New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens/Cornell University Residency Reviews

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papichulodoc

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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".

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Okay I'll bite - but I am an intern (and have only been at my program for a short time).

New York Hospital Queens:
- What I like: program director (you will understand when you meet him why we have such an incredibly chill/fun group of attendings/residents), push to learn to US everything, great schedule/vacation, location (close to Manhattan without the prices and close to Long Island), level I trauma center
- What stands out: diversity of the patient population (most diverse county in USA), pedi ed staffed by ped/EM boarded attendings (great teaching)

I am so happy to be here!!! Just afraid I missed some good points, but I did not want to go on forever....
 
NYHQ - 3 Year Program

Residents - I forget how many residents per class there were, but I want to say like 10. Everyone was extremely happy to be there, many saying it was their top choice. One of the residents recently won an award for clinical excellence at ACEP.

Faculty - The faculty are generally pretty good; some better than others but overall of high caliber. Dr. Sixsmith is the chairwoman but still takes shifts in the ED. Dr. Ryan is the program director and was also very friendly and is supposedly highly involved with residents and rotating medical students. The administration as a whole is extremely supportive of its residents in order to continue to build the quality and reputation of the program.

Interviews - 4 interviews: Sixsmith, Ryan, attending, chief resident. About 20 minutes each. Pretty conversational with a few dumb general questions (why EM, tell me about yourself, where do you see yourself in 5 years, etc.).

Hospitals - All but 1 rotation at New York Hospital-Queens, a community hospital with an annual volume of ~90,000. Level 1 trauma center with mostly blunt and some penetrating mixed in (ortho residents from Hospital for Special Surgery rotate through there for blunt trauma exposure I think). 1 month is spent in Las Vegas at University Medical Center of Southern Nevada rotating through the trauma service there, which residents say is awesome for the hospital and Vegas experience.

Patients - Mostly middle class, fairly diverse patient population but a notable presence of Asian-Americans and recent Asian immigrants (the hospital is in Flushing with is essentially the Chinatown of Queens, but fewer bootleg dvd's)

Ancillary - Generally very good, residents only occasionally drew labs or placed IV's to help out.

Curriculum - Pretty standard EM curriculum, MICU/SICU/NICU months but no actual floor months.

Didactics - Weekly resident conferences, good amount of bedside teaching depending on the attending but all teach to some extent.

Research - Normal required scholarly project, but overall probably one of the weaker areas of the program if research is important to you.

City - Flushing is pretty safe, but dull, area with a huge Asian population, but is a quick subway ride away from Manhattan or nice areas of Brooklyn.

Negatives - Lack of research; location in Flushing pretty much mandates you commute from a more happening area if you plan to have a real NYC experience; the program was started in 2004 and just graduated its first set of residents, so it still has some work to do in order to build notoriety, but...

Positives - ...the actual clinical experience should almost guarantee that it won't be long before NYHQ is mentioned with the "bigger" names in EM from the NYC area--lots of sick patients, lots of exposure to trauma, very supportive faculty, cool residents, very competitive pay ($53500 for interns last year), fellowship opportunities (US, peds, possibly sports medicine soon), affiliation with Weill-Cornell.

Overall - Impressive program that is still young, but with a good view for the future. Not sure where it will end up on my list, but I would be more than happy to spend my next 3 years there.
 
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Cornell/Columbia
(+): amazing resources with the two hospitals; nice mix of academic medicine and "community" like experience. cool electives, excellent peds exposure, NYC with housing help
(-) residents i met there said they were working a 'residency and a half'......they work 20 12 hours for the first two years!!! and when you throw in the commute time between hospitals, it adds up to very long days.

Penn
(+) great use of the 4 years with interesting electives placed throughout...residents said the PD was really invested in them and willing to tailor the curriculum to specific interests (one resident actualy worked out a plan where he worked half shifts for several months while doing a research project which combined his elective months the shifts).
(-) trauma exposure seemed lighter compared to other philly programs

Hopkins
(+): excellent faculty who were really excited about the 4 year switch....PD seemed flexible with directions to take for the 4th year. very strong off service rotations and residents seemed pleased with their experiences off-sites and at the different hospitals.
(-) 4th year details still being worked out....seemed a bit like the original 3 year curriculum with a 4th year tacked on. i spoke to some of the 3rd years and one mentioned that the PD offered the optional 4th year to the seniors and none of the 3rd years took him up on it. baltimore(+/-)?? although the bus tour they gave us was pretty fun and made me see baltimore in a new light!
 
The above review is a good evaluation but I the first thing that came out of each resident's mouth when asked why they came to NYHQ was that they worked the least amount of shifts of any NY hospital. (RED FLAG #1) Then I was asked by the director of education if I would actively read outside of the program since so many residents do poorly on the inservice exam and need weekly quizzes to enforce for them to read (RED FLAG #2)
 
1. NYU - County + Academic. Patient population was major determining factor. Great didactics. I guess only drawbacks would include the extra year (only 4 year program on my list) and the poor ancillary staff at Bellevue. But, training here would be worth the extra work.
2. Emory - Again County + Academic. And, again liked the patient population at Grady - uninsured, underserved. Also, great didactics. Location was also a plus. It's a superb program overall. But, it's not the sort of program that is right for everybody. Some people would be very miserable here. Residents in general are outgoing and enthusiastic. I would recommend rotating or doing a second look before deciding.
3. UNC - Loved the program director and the residents. Community + Academic. Was not as thrilled about living in NC. This program is really well-rounded. Almost anyone would be happy here.
4. NYHQ/Cornell - Community. Very diverse, immigrant population (which is a plus for me). Great schedule and benefits (includes subsidized housing). Dr. Ryan is very friendly and active in resident education. A great group of fun residents. Would be very happy to match here. I guess it ended up not being in top 3 just because it isn't as academic as the ones above.
5. North Shore - Was really impressed with North Shore. Community hospital and population but an academic program. The best benefits ever (really high salary + great housing). I liked the critical care emphasis. Lots of high acuity stuff in the ED. So many fellowships available. The residents are super-friendly, laid-back. This one moved up and down my list alot. But, at the end, what didn't really do it for me is the patient population. Though most people would enjoy working with patients who are neatly dressed and have insurance, not exactly my cup of tea. (Just personal preference.) Like UNC, well-rounded program that almost anyone would be very happy with.
6. Thomas Jefferson - Overall, I liked this program and would be happy if I matched here. New global health fellowship with public health focus is a major plus. They also have a whole building dedicated to simulation, special course on intubation, and other unique opportunities that makes the program stand out from others. I was also impressed that some of the residents volunteered at local, nonprofit clinics (more impressed that they didn't think it was a big deal). Moreover, pretty diverse and some underserved patient population across its many sites (which is a plus for me). BUT, the drawback to this program is having too many sites. Though I prefer more than one site in general, having multiple sites gives diminishing returns after a certain number (I would say 3). Not only that, these many sites are not all that close to one another (one was in Delaware). I think the residents only have to go to Delaware like one month out of the year or less. But, still...
7. Metropolitan/NYMC- New PD at this program is very energetic, enthusiastic. I get the feeling he is the sort of person who would really advocate for his residents and try to get them far as he can. Considering how small the program is (8 per class), many (at least from this year's graduating class) seem to go onto do fellowships - impressive ones at that too. (This was a plus for me... not necessary a plus for everyone.) That said, the interview day in itself seemed very disorganized, which made me concerned. The Metropolitan ED needs to be bigger and better-equipped. Housing is cheap and available but dorm-style. And, again, number of sites is so that cost outweighs the benefits (at least for me).

Did not rank one program that I interviewed at. PM me if you have questions about the above programs.
 
Does anyone have a new update for this program? The last update was 5 years ago.

On the website it says it's "affiliated w/ Cornell" and I'm confused, as Cornell's main program is NYP. What does this exactly mean? I get that you can ride the shuttle and have access to the Cornell online library, but I have some other questions if someone can kindly answer.

1) Are residents "house staff" for Cornell? I'd like to have access to the medical alumni network in the future.
2) Do Cornell medical students rotate here?
3) Can we get involved in lectures/teaching at Cornell medical school?
4) Do we have access to Cornell medical school's money to start projects?
5) What the other benefits of being affiliated with Cornell?
 
Does anyone have a new update for this program? The last update was 5 years ago.

On the website it says it's "affiliated w/ Cornell" and I'm confused, as Cornell's main program is NYP. What does this exactly mean? I get that you can ride the shuttle and have access to the Cornell online library, but I have some other questions if someone can kindly answer.

1) Are residents "house staff" for Cornell? I'd like to have access to the medical alumni network in the future.
2) Do Cornell medical students rotate here?
3) Can we get involved in lectures/teaching at Cornell medical school?
4) Do we have access to Cornell medical school's money to start projects?
5) What the other benefits of being affiliated with Cornell?

I am a Cornell grad, rotated and interviewed at NYH-Q, and did residency at NYP (Cornell/Columbia).

1) No, the residencies are entirely separate. The affiliation is mostly between the medical school (Cornell) and the hospital (NYH-Q), not so much between the GME or hospital departments.

2) Yes, they do. Cornell uses NYH-Q as a secondary site for a lot of their core rotations (IM, Surgery, etc). There are Cornell students who rotate through the ED on an elective basis, but not many. There are a lot of Cornell PA students who rotate through the ED though.

3) I don't recall NYH-Q residents being involved in teaching at Cornell. Even most Cornell residents would generally have very little involvement in teaching at the medical school (unless you mean helping teach sub-interns or during some sort of elective). What kind of teaching did you have in mind? I suppose you could try to get involved with the EM interest group or a similar student club, but anyone could do that, there is nothing in particular about the affiliation that would help you get your foot in the door.

4) That's not really how research funding in academic medicine works. Most funding comes from grants. If there are some limited departmental funds, those typically aren't shared even between departments at the same institution, let alone with an outside institution.

5) Most of the benefit is for the faculty, who get academic appointments through Cornell. Occasionally (though still pretty rarely) some of those faculty get invited to give talks at Cornell. There is some benefit by having access to more consult services than the hospital would otherwise have.
 
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