2012-2013 PM&R Interview Trail

[Tromner]

Thanks to everyone that contributes!

Links to prior years interview feedback/ program reviews:


2011-12:http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=865002

2010-11:http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=771765

2009-10:http://more.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=662186

2008-9:http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=563591

2007-8:http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=387065

2006-7:http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=332086

2005-6: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=225835

2004 and before:http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=161782

Also, SDN's official (and anonymous) interview feedback section is another great place to post and read others experiences. http://more.studentdoctor.net/schools/programs

Please post your experience on your residency interviews. AVOID THREADJACKING AND OFF-TOPIC POSTS. THIS THREAD WILL BE ARCHIVED FOR USE IN FUTURE YEARS.

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[TeaKae]

I'd love to post....but I don't feel like my SDN identity is anonymous enough that I'd feel comfortable giving thorough and candid reviews on programs. PM&R is a small community, I think that's why these interview trail threads don't fill up with a lot of information.

 

[Taus]

I'd love to post....but I don't feel like my SDN identity is anonymous enough that I'd feel comfortable giving thorough and candid reviews on programs. PM&R is a small community, I think that's why these interview trail threads don't fill up with a lot of information.

then consider posting in the anonymous interview feedback section sdn

 

[RangerBob]

I'd love to post....but I don't feel like my SDN identity is anonymous enough that I'd feel comfortable giving thorough and candid reviews on programs. PM&R is a small community, I think that's why these interview trail threads don't fill up with a lot of information.

I know what you mean--my old SDN username had my first name in it and it was pretty clear who I was. I opted to create a new username, but I also worry if I were to post reviews on programs, that they could figure out who I am--quite a few programs have asked where I'm interviewing at, and I'm really only applying to three geographical areas. Not that I have anything to hide--I seem to be one of the few people at my school who didn't change their name on Facebook. But I like being anonymous on SDN, at least until Match Day.

I think in the past interview trail threads some people PM'ed the OP with their review, who then posted for them. Personally I think the interview trail threads have better feedback than the interview feedback section.

 

[Tromner]

Well I guess since I started the tread, if anyone wants to send them to me to be posted anonymously that would be fine.

 

[ED50]

If I may encourage people to post interview feedback. This is an invaluable resource for those who are applying in the future and want to get some firsthand opinions on the various programs. I have really enjoyed reading about the programs in previous threads. Thanks!

 

[Taus]

.

 

[Taus]

Well I guess since I started the tread, if anyone wants to send them to me to be posted anonymously that would be fine.

I would highly encourage this if you feel uncomfortable posting. The mods may be able to help with this as well. While you do have to take everything you read online with a grain of salt..... there really is not much candid info available out there about programs besides the occasional helpful upperclassmen/graduates of your med school. SDN was certainly a valuable resource for me when looking into residency and fellowship programs.

 

[TeaKae]

True...I guess I definitely read back and looked over the archived threads, and found myself thinking that it'd be nice if there were even more info out there. Seems like most posts were by the same 2 people. I'll write reviews of all my interviews when I have some down time. Then I will create an alter ego (because secret identities are fun), or go through somebody else and post them. This is a very team-oriented field, so we owe it to our colleagues and future colleagues to be helpful!

 

[RooAgg14]

Alright, here we go! I'm going to try and leave my biases out and just give the facts

Interview day: 9am-3:30pm (Start time depends on how many applicants are there), welcome presentation by Dr. Garrison (PD), three 30-min interviews (one with PD), lunch at nearby restaurant with residents (new program, so only have two PGY2s), tour of facilities given by PD who drives you around town

Program specifics: 2 advanced spots; it’s new, but Dr. Garrison has been PD of Baylor Dallas, so he knows what he’s doing; full ACGME accreditation; 2-month rotation blocks – inpt is not front-loaded, 4 mos of outpt PGY2; continuity clinic; required high school football field coverage; 18-month didactic cycle including business lectures (PD has MBA as well), lectures Wed AM (protected time); 2 QI projects; sim lab; SAE exams; post-rotation oral examinations; home call (didn’t get a good feel on how often. new program so they are still trying to figure out call schedule); free meals (all, not just on-call); great salary (PGY2 $53,900+) and benefits; no beepers, use cell phone with secure text app

Facilities:
University Medical Center Brackenridge: 300 bed, level 1 trauma center; specialty clinics
Central Texas Rehabilitation Hospital: brand new 50-bed inpatient rehab hospital
Dell Children’s Medical Center: work with Dr. Nelson in her clinics and do consults in the hospital
Seton Medical Center Austin: non-trauma tertiary care hospital
Texas Ortho Sports and Rehab: MSK facility (pm&r, rheum, ortho, radiology)
Physical Medicine and Neurotoxin Institute: spasticity and neuro-rehab outpt
Seton Pain Center: outpt pain center

Location: downtown Austin, TX (one of the best cities in the country ); plenty of outdoor activities, sunshine year-round; great restaurants and nightlife; beautiful people; progressive; “live music capital of the world”; Austinites just passed Proposition 1 for a medical school, so Austin will open one by 2015

 

[RooAgg14]

Interview day: pre-interview dinner with residents; 7am-1:30 pm; breakfast burritos, welcome presentation given by Dr. Smith (PD of BCM); divided into two groups (first group tours while second group interviews), three 20 min interviews; lunch with residents at TIRR dining room; attend grand rounds/lecture

Program: 9-10 (they are downsizing a little) advanced spots (currently 11 PGY2, 10 PGY3, 12 PGY4); you rank both programs, so double your chances of matching; large patient load; very busy on inpatient, but will learn a lot; in-house call at TIRR; lots of resources and research opportunities; cadavers for injections and anatomy; lectures Thurs AM; little flexibility with schedule (they believe you will get everything you need through the rotations, so don’t need selectives); PGY2 salary $46,000, benefits with BCM and UTH are similar but there are some minor differences like parking, number of lab coats, etc; no meal discount; huge alumni network; great reputation

Facilities: A LOT (carry different beepers and not all have same EMR system)
TIRR Memorial Hermann: the Mecca, where Senator Gabrielle Giffords was taken for rehab; outpt and inpt (100+ beds)
Baylor Clinic: outpt
Quentin Mease Community Hospital: inpt and outpt
VA: inpt and outpt
Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center:
St. Luke’s: acute care; 24 bed inpt rehab
Texas Children’s
Ben Taub: level 1 trauma center
Kelsey-Seybold Clinic

Location: Houston, TX; Texas Medical Center (largest medical center in the world); big city; great food; lots of art and culture; professional sports; humid; traffic

 

[Splice33]

True...I guess I definitely read back and looked over the archived threads, and found myself thinking that it'd be nice if there were even more info out there. Seems like most posts were by the same 2 people. I'll write reviews of all my interviews when I have some down time. Then I will create an alter ego (because secret identities are fun), or go through somebody else and post them. This is a very team-oriented field, so we owe it to our colleagues and future colleagues to be helpful!

This may be premature, but if you're looking for more information there is a rank list thread from last year. Applicants posted their rank lists and included some pros/cons of some of the programs.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=12187158

 

[RooAgg14]

Interview: pre-interview dinner, 8am-2pm; donuts and chit chat, overview of program with PC (very knowledgeable), three 20 min interviews (one with PD), residents come in and out during break time between interviews, nice lunch at faculty club in hospital with residents; didn’t get much of tour since the main buildings will be new once our class starts

Program: 9 advanced positions; very hands-on, plenty of EMG (EMG course starts PGY2) and injection experience; cadavers for anatomy and joint injections; home call with SCI VA, others are hospital call which according to residents isn't bad at all, call avg 2/month, work one holiday PGY2 and PGY3, no call PGY4; 18-month lecture series, lectures Fri AM (4 hrs, protected)with business training; EPIC EMR; new hospitals opening up spring 2014; world-renowned burn clinic; $1400 worth of books given PGY2, plus $350/year educational stipend for PGY3 and PGY4; PC (Terri Isbel) is a huge resident advocate; PGY2 salary $53,900+; fellowships in pain, peds, SCI, TBI

Facilities: all within walking distance in med center except for VA
Parkland: county hospital, level 1 trauma and level 1 burn center, great reputation; new building spring 2014
VA: SCI and clinic
Children’s Medical Center
Presbyterian: private hospital
University Hospital – Zale Lipshy: private hospital
University Hospital – St Paul: new building spring 2014

Location: Dallas, TX; located in huge medical district few minutes from downtown; big city – lots of fun stuff to do; professional sports; ride horses to work (jokes)

 

[Tromner]

The following was submitted to me anonymously:

Interview Day: Day began with a Grand Round lecture by a PGY4 at 7am. This was not mentioned in the scheduled that was emailed out so few of the applicants could attend. We were told about it when a resident called a couple nights before to see if you have any questions. After the lecture we had a ppt by a resident about the program followed by a brief word from one of the associate PD's reinforcing similar points. Next we split into tours of Magee and interviews. Interviewed with 2 attendings and a chief resident. Interviews were relaxed (one attending was so casual that he didn't really ask any questions). After interviews we sat in on the didactics or went back to the conference room. Next we traveled to the main hospital, Thomas Jefferson Univerity Hospital. At TJUH we went on another tour and stopped by the PD who spoke very briefly about research at Jefferson. Afterwards we went to lunch at a place billed as the "best burger in the city" (the burger was very good). Then the residents got cabs for those of us that needed it and the day was over.
Call: 5/month as PGY 2, 3/month as PGY 3 and 1/month as PGY4. Call at Magee has more pts but they tend to be more stable. TJUH has fewer pts but they are much more unstable. At magee if something happens you send them to Hanneman ED across the street but at TJUH you handle it yourself.
Rotations: All 2 month rotations. Maybe more inpt than outpt. Big focus on SCI (model system, lots of research, RASS rotation-which sounds pretty cool by the way). Specifics are here: http://www.jefferson.edu/jmc/departments/rehabilitation/education/residency/pgy2.html
Electives: I think they said get 2 months of electives but there are also a couple of months where you are free in the afternoons or 1-2 days a week and you are expected to fill that time with more electives
Didactics: Weekly morning time, protected (ie residents don't bring their pagers to lecture), mix of residetns and attendings. 8 weeks of anatomy each year partially in cadaver labs. Also they share P&O, EMG and Gait lecture shared with Temple and UPenn
Facilities: TJUH, Magee Rehab Hospital, Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation (residents do some TBI here and many also moonlight), Moss Rehab (Excellent rehab including TBI model system shared with Temple/Einstein where Jeff Residents do EMG, Amputee and a couple other things), Rothman (very large private ortho group), AI Dupont for Peds (this is also where their PMR/Peds resident spends lots of time)
After Residency: Many go to fellowships (I think all or almost all this year) and it sounds like few have any trouble getting in. I remember that Jefferson has some fellowships them selves but I can't find that information online now. I thin they have a SCI Fellowship, some kind of peds fellowship and an MSK/Pain fellowship with Rothman. They also have a 5 year Peds/PMR program.
Setting: Magee and TJUH are in center city Philadelphia. Very nice, safe sections of the city. No free parking at TJUH. Philly is cool, smaller than NYC and lower cost of living. Nice that Temple and UPenn are also there cause they occasionally pool resources and have happy hours.

 

[PMR2]

Can I give some unsolicited advice about the interview day lunch? The residents you're eating with are spending time with you because they want to get to know you and talk with you about the program. It may not be technically part of the interview, but it is still nice to treat the residents with some friendliness and courtesy. To that end, I'd recommend holding off on texting during the lunch. If you have to answer your phone, maybe you can excuse yourself, take care of the emergency, and then come back. We're all busy, and some calls are really important, but maybe you can consider waiting for the end of the lunch to text back to the less important messages.

 

[hashtag]

Can I give some unsolicited advice about the interview day lunch? The residents you're eating with are spending time with you because they want to get to know you and talk with you about the program. It may not be technically part of the interview, but it is still nice to treat the residents with some friendliness and courtesy. To that end, I'd recommend holding off on texting during the lunch. If you have to answer your phone, maybe you can excuse yourself, take care of the emergency, and then come back. We're all busy, and some calls are really important, but maybe you can consider waiting for the end of the lunch to text back to the less important messages.

i totally agree! not even close to the interview stage yet but it does reveal a lot. it's not always best to have to be told what to do, people may doubt your intentions, but better to work on presenting oneself well sooner rather than later, right? Thanks for the tip PMR2- it's appreciated!

 

[Tromner]

I have been recording my thoughts after each interview so that later (ie after the rank lists are due) I can post them for next years applicants to read. If others could do the same, it would be a good resource and no one would have to worry about repercussions for posting candid opinions. Just a thought.

 

[Prof Moriarty]

it would be a good resource

Please do. This is one of the few places where this kind of info is available and it will be incredibly helpful to those who come after you.

 

[RooAgg14]

Was at a prelim interview today --

interviewer: So, I see you are going into psychiatry.
me: I'm going into physical medicine and rehabilitation
interviewer: Oh? I saw in your personal statement you wrote "psychiatry"
me: Hmm, it should say physiatry [also, I wrote physical medicine and rehabilitation/pm&r a few times in my PS]
interviwer: oh, yes, you're correct. So, physiatry, like physical therapist.

And so it begins! Lifetime of educating others on what PM&R is

At least it wasn't the PD of the program! The PD interview went much better -- she knew what PM&R was

 

[Tromner]

SUNY Downstate

The interview day began at noon. They have morning and afternoon sessions. They also have Friday and Saturday dates (Side note: I think it is a little bit of a red flag when a program has Saturday interview, like they're desperate to get people to come so even if you already have your weekdays filled with better interviews you can still some to the weekend interview, just my guess). They provided valet parking, which was nice based on its NY location. The lunch was also nice. The day began with two chiefs giving a ppt about the program that focused on the attendings and rotation sites (King's County, Downstate, Long island college hospital, Staten Island University Hospital, St. John's Episcopal Hospital) The Majority of your time is at Kings or Downstate (in pt, out pt, consults, EMG). Kings is recently renovated. Downstate is an admittedly not too pretty. Staten Island is supposed to be very nice and a well oil rehab machine. I was told by one resident you don't write admissions or progress notes, just discharges, round and write orders. St. Johns is the furthest away and it is supposed to be a pretty cush rotation. LICH is new to the rotation and you don't spend much time there, but the residents seemed to like this rotation as well.
Rotations follow the ususal inpt first then out pt later pattern. 3rd year is entirely out pt with some emg/consult. There are no specifically SCI/TBI/Peds rotations, you just see it on General in pt or out pt.
Attendings seem fine, all the main ones are international besides Dr. Pipia the PD, most specialize in pain/outpatient. The pay was decent (starting in the low $60's with a confusing housing stipend). Residents are getting fellowships almost all in MSK/Spine/Pain and reportedly some sports.

To continue with the day, after lunch and the resident ppt we went to interviews. An attending, two residents and the PD. The PD is nice enough. There is debate on this forum whether he is a passionate hero who turned the program around, or a cocky, jerk. I didn't get much of an impression either way. I asked him what he has changed since he took over (ie What has changed from 6 years ago when the program was on probation). He seemed like he knew what I meant and said that he gives books to residents when they arrive, emphasized the SAE and board prep more (probation was because residents were passing at about 50%). I asked what it means that the PM&R department was under the Ortho Dept. He said that they have a great relationship but hope to separate the departments soon. It sounds like they lost their Chairperson for a couple years and the departments combined and just haven't separated yet.
After the interviews was a tour of Downstate and Kings, which was fine. Afterwards there was a swanky mixer in Queens (they did two during the interview season) which I was too tired to attend but I am told various people, especially residents got plastered.

In conclusion this is a program that has various things going for it: residents seem happy, in NYC (or at least Brooklyn...), very pain/MSK focused, a couple of not so hard rotations. It has some downsides: recent probation, mediocre hospitals, flatbush area. It seems to fit the stereotype of a back up for people that don't want to leave NYC. That said, it is probably a good option for people that like pain/msk and want to stay in NY. This is not me, so perhaps that colored my reaction but it's just my two cents.

 

[Residentcool]

Was at a prelim interview today --

interviewer: So, I see you are going into psychiatry.
me: I'm going into physical medicine and rehabilitation
interviewer: Oh? I saw in your personal statement you wrote "psychiatry"
me: Hmm, it should say physiatry [also, I wrote physical medicine and rehabilitation/pm&r a few times in my PS]
interviwer: oh, yes, you're correct. So, physiatry, like physical therapist.

And so it begins! Lifetime of educating others on what PM&R is

At least it wasn't the PD of the program! The PD interview went much better -- she knew what PM&R was

Lol that is too funny. I actually laughed.

 

[Tromner]

Tufts

Interview Day: Tufts did only 4 Saturday interview days based on the faculty availability and the small residency class (3-4/year). Arrived at 7:30 for simple breakfast and presentation by residents. There were ~6 residents from varying years but maybe 12-16 applicants. Presentation was fine and residents seemed open and honest as well as positive and friendly. At one point the Chairman stopped by to talk. He seemed like a very interesting guy but very odd. He told us about the children's hospital which used to be on a barge in the bay. After the presentation we had a q&a then went upstairs to another building for interviews. We each interviewed with 2 faculty, a group of residents and the PD-Dr. Bloch. Faculty interviews were fine for me, one friendly and one quiet. The residents were interested and answered more questions. Since there were so many of us and we each had to see the PD, by the time I saw her she was very rushed, to the point of being curt and unfriendly. She asked me 2 random questions and I asked 2 random questions and I left. Lots of waiting and chatting. Lunch was catered, nice chicken, salad, rolls, and tofu for vegetarians. They took us on a tour but didn't see too much since most of the time spent at Tuft Medical Center is out pt and it was a Satuday so some stuff was closed.
Call: Varies based on rotation site. Home call at some, on site call at others. At one of the sites you have to cover each day from 5-7pm but there is no other call (all the residents complained about this site). At Tufts Medical Center, you do home call for the out pts and though the call is frequent, it sounds like you are only called 2-3x/yr and don't have to go in (just call in pain meds or something). At the VA you have to one weekend a month and round on Sat and Sun. I think they said there is no other weekend call, except if you choose to moonlight at NERH on the weekend for $80/hr.
Rotations: Approx. 50/50 inpt/outpt. pgy2s do inpt pgy4s do out and 3 are mixed. You're time is pretty evenly split between 4 sites with slightly more at NERH and slightly less at NESH. Tufts is all out pt and consults. They also do some private out pt work, including with an anesthesiologist in Springfield who will let you do lots of interventional stuff. EMGs are done with Neurology.
Electives: 2 weeks of electives which may be done anywhere. residents admitted that this was a weak point.
Didactics: Wednesdays from 8-12, protected. Residents always go out to lunch afterwards and don't have to be back at sites until 1:30pm. Didactics used to be mostly led by residents but in last couple years it is more of a visiting lecturer system with the usual journal clubs, grand rounds done by the residents. 18month cycle. Occasionally they take a morning in the anatomy lab or some other unusual thing. Not too many other courses and no real academic relationship with Harvard (like the Philly or NY residencies interact). Work load after lecture varies by site. There is some interaction with the other Tufts depts/residencies including attending other grand rounds, etc.
Facilities: 4 Main rotation sites: 1)NERH-New England Rehab. You spend ~half your pgy2 here doing general, stroke, tbi, ortho... Sounded like a solid free standing rehab hospital. no major emr. 2)Tufts Medical Center. Consults, outpt, EMGs, Outpt Peds with the Chairman. 3)West Roxbury VA. This is where you do SCI and polytrauma. It is 2-3 floors of rehab connected to the ER and full hospital. NERH and NESH you have to send emergencies out. It is one of the good VAs and you have access to the EMR at home. Also there is usually a Spaulding resident and SCI fellow there with you. 4)NESH- this felt like the black sheep of the group. It is to the south of the city and you're there til 7pm most days. (as a side note: a down side of this residency seems to be that there are 4 sites, three in the suburbs and one in the city, so there is a bit of a commute depending on where you live.)
After Residency: This year all 3 pgy4s are doing fellowships (interventional pain, msk/spine I think) Since 2010 they have had fellowships in all the major specialties and it is stated that they have no trouble getting in. That said, their list of sites included everything from Spaulding to Minnesota and Iowa.
Setting: VA is in a nice suburb, but patients are from all over New England since it is the only dedicated SCI location for the VA. NERH sounds like a wealthy suburb and sees a variety of patients including more elective procedures and such. Tufts Medical Center is in Boston's Chinatown, but it's not too shady and right on a T stop. Also only a couple of blocks from Boston Commons and the theater district.

 

[Tromner]

Einstein/Montefoire

Interview Day: Met the program coordinator and had breakfast. PD (and interim Dept Chair) Dr. Thomas was away on a family thing so Dr. Weinapel (sp?) gave a long, comprehensive description of the program. After that we started having interviews. Odd thing here was there was no schedule or order. An attending would wander in and ask for a student and one of us would volunteer. 5 interviews: 1 Chief resident, 4 attendings. Interviews ranged from very friendly to cold and awkward but that is norm for interview days. No pimping as has been described on this forum in past years (though it was rumored that this was because the PD was missing but don't know for sure). Meanwhile the other chief resident showed up in the conference room to hang out and answer questions (note that the only residents we saw all day were the 2 chiefs). Towards the end of the interviews, lunch was delivered. Next the second chief took us on a tour, answered more questions and said goodbye. we only saw the Montefoire Mose division but were offered to see the other location by shuttle (none of us accepted).
Electives: 2 months of elective can be done anywhere. There is also some flexibility in the schedule. For example if you want 2 months of TBI instead of 1, you can usually do that without using an elective.
Didactics: Weekly Tuesdays afternoons on an 18month schedule which include attendings, resident grand rounds, etc. There are also daily didatics/journal clubs or something at each of the sites, sometimes 1hr at 7:30am and noon. That is to say that there are 4 hours of weekly didatics and ~7 more hours each week. If that's not enough, they sound like they regularly attend lectures with other departments.
Facilities: There seem to be 3 main facilities (the handouts they gave were just the pay rate and a sample contract which is to say worthless fine print). Monetfoire has bought up all the main hospitals in the Bronx so they dominate the area. Two Montefoire sites and Jacobi Hospital. I can't claim to have kept the montefoire hospitals separate but between the 3 there are 2 inpt floors (~20-25 pts on each I think). Each inpt unit has 2 pgy2s and a senior resident overseeing them (if you do the math this is kind of light on in patients for each resident). Jacobi is a municipal hospital and includes burn and trauma units. They have different clinics each day that happen weekly which pgy2s get involved with including Spacticity, SCI, P&O, Foot rehab, general out pt, peds, emgs, interventional pain (one for simple extremity injections and one for US guided injections). They also have rotations in interventional pain. Currently they have one flourosuite but are demolishing an old swimming pool to add a second one. Overall the facilities looked pretty nice. (Residents used to rotate at Jamaica Hospital but complained that it was too far to drive, complicated the call schedule and the attending weren't teaching, so the PD stopped sending them. This is great to hear that the PD really listens to the residents but now means that they had to downsize from 10 residents/yr to 8 and that they are lacking much inpt rotations. They are hoping to increase their inpt sites after they get the next dept chairman hired). They also rotate at a SAR in the area.
Call: I missed this discussion cause the resident explained while I was in an interview. I know it is all in house and covers both Montefoire and Jacobi. Also you have lots of coverage by IM and residents from other services since most of your pts come from in-house.
Rotations: research is recommended but not required. They are setting up international electives with alums in India, iraq and el salvedor. Other unusual rotations include Cardiac rehab, woman's rehab (as described above), SAR, TBI at Mt Sinai (they don't see much in pt SCI), Ortho, rheum/radiology, out pt peds. Also they seem to have a lot of rotations called floats which I guess just fills in the cracks on the busy service. Also only about 2 months of consults (this is another place where the residents complained they weren't learning anything and working too hard so the PD changed it).
After Residency: Don't know what pgy 4s or recent grads did specifically but sounds like MSK, pain mostly (as is the current vogue). They have many fellowships here. 3 Interventional pain fellows. 1 Womens Rehab fellow (Women's rehab seems to be unique to Einstein as I have never heard of it before (except one doc at NYU). They even do a rotation in it which has to do with pelvic floor rehab, breast/pelvic CA rehab, etc.) 1 Cardiac rehab fellow. 2 peds fellows (since it is a two year fellowship).
Setting: The Bronx. The neighborhood seemed and was said to be safe. There is a subway stop 2-4 blocks away. There is on campus housing that everyone without a good reason to live remotely takes advantage of (sounded like <$1000 for a studio but don't quote me on that). I don't know NYC boroughs so I'll leave this one alone but it seems to have a surprising diversity of people and neighborhoods. And as one attending said, "it's not all Latinos".
Conferences/education: registration fee+$500 if you present (up to 2/yr). $500/year for books, ipods or ipads. Also they don't pay for review course but encourage residents to take the Kessler course and will give you time off for conferences or this course.
Food: $15/day free

 

[Tromner]

NY Presbyterian Columbia Cornell

Interview Day: Started at 9:30 (parking provided) with breakfast. Then a ppt with PD Dr. Strauss. Dept Chair stopped by to say hello and talk about research and the details of the NY Pres. merger. Next we toured the inpt floors of cornell and the student housing, which were all nice enough. We had lunch with some residents and then began interviews. 6 interviews, ~20 minutes each. Everyone interviews with PD and Chairman. The Chair, Dr. Stein, has you read a clinical scenario and asks you ethics type questions about it. Interviews were generally relaxed. They day was well organized with plenty of time for questions.
Electives: None. They have 8 sites and 8 residents so everyone does the same stuff. They want a consistent, well rounded experience. In general there is relatively little flexibility in their schedule. One resident says they use vacation time for away rotations if needed.
Didactics: 2 hours twice a week, one at cornell, one at columbia. lectures seem good with very well respected speakers. Residents don't do much lecturing (one grand rounds ppt in pgy3 and one journal article). They also have 2 cadaver labs with PTs and ortho residents in the evenings, and emg course at some point. pgy 4s tend to do the Kessler board review course.
Facilities: I won't spend much time on this. You can see their web site for details, but they are world renown sites (NYP, Sloan Kettering for cancer, Hospital for Special Surgeries for ortho, two ivy league medical schools). Also Blythdale is the only dedicated peds rehab hospital in the state of NY. Burke a suburban rehab hospital where you do sci/tbi.
Call: Call was confusing to me because it depends on which rotation you are on, but it didn't sound outrageous. It was 24hr on site call. No call as pgy4s.
Rotations: rotations are 1.5 months at a time. They do 12 months of inpt, 4-6 months of consult, I think. 3 months of inpt peds rehab, 3 months of inpt at Burke in TBI/SCI. 3 months at HSS, 3 Months at Sloan Kettering.
After Residency: They seemed very competitive in fellowships. There are a couple available at HSS and columbia (pain and sports/spine). They also said that recent graduates designed their own fellowships in performing arts and metabolic bone disease.
Setting: Mostly the upper east side of manhattan and columbia in washington heights area. 6 total months are spent in the white plains area at Blythdale and Burke. There are hourly shuttles from columbia to cornell and once daily shuttles from cornell to west chester. If you miss the shuttle you can take the train to west chester and I think the security guard will pick you up.
Also, there is subsidized housing which was nice and very close to cornell (supposedly there is a tunnel from one building to the hospital). According to a resident, the prices are slightly below market value, but are a good value considering their quality/location. studio $1600-1800 1 bed room $2000-2400, 2 bed $2800-3000.
Conferences/education: There is an educational fund ($600 as pgy2, $1000 as pgy3,4) and an extra $200 for attending a conference if you are presenting.

 

[Tromner]

NYU

Interview Day: Day began at 7:45 (parking not included) with breakfast. PPT with the PD, Dr. Moroz at 8am. Dr Moroz is a funny straight forward person. At times he even corrected me when I overstated benefits of NYU's program, so he seemed pretty reliable and honest. At 9am we split into a tour and interviews. The tour is abridged because many of the locations were under construction (hurricane sandy). We started at 38th St, walked to Bellevue and NYU at 26th st. The tour guide suggested we not walk to Hospital for Joint Diseases (HJD) because it was mostly closed and 10 more blocks south to 17th st. So don't wear heals on this interview if you can avoid it. Interviews were with the PD, an attending and a chief resident. Very relaxed. Finally we had lunch at 1pm and more residents arrived.
Electives: 3 months of electives with 1 month that may be used away. There seems to be some flexibility in the schedule also. As one person explained: everyone does each thing once but some people do somethings twice.
Didactics: Weekly didactics 3hrs in the afternoon. these are mainly local and visiting speakers based on resident evaluations. Residents do journal club presentations but not grand rounds or other lectures.
Facilities: I interviewed after hurricane sandy, so lots of stuff was closed for renovation. Rusk is switching to all outpt with all the inpt beds moved the HJD. HJD is a large private well respected ortho hospital. Other rotations sites include Bellevue (municipal hospital with many immigrant or uninsured), Manhattan/Brocklyn VA (veterans, small inpt service at manhattan and outpt at both, brooklyn va sounds like a pain to get to). You can read more about these on their website.
Call: I think it was like 7/month, 5/month, 3/month each year but I could be wrong so don't quote me. I know it depends on the rotation. VA call is from home. otherwise it is in-house with a post call day.
Rotations: We mostly spoke about locations instead of rotations. I know they are mostly 2 months at a time. They decreased inpt months to the minimum requirement of 12 months. There are about 9 months of inpt as pgy2 and the rest as pgy3.
After Residency: They have a TBI fellowship recently started and NYU anesthesia has a Pain fellowship that is often filled with PM&R grads. The majority of recent grads seem to have gone off to fellowships. I'm not really a good at how to judge fellowship success in a residency (did you ever rotate at a program that said that their residents have trouble getting into fellowship). Not many fellowships offered at NYU but one resident said that you wouldn't want to do fellowship at the same location as residency (not sure if I agree with that but whatever).
Setting: Midtown Manhattan. There is housing but not many of the residents use it. Residents are dispersed all over Manhattan, the 5 boroughs and NJ. Seems like the residency it so big that the residents aren't too tight, but this might fit you fine. Not every residency has to feel like a family.
Benefits: Very high. I won't quote numbers as they change, but pgy2s started a around 62k/yr. Also there are separate contracts at Bellevue vs NYU with the main difference being that bellevue has a union. You are initially assigned one but later can choose which contract fits better. Every resident gets given a bunch of books on arrival. This year they were on Kindle but that might change.

 

[Tromner]

UPenn

Interview Day: The day before the interview, we had a bowling night at a place run by people with disabilities. It was a nice change from the usual happy hour. It was fun and provided ample time for discussion with the residents, including pgy 1s. Lots of food and drink.
The day of the interview began at 8am with breakfast (parking provide and a shuttle was provided from the hotel) and ppt by PD Dr. Lenrow with a guest appearance by dept chair, Dr. Dillingham. Both are about 18 months on the job. Dr Lenrow has been there for years but was interim PD and Chair. Dr. Dillingham was recruited from Wisconsin where he was also the chair. They have also recently been expanding with 4-6 new young faculty. Their PIRM rehab hospital is 4-6 years old and the outpt section is only 1-2 years old. UPenn has been investing a lot of money in the rehab dept. (Sounds like they wanted a Penn place to send their pts after acute care, instead of losing them to Moss and Magee). After the ppt we started interviews. I had 3 interviews (1 pgy4, 1 attending, and the PD). All relaxed. After that we had lunch and more residents showed up for chatting and questions. Finally we had a tour of PIRM and then left.
Electives: 3 months elective (1 may be away).
Didactics:Weekly lectures by attendings and visiting faculty from 9-1pm (catered!). You are expected to round before hand. Monthly resident presentations (grand rounds/journal club).
Facilities: Hospital of the University of Philadelphia (HUP-one of the nations best acute care hospitals, part of an ivy league medical school, lots of research, home of the Penn Spine Center, ?no inpt beds), Philly VA(mostly out pt, large VA very close to HUP/CHoP), Pennsylvania Hospital(1st hospital in nation, swanky private hospital, small inpt unit), PIRM(aka Penn Medicine at Rittenhouse, very new, 6 floors including LTAC, Hospice, out pt clinics, locked 16 bed TBI unit, medically complex, sci, etc...), Good Shepard in Allentown (Good shepard is the rehab partner of Penn and provides all the PT/OT in Penn system. allentown is a rural area with a different population), CHoP (very good childrens hospital, you spend 1 month each inpt and outpt, Temple residents do the same rotation)
Call: Our paper said PGY2=3-4/month, pgy3=2/month, pgy4=1/month but I think that might not include weekends. There is also home call for the Pennsy and VA, which one pgy4 estimated having been called in <5 times in 4 years. Normal inpt day is 7a-6p (but they may sign out earlier).
Rotations: pgy2 year is all inpt except 1 month of peds out pt and 1 afternoon/week of clinic experience. as pgy3/4 you spend 2 months in inpt TBI and 2 months of inpt at Good Shepard. PGY 4 is almost all out pt/emg and pgy3 is a mix of consults, out pt and emg.
I wasn't too interested in pgy1 option but the pgy1s seemed happy. They do 3 months of IM at Pennsy (changed from HUP due to being overworked) 1 month of inpt pmr. a month of neuro, neurosurg, ortho.
After Residency: Mostly interventional pain/sports/spine. They have a spine fellowship and research fellowships at penn. There have been and might soon be again fellowships in Peds at chop and cancer but currently there is not.
Setting: They see a variety of pt populations. Vets at VA, private at Pennsy, more rural at Good Shepard, PIRM gets most of its pt from Penn system hospitals. HUP is a mix of the fancy, bizarre, and indigent.
All of the main hospitals are in a line, in some of the nicest areas of the city and walkable if you like (and on the same computer system). Their rotation at good shepard comes with food and housing in allentown (~ 1 hr and 15-30 minutes north of Philadelphia) and residents are pretty positive about it.
Conferences/education: ~$500/yr with $250 in senior year for conference fees. There is more funding for conferences if you present (they said there is a competition where the top 3 posters in the dept get the money). Research is required (a work of publishable quality) and I think they set you up with a research mentor based on your interest.
Benefits: They will pay for parking and a septa pass (bus). I think they give you one text book and one review book on arrival.

 

[Tromner]

JFK

Interview Day: Day began around 9 with a simple breakfast and talk with a pgy4. 4 interviewees. We had a very informative presentation about JFK (including extensive discussion of accreditation and how residents are evaluated). 3 relatively relaxed interviews (PD-Dr. Cuccurullo, an attending, a pgy4) Lunch with residents. A group interview with Dr. Strax (Dept Chair).
Tour: Tour was low key. We saw two general inpt floors, the BTU (brain trauma unit), outpatient offices, resident lounge, rehab gyms, etc. It all looked pretty standard, as rehab hospitals go.
Facilities: JFK is at the Johnson Rehab Institute which is connected to the JFK Medical Center. So there is an ED and complete hospital and all the support that goes with it in terms of consults, etc.
Setting: Edison NJ seems like a nice suburban area. It is close to Philadelphia and NYC. It is also close to Kessler, Temple, UPenn, Jefferson and other NY residency programs. This seems to be a double edged sword in that they have lectures and courses shared with other programs but also has to compete with other rehab hospitals, esp Kessler. Area seems safe, residents live all over but stay within 30 min due to the home call.
Rotations: Rotations are scheduled 3 months at a time which allows residents to really get proficient at each thing and make strong relationships with the attending and staff. pgy2 is all inpt (SCI, Cardiac, TBI, Neuro/stroke). pgy3 is consults, EMG/msk, spasticity, and 1 month each of Peds, sci at kessler, and consults. pgy4 is electives, emg/msk, consults, P&O and something else.
Electives: 3 months of electives (one allowed to be away)
Didactics: weekly Tuesday morning lectures (protected time)
Call: all home call (must be within 30 min drive) and 7 weekends/yr. Residents are paid for admissions on the weekend (~$50 per H&P). This is partially to offset the fact that residents are not allowed to moonlight.
Research: there is a research requirement (at least one submission in the 3 years). residents are fully funded to attend conferences where they are presenting. Also you never need to find coverage (except for call) because attendings are expected to run the service with out you. (quick note: same goes for vacation, you just have to get your attending's permission to take off. You may not take vacation in a couple rotations including BTU and if you have unused days at the end of the year, you get paid for them) Also since they are a TBI Model System and affiliated with RWJ medical school, there is grant money around and ongoing projects.
After Residency: They say the normal split is 50/50 between fellowship and private practice. This year all 4 are doing a fellowship (2 pain, 2 msk I think)
Fellowships: JFK has a pain and TBI fellowships

 

[JuliusErving]

I'll add to the NYP interview. They also have subsidized housing in Washington Heights by Columbia as well. It's not as nice of an area, but you can get a bigger place for a better price.

 

[ihaveaquestion]

Don't know much about Rusk program but I think stating that NYU's anesthesia pain program is "often" filled with PM&R fellows is significantly overstating it, FYI.

NYU

Interview Day: Day began at 7:45 (parking not included) with breakfast. PPT with the PD, Dr. Moroz at 8am. Dr Moroz is a funny straight forward person. At times he even corrected me when I overstated benefits of NYU's program, so he seemed pretty reliable and honest. At 9am we split into a tour and interviews. The tour is abridged because many of the locations were under construction (hurricane sandy). We started at 38th St, walked to Bellevue and NYU at 26th st. The tour guide suggested we not walk to Hospital for Joint Diseases (HJD) because it was mostly closed and 10 more blocks south to 17th st. So don't wear heals on this interview if you can avoid it. Interviews were with the PD, an attending and a chief resident. Very relaxed. Finally we had lunch at 1pm and more residents arrived.
Electives: 3 months of electives with 1 month that may be used away. There seems to be some flexibility in the schedule also. As one person explained: everyone does each thing once but some people do somethings twice.
Didactics: Weekly didactics 3hrs in the afternoon. these are mainly local and visiting speakers based on resident evaluations. Residents do journal club presentations but not grand rounds or other lectures.
Facilities: I interviewed after hurricane sandy, so lots of stuff was closed for renovation. Rusk is switching to all outpt with all the inpt beds moved the HJD. HJD is a large private well respected ortho hospital. Other rotations sites include Bellevue (municipal hospital with many immigrant or uninsured), Manhattan/Brocklyn VA (veterans, small inpt service at manhattan and outpt at both, brooklyn va sounds like a pain to get to). You can read more about these on their website.
Call: I think it was like 7/month, 5/month, 3/month each year but I could be wrong so don't quote me. I know it depends on the rotation. VA call is from home. otherwise it is in-house with a post call day.
Rotations: We mostly spoke about locations instead of rotations. I know they are mostly 2 months at a time. They decreased inpt months to the minimum requirement of 12 months. There are about 9 months of inpt as pgy2 and the rest as pgy3.
After Residency: They have a TBI fellowship recently started and NYU anesthesia has a Pain fellowship that is often filled with PM&R grads. The majority of recent grads seem to have gone off to fellowships. I'm not really a good at how to judge fellowship success in a residency (did you ever rotate at a program that said that their residents have trouble getting into fellowship). Not many fellowships offered at NYU but one resident said that you wouldn't want to do fellowship at the same location as residency (not sure if I agree with that but whatever).
Setting: Midtown Manhattan. There is housing but not many of the residents use it. Residents are dispersed all over Manhattan, the 5 boroughs and NJ. Seems like the residency it so big that the residents aren't too tight, but this might fit you fine. Not every residency has to feel like a family.
Benefits: Very high. I won't quote numbers as they change, but pgy2s started a around 62k/yr. Also there are separate contracts at Bellevue vs NYU with the main difference being that bellevue has a union. You are initially assigned one but later can choose which contract fits better. Every resident gets given a bunch of books on arrival. This year they were on Kindle but that might change.

 

[Tromner]

Don't know much about Rusk program but I think stating that NYU's anesthesia pain program is "often" filled with PM&R fellows is significantly overstating it, FYI.

What makes you say that? I don't know NYU that well either (just from the interview day). Do you mean specifically that NYU's pain fellowship in not commonly NYU PM&R residents, or that anesthesia pain fellowships don't often take PM&R grads.
Thanks

 

[ihaveaquestion]

The program has not taken many PM&R applicants historically but has recently been "PM&R friendly." Great reviews, by the way. Very detailed and informative.

 

[Prof Moriarty]

Would like to see some more reviews. Bueller?

Especially of the less-reviewed programs out there. Any more perspectives on UWisc or MCW? Rush or Loyola? Sinai Baltimore or Univ of Rochester?

 

[ZigPig]

Any more perspectives on UWisc or MCW? Rush or Loyola?

I can't accurately remember the details of interview day at this point. So if anyone wants to call me out on bad info, go for it.

University of Wisconsin is a smaller program, 3 residents a year. I felt very comfortable with the residents. They seemed close enough to get along really well, but not the super close family feeling I got at other places (which is healthy to me, I don't need my colleages to be my BFFs). There was a dinner the night before, with 3 or 4 residents, and Dr. Leonard. Dr. Leonard I believe does pain medicine, is very cool and laid back, seemed like he could talk about anything.

Interview day had 4 other people interviewing. There were 4 interviews - PD, three attendings. I felt they were very honest the program, saying where they did and did not have good exposure. PD is very nice person, residents say she is a great advocate for them.

I don't remember the frequency of call, I want to say home call, a week at time, every 7 weeks. It sounds like many of the residents do moonlighting at some occ medicine place. I think it was $600 for a day, but you aren't there are day.

They have a pain fellowship that they are trying to get accredited. It sounds like some building is going up on the east side of Madison (the University hospital is on the west side of Madison). There was some talks about it being a stand alone rehab hospital, or maybe an outpatient orthopedics center (PM&R is part of orthopedics department at UW-Madison). It's not really clear what is going up, but for me thinking long term and settling, it is nice to know that there is some sort of expansion happening).

University hospital is awesome. Can't remember the number of rehab beds, it was small. Didn't seem like a huge amount of inpatient rehab exposure, there semed to be more outpatient experience. University hospital is right next to VA hospital... which it doesn't sound like the residents go to. Outpatient facility was near by. A rotation is done in LaCrosse for a couple months (they provide housing).

--------
I don't remember much about Rush. It didn't stand out to me. There are 4 residents in a class, they have categorical positions but not everyone did their intern year at Rush. I interviewed with 4 other people. We interviewed with the temporary PD (they are looking for someone, they seemed to dismiss that it was an issue even though I did ask a lot of questions about it), another attending, and a resident. No dinner the night before to get to know people.

Rush has a nice new hospital. A lot of academic resources. Attendings and residents seemed nice and happy. One resident commented that they had trouble getting in some procedures (like finding enough EMGs) but they are trying to change that in the future. The thought was that with reimbursement being cut for it, there is going to be less competition in Chicago to do these.

Can't really think about anything poor about the program.

 

[cbest]

Just to clarify a couple things about the previous post re: Rush. We have 4 spots, 3 categorical and 1 advanced spot. In other words, 3 of us do our internship at Rush and 1 at a different institution.

In terms of EMGs, we don't currently have the greatest numbers in the game; however, the doc who took over the Neuromuscular department requested that we spend more time with them and we're going to be doing more while at Cook County. So, the numbers should improve.

We get an excellent number injections and procedures otherwise - lots of peripheral joint injections, Botox, baclofen pump management, multiple rotations allowing fluoro-guided injections.

CB

 

[Kithara]

Here are some of my impressions from my interview days since I seem to have gone to some places that haven't been getting mentioned as oftened.

1. MetroHealth: Very organized interview day, with presentation given by the program coordinator who was super nice. All of the residents were also very nice, and glad to answer any questions you had. I may be slightly biased since I had the advantage of doing a rotation here previously, but all of the faculty were also very sharp people, and very approachable.

2. U of Kentucky: Another super nice group of residents, faculty, and staff. They have a very nice rehab center, and go to the main hospital/VA for EMG's. The PD in particular struck as a great guy, and everyone there seemed very happy.

3. U of Kansas: PD is fairly young guy, and is really expanding the program. They're supposed to be attending a 90 bed subacute ward that will also include 20 beds (I think) miscellaneous other rehab. They're also going to be adding a sports medicine fellowship in the near future. A lot of the interviewers were on the younger side, and it seems like there was a lot of expansion going on.

4. Rochester: Again, very nice faculty, and residents here. The interviews were done back-to-back-back-to-back with essentially no down time, very fast. Two of the residents took the interview group out to lunch, and showed us the town and some of the sites we'd be working at. Overall, the program, and the town, seems like it would be very accomodating to those with a family, and the residents seemed pretty happy.

5. Schwab: I can't say how great the faculty I met here were, especially the PD. We ended up talking about various novels my whole interview, and another faculty member had some interesting/unusual views on Pride and Prejudice. As far as the program itself goes, I really liked it, but I can't say I'm a fan of the part of town it is in. Other than that, I think it would be a great place to train.