- Joined
- Mar 11, 2015
- Messages
- 1
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After rotating through this site, I felt compelled to post some information. Take it as you will.
Pros:
- Great variety of pathology
- Thankful patients, usually cooperative
- Good didactics with slide quiz, journal club, etc.
- Great name recognition when job hunting, the program seems well-respected
Cons - there are some points I think people should be aware of. I rotated through last year and noticed several things after comparing to other sites:
-The clinic is understaffed and seems like it has been so for a while. They are down several attendings and technologists but maintain the same patient volume. This means most of the staff, including the residents and students, work through lunch regularly.
-The program director is not accommodating to staff’s needs, largely because she’s not in tune with what’s going on in the clinic and what her team’s needs are. Life is expected to revolve around the work rather than the program director being an advocate for her staff. For example, even when we are behind several patients (which happens frequently, due to the above staffing issues), the program director sits in the back office waiting for checkout rather than attempting to decompress the load. I believe these types of issues are demoralizing and the driving force behind losing so many front desk staff, attendings, and technologists. Nobody seems happy to show up to work.
-The clinic is run inefficiently, non-emergent addons are granted at any time, and the staff is expected to pickup the pace even on an already full schedule. If an attending, student, or resident is on vacation, the patient load is not adjusted accordingly and we are expected to see a full schedule with fewer people, which is unfair to both the patients and the staff. Several times, we have had patients show up for appointments on time and have to leave without being seen just to catch their return shuttle. Obviously, this is bad for patient care and outcomes.
I hope that this will provide some guidance to incoming students and residents who are rotating through this program. I chose to apply elsewhere for residency after this experience.
Pros:
- Great variety of pathology
- Thankful patients, usually cooperative
- Good didactics with slide quiz, journal club, etc.
- Great name recognition when job hunting, the program seems well-respected
Cons - there are some points I think people should be aware of. I rotated through last year and noticed several things after comparing to other sites:
-The clinic is understaffed and seems like it has been so for a while. They are down several attendings and technologists but maintain the same patient volume. This means most of the staff, including the residents and students, work through lunch regularly.
-The program director is not accommodating to staff’s needs, largely because she’s not in tune with what’s going on in the clinic and what her team’s needs are. Life is expected to revolve around the work rather than the program director being an advocate for her staff. For example, even when we are behind several patients (which happens frequently, due to the above staffing issues), the program director sits in the back office waiting for checkout rather than attempting to decompress the load. I believe these types of issues are demoralizing and the driving force behind losing so many front desk staff, attendings, and technologists. Nobody seems happy to show up to work.
-The clinic is run inefficiently, non-emergent addons are granted at any time, and the staff is expected to pickup the pace even on an already full schedule. If an attending, student, or resident is on vacation, the patient load is not adjusted accordingly and we are expected to see a full schedule with fewer people, which is unfair to both the patients and the staff. Several times, we have had patients show up for appointments on time and have to leave without being seen just to catch their return shuttle. Obviously, this is bad for patient care and outcomes.
I hope that this will provide some guidance to incoming students and residents who are rotating through this program. I chose to apply elsewhere for residency after this experience.
