Anyone knows about GWU pathology program? I heard they just kicked out a PYG-1 who just had a baby, sounds horrible. Does GWU have anything to do with Georgetwon Univ?
Anyone knows about GWU pathology program? I heard they just kicked out a PYG-1 who just had a baby, sounds horrible. Does GWU have anything to do with Georgetwon Univ?
Anyone knows about GWU pathology program? I heard they just kicked out a PYG-1 who just had a baby, sounds horrible.
It's really a shame that someone would fabricate such a horrible story, and that it would end up being posted on a public forum so indiscriminately.
That's the brave new world of internet forums for ya.
This whole story about the George Washington University kicking out a PGY-1 who just had a baby is absolutely not true. GWU Pathology has not and would never fire a resident for having a baby. From my experience there, I know of multiple residents and fellows who had their children during their training period at GW. Faculty and residents alike realize that becoming a parent is a major life event, and everyone tries to be very accomodating and supportive. It's really a shame that someone would fabricate such a horrible story, and that it would end up being posted on a public forum so indiscriminately.
I heard that at GWU the attendings only have one extra teaching head and when 2 residents are signing out they cozy up and each use one eyepiece... Please clarify! Thanks
Only one resident is assigned to signout with an attending. Some attendings have double headed scopes and some have 3-headed ones. If another person wants to join the signout, they either move to one of the 3-headed scopes if it's available, or they move to the multiheaded scope used in consensus conference. Kinda makes sense, right?
Residency is not like a real job that you get after training. Residency will tolerate your baby stuff/maternity leave more so than a real job.
If you are a female physician, there will not be a good time to have a baby. If your residency program has some 4th year electives and is a large program, I would consider that time. Residency is not like a real job that you get after training. Residency will tolerate your baby stuff/maternity leave more so than a real job. They will get over it. And you will move on.
A lot of people work it out successfully, and more power to them -- friends and people I respect did so, and I occasionally wish I too had started that part of my life "earlier"; I'm not solely a curmudgeon about it. But everyone needs to be aware that it's not guaranteed to work out well and that there may be a lot more to it than just having a baby. While a program can't really fire someone solely "for having a baby", having a baby can affect a huge number of variables which may end with leaving or being forced to leave a program no matter how understanding and well intentioned everyone is.
I am a former GW resident. It is untrue that she was fired for having a baby. Per rumor, she resigned for medical reasons related to having a child and the demands of residency. Although this happened a couple of weeks ago, the program has still not discussed this openly with the residents which is why there might be a lot of miscommunication going on. With that said, GW is an absolutely awful program and you should avoid it at all costs unless you must live in DC.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
You can get the training you need there, there's just a lot of headaches. I do not know of a single GW path alum that does not harbor *SOME* bitterness toward that place. It's a small place, so you tend to form tight personal relationships with your fellow residents and faculty for better or worse.
Biggest drawback is that the PD doesn't truly care about the residency program, it's just another thing on his CV. Attendings have high expectations that are sometimes unrealistic, so you sink or swim fast in that place. And God help you if you are viewed as someone who sinks.
Apply at your own risk.
that's strange. i interviewed there this year and the PD was female (not male) and she seemed like she really wants to improve the program. i've heard these things before about the program but it does seem that they recently made changes based on resident feedback and have taken on some younger faculty who are alumni and hoping to make positive changes. seems they go on to good fellowships if you are into hemepath.
I discouraged and would discourage people from planning a baby during residency. I understand why people do it, and that's their choice, but it can be hard on the program, relationships in the program, and the resident -- academically, physically, emotionally, and so on. I was astonished at how many people just assumed that since they were having a baby everyone else would just -love- to pick up their slack, that the program -has- to happily accommodate everything they ask for, and that the board also -has- to accommodate them since the program did (generally as part of some mandatory built in maternity/paternity policy related to employment, which has nothing to do with the boards). But, there -are- overriding restrictions on how much time a resident can spend away from the program and one can't guarantee that the program will allow you to stay another week or month or 6 months into the next year to allow you to complete your requirements.
A lot of people work it out successfully, and more power to them -- friends and people I respect did so, and I occasionally wish I too had started that part of my life "earlier"; I'm not solely a curmudgeon about it. But everyone needs to be aware that it's not guaranteed to work out well and that there may be a lot more to it than just having a baby. While a program can't really fire someone solely "for having a baby", having a baby can affect a huge number of variables which may end with leaving or being forced to leave a program no matter how understanding and well intentioned everyone is.
I believe the rule is that 48 weeks per year must be spent in training. Don't know if that's an average, or a minimum for each year.
I am a former GW resident. It is untrue that she was fired for having a baby. Per rumor, she resigned for medical reasons related to having a child and the demands of residency. Although this happened a couple of weeks ago, the program has still not discussed this openly with the residents which is why there might be a lot of miscommunication going on. With that said, GW is an absolutely awful program and you should avoid it at all costs unless you must live in DC.
I have personal experience with taking maternity leave during residency. I took 11 weeks off at the end of second year. Being at a larger residency, this luckily did not affect other residents. My program was very supportive of me taking time off. I was made aware from the beginning that I could only miss 16 weeks total over 4 years and still finish on time. This made the last two years tough as I had already taken my standard 3 weeks vacation my first year, leaving only 2 weeks vacation/sick time for the remaining two years of residency. In retrospect, I probably should have taken less maternity leave. As for applying for the boards, I did have to explain why I took more than 4 weeks vacation/leave, but I had no trouble qualifying for the spring boards in my 4th year.
That is good to hear. Those rules by the abp sound so rigid, but let's face it, no reasonable person would ever say you are not eligible for the boards because of a couple extra weeks of maternity leave or time off for illness beyond 4 weeks per year. Aren't there federal laws about maternity leave that would override abp policies? But wow that must have been rough having to work 102 out of 104 weeks your last two years. Didn't you need a week off just to take the boards?
Another good option would be to follow up your allowed maternity leave time with some cp rotations which have minimal structured work time.
...Aren't there federal laws about maternity leave that would override abp policies? ...
how can laws not apply to physicians in training?
I was being ironic. But, for example, the stipulation of FEMLA is that one has to work for the Man for at least 12 months before being eligible for potential benefits. Most residency contracts are renewable yearly. Therefore, one could argue that residents are therefore ineligible. Q.E.D.
Then it wouldnt apply to ANYONE in "at will" employment state because they are on "contracts" renewable DAILY.
Your logic is off a bit.
I believe the rule is that 48 weeks per year must be spent in training. Don't know if that's an average, or a minimum for each year.
so basically if one takes a leave of absence for the maximum time, like 12 weeks. i don't think you can get paid because fmla is without pay, right? let's say one didn't use the sick days and vacation time for the year, and that gets depleted first when one is on the fmla (as per one's employers' policies). then, basically one has to complete or make up those 8 weeks as an addition to the four years of training or over the following years, for ex. if the leave was taken during the 2nd or 3rd year? there are times when people have to take fmla, and can't satisfy the ABP requirements, how are the abp requirement made up? let's say a 'non-favorite' resident has to go on fmla for like 3 months, what happens? does the medicare "pay per resident" fund get halted? does the non-favorite get a chance to finish the training as an addendum to the final year or can it be extended into a fellowship training? would the abp take explanations? will the program director find a way to ensure that the resident achieves competency? does it become punitive, 'it's too inconvenient for the other 20 residents to accommodate the one resident and the one resident has to be kicked out', then the schedule will be officially changed? let's say the program director is delighted that you requested a potential leave in the future, do they have to explain to you the abp requirements or that you have to explain your leave to the abp etc...? hmm...i hope it doesn't piss off people on this forum that i ask questions!
This is true in many GWU specialties - that place is bad news for all residency training. They LOVE firing residents and destroying medical careers if you dare cross anyone. It's a private hospital (so, no $ from district, and their programs are so small that residents take up the brunt of the scut work), I was told by an attending that ALL GWU residents are expected to violate ACGME duty hours routinely, attendings scream and curse/ get complaints from patients, there are absolutely no networking opportunities (difficult to find a job later), many PDs/ superiors just don't care about your education, and GWU just got off academic probation from the LCME accreditation board. There's a risk that you may not even get board certified if the ACGME decides to yank its accreditation on the next site visit. The fish rots from the head down at GWU, and every department STINKS.
The years already done were accredited years, so those aren't lost. You just have to check the effective date of loss of accreditation. Chances are that the institution would try to re-appropriate those positions to another program within the institution so the non-accredited positions might well just disappear. But they might be made available as a non-accredited position which I suppose one could treat like a non-accredited fellowship of sorts -- it wouldn't count towards boards and might be a waste of time, though in the perfect circumstances it might be just as good as a fellowship (during which time one could work out a transfer to an accredited program).
My recollection is that when a program has lost accreditation, or shut down for other reasons, other programs have worked with them to get the residents transferred -- it's not just a black hole those residents disappear into.
... .There's a risk that you may not even get board certified if the ACGME decides to yank its accreditation on the next site visit. The fish rots from the head down at GWU, and every department STINKS.