- Joined
- Oct 27, 2006
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Ok, I'll be the 1st to bite and give up some reviews.
Interview festivities started the night before with a big dinner with a bunch of the residents at a nice tapas restaurant downtown and then out to the bar afterward. It was really nice as the residents picked us right up from the bed and breakfasts that we were put up in so we didn't have to worry about driving. Had a good turnout, including all 8 applicants and probably about 6 residents and their spouses.
Interview day started @ 7:45 with the typical program presentation and then we split up in half with one half interviewing while the other half toured the hospital. Interviewed with 4 people -- program director, asst. director, clinical faculty and a 2nd year resident. Nothing to hard here, mostly laid back questions. The tour included stops in the PICU, MICU, SICU, call rooms, cafeteria, ED, etc...more on that later.
Interviews wrapped up @ 11 and then we caught the last hour of the resident's conference and had lunch with them. Had the opportunity to stay and shadow in the ED but I was tired.
PROS:
*Resident happiness -- everyone seemed genuinely happy and very easy to get along with. Definitely got the sense of a tight-knit group. Also nice is that they only work 8 hour shifts. Interns work 21 and 2nd and 3rd years work 18 I believe. Residents said they typically are gone within 1/2 to 1 hour from shift end.
*Volume -- program sees about 130,000/year which makes it the largest program in the state. About 1/3 of their census is peds which is also pretty substantial. Also got the sense that most of their visits are for actual sick people rather than the seekers and "snack pack" visits that I'm used to in Detroit.
*Ultrasound experience -- Very integrated into the program with special emphasis on its clinical use beginning in the 1st year. One 2nd year resident said that you need something like 150 scans to be US certified and he already had 170.
*Facilities -- For those unfamiliar with GR, there are a few big $$$ families that are very philanthropic. One such family has really bought into the idea of an all-inclusive medical center in GR and it is definitely showing. ED was beautiful, set up in pods rather than a central fishbowl. The other units we saw were equally nice and the whole hospital and the surrounding areas seemed very clean. They recently finished a major cardiac facility on the campus, are currently building a cancer center and are building a tertiary care children's hospital to be completed in 2010.
*Other perks -- $1000 for books, etc in 1st year, $1500 in 2nd and 3rd years. $2000 a year for food
CONS
*Research -- No required research but definitely encouraged as they have dedicated research faculty. Required to go through steps of preparing research project including study design, grant writing, etc. I know they have active clinical research, they just didn't emphasize it much.
*Trauma -- GR and surrounding areas are pretty safe so they don't get as much penetrating trauma as I'm used to seeing in Detroit but it seems like they get a ton of blunt.
*Misc. -- Not sure how to classify this but it just seemed odd that so many of their residents were married (like 2/3). As a single guy, I was a bit leery of this but maybe I just need to catch up quick.
Overall, I was very impressed with the program, and kind of surprised to say so. It had enough of that urban/big city feel that I'm used to and require, yet it's really the only show in town so it gets a lot of actual sick patients with a community feel. I'll definitely strongly consider this program.
Interview festivities started the night before with a big dinner with a bunch of the residents at a nice tapas restaurant downtown and then out to the bar afterward. It was really nice as the residents picked us right up from the bed and breakfasts that we were put up in so we didn't have to worry about driving. Had a good turnout, including all 8 applicants and probably about 6 residents and their spouses.
Interview day started @ 7:45 with the typical program presentation and then we split up in half with one half interviewing while the other half toured the hospital. Interviewed with 4 people -- program director, asst. director, clinical faculty and a 2nd year resident. Nothing to hard here, mostly laid back questions. The tour included stops in the PICU, MICU, SICU, call rooms, cafeteria, ED, etc...more on that later.
Interviews wrapped up @ 11 and then we caught the last hour of the resident's conference and had lunch with them. Had the opportunity to stay and shadow in the ED but I was tired.
PROS:
*Resident happiness -- everyone seemed genuinely happy and very easy to get along with. Definitely got the sense of a tight-knit group. Also nice is that they only work 8 hour shifts. Interns work 21 and 2nd and 3rd years work 18 I believe. Residents said they typically are gone within 1/2 to 1 hour from shift end.
*Volume -- program sees about 130,000/year which makes it the largest program in the state. About 1/3 of their census is peds which is also pretty substantial. Also got the sense that most of their visits are for actual sick people rather than the seekers and "snack pack" visits that I'm used to in Detroit.
*Ultrasound experience -- Very integrated into the program with special emphasis on its clinical use beginning in the 1st year. One 2nd year resident said that you need something like 150 scans to be US certified and he already had 170.
*Facilities -- For those unfamiliar with GR, there are a few big $$$ families that are very philanthropic. One such family has really bought into the idea of an all-inclusive medical center in GR and it is definitely showing. ED was beautiful, set up in pods rather than a central fishbowl. The other units we saw were equally nice and the whole hospital and the surrounding areas seemed very clean. They recently finished a major cardiac facility on the campus, are currently building a cancer center and are building a tertiary care children's hospital to be completed in 2010.
*Other perks -- $1000 for books, etc in 1st year, $1500 in 2nd and 3rd years. $2000 a year for food
CONS
*Research -- No required research but definitely encouraged as they have dedicated research faculty. Required to go through steps of preparing research project including study design, grant writing, etc. I know they have active clinical research, they just didn't emphasize it much.
*Trauma -- GR and surrounding areas are pretty safe so they don't get as much penetrating trauma as I'm used to seeing in Detroit but it seems like they get a ton of blunt.
*Misc. -- Not sure how to classify this but it just seemed odd that so many of their residents were married (like 2/3). As a single guy, I was a bit leery of this but maybe I just need to catch up quick.
Overall, I was very impressed with the program, and kind of surprised to say so. It had enough of that urban/big city feel that I'm used to and require, yet it's really the only show in town so it gets a lot of actual sick patients with a community feel. I'll definitely strongly consider this program.