UMDNJ-NJMS (Newark) Residency Reviews

Pure Anergy said:

Posted on behalf of a student who interviewed there last year:

UMDNJ-Newark
12/14/10
Pre-Interview Social: Wicked Wolf Tavern. LOTS of residents came. Really liked their program, seems very social. Everyone lives in Jersey, about 1/2 in Hoboken and 1/2 in suburbs. "Can use public transportation, but everyone has a car" "See things that just don't happen in NYC, rollovers, more penetrating trauma" Social with attendings.

Interview:Good but very new feeling program. 4 year at academic institution. Smaller residency class vs. many other programs (6/year) and won't grow soon because that would mean loss of residents from other departments --> stated that can be a plus, because there is no fighting for procedures. Larger trauma center, with "wider variety of trauma (car accidents), more penetrating trauma than new york," though I personally thought it depended on which part of new york you're talking about. Have one separate trauma month as intro, but otherwise, it is integrated. BUT, they downplay importance of trauma and it seems that their residents tend to default to trauma team at times, though unclear. No clear declaration of role in trauma, but no one seems to be struggling to get procedures, residents stated they all had plenty. PGY1 - 18 x 12 hr, PGY-2 16 x 12 hr, PGY-3 15 x 12 hr and PGY-4 14 x 12 hr. Modular learning with assigned reading and monthly tests. Recently established EM department (1 1/2 years old). Still learning to use departmental muscle. They still consult to medicine vs. directly admitting to medicine. Residents were great. Nice faculty

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Rutgers Newark EM said:

Current resident here, open to answer any questions in the future. Overall I think this is a highly underrated residency program. In summary, we are a 4 year residency whose first pgy-4s graduated in 2009. We see a volume of around 100-110k of some of the sickest patients you will ever see. The highlight of the hospital is probably trauma, which sees approximately 3 penetrating injuries per day on average.

Since we are situated in Newark, NJ we get the benefit of any other hardcore city population with the added benefit of being driving distance to NYC and also close to some superb suburbs if that's you're thing too. The main hospital, University Hospital, is a state funded institution and might as well be classified under the "county" title for the patient population and the amount of funding the hospital receives. This obviously has its positives and negatives. For me, the positives far outweigh the negatives, at least for training purposes.

I've been in a few other EDs during medical school and spoken to several friends in EM and based on all those experiences I can say that Rutgers NJMS is a top notch place for clinical training. You will get solid teaching, but also autonomy at times. We have a state of the art sim lab which we use about twice per month. The only thing this place lacks is a research presence, which we hope to gain by selecting a new Chair in the coming months (we gave an offer to a candidate from Penn recently).

Hope you guys consider this place in the upcoming match cycles!

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