or even going out for that matter:eek:) or team building exercises, or any other shared activities. So, again this calls into question the level of comraderie. There appears to be less here than any other program I've interviewed at.

2) I got the impression from speaking with an R2 at lunch that residents don't get much time to enjoy Dallas or outside interests. Everytime I brought up something interesting about the city or things I hope to do during residency the resident sitting with us at lunch quipped, "when do you think you're gonna find time to do that?"

3) Parkland is a very old hospital and it shows in the facilities. I think this lends well to the intense training experienced here. Contrast this with the newly built Grady hospital decked out in marble, which seems a little extravagant for the purposes of indigent care. <While touring Grady, it's hard to forget the close relationship with Coca-Cola>.

Call me old-fashioned, but if I'm in the trenches I'd rather be surrounded by beige paint and floors needing a fresh coat of wax...rather than enclaved in marble and exotic wood. Again, purely a personal sentiment.

4) I was pretty disappointed by the lack of variety in food choices. With such a large population of employees and patients, I expected more than a single cafeteria and a McDonald's. I must admit that though I asked to tour the cafeteria, it never happened...so I'm basing this on what I was told by my tour guide (an R2). Lunch was held in a very nice dining room that, from what I understand is open daily to attendings but residents rarely step foot into.

5) Dallas is a great city. Lots of world class restaurants, plenty of bars and clubs, and extremely friendly people. I made friends in every bar I went to. I was in town for 4 days, so I was able to see most of the nightlife spots within the downtown area. It's reasonably cheap to live close to the hospital, and many residents choose to do so. Traffic can get backed-up, but it's nothing compared to Houston. It might be hard to ride a bicycle within the city, if you're the type, which was a disappointment cause I'd like to bike to work for exercise as well as to avoid the traffic.

6) Historically, fellowship matching has been very strong to excellent (will update later, don't have sheet on me). Unfortunately...and this is a BIG "unfortunately", the old PD just moved on to UT-San Antonio, and this might greatly affect Cards matching because he was kind of a big deal in the field - co-authored Lange, many pubs, well known in other programs. Most people within the program simply shrug their shoulders and say "it was time for a change," but this seems like a very BIG change if you're interested in Cards. Also, the new PD is freshly minted from UTSW's IM residency, so her networking (i.e. word of mouth, name-dropping) ability is questionable.

7) Potpouri was quite fascinating. First of all, this was an opportunity to witness the sheer size of the housestaff, even with many interns and residents absent, the large amphitheater was filled. I didn't necessarily get the feeling that the entire housestaff was cohesive, rather that there were "pockets of friends." Again this was one day of interviewing. Everyone enjoyed a good laugh at the expense of the attending or intern on the spot...though, as spumoni620 stated, it was all in good fun.

Summary:
- intense training...prepare to work ur arse off.
- level of autonomy unsurpassed...any more autonomy and you'd be the attending.
- old facilities
- lack of dining choices (given the size of the hospital).
- questionable comraderie among the housestaff
- lack of free time
- new PD (outgoing PD highly respected in the field of, and probably very influential in residents matching into Cards).

Overall, all of the above are positives and/or acceptable given the size and reputation of the program. The reputation of the program (positives and negatives) is well known within the south, and as a result I was not surprised by what I saw on interview day. I plan to rank this program high.

Overview: Atlanta is a very large (~3.5 million), very sprawled out city. This is a factor if you live outside of the immediate vicinity of the hospital, traffic gets bad on the 2 lane roads leading to-and-from the hospital. The downtown area underwent extensive renovations during the Olympic games and the downtown area remains relatively safe with lots of parks and restaurants. The area surrounding Emory is very trendy, and very different from other parts of ATL...kinda reminds me of the trendy areas of Hermosa beach and Santa Barbara, without the ocean of course. It's a very young/hip area due to the undergrad campus adjacent to the hospital. I don't recall where residents said they lived or what kind of rent they paid.

It's been quite some time since I interviewed...random thoughts of what I remember:
1) GRADY IS NOT CLOSING contrary to popular belief, the hospital is alive and well. This is the hospital that Coke built, it ain't going anywhere anytime soon. All county hospitals are going through financial troubles and Grady is no different.

2) Fellowship placement is very strong...they especially love inbreeding. Glancing at the fellowship match list, it looks like 80-90% of cards slots go to Emory grads.

3) We did not observe rounds and I cannot comment on resident autonomy. I got the sense that the program is pretty cush. Nothing to back it up, just a gut feeling.

4) I did not get the feeling that residents perform that many procedures. An interviewee asked our tour guid (R2) if she felt comfortable putting in lines, thoracentesis, etc. and he/she basically said no.

5) Research opportunities abound, with opportunities to rotate at the CDC.

I will clean up this review later when I have the supplied info. <killing time at the hospital right now>.

Hopefully, this is the appropriate thread to make such a request, but could anyone who's interviewed at USC, UCONN, Winthrop, St. Luke's Roosevelt, or Washington Hospital Center post how well the programs have done in terms of matching in cardio? This is something they usually provide you with in your interview packet.

Thanks in advance.

Hopefully, this is the appropriate thread to make such a request, but could anyone who's interviewed at USC, UCONN, Winthrop, St. Luke's Roosevelt, or Washington Hospital Center post how well the programs have done in terms of matching in cardio? This is something they usually provide you with in your interview packet.

Thanks in advance.

USC residents into Cards

Class of
2003: 2 out of 56
2004: 4 out of 58
2005: 1 out of 59
2006: 3 out of 55
2007: 3 out of 51

USC residents into Cards

Class of
2003: 2 out of 56
2004: 4 out of 58
2005: 1 out of 59
2006: 3 out of 55
2007: 3 out of 51

Wow, that's not nearly as good as I though it would be. I'd prefer to return to CA, but some of the NY programs I've been interviewing at have more like 15 - 20% matching into cards.

Thanks, that's going to play a huge role in whether or not I decide to take a pre-match outside of CA.

Wow, that's not nearly as good as I though it would be. I'd prefer to return to CA, but some of the NY programs I've been interviewing at have more like 15 - 20% matching into cards.

Thanks, that's going to play a huge role in whether or not I decide to take a pre-match outside of CA.

I didn't know what to think of USC prior to interview, based especially on some of the talk around here about the program, but I was impressed. ~35-45% of residents go onto fellowships of some sort, ~10% go general/primary care, and the rest go Hospitalist.

The program is largely hospital based, which I really, really liked. Call months are backing off from 11 to 8 when the new hospital opens, but the residents working in the 11 month system don't seem to have too many complaints - it's def manageable and everyone I talked to seemed pretty happy. They program KNOWS about all the call an things are pretty streamlined, some of calls are nothing more covering the specific service floor with 1-2 scheduled admissions - as in once you've admitted those 1-2 you won't be admitting anymore that night. The pathology they see there is ridiculous, for example diagnosing ~5% of ALL TB (including extrapulmonary dz) cases in the country, as well as seeing the kind of parasites you won't regularly get this side of South America or Africa - they have cases of malaria every year.

If you want to learn how to take care of sick people, while becoming competent and comfortable working alone, I think USC will hand that to you better than probably anywhere else in the country (not bad about finding fellowship either!).

Wow, that's not nearly as good as I though it would be.
Well, that statistic doesn't elucidate is how many residents who actually applied to cards got it, am I wrong? It's not as if everyone in IM would do cards if given the chance. :p

Well, that statistic doesn't elucidate is how many residents who actually applied to cards got it, am I wrong? It's not as if everyone in IM would do cards if given the chance. :p

Yeah, I realize that but I think it's fair to say that variation isn't enough to account for 5% (at USC) versus 15% (at some of the programs that I've liked in NY). Is there a good reason to believe that there is 3x interest in cards in university programs at NY as opposed to USC?

When you consider that the number is an average over the last 5 years, that diminishes the impact of preferential variation from place to place.

If you want to learn how to take care of sick people, while becoming competent and comfortable working alone, I think USC will hand that to you better than probably anywhere else in the country...

:rolleyes:<rolliing my eyes and biting my tongue>

:rolleyes:<rolliing my eyes and biting my tongue>

Oh, don't hold back on my account . . .

What you got killer?

Rolling my eyes that USC will train you to "take care of sick people better than anywhere in the country"...quite a subjective claim.

Biting my tongue because the numbers speak for themselves: a little over 2 residents match in cards each year...the most objective data provided.

I'm sure someone might say "maybe only 2 chose cards," however, it's highly unlikely that USC is the only program in the country with 4% of its housestaff choosing this subspecialty.

I'm sure USC is a great program(I haven't bothered to look), but gimme a break...

In the words of B. A. Baracus, "The numbers don't jive, turkey!"

Interview Day: I interviewed a while back at UTSW. Well organized. LOTS of people - ~ 40 in the small room when I went. Takes place in a rather hard to find area of the school; for sure I'd have been lost if I hadn't fortuitously found a UTSW med student wandering the halls (who even then didn't really know where this odd room was). Lots of UTSW interviewees and I felt the majority of students were from within Texas. Definitely if not in Texas, had roots in Texas (like me). Corny as it sounds, the Texan twang and general super-niceness of everyone from the staff to faculty made me feel as though I were "back home" - I think people really are friendlier in the South. The day began with an intro by the PD, followed by intro from chiefs talking about the amazing pathology you see at Parkland. One of the chiefs pulled out a book of cases and read some off just seen from the past two days, including tularemia, mycosis fungoides, elephantiasis or something similar, lots of TB. Then we were escorted on rounds, attended conference, lunch, tour, interviews, and then a faculty meet & greet ("liver rounds") at the faculty club. Day was longest I've been on among several interviews, ended around 4:30 - 5:30 but could have gone on longer if you wanted to schmooze.

Didactics[/B]: My favorite part of the day was the "Potpourri" conference. This was a session in which interns call on basically anyone in the audience (attendings, residents, not interviewees) and present a case which they have to work up in front of everyone. And the cases are tricky. It's of course all in good fun. It was actually really interesting and the cases were awesome - unusual cases that left you wondering until the punch line at the end. It was also nice to see the camaraderie everyone seemed to share - there was a laid-back, non-malignant air that was enjoyable to see. Residents and attendings do seem to have a great relationship of "equals".

Rounds Was placed with a post-call team, so they all understandably looked exhausted. They were finishing up sit-down rounds in a rather dingy, poorly lit room when we came. The resident was no-nonsense but helpful, seemed a decisive leader who was working hard to get his team out on time. amazingly, he was not in the least irritated at the prospect of being followed around by relatively unhelpful suit-clad interviewees while trying to tie loose ends and attack a pile of work post-call. Lots of new admissions, including UGIB, LGIB, a man with end-stage esophageal cancer requiring esophagectomy, liver disease, altered mental status, etc. Attending was really nice, young, seemed to be a caring/good teacher who actually took time to incorporate us into rounds and explain things to us. There is no question the teams work hard here. The med student had about 4 patients, if I recall correctly. Presence of med student is actually a factor that determines how many patients you can admit!

Hospital: Bulk of training is at Parkland, some at the VA, also have private hospital rotation (forgot name of hospital, but only a month or two I belive). To be blunt, Parkland will never place in the "100 most glamorous hospitals in America". It's crowded, poorly lit and has the general smell of "things are really busy here". We walked by the ER and there were literally people lined up outside the door and crammed in the waiting room- I have never seen such a busy ER before! People apparently have waited 10 hours to be seen. Residents state the hospital functions well and the ancillary staff are good, but do admit to there being some tension when calling consults on certain fields, i.e. surgery. No electronic medical records here, so much is still handwritten. Residents didn't seem particularly bothered by it. Although, of course, they are working to change that. I have to double check (things are bit blurry) but I think labs were online. I also believe there is no access given to UpToDate, which I found surprising. Most info is found on patients by looking at discharge summaries which contain the H&P, meds, etc and are dictated.

Residents: I talked to a few interns and a resident. I did not attend the dinner before so do not have as comprehensive of a view on this. Overall, they seemed to be happy but tired. They also seemed very knowledgeable, competent and hard-working. There was the general attitude that "you work really really hard but you come out competent and capable of handling everything". Now a night-float system is in place for 2nd years but the resident I talked to did express some concern about whether this was really better, as hand-offs and late admissions can sometimes pose trouble in getting out on time. However, all residents I spoke to stated they were within 80 hours. ICU months, however, they stated it was difficult to meet this at times. Another oft-repeated theme was resident autonomy. The intern I had lunch with rattled off a list of procedures she had done including intubation, para/thoracentesis, LPs, lines, etc. etc. I sensed from the rounds and the general atmosphere that residents do seem to run the show.

PD: Young, recently appointed, but seems very genuine and dedicated to students and education. She has the advantage of being "closer" in terms of age and memories to that stage of training.

Fellowships/Research/Career: The match list for fellowships is really, truly impressive. They routinely place several in cards/GI every year and the sites are stellar. I don't know what the secret is, as my gut feeling is that as a resident or intern you would have to be very proactive to find time to research something substantial. There is no formal program for mentorship or research that I know of, although opportunities apparently abound if you are so inclined.


City: Dallas in itself is not really so bad. People tend to live in Uptown, about 10-20 minutes away. Rent is beautifully cheap in many cases. Some live in houses in suburbia and commute. Weather is nice in fall/spring, somewhat cold (rarely snows, rarely ices) in winter, very hot and humid in the summer. I actually don't mind this at all as I'm a warm-weather/sun type of person. For example, it was 75 degrees when I went to interview. As far as things to do, there is a pretty active nightlife scene, tons of good restaurants, trails and parks, etc. etc. Traffic is congested at predictable times but otherwise not bad at all from what I've seen.


Overall impression: The day was organized if quite long, but I left with a positive impression of the program. I feel this program is not for the faint of heart as you would work very, very hard here. There may almost be too much autonomy for some. However, in exchange, you get to experience a vast array of patient pathology and seem to be able to leave as a very capably trained physician. At least by track record, you'd also have a decent chance at matching at top fellowships in the country. I worry about there not being more of a structured curriculum or path for things like research, international electives, career exploration, mentorship, etc. Not clear how well residents can get to know one another.

Rolling my eyes that USC will train you to "take care of sick people better than anywhere in the country"...quite a subjective claim.

Biting my tongue because the numbers speak for themselves: a little over 2 residents match in cards each year...the most objective data provided.

I'm sure someone might say "maybe only 2 chose cards," however, it's highly unlikely that USC is the only program in the country with 4% of its housestaff choosing this subspecialty.

I'm sure USC is a great program(I haven't bothered to look), but gimme a break...

In the words of B. A. Baracus, "The numbers don't jive, turkey!"

Way to misrepresent what I said smart guy . . . look at the post, here is what I said: "If you want to learn how to take care of sick people, while becoming competent and comfortable working alone, I think USC will hand that to you better than probably anywhere else in the country"

What are some of the things I said, but you left out of your "misquote"? Two things jump out 1) the phrase "comfortable working alone" - as in you're in the boondocks without the "cards" guys you seem to worship, will you feel comfortable after three years working up this MI on your own, you know keeping people alive until patient can actually to get to whatever fancy place you think you'll be working (let me know so I can send them to you); 2) the word "probably" denoting the subjective and opinionated nature of the comment.

Furthermore what do residents matching into cards have anything to do with a programs amazing general medicine training? Walk me through that logic smart guy - I really, really, really want to see this short-bus sized leap of logic put together in a "rationale" (pay attention to the quotes) manner. People match into cards mainly by who you know. Matching into cards says NOTHING about the strength of a program's general medicine training. Matching cards is all about reputation and letter of rec's. USC trains at Los Angeles County Hospital - have you ever stepped foot into a county medical center in a major metropolitan area? The pathology, patient population diversity, an sheer numbers dictate you will have an amazing general medicine training. Of course some folks can't hack it . . .

hahahahahaha

Settle down there little fella, nobody slapped your puppy dog. Unfortunately, there's always one d#ucheb@g every year that has to huff-&-puff and turn the "interview impression" thread into an ego showdown...I'm not gonna be your huckleberry.

You sound like a USC fanboy, and I wish you the best. Hope the fellowship match works out for you. If not, I'm sure you'll do well in the boondocks of Las Angeles.:laugh:

I guess in SoCal, boondocks = a place without a nail salon or Sunset Tan. Try not to catch a hang nail when you're working up that MI. Our 3rd year Med students feel "comfortable working up these cases alone", oh wait...you meant after 3 years of residency:eek:

I'll keep an eye out for you on the interview trail...I'm guessing you'll be the guy in the youth medium suit with freshly waxed eyebrows.


What are some of the things I said, but you left out of your "misquote"? Two things jump out 1) the phrase "comfortable working alone" - as in you're in the boondocks without the "cards" guys you seem to worship, will you feel comfortable after three years working up this MI on your own, you know keeping people alive until patient can actually to get to whatever fancy place you think you'll be working (let me know so I can send them to you); 2) the word "probably" denoting the subjective and opinionated nature of the comment.
.

Please keep this thread professional. this is for impressions only, not commentary.

Jerry Jerry Jerry!!

Settle down there little fella, nobody slapped your puppy dog. Unfortunately, there's always one d#ucheb@g every year that has to huff-&-puff and turn the "interview impression" thread into an ego showdown...I'm not gonna be your huckleberry.

:rolleyes:


You sound like a USC fanboy, and I wish you the best. Hope the fellowship match works out for you. If not, I'm sure you'll do well in the boondocks of Las Angeles.:laugh:

I thought USC had an awesome general medicine training program I'm not all the interested in doing a residency after my residency - so the fellowship match is a moot point. I'm not ever going to stay and live in LA. I'm going back to rural Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota


I guess in SoCal, boondocks = a place without a nail salon or Sunset Tan. Try not to catch a hang nail when you're working up that MI. Our 3rd year Med students feel "comfortable working up these cases alone", oh wait...you meant after 3 years of residency:eek:

Thought you weren't going to be the "ego huckleberry"? Knowing what to do is one thing, and then actually doing it and being resposible professionally for said treatment is another. I'm sure this will all become painfully clear your first on-call come July.


I'll keep an eye out for you on the interview trail...I'm guessing you'll be the guy in the youth medium suit with freshly waxed eyebrows.

I gawd, I hope I didn't apply anywhere anywhere you did. But if we do run into each other . . . you'll find you guessed wrong. I'm the guy in 56 regular, who looks like I played college footbal, because I did - eyebrows intact. Thanks for playing the "guessin' game' tho . . .

BTW, you still, never established how a programs ability to train general medicine residents. translates into cardiology match spots. You didn't so this and avoid it because you cannot. :thumbup:

Please keep this thread professional. this is for impressions only, not commentary.

Right on. No more from me.

You're right, there's no direct correlation b/w training and fellowship placement. My viewpoint is that ALL major programs will train you well...allowing you to feel comfortable working alone, which was the reason for the initial ''rolling eyes'' comment. I do plan to pursue a fellowship, not necessarily cards, so this is a big part of my selection process. (The only reason I mentioned cards is b/c that's the only fellowship data that was provided).

Again, I'm sure USC has a great program...

Overall: This impressed me as a program very dedicated to teaching, incredibly responsive to residents, with a great PD. Has been ranked as the #1 site by UCLA students for IM for at least 3-5 years in a running (this struck me as a very big +). Focus here is on education and clinical training; basic research possible as well although perhaps not THE strongest area of the program. For me, the day provided confirmation of the general impression - on these boards, in any case - that the program is just all around nice, friendly and a very benign place (though NOT NOT cush by any stretch of the imagination) to train.

PD: Dr. Wali spoke to us for about 30-45 minutes at the beginning of the day. She gave a very nice, non-rehearsed and comprehensive speech that actually answered nearly every single question I had about the program. It was actually somewhat eerie. From what I gained by hearing her speak and talking with the residents, she is terrific - incredibly dedicated to resident education, very responsive, really working genuinely to address any grievances with the program. She also has an impressive background: http://www.uclasfvp.org/management.htm . As you can see from the rest of the site, the whole "management team" is well credentialed with lots of recognition/awards for clinical teaching.

Residents: We ate lunch with the residents (no pre-interview day dinner) and I was interviewed by a resident. By the way, the latter does confirm one nice point about the program- residents are able to be as heavily involved in the "education" and "residency training" process from an administrative angle as they want. Their input is taken quite seriously and they are involved in all aspects of curriculum reshaping, etc. This is nice for me coming from a medical school where students were treated the same way. Anyway, I spent some time talking to the chief resident (really, really nice and knowledgeable, going into Pulm/CC), a 2nd-year resident, two med students and an intern. The intern had just come off a MICU month and did seem a bit tired, although she was quite personable and nice. She admitted that you "do work harder than you ever have" and that at times the county population (very underserved, often with chronically untreated problems) can get a bit depressing (in that you can't really help them at times). However she loved the program and emphasized the great teaching she had received. Autonomy is also amazing here. Another resident mentioned he did a rotation at Cedars/UCLA where the difference was tremendous in terms of how involved he was in decision making. Also, (I think - hopefully I'm not confusing this with Harbor) you have a dedicated procedures rotation where you get to specifically insert all types of lines, tubes, etc. The intern also mentioned that even though it was a county hospital, there were phlebotomists at all times, no scut/blood draws/wheeling etc. etc. The med students seemed to love the program and raved about it: "There is something really special about this place - the attendings are just amazing, some of the nicest people you have ever met" etc. etc. I talked to some other UCLA students on the interview trail who pretty much gave the same impression. Morning report was attended by attendings, residents/interns who all knew their stuff quite well. .

Hospital: Okay, so much like Parkland or perhaps any county hospital this is not your VIP luxury private facility. It's sparse but clean and well-maintained. I entered to security detectors and the front room looked sort of like an INS immigration office in terms of decor (plastic chairs attached to bars and a bleak looking tile floor). No-one was at the information "desk" but I did manage to find my way to the right place (just take the elevators to the right floor and then there are signs). ICU beds are separated by blue curtains instead of doors. Rooms are small but everything did look clean. The cafeteria food was actually quite good, in a different way - i.e. more authentic-tasting homemade Cal-Mex food (yum!) as opposed to make-your-own-salad-grab-a-bag-of-baked-lays-and-odwalla-smoothie etc. Cafeteria only open until 7:30 pm though, after which...you're kind of on your own. You do get free meals/parking 365 days/year though. Nice things: since you're affiliated with UCLA, you get the UCLA "perks" of online journal access, UpToDate, etc. Note there is NO electronic medical record - intern I spoke with didn't mention this as a big problem. There is supposedly plans in place to switch to an EMR due to national regulations, but people are somewhat skeptical as to when.

Research/Mentorship: I got the feeling that people would be very willing to work with you at this program. Dr. Wali mentioned that since Olive View per se did not have a lot of "basic" science opportunities, she had put together a booklet of basic science research opportunities available at UCLA which interns/residents could select from. Apart from that, residents are encouraged to present abstracts (from the vast pathology you see here) at national conferences (this is paid for) and often win awards. Apart from research, there is focused teaching on things like echocardiograms, treadmill tests, scopes (you can apparently become certified in these and sign off on the latter two if you want), workshops on suturing, casting, etc.

Fellowships: Looks like 1/2 - 2/3 of the class went to pursue subspecialty training in the past two years. From their website: "There is a fairly equal balance between residents who choose to go into general internal medicine (primary care or hospitalist practice) and those who go on to do subspecialty training. Most of the residents pursuing additional training choose to stay in the Los Angeles area for their fellowships. Those who decide to leave the UCLA system often get their first choice of fellowship. However, given the changing nature of internal medicine training and the nationwide movement towards decreased availability of subspecialty training, future trends cannot be predicted and fellowship positions are not guaranteed."

Rotations: Mostly at Olive View. 4 months wards as a PGY1, 3 months ambulatory, 2 elective months, 1 month vacation. Cap of 5 new admits per intern. Call q4 on wards, q3 ICU (I think), overnight. However, for CCU/MICU (2 months) you have the option of rotating at Cedars or UCLA. This is a plus if you want to experience the private or tertiary-care setting but don't want your entire residency to take place in this setting. Also, there is a combined IM/EM residency which (as the APD and other residents mentioned) sets up for a "camaraderie" between IM and EM...so no bogus admits, poorly worked up pts, IM-EM battles, etc. On that note, the interns mentioned consulting other services here is a breeze in that you never are made to feel small or ignorant and everything is always imbued with teaching. There is a really cool feature of the program - the "Post-Discharge Clinic" - where you see patients you admitted before, maintaining some continuity (especially when a lot of the patients are poor and you weren't able to keep them in house long enough to f/u on test results, finish w/u, etc.) During your ward months, this counts as your continuity clinic, I belive. Also, there are opportunities to do international rotations - Olive View residents who had done this mentioned their in-house training left them feeling well-equipped to handle the actue issues abroad.

Location: I'm not familiar with Sylmar, but apparently most residents live south or west of Sylmar and drive "against traffic" so that it only takes 20-25 mins to reach work in the am and pm. (The only time when this is a problem is during the night float shift where you actualy are driving "with" traffic. Then I think it takes 40-45 minutes)This is great in LA (where I was ready to burn my driver's license after 1 week of facing traffic in this city) and also means you can live in an area with more to do. There is definitely not much going on in the immediate vicinity of the hospital. The scenery is gorgeous - there are huge mountains and things - but even the comfort inn I stayed at was more than a tad ghetto...I kind of get the impression you are slightly isolated from the city. However, others can feel free to correct me as I am not from CA and my only knowledge of the area comes from Google Maps...

Summary:
Pros (for me, at least): GREAT teaching, attendings who are truly great teachers, teaching opportunities (med students on rotations very frequently), very benign attitude overall, responsive to residents, amazing outreach/service opportunities with patient population, focus on clinical education, international training possible (certain sites paid for), PD who really seems to care, stability of program (too popular/important of a site for UCLA to close down, for ex.).
Cons: location (kind of isolated), smallish w/o all subspecialty exposure (i.e., must refer complex cardiac cases to Harbor), no EMR (big change from what I'm used to), hospital faciltiies may not be as luxurious as some are used to (not a big problem for me, but you do have to come here to work every day - might turn others off), county hospital means needing to f/u on tests, etc., patient population means it could get frustrating/depressing trying to address issues stemming from neglect/lack of access to care/lack of education.

Other things, FWIW: According to other UCLA students I talked to, it's not as "academic" as Harbor (whatever that means) This program is definitely not for everyone: you would work hard in a relatively unglamorous setting...you would be taking care of indigent patients for the most part...it's a county hospital. The focus of this program is definitely clinical education, but if you're interested in specific research areas I really do think you could achieve that as well...after all, you are in the UCLA system...there were plenty of residents I talked to who seemed fellowship-bound.

Anyway, that's my take on it. I liked the program a LOT and at least as of now, will be ranking it pretty highly.

Holy S*&$, someone actually used this thread for what it is supposed to be used for!!!

Great post by the way!!

Discalimer: Any errors in the info. provided are unintentional. Everything written is from memory of the interview day...rather than notes taken.

Overall: Well known program, with a very strong reputation in the SE. My impression (through word of mouth from Chairs, PDs, and residents) is that it would rank just behind Duke and just ahead of UAB as far as regional reputation. Nashville is a great town with plenty of entertainment (stong music industry presence), shopping, etc. with the population est. at 1,000,000. The area is beautiful, with rolling hills, hardwoods, and moderate weather. The city is locate near the foothills of the Appalachian mtns...so hiking, camping, white water rafting (Tennessee has some of the best white water) and Mt. biking is easily accessible. The cost of living is cheap, even when comparing to other southern cities with less to offer. About half the residents purchase condos (downtown within minutes from the hospital), with the other half purchasing homes in the surrounding suburbs. Condos range $160-180s per the residents I spoke with. The undergrad campus is located directly across the street...the immediately surrounding area has a young, "hip" vibe. Restaurants and pubs a-plenty. Nashville is to CMT what NY/LA is to MTV...i.e. the musicians/celebrities live, eat and recreate here.

Interview day: Breakfast consisted of bagels and coffee...somewhat of a step down from that provided on other interview days. Bagels, muffins, coffee, and cereal bars were available at morning report...not sure if this is normal or present for the benefit of interviwees. The PD and Chair spoke during introductions, which was followed by rounding with the teams. Then we were escorted to our one and only interview of the day. Morning report followed, then off on a tour of the hospitals. Lunch with the residents lasted about an hour and a half, then a wrap up Q&A with the PD. My interview was laid back, but I really appreciated the fact that my interviewer had thoroughly read through my application. I got the feeling that he/she was really screening applicants based on how well they'd mesh with the program. I know this is the norm, but it was really apparent on this particular interview, and highlighted the fact that comraderie is very strong here.

Teaching/Research:The teaching at morning report is slanted heavily towards basic science, I'd estimate the ratio to be 60/40 (basic/clinical) at least. Lots of research going on, again seems to be much more heavily focused on basic science, not much talk of clinical trials. This might be due to the fact that there is very little pharma penetration into the program. Mentorship was easily accesible for those wishing to undertake research projects. I get the impression that pharm hosts 1-3 lunches/month and is given almost no input during hosted lectures (However, lunch is provided every day). Strong NIH funding, steadily increasing every year. The PD credits the NIH funding growth to a newly established informatics program that is just now coming online.

It was stressed that teaching on the wards is a major focus. Attendings get paid to teach on house months, and is conditional based on evaluations from residents and students. I shadowed a MICU team for about 35 minutes...so I can't attest to the quality of teaching. However, the residents consistently praised the attendings and it was mentioned multiple times throughout the day that the attendings have authored major studies in their respective fields.

PD:The PD is a very personable person, and I get the impression that feed back from residents is appreciated and he provided examples of where it was incorporated into program objectives. He spoke with us for abouth 30-45 minutes during the morning introduction, and the chair spoke for about 10 minutes. The PD was present throughout the day, and the interview concludes with a Q&A session with him.

Residents/Call: Pre-interview dinner was scheduled the night before the interview. (cannot comment...was unable to make it). Lunch during the interview was very very nice, and provided ample time to ask questions of residents. Residents were very personable and there was a strong sense of comraderie. The a rotating group from the intern class (as dictated by call schedule) hung out weekly. Not sure how hands on the program was...I get the sense that all procedures are done in the MICU, and much less so on the floor. The R3 I spoke with said he felt comfortable putting in lines.

Approximately 38 categorical residents are selected each year, with 4 chiefs.

Call at the Univ. hospital is Q4, at the VA is Q8, and in the MICU is Q3. The residents consistently said they actually had more time off during ICU months and were also least likely to infringe on the 80hr/week during this rotation.

Fellowships:Approximately 75-80% of residents pursue fellowship training, with many staying at Vandy. No fellowship match list was provided during the interview, however, a roster of graduated residents with the location of fellowship is provided online (http://medicine.mc.vanderbilt.edu/Templates/TemplateDivision.aspx?qs=cElEPTI5Nw==). Fellowship placement appears to be very good.

Hospital: Very, very nice facilities. It is a "private" hospital associated with a VA located adjacent to the university hospital. Tunnels allow you walk from hospital to hospital, if necessary as dictated by the weather. The VA is typical, though the VA conference room looks like the plasma TV aisle at Bestbuy...a temple of visual delights.
The MICU is 29 beds, a convenient printout of pts reduces note taking, and C.O.W.s (computer on wheels) were used for pulling up x-rays on rounds...not sure if it was possible to enter orders from the C.O.W.s. There were private call rooms, as well as large work rooms with multiple computers. Did not see the cafeteria during the interview. Did not see the library.

Despite the fact that the hospital is "private," Tennessee has a form of universal coverage known as Tenn-Care, assuring that every resident of the state has access to healthcare as well as prescription meds. Indigent care was reported to me to be in the high teens (10-20%). There is a community hospital in the area that is not affiliated with the University.

Summary:
PRO's
- A very strong academic program with a well regarded reputation (regionally > nationally)
- Ample opportunity for research (within the normal time constraints of residency).
- Great mentorship
- Strong fellowship placement
- Safe, affordable, beautiful city...Nashville has to be seen to be appreciated. When you visit, make sure you drive along 21st/Hillsboro (opposite the direction of downtown) and take a look at some of the homes nestled in the foothills:eek:
- Strong emphasis on Quality improvement...each resident has to prepare and present a case where quality of care could have been improved and errors minimized.

CON's
- I did not get a sense the residents here were granted as much autonomy as I've seen at other programs (i.e. Parkland)...however, with that comes the fact that the program didn't seem quite as intense as other programs (i.e. Parkland)
- I didn't get the feeling that the program was as procedurally-oriented as at other institutions (comparing mainly to my home program).

Not as exhaustive as some, but here are the high points ...

University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Medical Center, Miami, FL

Jackson Memorial (county hospital) plus VA plus newly acquired private hospital, residents should be rotating through there “soon”

Level of happiness of residents: high

Fellowship placement: seemed mostly local/regional; many return to home country after training; one resident I spoke is to going into cards locally after graduating (quite happily)

What you liked most about this program: Location, high patient volume with advanced/unusual pathology, strong clinical focus, emphasis on mentoring, diversity of patients and residents, warm & friendly locals, help with board exams & fellowship placement, four weeks of vacation annually, night float, procedure team available to help you with procedures during the day so you get out on time when post-call (or whenever), strong emphasis on supporting the interns (no leaving you stranded), you get paid extra for shifts where you get called in to cover another resident’s emergency absence, they went out of their way to declare themselves “family friendly,” pretty grounds, nice enough facilities for being a county hospital

What you liked least: No work rooms for each team – there are conference rooms for rounding with attendings, but the rest of the time you carry your bag around like a vagrant (or just stuff your pockets). There is a lounge, but I like having a dedicated workspace where I can sit and think and have a little personal space. Also some concern about prestige (for future outside fellowship placement).

Overall impression/Other comments: I think this program is something of a hidden gem – the people were so great, the location is amazing, the cost of living is fair. I’d recommend it to someone considering IM and especially ID. Spanish would make your life easier in Miami, but they kept telling us you can get by without it. You need to be comfortable with using translators in any case because about 20% of the patients speak Haitian Creole. I had a great interview day there overall.

Did the PD or Chair at Miami comment on the recent acquisition of Cardiology "bigwigs" from Duke*? I assume this will dramatically affect the fellowship match within the next couple of years.

*basing this on info. posted in this forum last year.

Did the PD or Chair at Miami comment on the recent acquisition of Cardiology "bigwigs" from Duke*? I assume this will dramatically affect the fellowship match within the next couple of years.

*basing this on info. posted in this forum last year.

The PD and residents all mentioned the new faculty - lots of new cards people, a new chairman, I think some other prestigious additions ... I'm not interested in cards so I wasn't memorizing the details, but they seemed excited about it. The resident I met going into cards at Miami next year is extremely happy with the program.

I also liked that the PD emphasized that their primary mission was caring for the underserved people of Dade County while training physicians. I just thought that was nice ... instead of endless bragging about this or that, he plainly stated, you need to be interested in our mission, we care about our patients. Not that anyone doesn't - he just made a point of mentioning it several times.

Overall: Very short interview day (9am – 12pm). Day started with one hour overview by PD, then ½ of us went on tours while others had interview (only 1 interview). Then we switched. At noon they had optional noon conference (which everyone sticked around for) and then optional tour of housing. Was out of there by 1:10pm. Very nice hospital with happy residents. Appears to be a “cush” program (especially during PGY2 and PGY3 years. Clinical + Academic training appear to be mediocre. Main affiliations are with NYU and AECOM.

PD/Chairman: We met with the PD @ 9am where she gave us a one hour overview of the program. She appeared to be very cheery with the chief’s, but didn’t get to see her interact with the any of the other residents. She seemed like she looks out for housestaff first and appeared like she was open to housestaff concerns. Infact, they try to make changes to curriculum as concerns are brought up.
We didn’t have any interaction with the chairman at all. He is the chairman for both NSUH AND LIJ (the same does not hold true for the PD…ie: there is a different PD for the LIJ IM program). Didn’t get a real sense of how much time he actually spends with the housestaff either. This is important since those who want to apply to competitive fellowships need to have good relationship with PD and chairman. Not sure if that is the case here. There is this “chairman’s rounds” q week, but with 7-8 other vice-chairmans, they really didn’t clarify who actually runs the chairmans rounds.

Residents:
Overall seemed very nice, happy, and were constantly joking around with each other. Most of them were from new york MD programs, a few were from local DO schools. I believe there are 24 categorical spots and 12 prelim q year. Did not meet any FMG’s during interview day. There are a lot of department sponsored events which everyone goes too. In addition the housestaff hang out a lot as well. Cooperation with other IM departmetns is good, however didn’t get a great sence of cooperation with other departments in the hospital (i.e. Surgery, radiology, etc.)
Most lived in housing on campus. The housing was REALLY nice and it was CHEAP for the new york area. I belive there were 3 apt buildings, which have studios, 1-3 bedroom apartments.
As for workload, they described tough intern year (but I guess that’s expected) but then once you get to PGY2 – PGY3 its supposed to be pretty chill. As per the PD, on average when on the floors average work week is 60 hrs. Only in the ICU do you get up to 80 hrs/wk.
Compensation: as per PD, this is one of the highest paying residencies in the US. PGY1’s start at > $56,000 with a raise q 6 months!!!!

Hospital:
The hospital is considered a quaternary care facility. Its really nice and clean. I’m not 100% on this but I belive there are about 800 beds of which half are medicine. The ancillary services are supposed to be AMAZING. In fact, they have to give PGY2’s a dedicated 2 week “procedure” time so they can go around with phlebotomists to practice doing blood draws. Since most patients (approx. >50%) are private, not sure how many procedures housestaff get to do anyway (ie: LP).
Surprisingly for such a big hospital, which is considered to be one of the few hospitals making money in NY state, they still have written notes and orders. Labs and Imaging is digitized, but not progress notes and orders. Apparently you just write the orders out and a secretary inputs them. As per the PD, they are in the process of phasing in an electronic system but the residents made it seem like they say that every year. From speaking with a few of the residents and my interviewer, I don’t think it’ll be up and running in the next 3 years.

Research/Mentorship:
For not having their own dedicated medical school, they actually have tons of research. They actually handed us packets of recent publications and presentations done by housestaff….it was a lot. They do have a research building where many of the MD’s do some kind of bench research. From the PD and housestaff standpoint, the program does encourage a lot of research but like everywhere else, you have to be proactive. They have a list of mentors and their research interests provided to housestaff. If you do get research done and is gets accepted for presentation at a conference, the department will pay for your trip. They department also has its own “research day.”

Fellowships:
They provided the name of each graduating resident for last 3 years and spelled out exactly where they went (I love it when they do this). For last year class (n=23) to name a few: 8 going to be hospitalists, 3 into cardio (2 were chiefs), 1 cardiac imaging fellowship (I guess you do this if you didn’t match into cardio?), 3 heme onc, 2 nephrology, 2 pulm/crit care. Most of the fellowship matches are into the North shore…so they like to take their own graduates.
As for how many people actually applied to cardio last year? Not sure, but given current trends I’m sure it was more than 3…and given the large number of their housestaff going onto hospitalist position, I would assume it was more than 3.

Rotations:
6 months inpatient. Now eventhough there are 400 medicine beds, the housestaff are NOT responsible for all of them. The PD described that housestaff census is usually 8-10 but do admit that sometimes it can get up to 12. There are 8 teams total, 3 are service only, and the remainder are basically private patietns. With the service teams obviously there is greater autonomy and more teaching. With the non-service teams, there apparently is a teaching attending who you round with 3x/wk, but the physician of record is the patients private physician who (as per one resident) you do have to hunt down sometimes. You admit up to 5 pts on your call days which is q4 and you can admit up to 2 on post call days. However, you don’t admit on the other two days. B/c of this setup it is possible to dwindle down your list to < 3-4 before your call comes up.
Other rotatiosn, 4 weeks each: night float, CCU, MICU, amb, Hem/Onc, elective, vacation

Location:
SUBURBIA!!! There were trees everywhere. Its located in Manhasset, which I believe is <30 minute express train ride into NYC. It’s a nice area with Macy’s nearby, some decent shopping and restaurants. Its not NYC, but it has a big little town type feel. Appeared to be a safe area.

Summary:
Pros
Small incoming class, great housestaff, excellent ancillary support, PD seemed cool and cordial, salary + benefits (forgot to mention…food with q conference, and you get meal points to use in cafeteria), relatively strong in research

Cons:
No electronic medical records, having to hunt down attending when not on service teams, suburbia, didn’t seem like you have significant exposure to chairman,

Thanks for the North Shore review.

Which one is considered the stronger IM program: North Shore or LIJ?

In my (unexpert) opinion I would have to say North Shore. Mostly I say that b/c I think North shore is more academic.

that being said, I only applied to north shore and not LIJ so I don't have their fellowship match list to compare who goes on to better fellowships. Maybe someone who interviewed at LIJ can comment?

Thanks for the North Shore review.

Which one is considered the stronger IM program: North Shore or LIJ?

I'm not as organized or fancy in my review . . . but here's some of what I remember and my gut feelings

I really, really, really, liked this program. Three hospitals the U, the VA, and a brand new hospital IHC (replaced the old LDS hospital). Mostly electronic record system - great ancillary staff per the house staff. Heavy inpatient/critical care training, especially first year - 5 months gen med, 2 months ICU (these months seem to have BOTH MICU and CCU patients on service - so you will round with more than one attending while on service, but the residents seemed to think this was as streamlined as possible). Oppourtunity to do shock/trauma month at the IHC 2nd and 3rd year - two months ICU 2nd and 3rd year. Call is par for the course q4 - no night float for interns (interns didn't seem to think this was a problem). Night floats for junior and senior residents. Busy, but rarely cap, normally 5-8 patients per day (busy is a positive feature for me and I'm not interested in "cush"). Facilities are mostly new - VA is only a few years old and the U is very nice (if this matters). Residents seemed happy. I was very impressed with the PD - personable, easy to talk to - residents feel like she is a big advocate for them. Lots of fellowship oppourtunities, especially heme/onc - with a nice cancer hospital. Research oppourtunities if you want them. Large referral area - look at a map, nothing like a university program anywhere near until you get to Colorado, UCSF, UW - like I said, look at a map - same for the VA. If the "social scene" is very important to you, SLC is not a Chicago, or SanFran, or a NYC, but the residents seemed to think it was much more "interesting" than they expected. Lots of "outdoorsy" stuff to do, trail running, mountain biking, hiking, camping - SKIING! (spoke to a junior resident who said he made it up onto the mountain like 47 times during internship :thumbup:). Clean city. Affordable housing.

edit: almost forgot mountain climbing

...

Any feedback yet for Emory/Grady?

Overall:
A pretty long interview day…starts at 8am and ended near 4pm. Actual interviews are later in the day after lunch. At first I wasn’t a huge fan of this, but it wasn’t a problem at all. The day itself was awesome. Had tons of exposure to interns and senior residents right from the moment we arrived. We saw resident report in the morning (led by PD and chairman which was awesome), then tours, 1 hr meeting with the chair and PD, lunch/noon conference, interviews, and one hour wrap-up (with wine, beer, and cheese). All residents/interns seemed happy, ancillary support excellent, big focus on academics and developing leadership skills.

PD/Chairman: We met both of them first thing on the morning. They are absolutely awesome. They kept the entire room laughing for the entirety of the day. Both are very smart and know their stuff. Residents were getting grilled during the report. While the residents admit this is stressing, but it keeps them on their toes and they really get to know there material and their patients. One PGY3 said that once you finish PGY2, it seems as if the chairman and PD start treating you as colleagues.

Both of them are also heavily involved in research and promote this onto their housestaff. They also love teaching and it shows. In summary: they spend a lot of time with hoursestaff and the housestaff love them!!

Residents:
Like I said, when we got there at 8am, interns were already there. Applicants (we) did not waste any time asking questions. All of them said they love the program. They work hard, and are tested/pimped a lot, but they appreciate it and it makes them better physicians. Interviews were held in a 2 hr block, and in between interviews we would hang out in the conference room where again there were tons of interns. At the one hour wrap up sessions there were more interns (I think the free beer and wine helped!).
Incoming categoricals are 35, not sure how many prelims. Although they have subsidized housing, not everyone gets it. Apparently there were many problems with housing in the recent past, most of which was due to the lady in charge. As per some interns, they have now replaced this lady so the housing situation for next year’s class should be better.
They said that the program was pretty compliant with the 80 hr work week.

Hospital:
Mt Sinai is a huge private hospital that doesn’t have any big university associated with it. There are 2-3 buildings (at minimum), but all the patietns are in one building. The patient population is mixed with the rich upper east side folks with their private attendings and then also the indigent population of south harlem.
Computers are everywhere, but progress notes are still hand written. The one and only complaint I heard all day from the housestaff is that there are so many different computer softwares. There is one for imaging, another for labs, another which gets labs faster, another for entering orders, the ED has its own separate system, the outpatient clinics have a separate system, etc. They said yes it is a pain in the ass but everyone kind of gets used to it. No idea if they have any future plans to consolidate everything and get one system with electronic medical records.
Ancillary staff at Mt Sinai is supposed to be excellent. Most of imaging studies are done the same day with all being completed within 24 hrs. The only time residents get called is if nurses have tried 4-5 x for blood draw and then resident usually just has to do an arterial stick.
The other hospitals that residents rotate through are Elmhurst and Bronx VA. Elmherst hospital apparently has the most diverse population anywhere. People get off of planes at LGA and go straight to this hospital. Pathology is second to none here! It’s very busy when you rotate through here but the residents say that everyone gets through
The Bronx VA is supposed to be like every other VA in the country. I believe you do 1-2 months over there q year.

Research/Mentorship:
In the last 6 yrs they have gone from being #40 in research funds to I believe this year they will be somewhere around 11-12. This is huge especially considering they don’t have a huge university associated with them.
Scholarly activity is required of all housestaff and you are paired up with someone almost immediately. You are assigned a mentor right after match day. Apparently one of the associate PD contacts the incoming interns shortly after match day and gets their interests and they are immediately paired up with a mentor. You then work with this mentor figuring out what kind of research needs to be done and when to do it. Almost everyone gets stuff published or at least presented at some meeting. At the end of every year they have a big research day where everyone presents their stuff.

Fellowships:
Last year only one of the outgoing residents didn’t match into a fellowship, but the rest did. Even the one who didn’t is gonna do 1 yr hospitalist stint and then reapply. The PD spends a lot of time making phone calls and getting people into fellowship spots. The match for GI from mt sinai is sick( mt sinai, BIDC, nyu, UPENN, to name a few)!!! This is not surprising since Mt Sinai is one of the world leaders in GI (i.e. this is where Chron's was discovered by...you guessed it...Dr. Crohns).

Cardio match was ok (most going onto local places like a few at mt sinai, Elmhurst, Montefiore)

Rotations:
For categoricals you spend majority of your year on the wards at the three hospitals.
Remaining time: 1 month elec., 1 month vac, 2 month outpatient, 1 month ER, and 1 month CCU.

No MICU rotation for itnerns. MICU is run only by 2nd and 3rd years.

Location:
Great location! Its at 100th and Madison. Great views of NYC, tons of restaurants, not a lot of parking, housing nearyby, subways nearby. C'mon....its NYC....greatest city in the world (I know i'm gonna get grief for saying that!!)


Summary:
Pros
Loved the PD and chairman, great camaraderie b/w housestaff, ancillary staff excellent, excellent fellowship placement, NYC

Cons:
No EMR, too many computer softwares, can’t think of anything else

Has anyboby been there to have interview at their IM program for prelim year? Please share some impressions, thanks!

I will try to review Emory by the end of the week.

Overview: Pittsburgh is a beautiful city with loads to see and do. It was ranked "Most livable city for 2007" by Rand Mcnally, and "#1 Adventure city" by National Geographic. No small feat. for a city that was recently known for its steel mills and smoke stacks (of which I saw none). The air was very clean and crisp while walking downtown. I'd say the city is reasonably safe despite its looks...I had a few beers while watching the Steelers game in a bar on South side and walked back to the Wyndham downtown (bout a 25 min walk across the bridge). I was lucky to be in town during the Steeler's game and got to experience Pittsburgh's fanatic football fans. Pittsburgh is a 3 sports team city (so there's ample sporting events if you're so inclined) and also has an aquarium. Many residents purchase homes in the surrounding area, conversely, many choose to rent in the downtown area.

Program Director/Chairman: The interview started around 7:45am with an introduction by the chair, the only time he was present. Multiple comparisons were made to Harvard, both in regard to his perception of the strength of the UPMC program as well as noting his own BWH training. The hospital has consistently made the US News & WR honor roll as a "Best Hospital" and the banners are on every street corner (even the trainstation and in the restrooms!! this particular info. was via a PM from another member) you really can't visit Pittsburgh without noticing. The chair was very enthusiastic about the hospital, but his emphasis was definitely more on the business/financial aspect of UPMC. He drilled home the fact that UPMC has its own insurance, is undergoing international expansion, and is fiscally secure, yet, I don't recall him mentioning anything about patient interaction or patient care. The so-called ABC's here, according to the chair, were 1)Tertiary care with a large referral population, 2)Bread & Butter, 3) Indigent care...I did not get an impression of what % indigent patients make-up of overall patient population.

The PD was very enthusiastic, young, and vibrant. It's obvious she enjoys her job and I got the impression that she was very pro-resident. She was present throughout the day coordinating the transitions throughout the day. The emphasis of her presentation was on Individualization of the residency to suit the house staff examples included the fact that she created a "homeless patient care" program while she was a resident and drove home the point that the IM program will "accomodate your career goals" and if "we don't have it, we'll help you create it." Secondly, she emphasized mentorship and described as a coach/advisor who you're paired with for 3 years. Education on ward months was stressed, and she stated that this is paid/protected time and the attendings are present throughout the full four weeks. Lastly, she mentioned resident career development which is an extension of the mentorship where you meet with division chiefs and fellowship directors to help you network and plan the "next step." Again, very energetic and very pro-resident. She truly appears to be an asset to the program.


Residents: We met a variety of residents throughout the day from all years. Morning report is for upper level residents only. It was explained that the purpose was to go over the principles of work-up and management efficiently and not get caught up explaining rationale to the lowest common denominator (i.e. interns). The residents seemed to be knowledgeable and no one dropped the ball. Interns were present during lunch and seemed quite content with the schedule and work hours. One prelim intern switched into the medicine program which in my opinion speaks well of the lack of malignancy. Our tour guide was an R2 who was very happy with the program and would choose it again for training. He stated there's a great deal of autonomy at the university hospital and the VA and that the clinical training is excellent. One downside he noted was that the Heme Onc. service lacked the autonomy of other rotations (in my opinion this is understandable) and that procedures are a little harder to come by. This might be due to the fact that a fellow stays overnight in the MICU with the medicine team, given that most procedures during residency are learned while rotating in the ICU. I have to admit, that while the program is very large (~35 categorical housestaff in each year) we saw a very small percentage of the residents throughout the day, and I'm not sure why.

The chief resident gave a ppt presentation that again included US News & WR rankings (not saying this is a bad thing, just be prepared). He also gave the impression that residents had the opportunity to enjoy the city. He showed slides of monthly "Liver rounds" where the residents choose a bar in the city and meet for drinks.

Lifestyle: None of the residents I spoke with had any real complaints about the work hours...again, I saw a VERY small percentage of the housestaff. Call is typical Q4 on wards and Q3 in the MICU, however, there's 3 MICU teams and one nightfloat team covering the MICU...not sure how this works out, maybe this contributes to the difficulty gaining proficiency doing procedures. There's a daily noon conference (with free food) though, for some reason we did not attend!?!. Moonlighting is apparently allowed as it was brought up by the chief during his presentation and said to ask him questions about it if anyone is interested. The actual schedule of intern year was never discussed, but was provided in our packet.

PGY1: One month is provided for an ambulatory roation during the intern year as well as 2-3 months for electives. One month on Cards, One month on Heme/Onc, 3-4 General IM months, one MICU month and one CCU month.

Research: There is a big emphasis on mentoring here. You receive a mentor to guide you through the residency, as well as being put in touch with the directors of the fellowship programs. Research blocks are provided.

Fellowships: A list was provided with each resident's name and exactly where they matched for EVERY year dating back to 1998:eek:. They appear to do reasonably well in the match, with many matching in cards and GI. To my surprise, there weren't ANY matches at "the Brigham." This was VERY surprising given that both the chair of the IM program and the director of Rheumatology are both Brigham trained:confused: From a cursory once over, it appears that the chiefs do somewhat better in the match, as would be expected.


Conclusion:
Pro's
- Great city, loads to do
- strong academic program, consistently ranked among the top 20 (if you're into that)
- Private hospital, financially secure
- variety of career tracks: Primary care, Women;s Health, International scholars, Clinician scientist, Global Health track
- UPMC does appear take their own for fellowships, though, I don't know how many slots are available and how many of the slots are filled by UPMC grads

Con's
- Cards matching is questionable with 3 graduates doing a year in CHF/transplant, Cardiac imaging, and CHF...which I'm assuming is to increase the chance of matching into cards the following year?
- private hospital, questionable emphasis on indigent care
- questionable autonomy, honestly I got the feeling that residents were being groomed for private practice with a strong emphasis on consulting (a negative for me).
- questionable procedure/line placement...in the MICU this would seem to be relative to which fellow you happen to be on call with.
- with all the comparisons to Harvard, I expected to see graduates placing there as well as JHU, Cleveland Clinic, etc...unfortunately I did not see this on the provided fellowship list.


Fellowships 2006-07
Gastro:
Univ. of Pitt
Penn State
Univ. of Michigan
Univ. of Cincinatti

Cards
Temple Univ. x 2
Baylor College of Med.
UT Houston

Pulm
None

2005-06
Gastro
Wake Forest
Loyola
Univ. of Pitt

Cards
MCG
Univ. of Pitt x 3

Pulm
Univ. of Pitt

I'm not as organized or fancy in my review . . . but here's some of what I remember and my gut feelings

I really, really, really, liked this program. Three hospitals the U, the VA, and a brand new hospital IHC (replaced the old LDS hospital). Mostly electronic record system - great ancillary staff per the house staff. Heavy inpatient/critical care training, especially first year - 5 months gen med, 2 months ICU (these months seem to have BOTH MICU and CCU patients on service - so you will round with more than one attending while on service, but the residents seemed to think this was as streamlined as possible). Oppourtunity to do shock/trauma month at the IHC 2nd and 3rd year - two months ICU 2nd and 3rd year. Call is par for the course q4 - no night float for interns (interns didn't seem to think this was a problem). Night floats for junior and senior residents. Busy, but rarely cap, normally 5-8 patients per day (busy is a positive feature for me and I'm not interested in "cush"). Facilities are mostly new - VA is only a few years old and the U is very nice (if this matters). Residents seemed happy. I was very impressed with the PD - personable, easy to talk to - residents feel like she is a big advocate for them. Lots of fellowship oppourtunities, especially heme/onc - with a nice cancer hospital. Research oppourtunities if you want them. Large referral area - look at a map, nothing like a university program anywhere near until you get to Colorado, UCSF, UW - like I said, look at a map - same for the VA. If the "social scene" is very important to you, SLC is not a Chicago, or SanFran, or a NYC, but the residents seemed to think it was much more "interesting" than they expected. Lots of "outdoorsy" stuff to do, trail running, mountain biking, hiking, camping - SKIING! (spoke to a junior resident who said he made it up onto the mountain like 47 times during internship :thumbup:). Clean city. Affordable housing.

edit: almost forgot mountain climbing

I would say Utah wasn't too bad of a place - very friendly. Residents are down to earth and easy going. They love to have fun outside of the hospital like you said. I didn't feel too impressed with the morning report, however. I also didn't feel that the program had as much academic strength. It was a little too laid back. I think the program compares well with Oregon and below Colorado. But decent training though I will have to say - even though there is a large referral area, you get almost no exposure to African American population which I think would be good to have.

Hands down has to be the most beautiful place I've interviewed at though.

I would say Utah wasn't too bad of a place - very friendly. Residents are down to earth and easy going. They love to have fun outside of the hospital like you said. I didn't feel too impressed with the morning report, however. I also didn't feel that the program had as much academic strength. It was a little too laid back. I think the program compares well with Oregon and below Colorado. But decent training though I will have to say - even though there is a large referral area, you get almost no exposure to African American population which I think would be good to have.

Hands down has to be the most beautiful place I've interviewed at though.

Thanks for chiming in . . . it's all about finding the right fit, and your thoughts probably put this program somewhere on your list but not at the top nor at the bottom. Allows some folks to get more than one perspective which is a good thing for this thread.

Personally, I thought the morning report was pretty par for the course, and I liked that they brought up teaching points pertinent to the previous day's report. The case my interview day was pretty wild, and I didn't see anything done that I haven't seen done at many other morning report. Truth is, I don't know how to really spice one of these up . . .

I am curious though, how one assesses "academic strength"? Did you think the teaching wasn't good or that the "reputation" was "less than"? And, for the purpose of giving people here a better understanding, what was your comparator? Or was it just more of a "gut feeling"?

I personally didn't ask about the black patient population, and maybe falsely assumed that since there is a VA one would definitely see black patients considering the armed force's high percentage of blacks who serve their country. Although, I'm not personally convinced that not seeing many blacks would hurt my ability to treat blacks when done with training - there are some diseases that a higher prevalence in the black cohort, but there is nothing about those particular diseases that I think would require me to spend large amounts of time with this population in order to treat them. I appreciate your concern, will probably also be a concern of others, and it's a consideration I'm glad you raised.

albert einstein jacobi

overview
the program seemed to really emphasize that they are the main teaching hospital of the albert einstein college of medicine. all teams have at least 2 medical students and the PD really emphasized that as a resident, you are responsible for teaching. there are no private patients and residents are responsible for decision-making.

details
specialty wards: HIV, oncology, pulmonary.
call: no overnights. night float in place.
patient load: residents carry 14-15 pts. interns carry 6-7 pts.

computer system
notes, labs, vitals are all computer-based. the PD really emphasized that the computer system is state of the art and it's really easy to look anything up on pts. EKGs are on the computer system.

research
most residents do research through albert einstein. it seems like you have to take the initiative to get involved though.

ancillary staff
jacobi has a reputation of problems with the ancillary staff. the PD and some of the residents said that this was no longer a problem. but another resident said that they still end up doing things like blood draws and IVs and that this was his least favorite part of the program. not sure what to make of that.

conferences
resident report is every weekday at 11 am. interns don't attend. the conference was in an old looking room where none of the chairs matched. it sounded like they would be moving the IM department and the conferences to the new building by next year.

hospital
jacobi has a brand new hospital. the old building is still there, however, and the chief resident said they probably won't close it down just b/c of the heavy volume of pts. there is no cafeteria but there is an au bon pain which is also the only coffee shop.

location
the hospital is located in a residential area of the bronx. the area around the hospital is nice and appears safe. a lot of the residents live around the hospital especially during intern year, but it sounded like a lot of residents also live in uptown manhattan. the hospital is about 6 blocks from a train stop. it took me about 30 min to get there from manhattan.

resident happiness
this was what worried me about the program. none of the residents were really smiling or extremely happy. it didn't seem like the residents really hang out much outside of the hospital. i also only saw one female resident the whole time we were there. i'm not sure if this b/c they are really worked hard or just the whole new yorker attitude. the other interviewees noticed this too. but i guess if you live in nyc, there are enough people around that you don't need to hang out with other residents.

summary
jacobi seems like a solid program in nyc. the residents they take are average US grads and top foreign grads (from germany, south america, india, and china). the PD seems friendly but we didn't really see much of him. i think this is a good program if you really want to live in nyc. i kind of get the impression that their is very little hand-holding and residents are kind of just thrown into the fire. the fellowship matching though is good.

cards fellowships
2008 - 2 - at NYU, lennox hill
2007 - 3 - at AECOM, germany
2006 - 2 - both at AECOM
2005 - 6 - at PA giesinger, UIC, tufts, NY medical college, st lukes roosevelt, UMDNJ
2004 - 6 - at beth israel, AECOM, giesinger, AECOM, arkansas, AECOM
2003 - 5 - at AECOM, UIC, u washington, AECOM, AECOM

For anyone who has privacy concerns and do not wish to post the information under your account, feel free to pm me the information and I will post it with my account

Jayne.

posted for someone

I interviewed at Jacobi and agree with all of DJ Lactulose's points. Just wanted to add a couple to the post above:

Pro's:

-bad ass cpu system where you can type in all notes, bring up all past notes, radiology and ekgs BUT no home access to it for housestaff (only attendings)
-$15/month parking!
-intern salary is really high, almost $52k/yr

Con's:

- only in house IM fellowship is nephro, the others are all at montefiore. The residents explained how jacobi has sponsored fellowship spots at monte or something for cadio, GI, etc... but I still found that surprising that they didn't have more in house fellowships, as did the rest of my interview group
- they give you a meal stipend of about $3,000/yr in your annual pay. beyond that there is no caf or meals provided at the conferences. resident's said you basically have to bring your own food to these things and that the only free food is found on interview days

Great interview day. Unfortunately got to the pre-interview dinner late so did not get to interact with residents too much, so this is all based on my interview day.

+'s: - Academic powerhouse with great fellowship opportunities, in-house and around the country. They hand out a match list, quite impressive.
- Research opportunities galore. The Duke Clinical Research Institute is an amazing research opportunity with projects literally waiting to be picked up and completed by residents.
- Cohesive and 'happy' residents (I put quotes because it is such a hard thing to assess in seven hours, but seemed happy)
- Great clinical training with EIP, Educational Innovation Project, a program 'to explore novel approaches to training'.
- New two week MICU rotation for interns at Durham Regional that is really popular with residents
- Parking payed for, good insurance, good benefits, family friendly
- Good cost of living in Durham--- Dirt cheap actually! Most residents bought 3 bedroom houses
- High level of Autonomy with almost total control as a JAR (PGY2)
- Nice Facilities

-'s:
- Front loaded with q4 call ALONE on wards as an intern
- Heirarchical with interns still wearing short coats (not that bad really)
- Interns looked pretty tired and stressed out, but JARS and SARS seemed to look a little more rested.
- Extremely high volume. Quote from resident, "well the call rooms are somewhere on this floor, but you never use them so it doesn't really matter"
- Durham isn't a very exciting place, but Chapel Hill is awesome
- Perhaps too EBM driven, have to cite literature on ALL admit H&Ps as a JAR and SAR
- Felt like it was just a Fellowship stepping stone (but I will prob do one so no big deal)
+/-:
-Subspecialty service structure. COPDers are admitted to pulm, CHF admitted to cards, etc. Unless they are newly diagnosed or not 'hooked in', then they go to gen med.

Overall: VERY impressive academic institution. My first interview so can't compare it to anything else, but liked what I saw and can see myself training there. PM me for an specifics.

Another program I liked a lot. First, Scott and White is located in Temple, TX - at first I thought this was pretty random, but turns it out, the hospital started much the same may as the Mayo Clinic (they say Mayo got the idea from them! :D) and Temple is small compared to what most people would compare it to 60,000 people - this may be an issue for some - didn't bother me much.

The hospital is brand new with start of the art facilities, the new Cardiac Cath labs looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. Mostly computerized system, prog notes and orders are still written by hand, but this is soon to change.

Call is pretty much par for the course, with a night float system of which the residents seem quite proud - here's the breakdown: day 1, short call, until noon, day 2 short call until noon, day 3 long call until 8, and day 4 post call. At 8 on long call days, your admitting day is done, period, interns go home when floor work is done, night float intern does cross-cover - no admission. Admission at night are done by one of three non-teaching hospitalist teams, which carry the patients - no handoff(!) - unless the hospitalist team in agreement with the chief residents think that a patient in overnight would be a great teaching case. Short call days teams cap at 3 admission and/or transfers, and on long call days teams cap at 10 admissions and/or transfers. Nice. The IM service is busy and teams usually cap their quotas, most interns carry 6-8 patients.

MICU and CCU call is overnight and split between the number of interns (categoricals, prelims, and offservice) on the service so call might be as much as q6.

Lots of teaching - morning report 30 minutes in the morning. Conference at lunch, and a few times per week an hour in the afternoon.

There is a VA in town but you don't spend much time there - which is unfortunate because I like the VA patient population, but it's not a deal breaker. (Call is overnight at the VA - only 1 month 1st year)

Cardiology and Cancer research oppourtunities for any who want them - they are research facilities devoted to both.

LOTS of fellowship oppourtunities (everything but Rheum and Endo, but Endo coming soon) and Scott and White seems to likes to keep their own for these spots. The program will match you with a mentor early on if your are interested in fellowship and they do their best to to help you find a spot somewhere.

Considerable referral area, ~2 million folks, considering that Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston are all about 2 hours away.

Residents happy, smiling, friendly, and rested. They really, really like the program.

PD's friendly, funny, easy to approach. Resident's find them to be good advocates.

Overall, I'd say GREAT program.

Current Duke housestaff here. A couple of clarifications on things mentioned by normansatx:


- New two week MICU rotation for interns at Durham Regional that is really popular with residents

As an intern, you spend 2 weeks in the DRH MICU plus 4 weeks in the Duke CCU, or vice versa. Who gets what is currently randomly assigned, but this may change in the future.


-'s:
- Front loaded with q4 call ALONE on wards as an intern

normansatx is referring to our 3 subspecialty months (ie. cardiology, pulmonary/renal, and oncology), when you take call alone as an intern. Backup exists in the form of floating residents (in the first 2-3 months of internship) and/or "hospitalists" (moonlighting fellows, often from cardiology or pulm/cc, but can be from any of the IM subspecialties), though upper levels in the MICU and CCU are always available and happy to assist. Gotta love the moonlighting pulm/cc fellows, who are never less than awesome when you are in a bind.

You take call as a team on Gen Med and in the ICU/CCU.


- Extremely high volume.

I didn't necessarily expect this coming to Duke, since Durham and NC in general are not the most populated areas of the county. I'm coming from a med school with a large urban county hospital (think LA County, Parkland, Grady-level hospitals), so I'm certainly familiar with high patient volume. Still, Duke Hospital is a bustling place that serves the dual purposes of being the main hospital for the city of Durham and a major referral center in the southeast (from as far as West Virginia to Kentucky to Tennessee to Georgia). In my short time here, I've already had a number of patients who would bypass several major academic centers en route to seek care at Duke.


-Subspecialty service structure. COPDers are admitted to pulm, CHF admitted to cards, etc. Unless they are newly diagnosed or not 'hooked in', then they go to gen med.

The intern year is a pretty decent mix of general medicine and subspecialty services. As mentioned above, the subspecialty services are cardiology, pulmonary/renal (you do one or the other by day, and crosscover both at night), and oncology. That's a total of 3 months. The rest of the year you spend in gen med, ICU/CCU, or ambulatory clinics.

Thanks for the extra info! Like I said, I loved the program and was super impressed. What you added only made it better! Thanks Nexus, you guys put on a great interview day in Durham.

Thanks for chiming in . . . it's all about finding the right fit, and your thoughts probably put this program somewhere on your list but not at the top nor at the bottom. Allows some folks to get more than one perspective which is a good thing for this thread.

Personally, I thought the morning report was pretty par for the course, and I liked that they brought up teaching points pertinent to the previous day's report. The case my interview day was pretty wild, and I didn't see anything done that I haven't seen done at many other morning report. Truth is, I don't know how to really spice one of these up . . .

I am curious though, how one assesses "academic strength"? Did you think the teaching wasn't good or that the "reputation" was "less than"? And, for the purpose of giving people here a better understanding, what was your comparator? Or was it just more of a "gut feeling"?

I personally didn't ask about the black patient population, and maybe falsely assumed that since there is a VA one would definitely see black patients considering the armed force's high percentage of blacks who serve their country. Although, I'm not personally convinced that not seeing many blacks would hurt my ability to treat blacks when done with training - there are some diseases that a higher prevalence in the black cohort, but there is nothing about those particular diseases that I think would require me to spend large amounts of time with this population in order to treat them. I appreciate your concern, will probably also be a concern of others, and it's a consideration I'm glad you raised.

Agree with the above.

Morning report was compared to other programs as well as my home program. I would say this program is similar to my home program in terms of the quality of the residents and teaching. I thought the didactics at Emory and UChicago was superb. Morning report at Colorado and Northwestern was also excellent. UofU was a little below these. Anyways it's not all about morning report and I don't want to sound like I didn't like the program because I could definitely see myself there.

The AA population concern was more sickle cell experience and yes other more advanced diseases that present in this population. SLC is very clean and safe, and doesn't have as much indigent patients which I don't necessarily LOVE but find needed for a good experience and full education. You do get GREAT rural medicine which can also present similar to VA and indigent patients. One resident even said he saw myxedema coma (rare!).

Academic in terms of research projects ongoing for the residents were less than what I've seen. Most people want to do hospitalist or primary care which is fine. Most match fellowships (GI/Cards) at Utah which is also fine. I'd like to have the option to go away though if possible.

Last thing - the PD is awesome. Great resident advocate, excellent clinician and probably one of the friendliest and charismatic I've seen on the trail. Was interested in all of us and showed genuine desire for us to be there. All in all a top tier (top 30) program hands down.

Anyone out there travel today to get to the Northeast/Philly/NYC area? Can we say 7 hour wait in Chicago? Can we say I had to fly into another city and drive frozen snowed out roads for 2 hours to get to my destination whilst coming close to being hit by other drivers 2x only to miss the dinner and get to my hotel at 2 am to wake up for the interview at 6:30 am?

Can we say...aaaaaaaaaagggggggghhhhhhh

Oh noes! Sorry, that sounds like it really sucks. :( Hopefully you rocked the interview anyway. :luck:

Anyone out there travel today to get to the Northeast/Philly/NYC area? Can we say 7 hour wait in Chicago? Can we say I had to fly into another city and drive frozen snowed out roads for 2 hours to get to my destination whilst coming close to being hit by other drivers 2x only to miss the dinner and get to my hotel at 2 am to wake up for the interview at 6:30 am?

Can we say...aaaaaaaaaagggggggghhhhhhh

I was at the same interview as you, because I heard your story from someone else there. If it makes you feel any better it took me 6 hours to do a drive that normally takes 2 to get there. I know not as bad you, but I know misery loves company. The associate PD joked that all the people who showed up today should be put at the top of the list. :laugh:

Rolling my eyes that USC will train you to "take care of sick people better than anywhere in the country"...quite a subjective claim.

Biting my tongue because the numbers speak for themselves: a little over 2 residents match in cards each year...the most objective data provided.

I'm sure someone might say "maybe only 2 chose cards," however, it's highly unlikely that USC is the only program in the country with 4% of its housestaff choosing this subspecialty.

I'm sure USC is a great program(I haven't bothered to look), but gimme a break...

In the words of B. A. Baracus, "The numbers don't jive, turkey!"

Yeah as I disclaimer I did not look at USC because I have no interest in living in LA, but a close friend of mine is a 4th year medical student there and told me that very few of his classmates are going into medicine largely because of how unimpressed they were with the medicine service there.

His words (not mine) when asked why he didn't consider IM were "I just never considered medicine because the IM service at my school is the joke of the hospital."

Anecdotal I know, but didn't inspire confidence...

pd
seemed like a nice guy. didn't really say anything about the poor reputation that the USC medicine department seems to have among applicants and USC med students. the pd gave the tour of the program himself, which seemed odd, but maybe he's just that hands on. unfortunately, he's been the pd for 13 years and the program still is considered by many to be the worst in LA.

chair
briefly met the chair during the lunch. seemed like a friendly guy but not someone who really interacts that much with the residents.

residents
we only got to meet about 5 residents. when i asked one applicant from USC where the other residents were, she said, "they're working... welcome to county." the residents did seem happy though. they said they hung out a lot outside of the hospital and had a lot of happy hours. over 50% not married. diverse group. some FMGs.

faculty
faculty seemed friendly during the interviews. i talked to a resident alone and he said there definitely is not a malignant atmosphere at all in terms of relationships between faculty and residents.

patients
extremely diverse patient population. this seems to be the main drawing point of the program. you see the most exotic path b/c the LA county hospital doesn't turn away anyone. residents said they saw things like tetrology of fallot presenting in adults. it seemed like the great thing about USC is that pts present with strange symptoms and residents get the first crack at figuring out what's going on unlike some other tertiary university centers where pts show up with a diagnosis from an outside hospital.

conferences
strangely, we didn't get to see morning report. everyone shows up at the hospital at 7am. there is no prerounding. (although one USC med student i talked to said some residents make their teams preround before the 7am lecture!) everyone attends lecture from 7-8am. teams do work rounds from 8-10am. residents (not interns) go to morning report from 10-11am. the intern just does work during this time. attending rounds are from 11am-1pm. the attendings usually do not round on every patient on the service everyday (strange).

sites/facilities
the old county hospital is pretty awful. pts are 5 to a room and the building looks like it's falling apart. i don't know why they took us on a tour of the place if the new hospital is set to open in may 2008. a lot of us wondered if we probably would end up working in the old building for about 6 months if we came to USC. at the end of the interview, there was an optional tour of the new $1 billion hospital. most of us stayed, and it was worth it. the new building is beautiful! 600 beds, state of the art. new clinic building (some clinics will still be in the old clinic building unfortunately). 3 cath labs, 5 CT scanners, 3 MRIs. it def seemed like a great place to work. the question is will it be open before next year's interns start. regardless, it should be open by september 2008.

apparently, the keck donation to the USC medical school was made to turn the campus into a research center. that is the eventual goal of the place. this probably won't happen for about 10 years, but you can already see that a lot of changes are being made to the medical center and a lot of construction going on.

location
the program is located just outside of downtown LA. residents live all over LA.

schedule
with the move to the new building, interns will only have 8-9 blocks of call (there are 13 4 week blocks total during the intern year). call is q4. guaranteed golden weekend every month. one black weekend (you work both days). one day off on the other 2 weekends of the block. days off are always on the wknd (sweet). residents leave between 1-3pm when they're not on call (sounds awesome if it's true).

research
seemed like there is a growing emphasis on research. med students i talked to said if you want to do research/get a fellowship you need to do a lot of legwork on your own.

cards fellowships
2007 - 3 @ usc
2006 - 3 total, 1 @ usc, 2 @ new york
2005 - 1 @ boston
2004 - 3 @ usc, 1 @ florida

GI fellowships
2007 - 4 total, 1 @ usc, 1 @ loma linda, 1 @ wash u st louis, 1 @ chicago
2006 - 3 @ usc
2005 - 3 @ usc
2004 - 3 @ usc

salary
pgy1 - 42,676
pgy2 - 47,774
pgy3 - 51,732
pgy4 - 55,746

overall
i liked the program. residents have tons of autonomy and see the best pathology as far as i can tell. fellowships are doable but you need to get the ball rolling on your own. the salary is great and there is free food 3 times per day. i could see USC being a great program in the future, but you can't really predict what life in the new hospital will be like. it probably will be better than the current situation, but it still will be a county hospital with all the problems that come with that.

USC MS IV here. Thought I'd clarify a bit about the USC program, as I've been mentioned in DJ's post. :)

- Morning Report: Morning report is 9-10 AM from M-F, and attended by R2, R3s, and med students who are currently on medicine wards, and it's usually facilitated by one of the medicine attendings or sometimes one of the chief residents. Two cases are presented by residents, and a subspecialist is present to discuss the cases. (So the topic area switches every day- cards, gi, pulm... etc). So the way it works is that one resident presents the case, another reads the chest x-ray/ekg, and then another is sort of "put on the spot," albeit in a very non-threatening, nice way, to come up with a differential, workup plan... etc.

- Rounding: Some attendings round on every patient every day, others round on the news, needy, but table round on the others, in which case you would finish before 12 noon.

- Facilities: Having done away rotations at very nice academic programs that have such things as private rooms (aka, you don't need to have TB to get a room to yourself, haha), I definitely agree with you that County is rather lacking in this respect. While the opening of the new building at County has been delayed- it was supposed to really have opened two years ago during my medical school training- everything I've heard really points toward it opening in 2008 and not later.

- Fellowships: I'm probably treading on thin ground here given the previous posts in this thread- cardiology fellowship match is probably not the highlight of USC's program. However, the fellowship program director changed in 2005 or so, and since then, the new person has been a much stronger help to residents applying for cardiology. The GI department is excellent, and there are plenty of research opportunities and the most of faculty are well-known around the country.

- And finally, faculty: There are definitely fantastic faculty members here at USC, especially in the subspecialty departments (Endocrine, GI, ID all come to mind right away- the others departments I haven't personally had as much experience with). Here is where I think the weakness to USC medicine program is- there is a rather high turnover of general medicine attendings, which leads to overall, a much younger group of medicine attendings than I've seen at other medicine powerhouses. Not that there's anything wrong with younger attendings, as I've worked with them and they do teach, but being in a County setting, where sometimes a bit of muscle (read: attending relationships with other departments, etc) is required to getting things done, having the bulk of medicine attendings be only 2 or 3 years out of their training can be tough.

- Overall, I think USC is one of those places that requires a bit more self-motivation to get the most out of it. It's not a bad place to go if you want to do more hospitalist work, or perhaps a subspecialty, but it may not be the best place for those looking for a better ambulatory experience.

If anyone has any more questions about USC- message me. I'd be happy to talk more about it, as I don't think there were enough residents there to talk to us today either (and yes, the residents were working :) and at morning report today- the ones who came were on ambulatory rotation).

Pre-interview dinner

Highly recommend going as it gives you a chance to get the real scoop on Wake Forest. Residents for the most part got along and where very down to earth. Even got a "welcome bag" as a thanks for coming.

Interview day.

Make sure you do what the invitation to interview email suggests. Meet the resident in the lobby area so they can take u to the conference room. The place is kind of like a maze and finding the conference room was a little tricky.

PD:

A nice guy. Seems very personable and overall a nice person--although can appear to be a bit spacey from time to time.

Residents:

Most are from the southeast. All seemed very happy

Hospital:

The area around the hospital is very nice and the hospital itself is pretty cool. The MICU is a little creepy and run down, however they are in the process of building a new floor for the MICU



Pro's

A decent match list for fellowships with most resident's matching into fellowship of their choice. Cards is very popular and boasts about a 90 percent match rate.

Residents seem very cool, laid back and not malignant

Excellent night float with good back up. Interns do not stay past 6 pm, interns take night float however good opportunity for autonomy during this time

Einstein bagel open almost 24 hours (closed between 3 and 6 am)

Area around the hospital is nice

Winston Salem has great weather and is a pleasant town if you're married with kids.


Cons

No GI ward service. Attendings seem not to be interested in rounding with Gen Med team as compromise

Oddly enough they have a leukemia service but no GI medicine service.. interesting i though

MICU seems a bit depressing and run down. but as i mentioned they are in the process of revamping

NO DIVERSITY. about 90 percent of housestaff are white and most are from the southeast

Winston Salem is a nice town however if you are single, there isn't much to do

For someone who wishes to remain anonymous.

University of Washington

Overall: Incredible interview despite the cold and rainy weather. Dr. Steinberg is the man! Young and enthusiastic about changing the weaknesses of the program and keeping all the strong points. Is looking to make it a closer knit place. Will rank very highly. Most of the problems we hear on old posts seem resolved. They definitely "brought it" on my interview day...

+'s: Great clinical experiance with three hospitals + WWAMI. Harborview, the county, takes care of a really underserved population but is nice. UWMC is a great tertiary care center seeing transplants, cancer, etc. The VA is a tertiary care VA that sees all the complicated cases from around WWAMI and norcal, and is very nice. Good fellowship placement, but a very strong focus on GIM with about 60/40 going into subspecialty/hospitalist. Seattle is a great city with tons of culture. Residents were very nice on pre-interview day and during the interview. Faculty very friendly. Facilities great. New mentoring program provides a clinical mentor within three months of getting there and guiding you through your residency. Strongest departments are ID and PULM/CC.

-'s: Still a gigantic program in which you can get lost if you're not careful. Seattle weather is not very good, especially during winter. Didn't see many interns (because they had arthocentesis day!) Worked very very hard, and they admit to it. Old-school overnight call system (not bad, better than most top programs). Seattle is pricey compared to where I live, but cheapter than Boston, NYC, or Chicago. Seems like a lot of them go onto fellowships within the NW. Dont know about Cards and GI placement. They provided a list of people and where they matched, Cards was very strong within the NW and california, but not many going east.

I agree with the above post mostly, however, I would like to add that most of the cards/GI fellowship opps are in the NW and are rather strong. When you extend them to the rest of the country, it becomes a hit or miss thing. Not sure if it's because people want to stay in the NW or what but most people are matching around and less are going East (Chicago, NYC, New England).

Great program though.

Anyone care to share their impression of University of Michigan program, or their interview day? thanks

I agree with the above post mostly, however, I would like to add that most of the cards/GI fellowship opps are in the NW and are rather strong. When you extend them to the rest of the country, it becomes a hit or miss thing. Not sure if it's because people want to stay in the NW or what but most people are matching around and less are going East (Chicago, NYC, New England).

Great program though.


People in the program just love the area and program so they stay in the area. According to one faculty member there, there was a time when one fellowship dept required fellows to promise to practice out of the state once they finished as the region was becoming saturated with them.

Anyone care to share their impression of University of Michigan program, or their interview day? thanks

Here's the breakdown for UMich.

Pre-Interview Dinner: Dinner at an Irish pub, food was not so great but you get good face time with the residents. During the dinner the residents seemed very nice and informative, no sense of arrogance at all. The residents do get to hang out with each other outside of the hospital.


Format of Interview day: Excellent presentation of the program. The best by far, I really got a good sense of the program. You then have 3 post lunch interviews, 2 with faculty members (based on your reported interests) and also a program or associate program director. The interviews are very low key and relaxed mainly asking for any questions regarding the program. The interview day was unique as all program associates shake hands with all the applicants.

Call Sessions/Team Limit: The UMich had a problem with residents being slammed in the past so they have come up with a few very innovative ideas. The limit of patients is 6 as opposed to 8 and your call session ends at midnight after that you just crosscover and the resident takes and admits the patient. The patient does end up going on your team in the end I think. I also want to say that they have a hospitalist team that takes any overflow. The program also has hired resident assistants. They are former secretaries/clerks within the hospital and they help you out with the paperwork involved with ordering tests or arranging follow up. The whole aim for that position is to get residents out before the 30hour limit.

Other Benefits:
1. The program buys everyone laptops that they can use in the hospital to input orders and notes. You can take the laptop home and use it for personal use but it has to be returned unfortunately when you complete residency.
2. Sign on bonus is roughly $3,000? or more, can't remember specifically.
3. Very strong GI and Cards fellowships, they also have very well known GI docs (excellent for LORs)

Patient Population: Patients for UMich are generally middle class with insurance (hence the program has a lot of money). You also get to rotate at the VA which is the nicest VA in the country. They also get a small percentage (5%) of patients from neighbouring areas and the middle east regions with Zebras.

Area: Ann Arbor is a college town with a local feel. Visit Zingelman's it is a deli that is very, very good. I stayed at the Microtel which has all the basics you need.

Resident Make-up: Majority of residents are from the Midwest area with others from the SUNY program and California programs.

Pros:
1. Great PD - Every program says this but I really believed it. He seemed to care a lot about the program. Faculty members also stated that he was one of the program's central assets.
2. Very supportive: The fact that you get a laptop which you can use to input orders, the resident assistant, adapted team limit really shows that UMich really wants intern year to be bearable. Everyone says intern year is hell but from all the benefits it seems as if the UMich intern year isn't as bad.
3. Hospital Resources: The hospital is in no danger of experiencing financial difficulties. The hospital itself looks extremely nice and very modern.
4. Ann Arbor: It's a college town yes but it is very safe and a pleasant town where everyone seemed nice.
5. GI/Cards: Very good Cards and GI fellowship here.


Cons/In-betweens:
Some of these were cons for me but may be pros for others.
1. Little to no indigent care: No indigent care, the program does say "but we have the VA" but that really isn't indigent care at all. Some do not like it but I love the IVDUs, illegal immigrant population so it was a downer for me.
2. Regional Residents: Most of the resident are from the Midwest area which to me was a con as I like a program with people from other areas of the country. Nothing against people from the mdiwest so please don't read anything into that.
3. Residents admitted that they had excellent knowledge with regards to the hospital setting but felt a little deficient with the primary care setting. The program is seekig to improve their primary care rotation.

Overall:
A very supportive program with good clinical teachers especially for GI. The research opportunity also allows good fellowship placement. I don't think this program is as strong if you are thinking about primary care though. I actually don't plan to rank the program or rank it low due to a couple of, lets say, 'vibe' things that related to me.

Hey Linus,

I was just curious to see that you raved about U of M program but at the end you say you will rank them low or not at all given "vibes". Could you please elaborate on this?? Thanks

Can anybody interviewed at these two programs share some experiences and impressions about them? Thanks,

I just visited Brown and am curious what others thought of Brown. I'm diong med-peds and would like to know what people thought of the med side.

Thanks.

Hey Linus,

I was just curious to see that you raved about U of M program but at the end you say you will rank them low or not at all given "vibes". Could you please elaborate on this?? Thanks


Hey Duke2001, Yeah no prob, sorry for the delay in reply. During the interview day they really did not show me any interest in me as candidate. First of all they spelt my name worng on my badge, not just a little wrong but badly wrong. Plus they just didn't seem to want to talk to me at all. I really wished that they would have rejected me rather let me spend the money to get there. That's the vibe thing. It would be unfair though to the program and the people on SDN to be bitter and write off the program as I do think it is a strong program. I want to be honest and say that I don'y plan to rank it but I also wanted to give an honest portrayal of the program itself. Hope that helps.

Here's the breakdown for UVa.

Pre-Interview Dinner: Dinner at an Italian restaurant. Failed to go to the dinner as I was sick but apparently it was a lot of fun.

If you have extra time: Uva has a beautiful campus and the downtown area is nice. Parking is cheap and right by the downtown area. Check out Five Guys which has awesome fries (cooked in peanut oil), there is also a really nice ice cream place downtown Gellato something I think..all very good.

If you want an awesome skin infection: Check in to the Days Inn there..good grief it was terrible. Smelt of mould and every time I turned on the shower it smelled like a sweaty gym lockeroom. It was pretty expensive too so definitely priceline something. Renting a car from Charlottesville airport was super cheap at $17 a day.

Format of Interview day: Initial presentation of the program, morning report and then two interviews. 1 interview will be with an intern selection committe and the second will be a faculty member. The interviews are very low key and relaxed mainly asking for any questions regarding the program.

Call Sessions: No overnight call there is a night intern for that. The UVa website actually has a really good description of a call day. From memory I believe they get off at 8pm and the night intern comes on and leaves the following morning.

Area: Charlottesville is a very picturesque college town.

Observations:
So I'm not going to give any pros or cons just some observations, you decide for yourself.

1. Great PD, very personable and enthusiastic. Radiated a relaxed aura and just seemed to be a friendly guy.
2. The residents were hilarious, I am still laughing at a joke one of the residents made :laugh:. They were very collegial and were perhaps the most impressive during morning report.
3. The 5 year fellowship placements on the website are very strong to programs like Duke, Mayo, JHU, CCF etc. A closer look shows that most of these matches occured 4 or 5 years ago with the last 2 years showing heavier direction towards UVa fellowships. At this point I really don't see that as a bad thing I mean once you apply to fellowship it seems like a lot of people have already settled down with family and really don't want to move with kids.
4. The fellowship diversity was incredible large numbers went into Endocrinology and Nephro as well as GI, Card, Pul/CC. Talking with residents it seems that the program has a very strong Endocrine fellowship and you get to work with these attendings as a resident very closely.
5. UVa also have their own journal for publications.
6. Research is a requirement to complete the residency program.
Now for the alarm bells, sadly

1. Every 5 minutes during interview 1 the phrase "I don't think I'm doing a good job trying to convince you to come here" despite the fact that I really did like the program.
2. Interviewer 2 spent the whole talking about another program to the point that I started to defend UVa.
3. Disgruntled residents stated that the EMR was horrible and the computer system was really outdated (MSDOS based with little to no change on updating it from its 1988 conception).


Overall:
Charlottesville is a great town, prior to my interview I really was enthusiastic about the program but after my experiences I will steer clear from this program. If anyone else had a good experience I certainly encourage them to post it as well as any residents within the program.

Here's the breakdown for UVa.

Pre-Interview Dinner: Dinner at an Italian restaurant. Failed to go to the dinner as I was sick but apparently it was a lot of fun.

If you have extra time: Uva has a beautiful campus and the downtown area is nice. Parking is cheap and right by the downtown area. Check out Five Guys which has awesome fries (cooked in peanut oil), there is also a really nice ice cream place downtown Gellato something I think..all very good.

If you want an awesome skin infection: Check in to the Days Inn there..good grief it was terrible. Smelt of mould and every time I turned on the shower it smelled like a sweaty gym lockeroom. It was pretty expensive too so definitely priceline something. Renting a car from Charlottesville airport was super cheap at $17 a day.

Format of Interview day: Initial presentation of the program, morning report and then two interviews. 1 interview will be with an intern selection committe and the second will be a faculty member. The interviews are very low key and relaxed mainly asking for any questions regarding the program.

Call Sessions: No overnight call there is a night intern for that. The UVa website actually has a really good description of a call day. From memory I believe they get off at 8pm and the night intern comes on and leaves the following morning.

Area: Charlottesville is a very picturesque college town.

Observations:
So I'm not going to give any pros or cons just some observations, you decide for yourself.

1. Great PD, very personable and enthusiastic. Radiated a relaxed aura and just seemed to be a friendly guy.
2. The residents were hilarious, I am still laughing at a joke one of the residents made :laugh:. They were very collegial and were perhaps the most impressive during morning report.
3. The 5 year fellowship placements on the website are very strong to programs like Duke, Mayo, JHU, CCF etc. A closer look shows that most of these matches occured 4 or 5 years ago with the last 2 years showing heavier direction towards UVa fellowships. At this point I really don't see that as a bad thing I mean once you apply to fellowship it seems like a lot of people have already settled down with family and really don't want to move with kids.
4. The fellowship diversity was incredible large numbers went into Endocrinology and Nephro as well as GI, Card, Pul/CC. Talking with residents it seems that the program has a very strong Endocrine fellowship and you get to work with these attendings as a resident very closely.
5. UVa also have their own journal for publications.
6. Research is a requirement to complete the residency program.
Now for the alarm bells, sadly

1. Every 5 minutes during interview 1 the phrase "I don't think I'm doing a good job trying to convince you to come here" despite the fact that I really did like the program.
2. Interviewer 2 spent the whole talking about another program to the point that I started to defend UVa.
3. Disgruntled residents stated that the EMR was horrible and the computer system was really outdated (MSDOS based with little to no change on updating it from its 1988 conception).


Overall:
Charlottesville is a great town, prior to my interview I really was enthusiastic about the program but after my experiences I will steer clear from this program. If anyone else had a good experience I certainly encourage them to post it as well as any residents within the program.

It's funny because when I interviewed at UVA, my boyfriend and I went to the downtown mall, ate at Five Guys, pigged out on fries, and then went to Gellato for dessert.

I know SDN is supposed to be anonymous, but ARE YOU MY BOYFRIEND? :laugh:

Thanks a lot for the clarification and getting back to me :) I wish you the best of luck during your interview process

Hey Duke2001, Yeah no prob, sorry for the delay in reply. During the interview day they really did not show me any interest in me as candidate. First of all they spelt my name worng on my badge, not just a little wrong but badly wrong. Plus they just didn't seem to want to talk to me at all. I really wished that they would have rejected me rather let me spend the money to get there. That's the vibe thing. It would be unfair though to the program and the people on SDN to be bitter and write off the program as I do think it is a strong program. I want to be honest and say that I don'y plan to rank it but I also wanted to give an honest portrayal of the program itself. Hope that helps.

It's funny because when I interviewed at UVA, my boyfriend and I went to the downtown mall, ate at Five Guys, pigged out on fries, and then went to Gellato for dessert.

I know SDN is supposed to be anonymous, but ARE YOU MY BOYFRIEND? :laugh:


Hello there darling. hahaha. Actually that is funny as I pigged out on Five guys and went straight to Gellato afterwards.

Just wondering if anyone is receiving post-interview follow-up letters? I understand they're pretty much useless, but I must admit, they do make me feel a little more secure with the Match!

I've heard from Wash U, Yale, and Ohio State, each with wording like "we can say that based on historical data, you would be highly likely to match here should you choose to do so."

Has anyone heard from Duke or Mayo Rochester?

Just wondering if anyone is receiving post-interview follow-up letters? I understand they're pretty much useless, but I must admit, they do make me feel a little more secure with the Match!

I've heard from Wash U, Yale, and Ohio State, each with wording like "we can say that based on historical data, you would be highly likely to match here should you choose to do so."

Has anyone heard from Duke or Mayo Rochester?

Were these letters like in the regular mail, or e-mail? Also, was it in response to your thank-you notes or just spontaneous? Just curious. I have gotten no such letters. :-(

Were these letters like in the regular mail, or e-mail? Also, was it in response to your thank-you notes or just spontaneous? Just curious. I have gotten no such letters. :-(


One after I sent a thank-you, the other two spontaneously... Several people on the interview trail told me they were getting these letters... Don't know if they were fabricating, or if lots of programs are doing this...??

One after I sent a thank-you, the other two spontaneously... Several people on the interview trail told me they were getting these letters... Don't know if they were fabricating, or if lots of programs are doing this...??

Lots of programs are doing this, hell, a few will even tell you at the interview that they like you and if you rank them, you'll likely match

Hey Duke2001, Yeah no prob, sorry for the delay in reply. During the interview day they really did not show me any interest in me as candidate. First of all they spelt my name worng on my badge, not just a little wrong but badly wrong. Plus they just didn't seem to want to talk to me at all. I really wished that they would have rejected me rather let me spend the money to get there. That's the vibe thing. It would be unfair though to the program and the people on SDN to be bitter and write off the program as I do think it is a strong program. I want to be honest and say that I don'y plan to rank it but I also wanted to give an honest portrayal of the program itself. Hope that helps.

I must apologize for your poor experience, spelling your name incorrectly is poor form. I'll pass along the mistake to our chief's.

Sorry this is kinda long, guys.
Review of a number of Chicago IM (traditional) programs

Wrote this up to help myself, but thought some folks might find it useful. A few things to note to help you take all this in context- I’m NOT from Chicago, and I plan on pursuing a GI fellowship. These are also not put in any particular rank- just in the order I interviewed. I tried my best to be objective, but again, these are just my impressions, so please clarify if I’ve made any factual mistakes. Also, feel free to disagree, comment- I always appreciate other people’s insights!

1) University of Chicago
Overall: A very academic environment with research focus, lots of research opportunities (basic science and clinical), an impressive match list. Particularly strong GI program, if you’re interested in IBD, GI onc, most GI disorders, but not strong for liver. Possibly the most “personal attention” interview day on the Chicago circuit- Associate PD and PD greeted everyone in the morning, chatted individually with all of us- definitely knew our application files backward and forward from memory (it seems, anyway). Smaller program, where it seems like the residents are well taken care of (breakfast and lunch generally provided by the Dept). Heard the international rotation in India was pretty awesome from one of the ID fellows. Schedule is really not as bad as it seems on paper with q4, which residents actually voted to keep.
PD: Friendly, approachable, has been at UofC since residency. Per the residents, really supportive, approachable.
The Chair: Did not get to meet the Chair, as he was out sick, but heard his spiel delivered by the PD – focus again mostly on research, with disparities research included. Pulm/CC guy who runs his own lab.
Residents: Friendly people, most from Midwest and East Coast. Very knowledgeable at morning report, and laid back (especially compared to some other ‘academic programs’).
Faculty: Spoke with some GI faculty- at interviews, rounds, conference- they are fantastic. Very open to working with residents, very good at teaching. They also all conduct research, and I got the impression it’s very much “bench to bedside” type of approach.
Patients: UofC definitely liked to stress that they had a very diverse set of patients with a wide variety of pathology (being a tertiary referral center) and wide range of socioeconomic factors. But for those who really like taking care of the indigent homeless population, I’ve heard that UofC is no longer accepting new Medicaid patients- is this true?
Conferences: Got a chance to go the resident morning report not on interview day- very strong morning report, with MKSAP review. Noon conferences are also very strong. I was particularly impressed by the Grand Rounds- very well known speakers, great attendance and participation by the entire medicine department.
Sites/Facilities: UofC mainly. UofC is still papercharting, although labs and films are on the computer.
Location: Not particularly the best surrounding location- although Hyde Park seems like a nice place for families. Most residents live further north, downtown, Lincoln Park. But only 15-20 min on Lake Shore away from downtown, so not bad.
Schedule: Q4 overnight on “Big” Gen Med (with night float covering admits after 1 AM and crosscover), Cards, Heme/Onc, MICU, Q3 CCU, Q3 admitting Leukemia and “Little” Gen Med(but no overnight)
Interns: 7.5 months inpatient (including 1 month of cards, MICU, Heme/Onc, Leukemia, 0.5 months of CCU, and 1 month of either Heme/Onc, Cards, Leuk, or MICU), 1 month inpatient, 0.5 months consults, 1 month geriatrics, 1 month outpaitnt, 4 weeks vacay + 1 week at the end of the year.
Schedule gets better with 2nd, 3rd year- with rotations through each of the subspecialities, and most consult services, with some rotations on Gen Med at MacNeal Hospital.
Research: opportunities in both basic and clinical, and research in health care disparities. Spoke with a resident who was pursuing an MBA at UofC during residency, of which PD and program was very supportive of work in other departments. Heme/Onc was brought up as particularly great for research. Lots of encouragement for abstract submissions to ACP, conferences. Funding for conference travel, etc.
Fellowship 2007: 11 Cards (Cornell, BWH, UofC, Tufts, UIC, UT Southwestern, Emory, Cleveland), 5 Heme Onc (Loyola, Sloan-Kettering, Cleveland, UofC, Stanford), 3 ID (UofC, UCSF), 1 Pulm/CC (UofC), 1 Nephrology (UCSF), 4 GI(UofC, BWH, UT Southwestern, Rush)

2) Rush University
Overall: A very strong clinical program that its interview day does not do it full justice. A few things that make it unique- Rush’s ER is staffed by Med or Surg residents, so residents do 3 months of ER instead of 1. Preinterview dinner at Pompei was pretty awesome- I had a lot of fun, and the residents were having a good time. They did let me know about the unique interview day. GI seems quite strong at Rush as well (most of them came from Loyola recently), although much more clinical than UofC. Also opportunities to do ID, HIV over at Cook County if you so choose.
PD: Just recently switched to a new PD who has been APD for a number of years. Seemed friendly enough. The old PD, who is very approachable, is now an APD, but because he’s also managing curriculum now on the med school side, it seems.
The Chair: The Chair ran the morning report, which was an interesting setup (one resident presenting to him).
Residents: Residents mostly from the Chicago area, but very nice. They didn’t seem as tired for q4 call. Again, one of the highlights was the pre-interview dinner at Pompei- residents were all very sociable, very friendly, loved the program.
Faculty: Spoke with some GI faculty- at interviews. Very approachable, also seemed broad and varied in different aspects of GI. Rush does a lot of liver transplants, so there is a lot of transplant hepatology experience, it seems.
Patients: Residents say that there is a lot of patient diversity, but I didn’t really get a chance to get a feel about this one way or the other.
Conferences: Didn’t really get a chance to evaluate this aspect of it- but the residents state noon conference is generally pretty good.
Sites/Facilities: Rush mainly, with 2 months of inpatient at Cook County, 1 month inpatient at Rush North Shore for community aspect. Note: free parking!
Location: Very close to downtown about 10 minutes by car, also right by El. Across the street or so from UIC.
Schedule: Q4 overnight, 8.5 inpatient months; 1 ER, 1 vacation, 1.5 ambulatory, 1 subspeciality. No chance to do research block first year, but call lightens up to 4-5 senior years with much more elective time.
Research: opportunities in both basic and clinical, and research in health care disparities. Spoke with a resident who was pursuing an MBA at UofC during residency, of which PD and program was very supportive of work in other departments. Heme/Onc was brought up as particularly great for research. Lots of encouragement for abstract submissions to ACP, conferences. Funding for conference travel, etc.
Fellowship 2007: Cards (Rush x 2, UMissouri, Wisconsin), Pulm/CC (Rush, Loyola), GI (Rush x 3, Dartmouth), Endo (Rush), Rheum (Mt. Sinai, Rush x 2) Heme/Onc (Loyola), Renal (Rush x 3, GW) Sleep Med (Rush, Brown) Allergy (Rush), ID (WashU)

3) UIC
Overall: I was pretty excited after their interview day. A very diverse clinical experience, as well as research opportunities- mostly clinical, but basic is also available. UIC will pay for tuition for any of its employees, so several of the residents have pursued MPH’s successfully during their years at UIC. Lots of focus on residents as teachers. GI department appears quite strong, as there is a new liver center opening. A number of their subspecialities also have their own inpatient services (Heme/Onc, GI, Liver, Cards), as well as a pretty impressive match list, especially in GI, Cards. Two week Dominican Republic international rotation available, heard it was pretty awesome.
PD: Dr. Zar was very nice, approachable, has been working for 20 odd years as a PD, with the last 5? or so at UIC. He was very friendly- took the time to make the way around during lunch on the interview day, even though it was a relatively bigger interview day. Also very good at leading morning report, but he doesn’t always do it. Has a stash of electronic files of all landmark papers in medicine, compiled and organized neatly for residents.
The Chair: Dr. Layden- also spoke to us a bit about the Dept. of Medicine at UIC. Very well-known name in hepatology, so that’s definitely a plus for people wanting to do GI. One of his kids went through the UIC IM residency (the other Northwestern).
Residents: Met a number of them at happy hour at Illinois Bar and Grill the night before- with many interns and residents all present- very happy, friendly bunch. Extremely laid back and they get along pretty well. The chiefs were fantastic- definitely getting along with all the residents at lunch, as well as happy hour. Most seem to be again from Chicago or the South, occasional East Coast.
Faculty: Interviewed with two of the faculty, one who has been at medical school. Definitely very resident/student friendly, with clinical research opportunities.
Patients: UIC also has a VA where they work at, but it seems the patients are quite diverse. Also a pretty wide range of pathology.
Conferences: Morning report led by Dr. Zar was pretty good, case was relatively interesting. Residents seemed knowledgeable. Did not get a chance to attend other conferences, although they noted there was a structure curriculum that includes board review course in the last 2 months for noon conference.
Sites/Facilities: Only saw UIC, not the VA, but residents say they love the VA. Full electronic charting with home access, films. Some residents stated ancillary staff is not the best, but has gotten better over the years.
Location: 10 minutes away from downtown, also right next to El stop, across the street from Rush. Lots of folks live downtown, or nearby neighborhoods (Lincoln Park, etc). Apparently, residents can get Bulls tickets, and occasional Bears tickets.
Schedule: Gen Med call is q6. Subspecialty services q 4-6 until 5 pm and on weekends. In house moonlighter (senior UIC resident) covers weekly overnight call. Only thing that a resident noted that was possibly be a con is having to cover other subspecialty services without having rotated on it yet, but notes that there is always “backup.” ICU blocks is average q4 call. No chance to do research block in intern year.
Intern year- 5-6 ward, 2-3 ICU, 1 ambulatory, 2 week geriatrics, 1-2 consult blocks, vacay
PGY1- 9 blocks call
PGY2 5-6 blocks
PGY3 4-5 blocks
Research: opportunities in mostly clinical, but basic is available.
Fellowship 2007: Cards (UMich, UIC, MCV, Wayne State, Kentucky, UIC), GI (UIC x 2, Kansas, Wayne State, Mayo, UT Houston, Wash U), Rheum (UIC, UofC), Endo (UIC), Heme/Onc(UTSW), ID (UIC), Nephrology (BU, BWH), Geriatrics (UIC x3)

4) Loyola University
Overall: Noted to also be a very strong clinical program, especially for cardiology. Interview day was nice, although resident did tell me that the GI department has recently been depleted with transition of a number of its faculty. However, according to residents and many students who rotated through there, they do note that Loyola is extremely good, especially for general IM, heme/onc also mentioned.
PD: Very enthusiastic, exciting. Dr. Simpson seems very electric and devoted to resident wellbeing. Thought he was very fantastic.
The Chair: Met the Chair- friendly, nice. He and Dr. Simpson seem to get along well, so that’s always a plus. He talked to us for a brief time.
Residents: Friendly people, mostly from the Midwest. Q&A with chiefs was definitely pretty interesting, and overall, most of the residents seem relatively laid back.
Faculty: Spoke with some IM faculty- all very much approachable, nice, doing mostly clinical research. Not that much basic science work, but most of that is increasing. Very strong emphasis on teaching residents though, so that was definitely a plus.
Patients: Definitely a variety- with transplants, as well as bread and butter type medicine. Also definitely with its zebras, as seen in their CPCs.
Conferences: Went to an interesting conference at the end of the day- CPC conference (clinical pathophys) where a senior resident presented his/her best case- including path correlations. Definitely interesting.
Sites/Facilities: Loyola, Hines VA- out in Maywood, which is about 12 miles west of Downtown Chicago. I think they’re opening a new wing of the VA. The fitness center is actually pretty neat.
Location: Not particularly the best surrounding location, supposedly, according to some residents. Many live downtown, or further north/south in the burbs.
Schedule: q5-q6 call for 8-9 months intern year, with it decreasing SIGNIFICANTLY senior years. elective time to do research available.
Research: mostly clinical research, with research symposium for residents each year.
Fellowship 2007: Cards (Cook County, Loyola x 2, Lutheran General, Loma Linda), Pulm/CC (Northwestern, Loyola, Wisconsin), ID (UT Southwestern), Nephrology (Loyola x 2), GI(Loyola x3), Endocrine (Loyola). Does seem to be a bit more inbred.

5) Northwestern
Overall: Another very academic environment with research opportunities for self-motivated residents. A very enthusiastic and spunky PD (all her residents ADORE her) who will go to bat for you. Residents are happy, and faculty love to teach. Morning reports are very strong, with residents being very knowledgeable. International rotation available in Bolivia, also noted to be a great experience. Can’t beat the hospital facilities (nicest in Chicagoland, I think), with very supportive ancillary staff, as Northwestern residents and students have yet prick an arm for any blood draws that I know of, haha. Also hospitalist and women’s health track available, do not require a separate application.
PD: Very enthusiastic, will go to bat for residents. She definitely is very responsive for any changes that need to be made. Introduced simulation training for codes, also starting a medical Spanish class. Also made it available for residents to obtain certificate in basic science research certification (with classes in stats, epidemiology, etc) to help enhance research opportunities. Very much a Yankees fan also.
The Chair: Northwestern currently has their incoming Chair of Medicine possibilities narrowed down to 2, as Dr. Jameson has now become dean of the med school. Interim chair also met with us on interview day. It seems that both Dr. Jameson and Dr. Lowe have been very supportive of residency program in the past.
Residents: Very friendly people, most from Midwest and East Coast. Very knowledgeable, especially at morning report. All very approachable- the ones at lunch were very open, enthusiastic. Met some others (interns included!) at the happy hour thing at Timmy’s the night before, and they were definitely having lots of fun.
Faculty: Spoke with some GI faculty- approachable, with a lot of focus on eosinophilic esophagitis and manometry. Also with a simulation center where they are working on NOTES. Chair of GI is IBD, and runs his own basic science lab, some research into stem cells. However, variety of GI research does not seem to be as wide as UofC, although residents seem to have no problem getting into GI fellowships. Also got to meet some of the faculty on rounds- very much into teaching, and residents definitely get a lot of autonomy.
Patients: Northwestern definitely liked to stress that they are not just a “cush” hospital- with definitely an underserved population, as well as the run-of-the-mill. They also work at the VA. Definitely a tertiary hospital set of patients.
Conferences: Morning report was pretty fantastic, and firm conference at NW is impressive in the type of discussion that goes on. Grand rounds speakers are also experts from all over, and definitely well attended.
Sites/Facilities: Northwestern and VA-Westside (not downtown). Full electronic medical records (EPIC outpt and Powerchart inpatient, PACS for radiology). Pretty easy to use. While at the VA, NW residents work with NW teams.
Location: Downtown Chicago, block(s) away from Michigan Ave. Residents point out that having parking at the hospital is great especially if you want to come to downtown for something else. Affordable housing is available, NW gives lots of discounts to gyms, etc nearby also. Cubs tickets also available to residents.
Schedule: Residents are on call every 5th night on the Gen Med service at NW (a variation of short call/long call). At VA-Westside, teams are on an 8 day call schedule which includes overnight call and short call responsibilities. On ICU rotations call is every 4th night for interns and every 4th night for residents. There is a night float team at NW every night from 7:30pm to 7:30am. Night float is two interns who cross-cover patients already in the hospital and one resident who admits new patients. Each resident spends 2 weeks on night float each year.
Research: Opportunities in both basic and clinical. Annual Research Symposium. Was provided a list of publications by residents and presentations by residents- very impressive over the last few years.
Fellowship: No breakdown for the most recent, but from 2001-2006- also no note of how many went where
Allergy-Imm: Baylor, NIH, NW, UNC
Cardiology: Case-Western, Cedars-Sinai, Duke, Emory, GW, Henry Ford, JHU, Lahey Clinic, Loyola, Mayo, NW, UofC, UofI, UofWisconsin, UCLA, Wash U
Endocrine: Emory, JHU, Joslin DM Center, NW, Stanford, UCLA, UofC, Vanderbilt
GI: BU, BWH, Cleveland, emory, Henry Ford, Loyola, Mayo, Medical College of Wisconsin, NW, OHSU, Rush, Wash U, UofC, UCSD, UIC, UMaryland, UMass, UMich, UPenn, UW, Wisconsin
Heme/Onc: Dana Faber, Duke, Memorial Sloan, NIH, NYU, NW, Rush, Cincinnati
Nephrology: BU, BWH, Indiana, NW, Rush, Colorado, Cincinnati, UofC, UMich, Pitt, Vanderbilt, Wash U
Pulm/CC: Cornell, Harvard, JHU, MGH, NIH, NW, OSU, UCSF, Colorado, UMich, Wash U, Yale
Rheum: MGH, NW, UCSD, UCSF, UofC, UPenn
Sports Med: UCLA
Women’s Health: Harvard

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It may help people evaluating internal med residencies to check out the American Board of Internal Med web site where they have posted the passing rates for the IM board exam. This is the exam you basically have to take to get "Board Certified" after 3 years of residency. Overall pass rate is 92% or so, so really a program should have a pass rate in the 90's.

http://www.abim.org/pdf/pass-rates/residency-program-pass-rates.pdf

I am a PGY3 at Case Western in Cleveland and I sometimes think our program gets overlooked. The Department of Medicine ranks in the top 10 in terms of NIH funding and there is an outstanding faculty and two excellent teaching hospitals. The program leaders are supportive and the residents are generally happy. The program has cut the workload for interns (cap of 10). The residents do fantastic in getting fellowships. Cleveland is underrated and inexpensive.

Sorry this is kinda long, guys.
Review of a number of Chicago IM (traditional) programs

Wrote this up to help myself, but thought some folks might find it useful. A few things to note to help you take all this in context- I’m NOT from Chicago, and I plan on pursuing a GI fellowship. These are also not put in any particular rank- just in the order I interviewed. I tried my best to be objective, but again, these are just my impressions, so please clarify if I’ve made any factual mistakes. Also, feel free to disagree, comment- I always appreciate other people’s insights!

1) University of Chicago
Overall: A very academic e


hi guys...


does anyone know anything about Southern Illinois University, Internal Medicine program,

I got an interview there and i need some info about the interview there and whats the rating on that program


thank you