Mercy Health Partners/Mercy St Vincent Medical Center Residency Reviews

St Vincent

.Residents: I liked the residents at St Vincent. They seemed to be a fun group of folks that enjoyed each other's company. They were definitely interested in promoting their residency and they seemed to be happy there (with only one outlier that I found). The folks that came to the dinner were all easy to talk to and had nothing bad to say about the place (except that they don't do enough ortho—which I had gotten used to hearing)..

.Lifestyle/City: Toledo is a reasonable-sized city, but I guess is lacking in some areas due to the proximity to Detroit. The airport would be one example, but the drive is pretty short to the Detroit Airport—30 minutes or so. On EM months, the residents schedule is 20, 18, 18 mostly ten hour shifts for adult with some eight hour peds mixed in. There is also a decrease if you do the Lifeflight shifts. Nightshifts are scheduled in a block which seems like a great idea to me..
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Curriculum: I was very interested in the opportunity for animal procedure labs—maybe the only thoracotomy or lateral canthotomy you'll do in residency. Perhaps not though, this place is supposed to be extremely busy on the trauma front, and EM residents get most of the procedures. On the other hand the lack of an orientation month in July—provided by every other place that I have heard of is definitely a downside for me, and seems to suggest a higher focus on moving the meat. .
.One other limitation of the curriculum that was highlighted on my tour was the OB rotation. While the residents do a whole month, they are frequently unable to get more than a handful of deliveries and may require simulation to meet RRC numbers. The other side to this is that routine deliveries are very…routine, and as such they think the complicated cases in the simulation center are actually higher yield. They are also proud to be the strongest residency in the hospital and the responsibility that brings to respond to all codes in house. This has its pros and cons as discussed in another thread. Peds is covered in linear shifts as well as dedicated months. One unusual rotation that they were trying to sell us on was a month on their observation unit—I wasn't buying it, but the residents claimed that it had some value. Conference is protected on off-service months.

Facilities: The crown jewel of this program in my eyes was their flight medicine program. It is very unusual in that you fly with a medic or nurse as crew (not just in an observer capacity). They have 2 dedicated ultrasound machines for the ED, and I can't remember much about the building itself.

Interview Day: I can't decide if it's a big deal or not, but I was very surprised that neither the PD nor the Chair came to my interview day at all. I really liked the APD and thought he would be a good guy to work for, but found the lack of leadership presence unusual, since many other places had both at least drop by. I guess he is the prior hospital chief of staff, so maybe he was busy. It seemed like there was a lot of opportunity to talk to residents, but not so much exposure to the faculty. It was nice that we got to see a little of conference which frequently doesn't seem to happen. Also unusual was that the residency overview presentation was provided by a resident—he did a good job, I just found it unusual..
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Summary: . I was left feeling sort-of ambivalent about St Vincents. It seemed like I would get great training here and I was mesmerized by the flying opportunity, but I was underwhelmed by the interview day itself (maybe just bad luck that day).

This review is by a interviewee who wishes to remain anonymous:

Mercy St Vincent- Toledo, OH

Overview:
Established program located in Toledo, OH. It is one of the oldest in the country. They take 14 residents per year, very DO friendly.

City/lifestyle:
Toledo, OH is a midsized, midwestern city. Obviously this is very desirable for some and not so much for others. It is not NYC/Chicago in terms of nightlife and things to do. In my opinion the city has plenty to offer; including a minor league baseball and hockey team, college sports, a variety of restaurants, a zoo, among other things. Cedar point is very close too. I’m probably biased though, since I grew up in a very similar city. Cost of living is very reasonable and there are nice suburbs for families. It seems most residents live in the suburbs, I think I talked to one who lives in a downtown apartment. Crime is pretty high in the city, but it makes for a lot of experience with penetrating trauma. There is not much traffic at all in the city, very easy to get around. There is an airport, but I heard it’s usually cheaper with more options to fly out of Detroit, which is only about an hour north.

Pre-interview:
Dinner with residents at a nice Italian restaurant downtown by the river. There were several residents that came and were all very easy to talk to. They seemed happy, which is something I didn’t find at every pre-interview dinner. The program does not pay for a hotel. I had been sleeping on my friend’s couch for a few weeks on an away rotation so I ended up shelling out the money to stay at the nice downtown hotel that the program recommended. There are cheaper options close by though. They provided a shuttle to and from this hotel.

Interview day:
Started at 8 am I believe. It was on a didactic day for the program, but we didn’t officially sit in on any lectures. We were told we could stop in the lecture room when we had downtime if we wanted to. We met with one of the assistant program directors, then had a resident give a more in depth review of the details of the program. This was all laid back and we could ask questions as they came up. We each had three interviews lasting about 20 minutes each. I had one with the PD, one with a resident and one with another faculty member. All were laid back, conversational, no big surprise questions. The resident probably asked the toughest questions out of all three. After this we had a catered lunch and got a tour of the hospital with two residents. We got to see the helicopter, which is of course a big part of their program. As far as the hospital, they kept it brief (which was much appreciated) and basically toured the ER, ICU and gym, since this is what most people were interested in seeing. Ended the interview day in early afternoon.

Facilities:
Mercy St Vincent is a tertiary center with about 450 beds. Level 1 trauma center, which sees most of the inner city trauma due to the location. The hospital is older, and doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of some others that I had seen. The ER is set up with a large main area that sees the highest acuity, a back area that sees lower acuity, and a fast track. Then there is a separate pediatric area that is only open certain hours. Epic is the EMR used in the ER.

Curriculum:
Three year program. 4 months in the ER first year, 8 and 9 in years 2 and 3. 2 months of trauma in year 1 and 1 month in year 2. There is neurology and neurosurgery rotations in 2nd year which I heard are very tough from several residents. The program is very heavy on EMS. Residents serve as flight docs in their 3rd year. This was different than other places I interviewed at with flight programs, as the residents are part of the crew along with a flight RN or paramedic. They are not just a 3rd crew member who is not essential. I heard ICU was a strong rotation. As far as weaknesses I heard that OB is weak, but I heard this most places. I heard from several residents and faculty that the EM program is the largest and strongest residency in the hospital.

Faculty:
Dr. King has been the program director for many years. He also seems to be very high up with the administration in the hospital. All other faculty I remember meeting seemed very energetic and personable.

Shifts:
Shifts are 10 hours, and I think interns start with 21 per year, which decreases yearly. If you become a flight doc you get a shift reduction as well. From what I heard, there isn’t a hard rule about sign outs vs. no sign outs.

Didactics:
8 am to 1 pm on Tuesdays I believe. I didn’t sit in on them during the interview day. I don’t remember hearing anything that really stood out one way or another about didactics. There is a simulation lab and they do animal procedure labs several times a year right in the hospital, for procedures like thoracotomies that you aren’t going to maybe ever have a chance of doing in the ER.

St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center - Toledo, OH

Overview:
One of the most seasoned programs in the nation. Started in 1976, so this place is pretty well-established .

City::
Toledo is not a great city, but there are some really nice suburbs south of it and west of it. You are pretty close to michigan (if you are a Buckeye fan, you could care less haha), so places like Ann Arbor and Detroit are an hour or less away. Perrysburg is a really nice suburb, along with Maumee, that have nice historic "main-street" downtowns with relatively affluent neighborhoods. The main Toledo downtown is crime-infested, which makes for a great experience on the trauma front.

Pre-interview:
Dinner with residents at a nice Italian restaurant downtown by the river. There were several residents that came and were all very easy to talk to. They seemed happy, which is something I didn’t find at every pre-interview dinner. The program does not pay for a hotel. I had been sleeping on my friend’s couch for a few weeks on an away rotation so I ended up shelling out the money to stay at the nice downtown hotel that the program recommended. There are cheaper options close by though. They provided a shuttle to and from this hotel.

Interview day:
Started at 8 am I believe. It was on a didactic day for the program, but we didn’t officially sit in on any lectures. We were told we could stop in the lecture room when we had downtime if we wanted to. We met with one of the assistant program directors, then had a resident give a more in depth review of the details of the program. This was all laid back and we could ask questions as they came up. We each had three interviews lasting about 20 minutes each. I had one with the PD, one with a resident and one with another faculty member. All were laid back, conversational, no big surprise questions. The resident probably asked the toughest questions out of all three. After this we had a catered lunch and got a tour of the hospital with two residents. We got to see the helicopter, which is of course a big part of their program. As far as the hospital, they kept it brief (which was much appreciated) and basically toured the ER, ICU and gym, since this is what most people were interested in seeing. Ended the interview day in early afternoon.

Facilities:
Mercy St Vincent is a tertiary center with about 450 beds. Level 1 trauma center, which sees most of the inner city trauma due to the location. The hospital is older, and doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of some others that I had seen. The ER is set up with a large main area that sees the highest acuity, a back area that sees lower acuity, and a fast track. Then there is a separate pediatric area that is only open certain hours. Epic is the EMR used in the ER.

Curriculum:
Three year program. 4 months in the ER first year, 8 and 9 in years 2 and 3. 2 months of trauma in year 1 and 1 month in year 2. There is neurology and neurosurgery rotations in 2nd year which I heard are very tough from several residents. The program is very heavy on EMS. Residents serve as flight docs in their 3rd year. LifeFlight is the crown jewel of this program!! Amazing EMS experience, inlcuding a tremendous amount of on-scene stabilization of patients, from what I heard from residents.l. I heard ICU was a strong rotation. As far as weaknesses I heard that OB is weak, but I heard this most places. I heard from several residents and faculty that the EM program is the largest and strongest residency in the hospital. This place gets TONS of procedures from what residents have said. You will be extremely ept at almost anything (even a possible lateral canthotomy, as one resident did!)

Faculty:
Dr. King has been the program director for many years. He also seems to be very high up with the administration in the hospital. All other faculty I remember meeting seemed very energetic and personable. People in the EM community know him well!!

Shifts:
10 hour shifts in the main ED with 8 hr shifts on Peds. Interns start with 20 per EM month which decreases to 19 and 18, if I am not mistaken. In your EM2 year, if you decide to be a flight doc, you can have a shift reduction.

Didactics:
8-1 on Tuesdays. What is nice is that the Ohio ACEP Board review course is run by Dr. Mcrae, who is one of the prominent faculty members for this program and the soon to be President of Ohio ACEP.


OVERALL:

AWESOME place to train! This place will definitely make you a strong ER doc. Also, Randall King, the PD, is well known in the EM community, so finding solid EM jobs coming out of here will be no problem at all

Are the residents here moonlighting quite a bit externally?

From what I heard yes. And talks of 200-300/hr. Not confirmed but that's what I was told


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Ddrumem said:

From what I heard yes. And talks of 200-300/hr. Not confirmed but that's what I was told


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Yes, I've heard the same, more toward the top of that range. At rural EDs in surrounding counties.

Long time lurker, posting on alternate account in order to remain anonymous. These threads greatly helped me and as such I am paying it forward. Good luck for future medical students. I won't go into the curriculum details or specifics since those are mostly readily available on their websites, but rather I made a long pro/con detail list along my interview trail and I will highlight my thoughts from that list.

Pro: established program, great COL, family friendly, happy faculty and residents, chill interview day, good work/life balance, life flight (people see this as their strong suit and they play this card hard), close proximity of sites

Con: Toledo, old ER (with a new one in the works), residents came in during interview day and swooped up the good lunches, boring city, felt like procedures/US/research were not that important here

Overall impressions
Gut feeling:6/10
Facilities/resources: 6/10
Location: 3/10
Didactics: can't comment
Prestige: 5/10
Research: 5/10
Shift/hours/wellness: 10/10

imddr16 said:

Con: Toledo, old ER (with a new one in the works), residents came in during interview day and swooped up the good lunches, boring city, felt like procedures/US/research were not that important here

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I've talked to past alumni from the program who say that the residency is extremely procedure heavy. Most people in the program agreed with Ob being a big weakness of the program.