I interviewed at BUMC. My impression was that it is a good community program with an academic twist. Also, they just opened a new heart hospital and are well known for their cardiology program. Dr. Emmett, the father of the anion gap, is the program director. He seemed like a very motivated teacher. A loose affiliation exists with UTSW in that students and guest lecturers are shared with them. Also, the ICU is open, so you will follow your patients to the ICU and back. The facilities are beautiful, but their location is in the armpit of Dallas....
The down sides: Well, both my interviewers said something like this "If you are looking for a little more autonomy, you might look elsewhere" which is to say that a good percentage of your decisions will be run through and/or altered by an invested attending (heck the patients are 'theirs') Secondly, my impression of the wards over there was that the patients were literally spread across 4 towers of the med center....which means that you spend quite a bit of time walking. Secondly, codes in the other towers means quite a long sprint to the scene. Thirdly, the ICU is open, which means you will follow your patients to the ICU and back (I say this because an ICU patient that needs more attention will substantially impact you time for the ward).
For me, it boiled down to the autonomy issue....which really was important for me. I ended up choosing a program that has an academic university hospital (with an ICU team), a private hospital (open ICU) and a VA hospital (closed ICU, open telemetry/ccu) with which it was affiliated, which has given me the best of all worlds.
I think it is well respected enough that landing a fellowship out of BUMC is possible. I suggest trying the interview and getting your own impression. You might find that making your own critical decisions will help you become a better independent physician thinker. Then again, maybe not.
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11-04-2002, 03:58 PM
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