Pre-lim Med or transitional in TEXAS?

[gas-x]

Anybody out there have any thoughts on the pre-lim med and/or transitional programs in Texas? In particular, Baylor (Dallas), Presbyterian, Methodist (Dallas), Austin Seton, JPS (Ft. Worth), etc...

i have heard that JPS works the hell out of their residents. true? UTSW, of course, is intense in terms of case loads. i'm looking for a program that will allow me some time to read.

any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
thanks.

[drusso]

Originally posted by gas-x
Anybody out there have any thoughts on the pre-lim med and/or transitional programs in Texas? In particular, Baylor (Dallas), Presbyterian, Methodist (Dallas), Austin Seton, JPS (Ft. Worth), etc...

i have heard that JPS works the hell out of their residents. true? UTSW, of course, is intense in terms of case loads. i'm looking for a program that will allow me some time to read.

any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
thanks.

I'm currently a Transitional Year resident for PM&R at JPS in Fort Worth. It is a very busy transitional year, but the training and pathology is awesome. You come out of the program with solid fundamental clinical skills. It's also a very laid back, community-based experience. The attendings are very approachable and love to teach. TCOM students rotate at JPS and depending upon the service you may have a student or two to help with the scut.

The Family Medicine department at JPS basically runs the show politically and the FP residency is the largest in the country The program has done well to keep other competing programs out, i.e. "unopposed" FP training (there is however an OB/GYN, psych, and ortho program at JPS). This makes for a very "hands-on" learning experience for interns (all interns regardless of program are expected to perform and work at equal levels). The transitional year is composed of 3 months medicine, 2 months surgery, 2 months ER, 1 month Peds, 1 month selective (Critical care, OB/GYN, Family Medicine), and 3 months electives. You will have time to read, but the when you're working you're busy. When not on call, I typically get to work between 6 or 7 and some days I'm gone as early as 1 or 2pm. Post-call, unfortunately, can be brutal if it was a busy night.

Medicine and Surgery are essentially q4 call (sometimes q5), critical care q3, pedi q6, and other rotations vary from none to q4 or q5. The program takes 12 residents (3 are reserved for UTSW's anesthesia program) and typically there's a variety of disciplines represented. This year we have residents going into rads, anesthesia, ophtho, derm, PM&R, and one potential rad onc.

USMLE's should be 235+, perference is given to Texas state residents, but there have been out-of-staters in the past. I'll be happy to answer other questions.

--dave

[gas-x]

thanks drusso,

i have an interview at JPS sometime soon (can't remember just yet). also a TX resident, but don't have >235 on USMLE though. when you mention that FP "runs the show," how does that affect your work? what constitutes your team (#residents, interns, students). how's the work environment? how are the attending rounds? i've been on some VA ward months where the attending doesn't round with the team; she rounds by herself when needed. this made rounding very fast, which i loved. if there were any questions, we would do bedside rounds, but that was rare.

overall, how do you like your program. i'm applying to the anesth residency throughout TX, so i'm hoping to land JPS, St. Paul, Presby, etc..
just getting a feel for the programs.

thanks.

[drusso]

Originally posted by gas-x
thanks drusso,

i have an interview at JPS sometime soon (can't remember just yet). also a TX resident, but don't have >235 on USMLE though. when you mention that FP "runs the show," how does that affect your work? what constitutes your team (#residents, interns, students). how's the work environment? how are the attending rounds? i've been on some VA ward months where the attending doesn't round with the team; she rounds by herself when needed. this made rounding very fast, which i loved. if there were any questions, we would do bedside rounds, but that was rare.

overall, how do you like your program. i'm applying to the anesth residency throughout TX, so i'm hoping to land JPS, St. Paul, Presby, etc..
just getting a feel for the programs.

thanks.

Well...no one makes fun of FP around here that's for sure! So far, the experience has been a very positive one. I think you'll find that JPS is really like few other training programs in the country. It's county-hospital all the way, but with a very collegial working environment. Teams usually consists of one medicine/surgery/pediatric attending, an upper-level FP resident, one or two interns, and some times a student or two. Students usually carry a 2-4 patients, interns one-half of the census, and upper-levels are sort of responsible for knowing what's going on with all the patients and supervise the interns. Interns preround (cosign student notes if necessary) and then the team rounds together with the attending. Pretty standard arrangement. On surgery, one might round with one of the surgery chiefs in lieu of the attending.

The thing that is interesting about JPS is that it combines the range of pathology that one might see at a program like Parkland or Charity Hospital, with the friendliness and structure of a smaller community program. There doesn't exist the rigid hierarchy of students, interns, resident, fellows, attending, etc. I think that the traditionally higher USMLE scores are more a function of the competitiveness of programs that transitional year residents are matching to and not the program itself. We get a bunch of radiology and ophthamology applicants. Quite a few anesthesiology ones too.

--dave