Louisiana State University (LSU)-New Orleans Residency Reviews

This has benn talked about a little but it's been a while.

I really wish someone in the program now would respond, I'm sure they're on here.

All of my knowledge is from friends in the program or staff, not first hand.

The program took a huge hit losing charity hospital. The residents are split up among a few hospitals. They have a very small trauma center just outside of New Orleans. University Hospital which is located on campus but was mainly medicine/surgery/OB prior to Katrina is open or just about to re-open. The will have an ER but I'm not sure of the acuity, etc.
The biggest place they go now is West Jefferson hospital just across the Mississippi river and it is busy there. They are one of the main trauma places around, but it is still mostly a private hospital. The main thing I hear is you don't feel like you "own" your patients like you did at charity. You're helping out the private guy. This is seeming to be getting better as the guys their are getting more comfortable with the residents.
Overall, I do not believe it is near the quality residency it was prior to the storm but it's still accredited fully as far as I know and there are strict rules when it comes to that. I'm sure the residents there who did not benefit from the full time at charity will be fine.

Thanks for your interest in the program. I am a 4th year at LSU-NO, going into EM. Here's a few bits of info for ya:
-We moved into University Hospital on Nov. 15. Things have gotten much better since then, with most ER months taking place there now instead of outside hospitals.
-Trauma is still going to Elmwood Trauma Center. It should be moved to UH some time in the next couple months.
-Also in the next couple months, UH will be opening a brand new ED, with 55 beds. All the faculty are very excited about it.
-Since the storm, only 2 faculty have left, and a few residents. The program is doing very well at this point, and will be taking 10 residents for next year.
-I did my 2 EM months here before the move to UH, back when we were operating in the middle of an empty department store. Even then I learned, saw, and did a ton. And after 2 away EM months and 12 interviews so far, I honestly believe we have the best collection of faculty here. For what it's worth.

I believe a lot more than 2 faculty left after the storm-I'm not sure if they were full or part time. However, of the ones that I know left only one or two would be missed. For the most part, they kept the good core of teaching staff.
I'm glad to hear UH is up and running. 55 ER beds?? That's great. Does anyone know how many hospital and ICU beds they will have?

Residents: 10/yr for this year, then back to 16/yr starting 2009. Most are from the SE or mid-Atlantic US. They all seem to get along pretty well. This is a work hard, play hard kind of place. 2nd yrs are one of two ‘charge’ residents at any given time – where they supervise interns on ALL patients in the ED. This place sets a high bar for resident autonomy.

Faculty: All-stars from DeBlieux (Critical Care/EM) to Van Meter to everyone else. These guys are giants in the field, but down-to-earth in their interactions with residents. There is a pervasive sense of public service here that begins with the senior faculty. PD is genuine, kind but no-nonsense, and very positive. EM is king of the hospital.

Hospital: 55-bed all-new ED (upgrading to 80 soon) at University Hospital, a few blocks away from the old Charity. 4 trauma bays. Everything is computerized.

Ancillary: Nursing looked excellent. Young, fun, and seem like the type to back you up in any circumstance.

Curriculum: 4 yrs, 6 months electives (a lot for a 4yr program), Eighteen 12 hr shifts PGY1 à Twenty weekday 8’s/weekend 12’s for PGY2-4s. Anesthesia month seems to be favorite off-service rotation (~100 intubations), followed by SICU. Trauma surgery (1m in PGY1) is reputed to be malignant.

Didactics: Residents mentioned that no one can really concentrate for 5 hour stretches of lectures. So, they split it here into two protected days (2.5 hrs each day) from 11-1:30 with lunch included.

City: New Orleans is a mixed bag. There are some really nice pockets with that old Southern charm, but the city is still recovering. Dining has remained outstanding, and the citizens here are probably as friendly as they come.

Extras: There is one huge secret to this program – MOONLIGHTING at $60-175/hr, depending on location. It is not unusual for residents here to take home $80-100K in the PGY2-4 yrs. As a result, most residents are able to own beautiful safe homes.

Negatives:
1. City may come across as unsafe for some.
2. OB experience getting better.
3. Two medicine ward months.

Overall: An old storied program that is definitely back on its feet post-Katrina. Strong solidarity with a population that doesn’t take much care of itself. Outstanding and humble faculty. This ED is an adventurer’s paradise, and there has been a 100% fellowship & job placement rate (to top places), near 100% board pass rate as far back as staff can remember. Would be a pleasure to train here.

Getting caught up now that my SICU month is over...

Emory
[+] Residents were really friendly and nice at the night before dinner; training at both community and county hospitals; Grady seems like an awesome place to train with a lot of trauma and pathology(added bonus: there's a small gym in the hospital for residents); lots of ED time in the first year (6months); administration responsive to resident complaints (recently changed their ortho month to an ortho-ED month because the residents didn't feel like the ortho service month was beneficial) Great diversity among residents. The program goes beyond simply providing care to the indigent by offering multiple opportunities to get involved in community service. The residents have programs that collect clothes for trauma victims and there are multiple free clinics to volunteer in.

[-] Surgery does all the trauma team activation FAST scans, which I feel like is an important thing for an ED resident to become comfortable with. They say that there are enough traumas where the trauma team isn't activated that the ED residents get enough FAST experience. Grady's financial situation is shaky...supposedly being resolved and everyone says it can't close, but I remember hearing the same thing about MLK.

Cook County
[+] Couldn't make it to their happy hour, but really liked the residents I met during the day. The ancillary staff seemed nice and helpful too. The faculty appears to be very supportive of the residents. Their ultrasound program was really well-developed (they beta test machines for GE). They have a cool MICU month where the ED resident acts like the fellow and doesn't have to write notes; just does procedures and codes. The residents get TONS of procedures overall.

[-] The responsibility level is very sharply graded. The progam seems to be structured more toward immersion in a single area, rather than spread out over four years. (For example, trauma is done as an off-service rotation. The volume is high enough that the residents get lots of exposure during this time, but are not otherwise part of the trauma team)

LSU-NO
[+] Really liked the faculty here. They seemed very open and honest about the program's strengths as well as the drawbacks. The residents seem happy. The ED is new and fully functional. The pictures they showed of working immediately post-katrina were intense and made me feel like this is a program that would really prepare you for anything. They alternate trauma responsibility with surgery. You can moonlight and there are a lot of well-paying opportunities. They have some really interesting research going on.

[-] The residents told me that as an intern you are primarily responsible for running codes at one of the community hospitals. While I love autonomy, I'd also like to have someone more senior standing behind me in case I got into trouble. New Olreans as a city lost a lot with Katrina and it hasn't all come back.

Ohio State
[+] LOVE the faculty here. They are totally supportive, intelligent and dedicated to the residents. The ultrasound program is a real strength. This program also has incredible peds exposure. The ED is very nice and charting is done on computers. The residents are very friendly.
[-] The patient population isn't as diverse as some other hospitals.

Any more recent insight into LSU-NO?

bump

I have some lousiana em connections... I have heard mixed things about Nola program from current residents. Some happy some not. Also know a lot of folks in Baton Rouge. That program is soaring. Guess it comes down to location.

Hey All
a little update
I'm a rising 4th year resident in the program.
We've been in university hospital a while now, and the plan is to move to a BRAND NEW fancy facility august 2015. we see about 60k patients/year. i can tell you from personal experience, we are WELL versed in taking care of SICK people. we see tons of both medical and traumatic illness. i feel very prepared to leave residency and go out on my own. pretty sure i can handle whatever comes through the door of any er anywhere in the country. our staff is very engaged, and we recently revamped conference and it's interesting and interactive now. we have a state-of-the-art sim center where we practice on great mannequins. we also have mass casualty sims, baby sims, and all the rest. we have a quarterly cadaver lab (gross, but helpful) where we can practice things like crics, chest tubes, central lines, joint aspirations, and anything else you might want to do to an actual body. basically, the program kicks ass at this point, and will be even better at the new hospital.
we operate under a charge-resident system, whereby interns report to 2-4 years, and then they discuss with staff. you are in charge of all the beds, so no 'i'll pick up another patient when i'm ready.' you're pushed because you just manage all the patients in all the beds, regardless of how swamped you are. as a 2, it's rough. by the time you're a 4, you're good. prepares us well for getting out. i acutally see way more patients in the university ER on a given shift than when i'm moonlighting. o yeah...moonlighting. we're allowed to moonlight starting as a 2, as long as you're in good academic standing. SUPER HELPFUL for learning and lifestyle. i wouldn't give it up for the world. and takes the sting out of the 4th year, a bit, since i've been making pretty good money for a while, now. we also rotate a something like 8 different hospitals, which means we learn to be flexible, and are good with a lot of different EMRs. you'd be surprised how big a deal that is when you're applying for jobs.
speaking of which, i'm applying in a competitive market, and everyone's been very impressed with my skills and CV. no one worries about hiring me in a single coverage ed.
anyway...basically, we get LOTS of experience seeing LOTS of different things, in a badass level 1 trauma setting where we're at the head of the bed. hard to beat training in nola...

I agree with ERbl! I am in this program too and we just found out that our little forum thread was out of date. I do not have much to add but if you have questions you have send me a message and I will try to answer it. The only thing I'll add it is that you get to live in NOLA and all the fun that this city has while getting some intense, hands-on training

ERbl said:

Hey All
a little update
I'm a rising 4th year resident in the program.
We've been in university hospital a while now, and the plan is to move to a BRAND NEW fancy facility august 2015. we see about 60k patients/year. i can tell you from personal experience, we are WELL versed in taking care of SICK people. we see tons of both medical and traumatic illness. i feel very prepared to leave residency and go out on my own. pretty sure i can handle whatever comes through the door of any er anywhere in the country. our staff is very engaged, and we recently revamped conference and it's interesting and interactive now. we have a state-of-the-art sim center where we practice on great mannequins. we also have mass casualty sims, baby sims, and all the rest. we have a quarterly cadaver lab (gross, but helpful) where we can practice things like crics, chest tubes, central lines, joint aspirations, and anything else you might want to do to an actual body. basically, the program kicks ass at this point, and will be even better at the new hospital.
we operate under a charge-resident system, whereby interns report to 2-4 years, and then they discuss with staff. you are in charge of all the beds, so no 'i'll pick up another patient when i'm ready.' you're pushed because you just manage all the patients in all the beds, regardless of how swamped you are. as a 2, it's rough. by the time you're a 4, you're good. prepares us well for getting out. i acutally see way more patients in the university ER on a given shift than when i'm moonlighting. o yeah...moonlighting. we're allowed to moonlight starting as a 2, as long as you're in good academic standing. SUPER HELPFUL for learning and lifestyle. i wouldn't give it up for the world. and takes the sting out of the 4th year, a bit, since i've been making pretty good money for a while, now. we also rotate a something like 8 different hospitals, which means we learn to be flexible, and are good with a lot of different EMRs. you'd be surprised how big a deal that is when you're applying for jobs.
speaking of which, i'm applying in a competitive market, and everyone's been very impressed with my skills and CV. no one worries about hiring me in a single coverage ed.
anyway...basically, we get LOTS of experience seeing LOTS of different things, in a badass level 1 trauma setting where we're at the head of the bed. hard to beat training in nola...

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when you talk about moonlighting, how much more money are residents able to make? I know it depends on how much one chooses to work but what kind of hourly rates are available and how many extra hours are most residents able to work?

sandiego1 said:

when you talk about moonlighting, how much more money are residents able to make? I know it depends on how much one chooses to work but what kind of hourly rates are available and how many extra hours are most residents able to work?

Click to expand...

I can't tell you the rates but it can significantly raise your yearly earnings. The residency stresses academic and clinical aptitude prior to allow a resident to moonlight, but if you are able to prove those (via some internal metrics) then you can probably raise your income (per tax) by 5 figures if you want to work that hard. Most moonlighters work between 1-4 shifts a month extra at a number of different locales.

I went to LSU for medical school and can tell you that their program is incredibly strong! I loved the county feel and their clinical training is phenomenal. I did away rotatins at other big name country programs in Chicago and Atlanta and I can tell you that LSU puts them to shame! They serve at the only Level One trauma center for nearly 60 miles – so their catchment area is HUGE. This is unusally since other big county programs in major cities like NYC, LA have to share their traumas with surround Level One facilities. By comparison, LSU sees an enormous volume of extremely sick pts, in a city with a true “gun and knife club” that is rare to find these days, which means there is an abundance of procedures (thoracotomy, chest tubes, trachs). Their faculty is supportive and push their residents to be the absolutely best clinicians possible. They’re RNs are phenomenal and they have a great working relationship with the consult services (Ortho, Neurosurg, Trauma Surg) and EMS. Program aside, NOLA is an phenomenal place to live and work. Very high quality of life, inexpensive, tons of great food, drink, concerts and sports. People are generally very laid back, plus its warm year round and all your friend will want to come to visit! Highly recommend to anyone who wants a country heavy program. Check it out!

Interviewed there this season. I'll be ranking this program highly, definitely one of the most impressive programs I saw on the trail.
+Overall, fantastic program, brand new hospital w/ multiple art exhibits and state of the art training.. Lots of ICU and Trauma experience, also get to treat underserved population. Electives are variable and resident specific, for example, one resident does "street medicine" by going around to homeless communities and providing care. Amazing PD, very friendly and interested in improving the program. All the residents were laid back and positive, great camaraderie and diversity. Pre-interview dinner was at a resident's house, interview was business casual. Rotate at lots of hospitals in the area, lots of experience w/ multiple EMRs. Moonlighting during 2nd year. Basically great training in a variety of locations for individuals that aren't sure where they want to end up/ are interested in practicing at a variety of sites. Great city w/ lots of opportunities. Lots of ultrasound training.
-Senior Residents said that they weren't entirely comfortable with Pediatrics, common problem in residencies. However, had PICU rotation to see sick kids. The city may be a negative for some, but it is certainly a great place to train.

Also interviewed there a couple weeks ago and thought I'd share my input. I was also completely blown away by this program.

+Very strong program with no shortage of sick patients and tons of both blunt and penetrating trauma. ER residents are at the head of the bed, running all traumas. EM owns airways here and splits procedures by day with Trauma Surgery. The new hospital is absolutely gorgeous and the ER was definitely the nicest I've seen on the trail (not that it should matter). I suppose it's just unique to have a county program in a super nice hospital. The PD was incredibly friendly and genuine and seemed to have the residents' best interests in mind. Seems very open to making modifications to make the program stronger. Business casual interview is a always a plus. There were a lot of residents at the pre interview social and they all seemed to be pretty close, which is important to me if I'm moving to a new city. They don't seem too overworked and seem to have a pretty manageable schedule (I forget the exact amount of shifts but it wasn't too crazy). Residents seem very well trained from what I can tell. ER is divided into pods by acuity, and 2-4 year residents manage an entire pod (I think 16ish beds), which I found impressive but also pretty daunting. Even the interns are responsible for covering half of a pod, and they all seem pretty comfortable with this. Moonlighting for 2nd-4th years is really nice and helps soften the blow of doing a 4th year. Tons of elective time 3rd and 4th year.

-4 year program. As stated by the post above, peds doesn't seem to be incredibly strong. Same with research, if that's important to you. I was reassured that if you are interested in peds, research, or a particular niche, there are a lot of opportunities if you reach out to faculty. While NOLA is a lot of fun, it's not exactly the safest city.