I'm wondering if anyone has any inside knowledge about various med/peds programs accross the country? Any rank list would be helpful too.

For others interested, here's a website: www.medpeds.org

Moving to IM residencies forum...

Hey, are you applying to med/peds this year?

I am applying now, and am in the process of selecting programs as well. I would appreciate any advice from anyone too, since nobody in my school seems to know anything about it. In fact, most faculty are pretty against us going into it (I'm like the third person ever in my school), so I'm not really getting help from any one right now.

Yeah, my school doesn't have a program either but might be starting one soon. it's been hard getting any kind of info on Med/Peds. I think the best strategy is to talk to the Medicine and Pediatrics representatives of your school and get an idea of what categorical programs are good. I think a good M/P program is one that is balanced/equal on each side.
Another thing to consider is to look at who the PD is. If it's a M/P director, the program might have a stronger identity vs. having co-directors trying to run things together. There might be some political stuff that goes on. At the same time, any kind of successful partnership can really do something good for any program.

I'm opting for academic programs mainly but community programs can offer an easier intern year (so I've heard). I think ultimately, everyone learns the same thing and as long as you're w/ a good group of interns and get good support from your seniors, things should fly...

Strong Med-Peds Programs Have:
*Strong categorical medicine AND strong categorical pediatrics programs. (Unfortunately many Med-Peds programs are strong medicine or strong pediatrics programs. Programs that are strong in both do exist seek them out!)
*A dedicated Med-Peds program director
*A Med-Peds continuity clinic (rather than shuttling to you to medicine clinic and peds clinic on alternate weeks--I did interview at two programs that didn't have their own clinics and I was assured at both that it wasn't a detriment although at both they also admitted that it was something they were considering)
*Adequate opportunities for critical care, and subspecialty months (ideally with at least a few subspecialty months being combined Med-Peds experiences).
*A cadre of Med-Peds faculty who are respected as competent internists and pediatricians by both categorical faculty. But when you talk to them they recognize (and are willing to explain ) that Med-Peds is more than Medicine + Peds (and it's really not FP minus OB) but it's own discipline

I'm sure there are more criteria, but these were some of the things I looked at. If you have specific questions about programs feel free to pm me and I'll help if I can. Good luck with the application process.

Hey, I'm an infrequent visitor to these forums, and an even more infrequent poster (as in, this is my first one). But, as a fellow Med/Peds applicant, I felt the need to reply to this thread.

I think it's very cool that you guys are going into Med/Peds despite some resistance - or at least lack of precedent - from your school. I'm at a school in the Midwest where M/P is pretty well supported, but I could see esp. at Western schools where you might be paving your own road. I wish there were more programs out West, I would have loved to have gone out there.

I would pretty much agree with everything RuralMedicine said above. Great post, actually, stuff for me to keep in mind. Evaluating Med/Peds is a bit complex from the conversations I have had with people... you have to examine 1. the Med program, 2. the Peds, and 3. the integrated components. It can be hard to balance all three.

As far as specific programs... certainly it's kind of silly to do a ranking list, but here's some of the programs people keep talking about. The first two established were the ones in Rochester, NY, and at University of North Carolina. They obviously have a great tradition, so definitely at least check em out on the WWW. Cincinnati is a name that keeps popping up as "hot", they have an amazing children's hospital and are really doing a ton for their integrated stuff. Obviously Harvard is a name and is at top hospitals, but it will run a different kind of program... not for me. Baylor is also big name, but I personally wouldn't want to live in Houston.

Random list of some other good programs... Minnesota, Medical College of Wisconsin, Rush, UChicago, Indiana, UMichigan, Ohio State, MetroHealth (Cleveland), Rhode Island, Duke, Alabama (UAB), Miami. Obviously these all will have a little different flavor.

Hope this helps. I would love to hear any input from you all as you go through the process too.

Very nice, very nice :)
Can anyone provide more insight to any of these med-peds programs?
Such as what makes each of these programs unique??

Strong Med-Peds Programs Have:
*Strong categorical medicine AND strong categorical pediatrics programs. (Unfortunately many Med-Peds programs are strong medicine or strong pediatrics programs. Programs that are strong in both do exist seek them out!)
*A dedicated Med-Peds program director
*A Med-Peds continuity clinic (rather than shuttling to you to medicine clinic and peds clinic on alternate weeks--I did interview at two programs that didn't have their own clinics and I was assured at both that it wasn't a detriment although at both they also admitted that it was something they were considering)
*Adequate opportunities for critical care, and subspecialty months (ideally with at least a few subspecialty months being combined Med-Peds experiences).
*A cadre of Med-Peds faculty who are respected as competent internists and pediatricians by both categorical faculty. But when you talk to them they recognize (and are willing to explain ) that Med-Peds is more than Medicine + Peds (and it's really not FP minus OB) but it's own discipline

I'm sure there are more criteria, but these were some of the things I looked at. If you have specific questions about programs feel free to pm me and I'll help if I can. Good luck with the application process.

As a PD, I'll agree in principal with Rural Medicine, except the part about clinic is a chronic annoyance. We are considering a combined clinic, unarguably a nice enhancement if done well, but this issue seems to be more marketing hype than fact some days. My program did not have combined clinics but we had fairly good continuity. One of our faculty went to a large, popular and well established academic program and had combined clinic offsite. He tells me it was poorly administered, with poor continuity and teaching.

As usual, the devil is in the details

I'm opting for academic programs mainly but community programs can offer an easier intern year (so I've heard).
Either way you'll work hard. My residents (community program) would back me up on this.