Residency Reviews

[Coleman]

I thought I would start a thread, now that the season is upon us, of various experiences we all have had while interviewing.

Please comment on any aspect you like, but things to include mayabe:

-Interesting or difficult questions
-format (1:1 interviews vs. panel)
-Great or Horrible interviews
-embarrassing moments (be honest folks)
-what you would have done different

[OutdoorsGirl]

I interviewed at HCMC, and found that it was a very strong program - the Residents seem happy, during observation I saw that the 3rd yrs run the traumas and appear confident. There are a lot of intelligent people there. They also know that they are a strong program and are confident in themselves. There are 3 35-40min interviews which are mostly you asking questions of them, very benign, and the questions I was asked were all reasonable - why EM? why Minnesota? What else do you do? type stuff. The only different (not necessarily difficult) question I was asked was: Describe a tragic event in your life and how you handled it. I think things went prettty well.
I'm interested in hearing from the rest of you on the trail!

[ryanpj]

I have had 3 so far, I have 10 more scheduled.
All were fine.
The wierdest one started on by the woman introducing herself ( in which I already knew her and worked with her) by stating, " I went to medical school at John Hopkins graduated at the top 5% of my class, I then did my residency at John Hopkins, I am BLANK BLANK of this UNNAMED NATIONAL ORG, I have this many articles published and have authored these chapters in these texts, and I have this many manuscripts in process of publication.
Not a bad interview, but weird lady, I do not think you could impress her even if you told her that you were the LochNess monster or even God.

Program will go unnamed.

[kungfufishing]

actually, when I told an interviewer I was the loch ness monster and devoured his fish tank, he was obviously impressed. Later I told the SWAT team dude I was God and they launched even more teargas. Do you think they will still rank me?

[tabasco]

BIDMC yesterday. Academically oriented new program, big names in the faculty, optional 4th year, great facilities, residents are nice. The first interviewer hadn't looked through my file- he had trouble parking. I had to give him a 2 minutes summary of it, and I forgot half. Lesson: be ready to introduce yourself in five minutes or less.

[dwgs]

Had my UVA interview. One word to describe it ... Painless. Five 20 minute interviews with faculty, all very nice. Plenty of breaks in between the meetings. Interview day began at 7 and ended at 3:30. Faculty interviews in the morning, lunch at a nearby bistro and then a tour of UVA and finally the ED. Parking is free for the day in the garage directly accross the walkway from the ED. Stayed at the Red Roof Inn which was walking distance from the hospital; clean, but pricey at 72$ per evening, including taxes. City is totally "yuppie" and traffic in town is horrific. All in all, a very nice program in a nice town. Any questions are welcome.

Dwgs.

[limabean]

So far I'm been on two interviews-fairly painless. Most of the questions were based off of my ERAS but I did get a few that I had to think about:
As an EM doc you are going to have conflicts with consults,patients,etc.Tell me about a conflict that you've had while in medical school and how you dealt with it.
What was your worse moment in medical school?
Present to me an interesting case(got asked this in 3 of my 4 interviewers at one place)

Fortunately my first interview was at my home school and they were kind enough to give us feedback at the end as to how we did so that we can prepair for our future interviews. The key is even when asked a negative question, try to answer it in a positive light ie. when describing a conflict emphasize want you learned from it,etc. Also always have one favorite case in mind-it can be pretty hard to pull one out of your butt when someone catches you off guard.
-limabean

[dwgs]

Hi all,

Figured it would be useful to give everyone a "heads up"about these two programs having recently interviewed at both.

York- Wow. Nice, nice program. PD is INCREDIBLE and TOTOALLY devoted to resident welfare. Interview day begins early with a 1.5 h informal lecture about the basic program stats- chock full in information and not at all boring. Brief interviews with 3 attendings and one resident. Painless questions, ie no clinical questioning. Hotel is great and paid for by the program. Also, dinner the night before is GREAT. Nice Italian place and TONS of residents/spouses/children showed up for the festivities. Plan to rank EXTREMELY high, if not #1.

Christiana- Gorgeous facility. Very impressive ED. Attendings are friendly, but did experience some "awkward silences" during interviews. There is no introduction to the program. Day begins with 1 hour conference (5 days/week), then on to a series of five 30 minute interviews with no breaks in between. Felt quite tired by the end. Day ends with a quick catered lunch in the department and tour. Done by 2 pm. Need to do your research beforehand as there was no introduction lecture to fill you in on all the "vital statistics." All in all, a solid program.

Happy to take any questions.

Dwgs

[aliraja]

Just got done with both these 4 year programs. The interviews were completely painless... each one was a series of 4 15-minute interviews and they felt a little rushed (the program coordinators were hard-core about keeping the interviewers, even the PDs, on time) but other than that went really well.

A few talked about specifics of my app (research, pubs, school, activities, etc...) but most focused on random things from my essay and hobbies. I talked to one guy who has a harley about my new bike for the full 15 mins. other interviewees had similar completely random conversations and not one person had an uncomfortable or even awkward experience.

You can get some really good hotel deals in Philly off of hotels.com and priceline and apparently they're running some sort of buy one night, get one night free special that I didn't take advantage of since I only stayed for one night.

[dwgs]

Hey all,

Just a small plea for continued posting on this thread. Wouldn't it be great if we could have a little "inside info" on an program before we even arrive for our interviews?

I promise to post small tidbits on each and every interview I attend and I hope you all do the same. This thread has the potential to be extremely informative and useful!

Dwgs.

[gpops]

This is a great idea!
I've interviewed at UVA and Stony Brook so far.

UVA - agree with dwgs (we may have been there on the same day). This was very painless. All interviewers were very relaxed and nice...no hard questions. The ED was fantastic with chest pain center, nice trauma bays with sliding xray equipment on ceiling, very modern. Residents seemed very nice. Shift schedule (admit it, we all want to know) starts as all 12 hours in the 1st year then down to a mix of i think 8-10 hours for PGY2-3. Overall a great program. Charlottesville is a nice college town but don't expect to stay after residency as UVA is the only game in town and they won't hire anyone straight out of residency.

Stony Brook - Also pretty low key interviews, except for the research director who was a little sarcastic. Met at 10am for a 1 hour conference then we met as a group with the residency director who told us about the program, after which, half of us had tours while the other half had 3, roughly 20 min. interviews. The program director and his assistant PD are both very young and seem very pro-resident. Residents were all very nice and seemed happy. Not the most impressive hospital, but a large ED expansion is underway. It sounds like it will be under construction for the next 2-3 years - something to think about. Shift schedules are 19 12-hour shifts per 28 day cycle for PGY1 then slightly fewer, but still 12 hours, as you progress. Only one thing to say about this part of Long Island: Traffic, traffic and more traffic. If you ever plan on getting into NYC, it will ALWAYS take you about 2 hours to drive 55 miles on the highway. I'm from NY, and this has always been the case. 495 has been under construction since the beggining of time (welcome to the reality of organized crime in NY - AKA labor unions). The great thing about this program is the Peds exposure. You will see kids every day as a resident at SB, as there is no Peds ED. Additionally, you spend 1 month at a nearby Peds ED. The program director did a fellowship in Peds-EM, so this is heavily stressed during your residency.

Good luck to everyone on their interviews and lets keep the info coming.

[tabasco]

Buffalo and Rochester

Buffalo- It was their first interview day for the year. PD very nice, relaxed, low key. Went to tour two hospitals which are their primary sites. both relatively old, there are talks about refurbishing but nothing happening yet. They have some impressive research - we were shwown some of their transportation injury research, regarding injury to the driver due to unbelted passenger in the back. Thay have an amazing ultrasound program, taught by he guy who wrote the book on US in ED. Very interesting telemedicine program for all the prisons in NY state. Residents seemed nice and happy with the program. One of the interviews was a bit odd, with the lady somewhat fixated on the chronology of some of my CV stuff - quite unusual and complicated, indeed, but irrelevant to the app. Interesting question: What do you think is the most signifuicant challenge facing EM? Lots of why EM, of course - getting tired of that one - and of where do you see yourself in five years. I'm still wondering what they are trying to get out of me. Let me know if you figure out, anyone.

Rochester - nice city, safe, low traffic, low value real estate, half an hour to lake Ontario, lots of snow. Very, very informal presentations in the resident's lounge, by the chief of the dpt - only woman I met in this position and by the PD. New ED, very large - to 100K/yer, expanding, awsome curricullum, basically no floors, all directed to EM residents learning. Nice progression of responsibilities throughout the three years, very supportive environment for residents, flexible and responsive to their needs. Residents were nice too, very low key, great bantering in between them, lots of fun. I really liked this place. Oh, interesting question: What's the most extravagant thing you've ever done? Interviewers very nice, down to earth, no stress. Of course, why EM and where do you see youself in five years...

That's it for now. Baystate, anyone?

[Lumberg]

This was my first interview. I had a great time touring the ED with the residents, they all seemed like they had a good time working and hanging out together. I really didn't expect much but I was pleasantly surprised by the patient volume and acuity. Bethlehem, Pa. is a medium sized northern town within shouting distance of NYC. Dr. Heller is terrific, he is also one of the grandfathers of US, so you'll certainly be proficient in that after graduating. Interviews were completely low-key and conversational. The tour, lunch, program overview, etc. were all as per usual.
I thought it was a solid, smaller community program with good didactics and a pretty sweet lifestyle.

[Pelivar]

Here is my contribution:

Temple- Dr McNamara would be great as a PD and I'm sure would help finding a job. The program is relatively new and seems to still be going through some growing pains. The curriculum seemed a little week and they are working through kinks in the schedule but the administration seemed dedicated to making it a good program. They do a ton of ICU, 6 months I think (Q3 call), which is probably good for learning but bad for having a life. The program is in a bad arrea but they seemed to get good pathology. The ED is small and old, with crappy computers and charting. Overall they seemed to work hard but get a good education. Interview day is an overview of the program followed by an ED conference, 3 interviews (mostly laid back but Dr. McNamara asks some typical semi-hard interview questions), then lunch and a tour.

Camden- Very good medium sized program. The PD and Chairman are great and get you excited about their program. They have good U/S and clinical tracks that allow you to focus on whatever your interested in as well as good research support. The PD seems very dedicated to making it a great program and keeping residents happy. Their ED is old but useable. The interview day is an overview by the PD and Chairman, then 4 interviews a tour and a lunch conference. I will rank this program higher than the philly programs.

Christiana- Great program. They do seem to have it easy working mostly 8 hour shifts and having tons of protected time for their 10 hours of conference per week. Despite not working much they seem to have a good pathology and get to do a lot of procedures. The biggest negative about the interview day is the crappy lunch. The interview day for me was an overview of the program by the PD, a morning conference, 5 interviews, a tour and then lunch. I read the old threads about Christiana before I interviewed and I had a chance to meet the past president of EMRA. She was a bit over enthusiastic about the program, but I think she would be a good resource for residents their. I plan to rank this program high.

-P

[mutjeng2]

Hey all long time lurker first time poster..

I agree with some of the statements above.

Stony Brook was pretty laid back. I got the impression that the PD was very open and pro-resident. No really tough questions they wanted to know if you had any questions for them tho..

Some other impressions
St. Lukes (NYC) -Another laid back place, residents were happy and all the attendings were on a first name basis with the residents. And the housing was phenomenal, I mean can you really chose a residency based on housing?!?:! hmmmm.. I like the idea of splitting shifts at two different sites just cause they give you the idea of two different worlds a. private b. indigent...

LIJ- Also laid back and residents seemed happy and my goodness they're pay is phenomenal. Some residents actually live in manhattan and commute to long island.. can you really chose a residency based on salary.. hmmmm... maybe I'm focused on the benefits too much.. hahahah.. but in all seriousness these are the things that will add up over the next 3-4years.. The ED was okay but not much trauma.. they rotate at jacobi for that experience so I can imagine that they'll see their fair share over there.

SUNY Brooklyn.. Man, this place is a knife an gun club.. lots of trauma and lots of opportunities to do procedures. Residents work their asses off but in general they seem happy that they're in that kind of environment... Attendings on the most part were receptive. Dr. Lucchesi, the chariman is a badass tho.. he teaches and flies through patients and doesn't mind taking on medstudnts throughout his shift. I have a little more to say about this place cause i rotated through here..

Brooklyn Hospital.. small program and didn't get a chance to talk to residents much.. its one of the few places that I had a really bad interview.. i mean i got pimped on "interesting cases you've seen" and I had to make differential for AMS. ugh.. small program and not level1 yet.. but their trauma room is being built now and supposedly should be ready by next year.. cool ultrasound opportunities tho.. one of the attendings is big on US research..

That's all i got for now.. i'm still on the East coast swing.. i'll let everybody know how the rest of them go..

[odoreater]

Thank you all for the above, it has been helpful for me to read, I will post where I have been below:

Jacobi/Montie--Have rotated here. Amazing program serving a community with some diverse and esoteric pathology. The prgram provdes a comfortable split bewteen trauma and medicine. Montie gets no trauma and all acute medical cases. The ordering system is electronic and the ancillary services including the nurses are excellent. Jacobi is a big inner city hospital and with that comes an amazing patient population and no ancillary services. be prepared to draw your own bloods, start all your IV's and wheel your patients to rads when you need it done. However with that also comes the fact that the resdents handle EVERYTHING including all trauma that comes through their ER. They are a pretty amazing bunch.

Maine--Amazing town. Portland might be one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited in the country. The residents all seem happy, apparantly work 22 9 hour shifts and only take patients for 8 hours with the last hour dedicated to wrapping up all of the loose ends of a shift. The prgram is very new (only 5 years old) and still seems to be finding its niche. They have a lot of young excited faculty who are very friendly. Their new PD was recruited from Carolina's. The biggest drawback from my persepctive is the lack of diverse pathology (the resident o example had not taken care of an AIDS patient in 2 years).

Emory--Was blown away but this interview and presentation day. Seems as though a lot of strong research is being done by their amazing faculty. They have close ties with the cdc and have 6 attendings who work in both the ed and for the cdc. A great deal of their faculty have mph's and take an active role in both public policy and public health research. They also have a basic science laboratory where they are studying traumatic neuronal inujury. The only drawback (for me at least) about this program was Atlanta. Appears to be a very violent city (though it has some nice parts), and its hot. (I have a cold bias). But this program is amazingly strong.

Penn-- Another great program. Residents work 18 12 hour shifts while in their ED. Thanks to the proximity of CHOP they get an amazing amoutn of peds exposure. The ED was very nice and modern with both electronic charting and lab ordering. All of the residents seemed very happy. The only drawback I found with this program is that the only role the ED has in trauma is to manage the airway and nothing else. However, the faculty are all very friendly, their PD was a geniunely cool guy and they have very strong residents.

I think thats all for now.

[SkiDog]

FYI...I'm pretty sure Temple only does 4 months of ICU time, one in each of the following:

Resp ICU
Surg ICU
Ped ICU
Burn ICU

I had to brush up on this program as I'm going there soon so figured I'd post what I found.

Hope that helps.
SkiDog

[Pelivar]

They only do 4 now, but by the time we would be in residency, they are adding a 5th ICU rotation in the CT surg ICU to increase thier chest tube and line numbers. They may have another ICU rotation but I'd have to look at my notes. Program websites are almost always outdated and so is the info they give you at the interview sometimes. Good luck.

-P

[tabasco]

UMass a few days ago. The people are extremely nice, the program is very intersting - they have a serious disaster medicine and international medicine component. They rotate through about 4 hospitals, the main one has the most overcrowded ED i've seen, but construction has started on a new one, state of the art, which shpould be ready in about 18 months. The leit-motif I heard was very high volume, and their reported goal is to make an outstanding clinician out of you. They seem to work pretty hard there, even though they reduced the lenghth of their shifts from 12 to 10 hours in July. Very low stress interview and nice people. In spite of the hard work they seem to be having fun. Lifeflight is an obligatory part of the program, so if you don't want to fly, no need to rank them - these are the PD's words.

Come on, guys, keep them coming.

[dwgs]

Hey all,

Here goes a description of the busiest week of my life (4 interviews in 5 days on the road:

Palmetto- WOW. A real shocker. This program was not high on my list prior to interviewing and now I think I'm going to rank them #1. PD (Dr. Cook) is AMAZING!!!!!!!! Education is solid and very much like the typical curiculum of other programs. Ultrasound is a definite strength as two attendings at this program travel to other programs to teach them how to do it. Facility itself was old but extremely well maintained. Benefits are beyond belief... I almost stroked out when I was told that all medical/dental insurance is 100% paid for you and your family. Also, food is free 365 days/yr, 3 meals/day. Free parking, lots of money for conferences, books, etc. 1st year salary 40K. I swear that I actually blushed while the benefits were detailed.

East Carolina- PD is great (Charlie Brown is his name). Dedicated to education and very appreciative of your time. No introduction to the program was given... you go right into interviews. Residents all very happy. Very "family friendly" environment. Attendings all very enthusiastic about the program. Nice town for quiet living. Currently moving into a gorgeous, brand new ED.

Carolinas- Good introduction to the program. All attendings very warm and inviting. PD is extrodinarily enthusiastic about the program and makes is known that he appreciates your energy and time in getting there. Program is very strong in ultrasound and research. There is a dedicated research building if that's any indication. Research, research, research...

EVMS- Solid program. Good education. Interview day is well organized. Residents seem happy. Attendings are kind and respectful. No hard questions. Residents work at 4 different hospitals that span all socioeconomic levels (poor and uninsured, blue collar insured, white collar demanding yuppies etc). Benefits are okay, not stellar. Location is perfect for the water oriented individual... Chesapeake bay, Atlantic Ocean. 8 hour shifts.

Dwgs

[NeedMyCoffee]

All rightey, now that there's a lull...

USC/LA County - kick ass program in my opinion. Ages old, well established, grabbing academic faculty from the other big name in LA, so getting right up there in terms of putting out research and stuff. The get a huge patient volume, loads of trauma, good U/S. Will be moving into a new hospital in a year or so, which takes away some of the charm. So-so ancillary. Not for the faint of heart...PD and assistant PD very strong.

Mayo - new program, but already has worked out several of the kinks. Well respected in the hospital. Surprisingly broad patient base. Faculty young and dynamic, residents super friendly. Nice facilities, Mayo will pay for a lot of your expenses for the interview except for your airfare...if you become a resident, Mayo'll pay for any type of elective u wanna do! The big downside for a lot of folks is Rochester...nice place for families though if you can stand the weather.

Brown - residents pretty happy. Hospital sees both county type and private patients. Great pediatrics. Brand new simulator program where you can learn everything on a very lifelike dummy so you're not doing something for the first time with a real patient...you've practised on the dummy already. Pretty well respected around the hospital. Providence is a nice small city, which however does turn some people off. PD might leave something to be desired however...

Anybody have any questions, feel free to PM away...happy holidays everyone

[iwakuni_doc]

I've completed all of my interviews & would be more than happy to share my opinions on the following programs:

Beth Israel Deaconess/Harvard - awesome facility & equipment, very academic, optional 4th year as research/junior attending position. Residents are a very friendly & laid-back crew, and they seem genuinely happy. Faculty seemed nice & eager to teach, occasional tendency to throw the HARVARD name around but not bad. Program director was a little dry during interview & presentation, but that's kind of his way per the residents - assistant program director is very engaging & friendly.

Duke - as mentioned previously in other threads, the program director is a very strong plus. The faculty are very young, energetic, & eager to teach - a lot of diverse interests are available. The Duke hospital is beautiful & huge, but the ED is about average in terms of layout & size. They've renovated the psych section & supposedly plans are in place to build a new ED in the vaguely distant future. Off-service rotations - YOU'RE WEARING THE SHORT INTERN COAT...not to mention white pants on the surgery services! To me this is an extremely unnecessary addition to internship - the year's tough enough without the added humiliation of short coats & white pants. Attire aside, the off-service rotations are reportedly very good. Current residents seemed happy, but a fairly eclectic group of personalities - couldn't get a good grip on the group as a whole. I think it'll be a great program in 5-6 years.

Hopkins - Program director & coordinator were the two biggest positives for this program. Although my interview day was cut short due to inclement weather & I may have gotten a slightly skewed perception - it seemed to me that the program was very much about the "This is Hopkins...you should come because it is Hopkins" idea. This is not based on anything concretely said, but just my overall gut-feeling.

Maine - a very nice little ED, good facility/equipment. Residents seemed like a good group, very happy with their program & decision. Department Chair & Program Director are great - one of the biggest draws to this place. Dynamic young faculty mixed with some emergency doc's with 20+ years there who still love to teach. Portland's a great little town & the pay is the best of any place I've been. Only concern is if it's too small...

Maricopa - the only true "county" program I interviewed at, recently got a funding bill passed to provide for the next 20yrs worth of funding. Program director is great, they just hired the new chair of the dept - one of the editors for Tintinalli's. Residents seemed great & very happy. Good housing market. The only non-East coast program I applied & interviewed at.

Maryland - awesome facility/equipment, new ED, Shock Trauma, very academic/political. Chair & Program director are great. Very impressed with their academics & career development. Residents seemed very happy, personable & capable - current president of EMRA is there & interviewing applicants along with the faculty. Baltimore is fun city, quite a few rough areas but also several great areas - Inner Harbor, Fell's Point, Federal Hill, etc. The only knock that I could possibly come up with is that it's all 12-hr shift over all 3yrs...pros & cons to that, more hours but fewer shifts. I did a second look here & had a great shift in the ED - high acuity but also good bedside teaching, both from ED staff & consulting services.

UMASS - as mentioned by an earlier reviewer, it is a very busy & overcrowded ED (kinda similar to Maricopa in that aspect) although they are building a new ED to be completed in spring/summer of 2005 (start of our 2nd year). Great lifeflight program - not optional. Big on disaster/international medicine. Faculty were great, chairman has been there 20yrs - very stable & established program. Program coordinator is awesome. Very pro-military group, several reservists in the faculty & residents. Rotate at a couple other community hospitals in Worcester - taken there on tour...nice facility. Several nice perks: proximity to Boston yet reasonable housing market, good pay, state-sponsored 401K, free tuition at UMASS for spouse/children.

UVA - great facility/equipment, awesome college town environment. Chair is active in dept - was working shift in ED during my visit. Program director & coordinator were both very personable & seemed genuinely caring. Faculty was nice mix of young & experienced. Residents were happy & laid-back. Definitely the community-program feel, although it's in a large university hospital. Nice chest-pain center in the ED

I think any of these 8 will give me a good experience & training, and I plan on ranking them all. However, my top 5 are clearly Maryland, Maine, UVA, UMASS, Beth Israel Deaconess - order yet to be determined.

[DrQuinn]

iwakuni-

I did a month's rotation at Univ of MD... thought so highly of it i ranked it #2... I would have been extremely happy to have matched there had I not gotten my #1. Their training there is excellent, adn their third year residents incredibly strong (and got all the job offers they wanted).

Q, DO

[Sutureboy]

Iwanuki,
Very helpful!
Your comment about the working chair was interesting. Do you think it matters? I don't think this is true at most of the programs.

[joeG]

PITT...
Great diversity in clinical experience-3-4 main hospitals with others serving as a limited role in training. Residents very comfortable with procedures. Also, residents stressed that riding in the Jeep (2nd and 3rd year) prepares them well for making independent/autonomous decisions. Dr Wolfson (PD) seemed very resident friendly, one of the best I've seen. Department is serious about EM, very established program, national leader. Residents happy, all seemed to sell Pittsburgh as a place to live. Seemed like that is the biggest drawback to the program. however, I thought the city wasn't so bad. Had some atypical interview questions (chairman--what does mind-body mean to you) Another question was: describe your best day, what are some problems with em today, where do you see em in the future, where do you see yourself in 10 years. Overall, an exceptional program and decent city to live in.

[joeG]

St Lukes-Roosevelt (NY):
Excellent three year program in NYC, probably the best. Excellent curriculum for a 3 year program. Residents are generally well-preparred when they leave. A few residents paused when asked that question. Great diversity in sites; abundant pathology and a good mix of ancillary staff-->get practice with IV's at St -Lukes but at Roosevelt it is mostly taken care of. Interview day is pretty relaxed, an intro by the PD and then interviews/tour. The PD will probably start off by saying, "so, what do you want to know" and wait for you to say something. He is a very nice guy, who is dedicated to his program, residents, and em education. The other interviews are chill...just know your application and why you want to be in NY. the housing is excellent. Overall, good not great training, but if you search it out, you could receive excellent training. Faculty are great, resident friendly and many opportunities.

[NeedMyCoffee]

Hey guys

I was just wondering if any of you have any impressions about GWU in DC...I'm due there next week and I can't seem to find a whole lot of resident/applicant opinions on that place.

Thanks and happy new year everyone!

[coffeestat]

Anymore of these great stories. I really find this thread interesting. Thanks and good luck.

[kungfufishing]

...needmy...
I havent been to GW, but tell me bout it when you get back. I think we've actually been to many of the same spots. Im going to GW in February, my last interview actually.

[papichulodoc]

Since many of us are interviewing at the same places, I thought it would be helpful to start a thread with reviews of interviews. Please include positive and negative aspects of the program. Keep in mind that "One man's junk is another man's treasure", so what one may consider to be negative someone else may be looking for that aspect in a program.

Disclaimer: This thread is not meant to disrespect any programs out there! These are meant to be honest opinions of our experiences on the trail.

Good luck to all!

UPenn:

The morning started at 7:45. 12 people were on the interivew. The rooms where the ground rounds and introductions were held seemed a bit small. Half of the group went on the tour, while the other half interviewed. We visited CHOP, the HUP ED, and SICU. The SICU has a computer in every room. During rounds, at least three residents enter orders with portable laptops. THe hospital is huge, it felt as if we were walking forever.

I had four interviews, conducted by the PD, resident and two other attendings. Interviews varied, just shot the breeze and talked about our interests with two, one interview was based almost entirely on my questions on the program. The last was a little more in depth with why I considered a four year program and what qualities did a good teacher possess.

For lunch, they took us to the Inn at Penne! Probably a 4 star restaurant! Fabulous place and I could only imagine what they spent on it. By far the best lunch and pampering on any interview yet.

+++ The name!! Of course it's an Ivy league! Once you graduate, you will have no problem securing a great job (even if you're the least capable resident).

+++ International medicine. About 1/4 of the program attendings are avidly interested in travel medicine. The travel director is planning a trip to Botswana with his family in a few months. Another attending is well known in the field for his frequent forays to third world countries and working with their EMS systems.

+++ Research. Along with travel medicine these same attendings conduct research in the foreign countries. Other attendings sit on the SAEM editorial board.

+++ Teaching on the other services. Learn from world renowned and incredibly bright physicians in IM and Surgery while rotating on their services.

+++ CHOP!! Not to offend the pediatricians out there, but CHOP is known as the #1 place in the country and possibly the world. You will see everything there, probably less of the bread and butter stuff but everything including Goldenharr syndrome to at least one Cornelia de Lange per day. One of the graduating residents is currently looking for jobs. He was told that he could work at a large pediatric ED without a fellowship just because he trained at CHOP! WOW! By the way, CHOP is amazing. It was my first time at the institution and I felt like a kid at FAO Schwartz!

++ Very nice ED facilities. Everything in the ED is computerized with the electronic "board" and PACS system

+ Good mixed population with eniabriated UPenn students, suburbanites and a working class during the day.


+/- 4 year program. Depends on how you look at it. I tend to think 4 year programs allow the time for you to learn how to manage an ED as Junior attendings. But I know it's the $200,000 mistake.

-- The ED is a relatively new department and still trying to establish their niche in a world class hospital with world class IM and Surgery. I got the impression from the residents that things are manageable between the departments but not 100% peachy keen.

-- The ED does not run trauma, even though their residents say they get enough...there are months set aside to rotate through the trauma service.

--- Residents admitted to a 1 in 40 Spanish speaking pt. If you spent a good amount learning spanish and taking medical spanish courses, you will most likely lose the ability to speak spanish by the time you graduate.

--- Mid range volume....enough to keep you busy but I'm not sure you will see everything there is to be seen.

----- Premiums for insurance are up to $1000!!! I'm sorry but I paid outrageous premiums for med school ($1500) and never used it. I want healthcare without having it come out of my paycheck. The paycheck is small enough already!

Overall...sounds like a great program. Great resources, fabulous opportunities, definitely more cush than a county program

hope this helps...feel free to contribute and add your own experiences.

[hello23]

IMHO, I don't how much of the name, UPenn, can carry you in the world of EM, as it potentially can to the field of Med or Surg. Same case go to Hopkins.

[NinerNiner999]

Then again, I guess a name like Hopkins or Penn can only help you when you are outside of academic emergency medicine...

[hello23]

Please don't get me wrong. I don't mean to put down Upenn or Hopkins. I have met several people from these school on my interview trail, and they pretty much said the same thing...

[waterski232002]

Originally Posted by hello23

IMHO, I don't how much of the name, UPenn, can carry you in the world of EM, as it potentially can to the field of Med or Surg. Same case go to Hopkins.

On the flip side... What program names are you implying can potentially carry you in the EM world?

[Febrifuge]

I plan to say "I know that Quinn guy" a lot.

Oh, program names? Ehh, I don't think any of them can "carry" you, but some might maybe get attention. Give 'em something to ask you about. I assist/ observe/ push beds and do tech stuff at... a certain place. With a good name in EM. Which gives me stories to tell, names of people I know and who know me, things I've picked up here and there... and confidence.

This and a buck will get me vending machine coffee, of course. But along with the name of the place, it all adds up to something I have that many others don't.

[papichulodoc]

Jefferson Medical Center in Philadelphia:

The interview day started at 8AM. Parking was a bit of a problem, there are only two lots which they validate and there are so many parking lots in the area with very similar names. Of course I parked in the wrong one, only to eat the cost because it wasn't a lot they validated. There were approximately 10-12 applicants. I interviewed with 5 people. I thought a bit much. The PD asked the dreaded question....."tell me about yourself". Another attending, Raffi, is known as Fred Flintstone (kinda looks like him too). Many of the residents could not stop talking about him because he was so friendly. Very laidback interview with him. Another interview was with a third year resident, who frankly didn't impress me very much. He just seemed happy to be leaving. The last interview was with a much older gentleman in a tiny office with an ionic breeze in it.

+ Jefferson is well known for their Neurology and Ortho services in Philly. So you will probably see a lot of it either as transfers from other institutions or from the area.

+/- 3 year program, you won't be making the $200,000 mistake.

+ Everyone seemed pretty happy about being there. Everyone seemed to get along well.

+ Flight program.

++ Residents spend one to two months at CHOP.

------ Of course the applicants wanted to know about experiences in the ED. Every sentence started off with "At such and such institution or hospital...we had this one guy come in." When asked about Trauma, they responded, "At such and such institution...they let you do everything including lines and chest tubes." I wanted to ask the question, "Do you ever see anything worthwhile at Jefferson?" They boast about their affiliation with over 16 area hospitals, but truthfully I don't want to rotate at 16 hospitals to fill the void of experience at my home institution. They probably spend up to 1 year total at these other institutions.

--- Away institutions are in another state or more than 40 minutes away. Residents rotate through Dupont Children's Hospital (excellent children's hospital) in Delaware! They joked that during rush hour it can take up to two hours to get there. That's not funny! They also rotate through Cooper hospital in Camden, NJ for their trauma experience.

--- No Diversity!! Another applicant asked about translating services, the chief resident responded, "Oh! Thank God, you won't have to worry about that here. Hardly anyone who comes into the ED speaks any language other than English." Sorry, but I need a little challenging old Viatnamese or Russian lady to make my job interesting. Besides I get to learn how to say things like Babushka.

---- NO ADMITTING PRIVELEGES!!! I've heard that Medicine and Surgery residents constantly argue with ED residents about which service pts should be admitted. They boasted that ordering imaging studies through the computer, greatly reduced the number of arguments with Radiology residents about which studies to order or why they were necessary. Apparently, it is Jefferson culture for residents to question other residents' decisions. One ED resident said he felt more like a lawyer by the end of the day because he had to argue for his patients so often throughout the day.

---- Low Volume. During our tour, the ED was EMPTY!! Jefferson is in a non-residential area and it dictates the schedule and types of problems coming through the door. Most complaints are during work hours and consist of white collar 50+ males with chest pain.

Overall....a very cush program, expect to travel to see the cool stuff....very vanillla population. In my opinion, a good program if you want to live in Philly and lay low.

[papichulodoc]

Temple Interview Review

The day started out at 8pm. The lot for free parking was full by that 7:45, so try to get there earlier if you want a spot. I parked in the street. We met in a building across the street from the hospital on the 12th floor. This is the setting of their ED administrative offices. There were approximately 8 people on the interview and while half of us were on the tour the other half were interviewing. I met with three interviewers including the legendary Dr. McNamara. I've heard that he was a difficult interviewer because he interviews with a poker face, he doesn't give you any feedback at all while interviewing. And believe me it's true! I thought I answered some questions PERFECTLY, and he would just scribble some notes and then ask me the next question. Not even an ah huh, or REALLY, that sounds interesting! It can be a little intimidating but only if you let it bother you. The other two interviews were with the PD and another attending. Each interview was very different, and they all asked something in my application that struck a personal chord in them. Not stressful at all.

+++ North Philly is a great place to train for EM. If you're ever in the Philly area and watch the news, something sensational always makes the 5 o'clock news and they're all brought to Temple. Lots of penetrating trauma.

++++ Dedicated resident's night out! For 6 hours a month all of the attendings cover the ED to allow the residents to get out with each other.

++ 10 hour shifts. Most interns work 18-20 12's, their program gives residents a little breathing room before having to show up for work the next day.

+++ Rotate through CHOP for some months of the year. They also have their brand new children's hospital.

++ The attendings and PD seem to be very responsive to the residents' gripes and make the necessary changes. They've made a lot of significant changes recently and emphasize resident feedback.

++ Up coming program but known as one of the top three programs in the Philly area.

+ McNamara. Very well known chair in the EM community. Love him or hate him, he has earned his respect in the EM world. He is a former president of the AAEM, and gives grand rounds all over the country. He doesn't seem like the lovable kind of guy you want to take out for dinner though, but he will go to bat for you.

+/- Great place to train, but no one wants to live in the area!

+/- inner city program. Lots of work, lots of experience but you don't have to call primary care docs because you are their primary care doc. I've heard that the population can be difficult because they expect a lot from the docs and tend not to follow advice.

+/- 3 year program.

-- Relatively new program. Started in 1997, and they are still trying to establish a niche in the hospital. They just got full admitting priveleges, and they recently kicked anesthesiologists out of the ED allowing ED residents to be responisble for the airways.

-- They are still trying to work out their relationship with Trauma, they used to rotate days with trauma. Now it seemed like whoever responded first got the case.

--- No Variety! I've heard from many sources that their population is about 95% African American. The African American part isn't the problem for me, it's the 95% part....I need a little diversity like a little old Polish lady or an Indian every now and then.

--- Growing pains. They are still a relatively new department in the hospital. They are building a new building which will serve as an expansion to their current ED. Once it's built, they will then renovate the current one. Therefore, expect a lot of construction and moving for the next year. They sort of mentioned that the planned move, and current cramping of their space has generated some tension with everyone including nursing staff. Imagine contractors in your apartment or house for two years?? They have also increased the number of residents in the program by two in anticipation of the greater workload with the expansion. They expect the work to be completed by June 2006.

Overall, sounds like a solid program. Lots of experience, you will come out well rounded and know how to handle real emergencies.

[papichulodoc]

Seems like a lopsided interview review so far, please share your interview experiences and thoughts with the rest of us. I still have quite a few interviews to go and would like a head's up.

[la gringa]

Interview day started at 8am with breakfast and a case conference. Make sure you park in the right lot - lot #3 is NOT the visitor one where you pay! There's no gate or anything, it's on the right just past the visitor parking and right by the ED.

8 applicants were present. Conf. wasn't heavily attended by residents b/c it wasn't the main dept conference - only for those working at Jacobi that day shift. The Jacobi chair was there, however, along w/ several faculty.

Half then did interviews w/ 4 faculty (NONE of the PD's!) while the other half did tours of both Jacobi and Monte. They take you in a bus over to Monte which is 5-10 min away w/ traffic. Interviews were pretty short and tended to center around the program a lot since they did the slide show about the program after the interviews. All were on the younger side, under 50 I'd say. i thought there wasn't enough time for the interviews. I can't remember any pointed questions or even much specific. As usual some mentioned my interest in sports.

Then lunch w/ residents, probably 6-8 showed up. Mostly from northeastern med schools, unfortunately no one representing from the south was there that day...

I then did an interview w/ the IM prelim year at Jacobi. Then observed in the ED for almost 3 hrs, making it a LONG day for me but worth it I thought.

+++ Tremendous variety of patients. They see a large # of various Hispanic groups, mostly Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, and an increasing # of Mexicans at Jacobi. Mostly indigent sorts of pts at Jacobi, more insured/tertiary care stuff at Monte.

+++ Peds at both places, have fellowships too.

+++ lots of trauma, run by EM at Jacobi until they want to call surgery

++ Housing available at Monte, under $800 including utilities. Not at all fancy but it's across the street w/ an attached parking garage. Also free food at Monte cafeteria.

++ Graduated responsibility - EM1's get first crack at procedures, work hard.... so that you can basically run 1 side of the Jacobi ED as an EM2 and be a "preattending" as an EM3. This is pretty unique, only a couple of other places do this at all.

+ I really liked the Bronx - still a borough w/ activity but helluva lot cheaper than Manhattan. Express bus to Man. is 20-30 min. Lots of trees in the area, can keep a car in the Bronx.

+/- Not sure which -- Jacobi is divided into "med" and "surg" sides... unclear whether this will persist in new ED (see next).

+/- New Jacobi ED isn't finished even for a tour, so hard to gauge what it will be like once it opens (early 2005 they say, running behind). For class matching this year there will be a good year plus for the kinks to be worked out!

+/- PGY 2-4. [Haven't fully made up my mind about this or the whole 4 year thing in general. I think i'm hopelessly neutral and will not consider it a factor unless as a tiebreaker.] *** Note to future applicants: Program is going to 1-4 format in 2006 match.

- Didn't get to talk to a whole lot of residents given the size of the program. Probably due to the fact that....

-- EM2's work 20 12's a month while in the ED... that is a tough year there and necessary to do the graduated responsibility thing. There are some lighter blocks like peds, gyn booth where it's just 5 8's a week.

--- No interviews w/ any PD and the PD was sick that day! I'll be going back to meet w/ her since I really liked the program overall. Meets most if not all of my personal and professional needs/wants.

Feel free to PM me w/ questions. Keep in mind i'm not one of those lookin for a coosh place so my opinions are to be taken as such!

[papichulodoc]

The interview day started at 9:30. Traffic along 80 West was not a problem but can be if you take 80 east (Pennsylvannia - NYC morning traffic). The hospital is directly off of 287. Parking is a breeze, the lot is adjacent to the hospital and they validate parking. Once inside the hospital keep following the signs to the ED administration offices.

There were about 10 applicants present. Small breakfast was provided. The PD came in 40 minutes late, and spoke extensively extemporaneously for 1 1/2 hours. (A wee bit long, some applicant's eyes were closing.) There didn't seem to be too much focus in his presentation, and after my fifth interview it was hard to stay attentive. Afterwards, we went up to conference for 20 minutes...came back down for lunch, ate with a few residents and then had a tour and two interviews.

EM-1's work 18 12's a month. EM-2's work 17, and EM-3's work 16.

+++ All of the residents seem generally happy. Seems like a very laid back program.

+++ Subsidized housing. The area is expensive. Housing is across the street in building owned by the hospital. 1 BR's go for 700+ and two BR's are 1000+. About half of the residents live there.

++ Strong research oppportunities. Almost 1/4 of the attendings are significantly involved in research. They have a huge database that can pump out numbers in response to any of your questions. This also translates into a very EASY ROC required research project. The resources are there.

++ Interesting mix of community program with research interests, I haven't seen one like it thus far.

+++ Location....Morristown is a great community to raise your family. Great school system. Homes are very pricy, but if you and your spouse penny pinch you can make it on a resident's salary.

++ Most of their graduates go on to fellowships. The PD is smart (Former NYU tox fellow) and respected in the field. He is very well connected.

++ Morristown is the "headquarters" of the EMA (Emergency Medicine Associates) who serve as an independant contracting group of EM docs. They service over 15 northern and central NJ ED's, providing flexibility and high pay. Definitely a plus if you plan to live and work in NJ after residency.

+ Small amount of variety, there is a migrant farm worker population in the area and comprise about 15% of the "other" coming through the ED. So you will be able to use your Spanish.

+ Great ancillary staff, the PD admits to not putting in IV's, blood draws for the past 15 years. They do not feel that Docs should have to do that stuff and concentrate doing "doctor things" which is why you "get paid the big bucks" according to the PD.

+/- 3 year program

- Rotate through Newark for two months of Trauma, OB and another rotation. It is about 25 minutes away, and more in traffic, so expect to travel. You will need a car for this program. This is where you will get your "knife and gun club" experience.

- Rotate through NYC's poison control center. Even though this is great experience, expect to commute to NYC for 1+ hour each way. Probably better to take the train in.

-- Very affluent area (upper middle class mostly) so most of the cases correlate. You will mostly see blunt trauma (MVA's and falls), 85% Caucasian....but more acute cases since most have their own private docs.

-- Quality of grand rounds and conferences. They are one of the few programs out there that read a certain number of pages in Tintinalli and discuss it during conference. Also, since they are in Northern New Jersey I wonder if they attract quality speakers from around the country. A good deal of their lectures are given by senior residents.

-- The PD spent a considerable amount of time highlighting the negatives of programs in the area such as NYC, both during the presentation and interview. I guess it was in his right since he was an attending and tox fellow at NYU and spoke from his own experiences.

Overall, a typical community program based on "bread and butter" pt population. Strong research. Great place to live, raise a family and sow your seeds with the EMA (probably the largest employer of EM docs in NJ).

[joaquin13]

Interviewed at St vincents in Toledo, OH-
was very impressed with the complimentary hotel stay the night before, at probably the nicest hotel in the area, and the dinner the night before. Everyone got along very well, and they were excellent hosts! The interview the next day was well-planned. Since all of the interviewees stay at the same hotel, they had a good shuttle to take you to dinner & the hospital, so you didnt have to worry about getting lost. When we first arrived, the residents gave a slide show of the program, then the PD came in and talked about the program. The only downside was that the PD somewhat repeated the same things as the residents. They did have refreshments available for us during this presentation. Then we each had 3 one-on-one interviews with 2 faculty, 1 resident for about 15 minutes each. This went well, the weirdest thing I got asked was "if you had all the money in the world to do a research project, what project would you do and why?" this totally threw me off, because I hate research and this was not even a program strong in research! Anyway then we got to sit in for part of their grand rounds, and then had lunch and a tour. Everyone got along well, and the PD and the residency coordinator, Terry Moore, were all extraordinarily friendly and helpful. Lots of moonlighting experience available, with lots of $$$$$$!!! The helicopter/EMS system is excellent as well. I was impressed, and Toledo is not THAT bad!

[papichulodoc]

NYU Interview Review

The day started out at 7:30, I took the #6 train in which was about a 10 minute walk to 27th street and first avenue. Once inside you begin to realize how huge Bellevue is, so be prepared to ask someone where to go. They had Cosi bagels and coffee for us. First the PD and Asst PD spoke briefly, Dr. Legome (PD) indicated that they are looking for the type of resident who will be a leader in the field and not just a shift worker. According to him, they want to train "playmakers" and would only grant interviews to those who have demonstrated some leadership initiative. Then, one of the chief residents gave a stock slide show with some program information. Half were taken on the tour of Bellevue and Tisch, while the other half interviewed. I had five interviews, PD, Asst PD, chief resident, Dr. Goldfrank (chair), and another attending. WOW! Dr. Legome is a tough interviewer. Difficult to read, and asks tough questions. Then came lunch with a "get to know the residents" session followed by drinks at Benjamins about 6 blocks away. No resident went to the bar afterwards, but usually they do.

+++ NYU...Bellevue...the name, the reputation...possibly one of the oldest ED's in the country! They probably started during the Revolutionary War?!! (just kidding)

++ Smart residents, smart attendings. All residents come from great schools, so you will feel the pressure to study so you don't look like a fool.

++ NYC....amazing diversity, probably one of the best I've ever seen. 35% Hispanic, 20% white.....1% Bengali, 1% Cambodian...and on and on...They see all types and deal with lots of immigrants. They have an established reputation for treating the underserved.

++ International Medicine...They have an established and well funded connection with Romania. A few of their residents go every year. Two residents this past year went to India and did a study investigating the use of Thrombolytics for Stroke pts based on vitals instead of having to wait 7 days for a CT. Another resident is in Mexico trying to set up an elective.

---Not enough trauma! This was the main complaint of residents, "You don't come to NYU for trauma". They have to compete with 10 other NYC hospitals for trauma cases, so very small pickings! They rotate management of Trauma per case with Trauma surgery. The residents said they read about and feel very comfortable with types of cases seen everyday at Kings County and Jacobi.

++ Great PEDS EM fellowship, and Toxicology fellowship. Just introduced their International EM fellowship.

+/- 4 year program, the first year is mostly an intern year doing only 3 months in the ED. Most of it comes from working on other services.

-- NY City Hospital....not enough financial resources to go around. Facilities and esthetics suffer. Not enough ancillary staff...so you will be expected to draw blood, start IV's, and push to X ray. But it's a part of the game if you want to be in NY and be at one of the 3 top.

- Cost of living in the area.....average is probably about $1200 for a 400 s.q. studio, and $2,000 for a 1BR. But it's NY and space is a commodity.

- Two extremes of EM....one of the residents put it best...."You have Bellevue and Tisch, the real world exists somewhere in between". Bellevue treats the poor and uninsured, Tisch is the tertiary care, wealthy, private doc experience (and they're right across the street from each other!)

Overall, a great program. Know what you are getting into however, it's a great but tough place to train.

[papichulodoc]

The day started out at 7:45. Give yourself enough time to arrive with traffic. I took 93N in and I hit considerable rush hour at 7AM. It took 40 minutes to travel 15 miles from exit 7 to exit 18. The hospital is right off of the highway though. If you pay close attention to the directions, you should really make a left at the third traffic light instead of the second. Follow the "H".

I parked in the valet because it ends up being $5 cheaper than the validated lot. The ED office is in the Dowling building so ask for directions. They had coffee and bagels, about 8 interviewees were present. Then the PD introduced himself and the program. Then they did a "Round Robbin" with us, first the chiefs, then US guru, then the EMS fellow, the research Ph.D., and then the slide show on living in Boston. It was a lot though, too many people to meet that early in the morning.

Afterwards we went to an "old school amphitheater" and sat for one of their lectures. Went back for lunch with residents "good 'ol chicken parm", split the group in two...tour and then interviews. A resident stayed and spoke with us at all times. Four interviews, expect a tag team with the PD and another attending, someone from the Lahey clinic, another attending, and a joint EM-3/EM-1 session.

+++ Probably the most well rounded program seen thus far! It seems like they have everything there:

+++ On the forefront of community Emergency Practice with strong social research and programs. The chair is married to an epidemiologist (the Bernsteins) in the Boston University School of Public Health (which is directly across the street), so they have many interesting EM projects with a public health perspective. Many attendings had an MPH, and many of the residents either had it already or were interested in getting one. A few of their fellowships incorporated the MPH into the program.

+++ One of the few places I've seen with a social work office integrated into the ED. It is called Project Assert and relieves the burden on the ED to find shelter for the homeless, PCP's for those without one, and Detox programs for the drug users. It was started ten years ago and serves as a model for many institutions.

+++ Well established program, been around for 25 years so many of the ED/Surgery/IM battles have been fought. Acc. to the PD they are the strongest department in the hospital.

+++ They truly run traumas! They call surgery down when they feel it is necessary. They had 1800 traumas last year, the most of any Boston program. Huge catchment area. They compared themselves the most to Jacobi in NY in this aspect and many others.

++ Solid EMS experience! As EM-2's you are expected to run EMS command, an important skill to have especially if you go to a rural program. You answer the EMS box and direct EMT's and medics in transit. BMC is the command center for the city EMS.

++ Great fellowships, the EMS fellow who spoke said that they allow her to work part time in the ED as an attending while she studies for the MPH fulfills her EMS fellow requirements. They are also developing an international fellowship also to offer an MPH and an US fellowship is in the works.

++ Inner city experience...good diversity. Large population of Haitian Creole, Spanish and lastly Cape Verdean (Portuguese). I know it's Boston but it's in the very mixed and diverse neighborhood. They have a reputation for treating the indigent.

++ Resident run service at BMC. As an EM-1 you have to present to the second or third years. The focus of the senior level residents is to manage the ED and carry a pt load, very important in my opinion on being fully competent. EM-3's completely run the ED with an attending serving as backup.

+ Good mix of experience with affiliate hospitals. Residents rotate through the Lahey clinic. Acc. to PD Boston's version of the Mayo clinic. Very affluent, very educated (expect to treat MIT professors who want to know how pacemakers work) tertiary care center. They also rotate through the Quincey clinic a blue collar with Irish Catholic population. You get one on one teaching with the attendings.

+ Great ancillary staff, by the time the resident sees a pt they already have blood drawn, urine tested....

+ During their lecture, everyone was laughing! Great comraderie, everyone seemed pretty genuine and interested in us.

+/- 2,3,4 program....so you have to do an intern year in medicine, transitional or surgery. I hear the intern year at BMC is tough.

- I question the PEDS exposure, they rotate through Boston children's (one of the top in the country) but they complained that so does everyone else. They have their own Peds ED but mostly the bread and butter stuff, everything else gets transferred to BC.

- Very front loaded! The EM-1's are EXPECTED to do ALL procedures, an EM-1 said this could at times be very fustrating becuase she cannot see too many pts and always being called away. Procedures include reductions, lacs, LP's, abscesses, EVERYTHING! My other concern is, if the EM-1's are doing the procedures then will the seniors lose the skills? Also do they miss out on the decision making to do the procedures? EM-1's also work 21 12 hour shifts! Then EM-2's and 3's do 8 hours.

-- Parking can be a problem, residents pay $60 a month before taxes for a lot owned by another company about two blocks away. Boston is not a car friendly town.

-- Area is pricey, if you live in the area expect to pay $1200 for a small place. Lots of cars especially in that area, but don't sell yours because you have to commute to the affiliates with traffic can be nasty. One resident said he paid $1300 for a two bedroom some distance away but in a nice area.

Overall....I think a GREAT Program. Only question is "Do you want to live in Boston?" Winters are hard and long, some have complained that the greater city is not diverse enough. Limitless opportunities, and I think you will come out well trained. I didn't realize it was such a great program...because it isn't talked about much, I'm glad I interviewed there.

[papichulodoc]

New York Hospital Queens Review

The day started out at 12pm. (Latest interview start thus far!) 6 interviewees were present. The parking lot was full by this time, so expect to park in the street. There is a lot of metered parking in the area. Pay attention to the address sent out to you by the coordinator. I didn't realize that the ED offices were across the street from the hospital in a non-descript one family brick house adjacent to a Chinese restaurant. Because most of the day was spent in the one family house, the day was unlike other interviews. Most of the group stuff, including intro and lunch occurs in the basement while the interviews are conducted on the second floor.

After a brief intro by the PD, he gave a tour of the ED. Afterwards, you return to the house for lunch and discussion with the residents. We all had three interviews, one with the PD, the asst PD, and another attending. We were split into two groups, and both groups rotated with the same interviewers every fifteen minutes. The day was finally over at 5:15 (over the expected time).

+++ Diversity! Interesting catchment area in Queens. Mostly an immigrant population. Probably on par with NYU's diversity.

++ Very Dynamic and Genuine Program Director. Dr. James Ryan, a graduate of Jacobi, and former attending at North Shore is very down to earth and "hands on". He truly "did it all" during the day, giving us the tour, intro, and interview. You can see behind "the interview face" during tour, it seemed as though everyone in the hospital stopped and greeted him by his first name from nurses to janitors. Very interesting person as well, he teaches kickboxing once a week!

++ Subsidized housing. NYC real estate is incredible and the program provides local affordable housing about a ten minute walk away. Only about half of the residents actually used it, most wanted to live in the city. Rents ragne from $650 for a studio to $850 for a large one bedroom.

+ Short ten minute bus ride to LIRR and #7 train.

+ Unlike some other NY programs....only 17 12 hour shifts, they would like you to focus on reading.

+ Affiliation with Cornell...provides you with perks such as use of the Cornell shuttle to take you downtown free of charge. Also gives you online access to their library and research tools. Although, you do not rotate there.

+ Although it is a young program, it served as Lincoln's secondary site for a number of years so they are accustomed to having residents. Resident education is not a totally new experience to them.

+ Nice facilities, built within the last six years.

+ Development of international EM fellowship. Two of there faculty are on the ACEP international board. A new, young attending (Dr. Sheridan) is intent on developing an international exchange program. She is very enthusiastic and I believe will do great things for the program.

+/- 3 year program

--- Very Young program. Only in their second year, and they have a lot of competition between NYC and good programs on Long Island. The biggest negative is you only have one class of residents who can comment on the program. The plus is you have a good deal of input into the program's curriculum. Many of the attendings are young ambitious, and have many goals for the program.

-- Lack of secondary site. No experience with a tertiary care center. Residents rotate at St. Barnabas in the Bronx for their trauma and anesthesia rotations. St. Barnabas is a well known primarily DO EM residency. None of the residents who met with us had rotated there yet because it is a second year rotation, so who knows if it will be worthwhile.

-- Yet to iron out details with Trauma surgery. Trauma surgery claims that they will allow ED residents to run traumas, but first year residents have not rotated through until their second year.

- Residents complained that the program is too small and they would like to see the numbers increse just for more variety.

Overall, another alternative to a NYC program. If you're interested in "being a pioneer", getting involved in the early stages, working with a diverse immigrant population and living in Queens...then this place is for you. Definitely an "up and coming program".

[papichulodoc]

Mt. Sinai Interview Review

The day started at 8AM. About 8 applicants were present. I took the train in which is only several blocks away from the hospital. The building where the interviews are conducted is one block away and across the street from the main hospital building, so be mindful of the address.

The PD (Dr. Jagoda) gave us a very well planned out talk on the philosophy of Mt. Sinai EM. He spoke about the "four pillars" of EM including clinical training, research, financial support and academics. He sells the program very well, highlighting all of the opportunities available along with impressive faculty projects. Afterwards all of the applicants are driven by shuttle bus to Elmhurst Hospital in Queens with a resident guide. Dr. Jagoda feels it is very important for the applicants to see Elmhurst since you spend 50% of your time there. After a quick walk through the department you're back on the shuttle bus to head to the MT. Sinai ED. A brief tour of the Mt. Sinai ED is given. The resident then took us up to the Anesthesiology department to demonstrate the very elaborate and expensive Simulation Laboratory including the "Sim Man" and Virtual Bronchoscope. The sim man computer was not cooperating, but if you seen it once...then you've seen them all. Afterwards, lunch with residents is provided in a small room within the hospital. Here is where you spend the rest of the day waiting for your interviews.

Interviews are 15 minutes long, alternating with 15 minute breaks. I had three interviews, one with the Chair, and an attending from Elmhurst, and a Mt. Sinai attending. The chair asks if you intend to be a leader in ten years and if so doing what. This caught me somewhat by surprise. If you do not have an interview with Dr. Jagoda, he STRONGLY recommends that you meet with him for at least 5 minutes. Of course you can't refuse....so expect to stay until at least 4:30. Long day!

+++ International EM experience. Dr. Jagoda has strong international relations in Italy, Chile, and Argentina often giving lectures and spending considerable time in those countries. He also encourages an "exchange program" where foreign docs work in the ED. Currently there is an Italian doc working at Mt. Sinai.

+++ Elmhurst Hospital. This is a very unique place and all the residents speak very highly about it. There seems to be some kind of energy about this place, because all of the residents seem to light up and speak of their time at Elmhurst very enthusiastically. Very high volume (+140,000), incredibly diverse (Spanish is one of the many spoken on a daily basis), young mostly immigrant population, knife and gun club, tons of trauma, level 1 trauma center, residents run trauma...and there is a ton of it to go around. City Hospital atmosphere...so expect to draw blood, start IV's, less financial resources for esthetics.

++ Financial resources. The ED is very profitable because they have contracts and service about 8 local ED's including Jersey City. For example, one of the residents is trying to organize an international elective in Argentina as long as the program can pay travel and living expenses for his wife and child as well. Dr. Jagoda is reaching into the department's pockets to pay for his family as well. Not bad!

+ Dr. Jagoda, Jacobi trained...seems very approachable and friendly at least from what I could gauge during the interview.

+ Mt. Sinai....the primarily tertiary care center. Heart transplants...your share of zebras here. The hospital is in an interesting location, at the border of the richest and poorest regions of NYC (the upper east side and Harlem). But I believe most Harlem residents go to North General or Metropolitan. This is where you will get your "private doc" experience.

+ Mt. Sinai housing assistance. Mt. Sinai attempts to secure housing at a discounted rate in an exuberantly expensive market.

+/- 2,3,4 program....as for this year, this is still up in limbo....they have applied for approval to convert to a 1-4 program and will notify applicants asap. If so, most of the intern year will be spent in Elmhurst doing off service rotations.

- All shifts are 12 hours, EM-1's do 18, EM-2's do 17, and EM-3's do 16. Very common for most programs, but you're expected to work hard throughout the residency with a very small decrease in workload.

- Expect to rotate at Jersey City Medical Center during the EM-2 year. Residents seemed to favor it, and you get less shifts during that month along with a little extra traveling money. But did you expect to do EM in New Jersey, you also have to connect to a different subway system.

-- Check out scutwork.com for the match statistics. Mt. Sinai did not match for the past two years. This was a concern for me and I raised it during the talk with residents. According to them, they conducted a survey asking applicants for their opinion. Only 32 responded and most mentioned the 2,3,4 format as the major negative factor. It's probably because NY is saturated with 1-4, & 2,3,4 programs and it has to stand up to a lot of competition.

--- Two programs in two different boroughs of NYC. For those of you not in NYC, the commute between the upper east side and Queens is not easy. It is probably best to live in Queens and commute to Mt. Sinai, since ~60% of your time is spent in Elmhurst including ICU months. If you have a car, the toll across the bridge is $4.00 each WAY! $8.00 a day takes a significant chunk of our little resident salary. Rent is cheaper in Queens as well, but if you're coming to NY...where do you want to live???? NYC of course.

Overall....another NYC 2,3,4 program to consider....Elmhurst experience sounds fantastic...great support from the department, can you live with the commute though?

[mikegoal]

There is a shuttle that goes between mt sinai and elmhurst. i am not sure how frequent it is but it seemed pretty convienent

[papichulodoc]

Lincoln Interview Review

At this late point in the season, this is more for next year's crowd then for us.

The day started at 12pm. Yes, that's 12pm! 12-14 applicants were present. The PD (Dr. Gernsheimer) indicated that this year has been very competitive and hardly anyone has canceled their interviews late in the season (meaning he didn't expect so many people).

Parking is available in the parking garage "at a nominal fee". I parked on the street without a meter. There is a lot of traffic in the area during the day so I wouldn't worry about having your car broken into or stolen. Put the club on!

The PD gives an hour talk, citing the strengths of the program including the accomplishments of the versatile residents. Afterwards, one of the residents gives a tour. Then we were led back into the original conference room where we had PIZZA while waiting to be interviewed. Residents occassionally came through and spoke with us.

The day is not run very efficiently. Expect to stay until 6:30! Even the secretary leaves at 5! There are only two interviewers, Gernsheimer and the asst PD (Manuck sp?). They seem to like this format and not allow anyone else to interview because they pride themselves at picking the perfect residents for the past three years. (Not one complainer and everyone gets along.)

+++ The PD. When asked the ultimate applicant question, "What made you come here?" all residents replied it was because of Dr. Genrsheimer. He is very charismatic, simple, and very approachable. Most of the residents call him "Gern", and even the employees joke around very freely with him. His easy going character sets the tone for the ED. Dr. Gernsheimer gives the impression of the absent minded professor who is incredibly bright and extremely dedicated. Most residents offered examples of his dedication to teaching such as staying past his shift to assist residents with their workload....and then giving a personalized lecture for two hours on EKG's to one resident! That's dedication! He genuinely cares about the residents and his program. He has been involved with Lincoln for the past 33 years.

++ Good job prospects. Most residents said Gernsheimer knows EVERYONE in EM, and during national conferences tends to arrange private meetings with Chairs and his residents. Lincoln is an EM dinosaur and many of its graduates hold chair and PD positions all over the country.

++ High volume, tons of trauma! 140,000+ census. Used to be 160,000+, but the crime and murder rate has gone down all over the city. No shortage of knife and gsw's here. THere are a lot of gangs in the area, and frequently slash people's faces for intitiation.

+ One of the EM faculty was originally trained as a trauma surgeon and grandfathered into EM. The residents learn a lot from him.

+ Altitude research team. Every year one of the faculty goes to Ecuador to Cotopaxi to study effects and therapies related to high altitude sickness. Most residents go to mountain climb.

+ All of the residents seemed to be very happy! Surpisingly so, even if they work incredibly hard. To get an idea of how hard they work....they see 140,000+ (the most in the city) with only 10 residents (Jacobi and Kings County have 18 residents). Even though they work themselves to the bone, they do it with a smile.

+ Good Peds experience with lots of volume, high peds trauma (lots of GSW to the head , asthma) but possibly too much of the same.

+/- Very subsidized housing, costs ~$300 a month in Harlem with $75 parking for Lincoln and housing. But apartments are dorm style with community bathrooms. Only beneficial if you're single and want to live like a fat cat in NYC.

+/- No fast track experience. They employ non EM certified IM docs and PA's on a part time basis to cover the fast track. This screens the non-critical cases coming to the ED. In a very poor area, this can be essential since the ED serves more as a clinic seeing tons of colds and minor lacerations.

+/- No dedicated Surgical residency...but Cornell Surgery residents rotate there. Does this mean that you get to do all procedures? Pretty much...but the residents mentioned that occassionally you get some pretentious, condescending Cornell resident who tends to think everything should be done in THE "Cornell way".

+/- Very County experience. Typical City hospital, with weak ancillary support, although the residents said in order to have the nurses do all the necesary work...you must give all orders in one batch instead of adding on orders individually.

+/- 2,3,4 program....they do not expect to change because in order to survive at such an intense program you have to have a year of experience under your belt.

- Lack of community exposure, unlike many programs with a "dedicated" secondary site where you spend a good deal of your time they only spend up to three months at another institution. This other institution is St. Joseph's hospital in Yonkers. Very close by (10 minutes north by car)

-- Too busy! With such a high volume, you will learn via "trial by fire". This is not the place to go if you need to have lots of attending interaction and hand holding.

-- Layout of ED....very similar to Kings County. Specialized rooms including asthma stations, fast track and multiple trauma bays are scattered throughout. The tour seemed very confusing sometimes going across high traffic hallways. Unlike King's County and Jacobi who are opening their own brand new state of the art dedicated buildings, Lincoln does not have the luxury of space or money. There has been talk of renovating for some time, but in order to do that they have to close down sections at a time. Each space is critical, so they don't know which section to shut down first.

Overall....graduating from here you are guaranteed a job anywhere, very well clinically trained. By nature of its high volume, you will be able to handle ANYTHING...but probably the least academic of all city hospitals.

[papichulodoc]

Kings County Interview Review

The interview day was scheduled to start at 8:30 AM, but the applicants just sat around and had coffee and donuts before the Program director arrived. Dr. Doti actually started the intro to the program at 9AM.

Traffic on Flatbush avenue can be tricky. Give yourself enough time to arrive because you can spend up to 1/2 hour driving from the Brooklyn Bridge.

Parking is a problem. There is virtually no parking available on the street because of street cleaning regulations. THey do have valet parking but there are no signs clearly marking the area. The only clue to the valet "dropoff" point is a long line of cars and drivers in black unlabeled jackets getting into the drivers' seats. Bring ten dollars in cash with you, because they ask you to pay upfront. The Program coordinator will reimburse you in the morning. The valet parking can be found behind the University Health Sciences Building (about a block away from Kings County hospital where your interview is).

Dr. Doti's overall presentation was very effective. During waiting periods a slide show with very sensational and gruesome photos (that belonged in an EM hall of fame) was shown. I've seen many of these photos on some sick websites. It's nice to know that some of them were taken at King's County. Of course, this "sick" show failed to gross any of us "gung ho" EM applicants, instead it evoked the inquisitive "oooo" from the audience making us salivate for more.

After Dr. Doti's presentation half of the group went on the tour while the other half interviewed. A total of four interviews were conducted. Some of the offices were VERY COLD because the heating system is atrocious.

Residents came and went to give us their perspective on the program. Try and go out to the dinner on the night before for an honest opinion. Lunch was given at 12:30 - 1. Afterwards you can leave.

+++ Brooklyn.....possibly the highest concentration of immigrants (legal and illegal) in all of NYC. Highly dysfunctional area...lots of gang and drug related violence hence the biggest "knife and gun club". Dr. Doti proudly boasts that king's county has been the #1 in the country for gsw's. During the tour, a gs victim was brought in.

++ Aggressive, young leadership. There is no doubt you will come out of here an EM animal as Locchesi would like to scream at you. Their residents are known to be slightly on the "cocky" side since they can handle virtually anything. Even an NYU-Bellevue trained new attending admitted to relying heavily on her EM-4's because she was not ready for it coming out of NYU. When asked to compare other notable programs in the city to King's County, Dr. Doti replied he wasn't interested in working for the J.V. team!

++ You get the opportunity to go for your MPH at Downstate during your residency. No extra years, you have to let them know in the beginning and they will fit a two year MPH plan into your schedule. Tuition is not reimbursed.

+ Smart residents, all who wanted to be there. Kings County is a competitive program. It has convinced 30 Downstate students to go into EM and 29 of them want to stay at Downstate. They also have a very competitive EM/IM program who spend a total of three years in the ED.

+ Training during off service rotations. Most residents enjoyed their learning experience. They said (generalizing) that the Carribbean people usually do not come in unless they are very sick and a limb is falling off.

+ Brooklyn is an interesting place to live. The downside is most residents do not live in the area (because it is the #1 knife and gun club in the city, you don't want to come in to work BIB EMS.) So most live in Park Slope which is a trendy very diverse area. Most who work in Manhattan but cannot afford to live in Manhattan have settled in this area, gentrifying it raising the cost of living. If you have a family you may want to consider moving to Queens but you'll have to commute (20- 30 minutes each way).

++ Brand new building should be operational in the fall. Kings county layout and facilities STINK! The ED has outgrown it's space. Trauma bays are all over, fast track rooms look like old operating rooms, and asthma room is across a series of hallways and resembles a ward. So the new building will definitely be a plus. Expect some delays though with NYC contractors.

+ Great contact with med students. All Downstate med students rotate through the ED. The ED is very involved with the med school curriculum and probably the best department in the hospital.

+ Good fellowships and job prospects. Most of the graduating residents went to good places.

+ Increasing the research being conducted through the program.

+/- 1-4 year program.

- Ask about the contract issue. They say that they are able to have 17 residents becuase away institutions have agreed to support the salaries of a few residents. During the first two years, you will be expected to sign at least two one year contracts with their affiliated hospitals. They have five in total, and you are expected to go through the whole new employment process each time. Your salaries and benefits will change accordingly depending on where you sign the contract.

- Very limited community setting exposure. They spend a few months in some community settings but since the Kings County experience is so overwhelming and independant some residents have admitted that they still don't feel comfortable consulting PCP's and specialists.

- Expect to commute, because the away institutions can be up to one hour away. They rotate through the Northern section of the Bronx (45 minutes away by car, 1 1/2 by train) Brookdale hospital in Brooklyn, and Staten Island University (tolls are expensive.

- Insurance disparity. Uninsured Brooklynites and trauma go to Kings County, the insured with PCP's go to University Health Center RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET! The population is from the same pool, only difference is esthetics and insurance.

-- Even though they have the highest concentration of immigrants in the city, there is not much diversity in the population. Most of the immigrants come from the Western Carribeean and include Jamaica, Haiti, Trinidad and a small amount from Africa and eastern European. This allows you to see a lot of diseases endemic to those regions that most of us read about but will never see. Harldy any Latinos, Asian or Caucasians.

--- Ancillary services. Arguably one of the worst in all of the city hospitals. One of the residents said there is usually only one nurse on staff at night, and sometimes there is no clerk at night so the nurse gets spends a consderial amount of time doing secretarial duties.

Overall...another great program. You will no doubt be prepared to handle anything. The only issues are the lack of true diversity and where you live because commuting into Brooklyn can be tough. There is a train station about 3-4 blocks away but not advisable once the sun goes down.

[papichulodoc]

Finished with the interview trail!! I hope many of you are too! I also interviewed at Hopkins, MGH/BW, and St. Luke's, but I feel those programs have been represented well by others and do not warrant a review. If you have any particular questions about any of them, please feel free to PM me. I also canceled my interview with NYP so there may be an opening for Monday Jan 30.

I enjoyed meeting many of you on the interview trail, even if it was anonymous. There are some amazing people out there! And I would be honored to work with most of you. I look forward to it.

Good luck with the match! I hope you all get your #1. I finally realized all too late....that location, location, location is key! Training is virtually the same everywhere you go, what makes the difference is how you fit into the program and where you want to spend the next four years of your life. Don't get too caught up with the reputation of the place. Residency is what YOU MAKE OF IT!

[Sheerstress]

Thanks for all the reviews!