LSU-shreveport

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markglt

markglt

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thoughts, experiences...etc:confused:
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markglt said:
thoughts, experiences...etc:confused:
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Used to live in S'port. Good place to be from. I'm assuming you mean the medical school and not the LSU-S'port campus down the road. The hospital is ancient, the school newer. It's in an old, run down part of town. Can't tell you anything about the school's reputation. Town does have good food, including the best bar-b-que ever, Hickory Stick.
 
Bump any input about the psych residency in shreveport? Can't see the current residents there
 
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What I really liked: One of the best interviews in terms of the beforehand social, invited us to a bar / coffee shop and we all sat around shooting the breeze and drinking, was lots of fun residents seemed very happy and got on well and were very friendly and welcoming. More importantly one of the guys had probably the best moustache I have ever seen on a young man. I think that obviously speaks highly of the quality of the education. As well their program director seemed pretty with it.

What I I didn't like: When I walked to the gas station near the hospital afterwards and they were being behind bullet proof glass and would not letting me in the store, and wanted me just to tell them what I wanted without being able to see. I took a taxi to a get a Po Boy and they had police stationed at the restaurant I also didn't like that but it was probably for the best I guess

I am certain this is the information you were looking for
 
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can only given 2nd hand information but it was nominated as one of the "programs to avoid" some years ago. My understanding is this is an IMG sweatshop where residents are expected to carry a large number of patients during inpatient months and aren't well supported. in most decent programs you have plenty of elective time PGY-IV but here there are significant service requirements throughout and if service is needed electives may vanish altogether.

I cannot verify this information. This is just what had been reported to me.

But regardless, it's in shreveport. It's grim. Like really grim. and you may have to do rotations in far flung places that are grimmer still. no psychiatrist would want to live there by choice. hence psychologists can prescribe there.
 
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@ splik,

I've heard the same.

Was told it's a program people hope to escape from with a PGY 2 position. I've also heard the area stinks to live in.
 
markglt said:
thoughts, experiences...etc:confused:
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don't know much about it, but if there is some reason you want to be in that area I wouldn't mind going there. I don't know whether you will get great training or not, but most employers aren't going to care whether you went there or not....just that you graduated and are going to be BE/BC.
 
I'd still take that over family medicine, LOL!
 
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Any recommendations for places to stay/rent in the area? Seems like there are quite few casinos and the food looks amazing!
 
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Can anyone comment about this program? Pro's/Con's? There really is not a lot of information on the website. Any current residents?
 
I trained there, a tough program that will prepare you, but the hospital is going through a ton of financial trouble, I would avoid it if you have options.
 
chicagochildpsych said:
I trained there, a tough program that will prepare you, but the hospital is going through a ton of financial trouble, I would avoid it if you have options.
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Thanks. I don't have a lot of options at the moment. But regarding the finances of the hospital, do you think it is bad to an extent that the program will shut down due to not retaining enough faculty/staff? Or is it just that residents have to do more social-work/nursing type stuff to make up for the lack of ancillary support? I don't care about income, etc. But I would like a place that will prepare me.
 
javjo said:
Thanks. I don't have a lot of options at the moment. But regarding the finances of the hospital, do you think it is bad to an extent that the program will shut down due to not retaining enough faculty/staff? Or is it just that residents have to do more social-work/nursing type stuff to make up for the lack of ancillary support? I don't care about income, etc. But I would like a place that will prepare me.
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There's a former infrequent poster here who is a resident there. This person is a US MD who transferred from another specialty and was staying in the same city for personal reasons. This person seems to be doing OK. It's a psychiatry program in Shreveport -- if that's what you need, then you can make it work. Unless of course it closes down, which could suck. My understanding is, though, that when psychiatry programs have shut down, residents have been able to find other spots. Maybe not guaranteed but still likely.
 
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Hmmm, this place seems too risky to me. I'm still waiting for more Interview offers, if I get some within the next couple of weeks, I'm definitely crossing this off my list. I don't want to end up in a risky and unstable situation because regardless of the quality of the training, if I don't finish a residency, I'll be useless with my degree and loads of debt.
 
Doctor Bagel said:
There's a former infrequent poster here who is a resident there. This person is a US MD who transferred from another specialty and was staying in the same city for personal reasons. This person seems to be doing OK. It's a psychiatry program in Shreveport -- if that's what you need, then you can make it work. Unless of course it closes down, which could suck. My understanding is, though, that when psychiatry programs have shut down, residents have been able to find other spots. Maybe not guaranteed but still likely.
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Aw, thx Dr Bagel for your comment! Yes, indeed, infrequent poster these days... Just happened to look in cuz I was wondering what SDN had to say about the prite...

I think LSU-Shreveport you probably have to work harder than other programs. So, if you don't want to work very hard, don't go here. However, having been in a much more work intense field before "seeing the light", we still really don't work that hard (as you should be able to guess by my browsing SDN at 3:30 in the afternoon). On my toughest month, which is a combo psych ER / consult month, I saw 122 new evals. That doesn't include the folks that came in more than once or the folks I had to write daily progress notes on for a few days before they had a bed vs transfer vs discharge. Flip side - on one inpatient month, I only saw 15 new patients the whole time. In clinic, my monthly #s range from 19 to 46. Usually hang at about 30 (combo of med checks and new evals). So there is definitely a range.

Faculty numbers seem appropriate. Could probably use a few more faculty, but I imagine the same for many places.

Shreveport itself is a really cool town. Not from here originally, really depressed when I first had to move here, but it grew on me. Great restaurants, cool bars with live music, family friendly, great cost of living, nice houses for sale or rent, good schools. Plenty to do. Easy to travel (airport is small / regional, so limited direct flights, but flies direct to Dallas, Houston, Denver, and Atlanta as the major hubs I've flown into so you can get around and the line is so easy).

As far as the "risky" situation... There is political bs going on all over the country, whether or not you here about it. The program isn't going to shut down. That's not a thing.

Most of the residents here are very cool. A lot of FMG/IMGs true, but a vast majority are American born that went to Caribbean schools d/t impatience. Lots of smart folks here.

PM me if you want more info.
 
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Shreveport is an ok town, but it's loaded with ultra conservative people who care only about church and guns, racism is openly tolerated, and entertainment and travel options are severely limited. I trained there, made amazing life long friends, but on June 30, the last day of fellowship I was driving towards Chicago.
 
I don't know the specifics, but I have been told that this program is very intense and not like typical Psychiatry programs. Have heard its an IMG friendly place. Aside from that, it seems like the program is still acreditted and I don't see the program randomly closing down, I think it takes a lot for a program to close its doors.

I feel like having enough faculty that actually care is the big issue with all programs in all specialties.
 
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chicagochildpsych said:
Shreveport is an ok town, but it's loaded with ultra conservative people who care only about church and guns, racism is openly tolerated, and entertainment and travel options are severely limited. I trained there, made amazing life long friends, but on June 30, the last day of fellowship I was driving towards Chicago.
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Did you do your fellowship in Shreveport? Was there a particular reason you decided to stick around for it? Did they allow you to fast track into child (i'm guessing from your username)?
 
javjo said:
Did you do your fellowship in Shreveport? Was there a particular reason you decided to stick around for it? Did they allow you to fast track into child (i'm guessing from your username)?
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Yes, I stayed on, my wife was a practicing doc in the community and they promised me the spot. Also, the fellowship was great, 35 hours a week with no call.
 
I learned a lot here and I grew a lot from this experience. I feel like the structure of the program was good for making me efficient. However, I am glad I'm out of Shreveport.
 
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Disagree with marsh20 re easy to violate duty hours... the hardest rotation was a combo ER / consult service in Monroe, and even with that it was at most ~55 hours per week. Regular work week as a pgy1 / 2 pretty easy to stay within ~40 hrs / week. Pgy 1/2 take 2-4 twelve hour calls per month. Pgy3s take 1. Pgy4s take none. Very difficulty to violate duty hours with that.
 
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marsh20 said:
It's a busy place where the amount of patients you see is very high. It takes a lot of effort to see that many patients and you need to be fast with them as well. Most of them are very sick since Shreveport is a very poor city and Monroe, where you need to work a good chunk of time, is even more poor. The whole state is still recovering after Katrina. The hospital is now privatized because of financial burdens, so I don't know if the management has improved but when I was there it was hell. I think Willis Knighton was once going to buy the place. The hospital is in a ghetto part of town and the city itself has become very dangerous in the past few years.

Plus, people in the south are very old-fashioned. The nurses, program attendings, social workers, ancillary staff,etc. expect that MD's should be devoted to their patients at all times. This means that they should be living at the hospital and work like the older doctors did. This is not compatible with those of us who have children, families, and other obligations. It is very possible to violate duty hours at this workhouse since you'll be expected to be in the hospital an insane amount of time.

Shreveport is very conservative and racist as well like the previous poster stated. Although the hospital is primarily filled with people of different nationalities mostly Indian, black or middle eastern. But outside the hospital, expect to be treated poorly if you are of a different race.

With all of that said, if you can stay patient for 4 years and are willing to tolerate the disorganized harsh training environment, you will be able to find a job somewhere more favorable. My options were small to begin with being a foreign graduate so I was lucky to end up anywhere, but going back in time, this definitely would not have been my first choice. I think they have changed quite a few things since I have been here, but I am sure it is still a busy place.
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Very racist? Very dangerous? Very poor?

If anyone wants the real skinny on the city - I know nothing about the program - send me a PM.
 
Believe me when I tell you that it is very poor and underdeveloped. The backwards and conservative mindset of the south explains why the area has not progressed. Also, the hospital is very poor and the amount of funding they get is also limited. I think a lot of it has to do with the poor political climate of the city. just could not stay after residency was over which is a pity because the area has a great demand for Psychiatrists and the pay is very handsome. So this is a great place to establish yourself if you can stomach living in Shreveport, you couldn't pay me enough to. It's just not worth it to me.
 
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Jwax said:
Disagree with marsh20 re easy to violate duty hours... the hardest rotation was a combo ER / consult service in Monroe, and even with that it was at most ~55 hours per week. Regular work week as a pgy1 / 2 pretty easy to stay within ~40 hrs / week. Pgy 1/2 take 2-4 twelve hour calls per month. Pgy3s take 1. Pgy4s take none. Very difficulty to violate duty hours with that.
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Things must have really changed drastically since I was there with all these new ACGME guidelines and such. I remember I never had time to sit when I was on call some days.
Regardless, this program was good for making me more independent. The patients are extremely ill at this place and most of the time there is very little you can do for them as Louisiana has poor funding for mental health services meaning social workers are not able to do much. You have to do most of the legwork for these patients. The good thing is, you definitely will be prepared to be independent and will grow a lot in this program. This program made me grow into an independent learner. I must have made 100's of mistakes during my intern year.
 
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How many residents does the program take every year?
 
They have 24 total, but usually take 8 interns to make up for the vast majority who leave for child fellowship
 
javjo said:
How many residents does the program take every year?
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I have a friend who is interviewed there and she said that this year it is 6 spots instead of the usual 8.
 
There should usually be 10 people at least.
I know that the residency no longer has ties to the VA so maybe they have lost some funding and subsequently cut the number of spots because of that.
 
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I will say the fast paced lack of supervision helped me work efficiently in the private world, but I was self motivated and read, if you aren't this place will eat you alive.
 
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chicagochildpsych said:
I will say the fast paced lack of supervision helped me work efficiently in the private world, but I was self motivated and read, if you aren't this place will eat you alive.
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Ok, you guys are scaring me now....is this place really that harsh? I don't mind living in Shreveport so much after looking into it, but what do you mean by read? Are there like reading assignments you have to do everyday or is it just reading up things on up to date for your patients? When I was a medical student that's all we did on our patients. Google gives you an answer to pretty much anything anyways.
 
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javjo said:
Ok, you guys are scaring me now....is this place really that harsh? I don't mind living in Shreveport so much after looking into it, but what do you mean by read? Are there like reading assignments you have to do everyday or is it just reading up things on up to date for your patients? When I was a medical student that's all we did on our patients. Google gives you an answer to pretty much anything anyways.
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Step your game up. There's no room for the lack of confidence. It's all self-directed.
 
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Shikima said:
Step your game up. There's no room for the lack of confidence. It's all self-directed.
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Just make sure to keep any arrogance to yourself. no room for it.
 
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marsh20 said:
Just make sure to keep that confidence and any arrogance to yourself. You don't want the nurses on the 10th floor, Dr. FG, or the Chair to get a whiff of that if you want to survive this program and finish in 4 years without repeating rotations. Trust me, just say yes ma'am.
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Been there, done that, had the t-shirt..... stuck it in a bag with dog poop, set it on fire and put it on the front doorstep while ringing the doorbell.
 
Shikima said:
There is a shortage of humility with the faculty.
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Residents usually are the source of comfort for each other in this program.
 
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I echo the above, head down, get your training, escape the program
 
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The interesting thing, Psych residencies are very disorganized and their is a lot more politics with Psych than other disciplines from what I've noticed. think the issue stems from a lack of funding for Mental Health/Psychiatry residencies in general across the globe.
 
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marsh20 said:
The interesting thing, which I don't think is unique to this program, is that the Internal Medicine Residency at LSU is far more organized and structured with regards to workload restrictions than the Psych program. I think the issue stems from a lack of funding for Mental Health/Psychiatry residencies in general across the globe.
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No, it's a dept leadership problem. They don't know they have a problem.
 
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It's a hostile environment, with game of thrones like changes in leadership, the PD actively bad mouthed the chair, the chancellor and dean lectured us weekly about our faculty and their poor behavior. Our PD left to go to the VA and be their chief, our chair installed the PD from the nineties who scuttled the program back then. They then stopped us from rotating at the VA (losing our gero and addiction electives) to spite the old PD and also lost the 4 program spots the VA funded. The leadership thinks this us normal, and constantly threatens people with termination. I say this not as a resident who was poorly regarded, but one who played the game well and got a fellowship and chief position. If you are politically savvy, hard working, and unable to find a university spot elsewhere....roll the dice and see what happens.
 
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