- Joined
- May 17, 2010
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 0
I am a current resident at SUNY Downstate and wanted to post a brief review of the program and get everyones input.
A few weeks another, a fellow resident posted a review on the website scutwork and it opened up a firestorm in our department amongst our residents and attendings. Subsequently the anesthesia administration had the chief residents, program coordinator and a recent graduate of the program who is working here as an attending to write a positive and false review of the program. In response, more residents started writing on scutwork to express our displeasure. As many of you saw from the 2010 match, 12 spots went unfilled in anesthesia at our program which constituted close to 50% of the unmatched spots in the country. There are many reasons for this and I will lay it out from a residents perspective.
1. We get held back if we do poorly on the ITE or AKT exams. You will get these warning letters in the mail to improve your performance on the next exam or threatened with being held back 6-12 months. There have been numerous lawsuits by former residents against the program director and anyone can look these up on any search engine so none of this is secret knowledge. She has had a stranglehold on the program for decades and everyone is terrified to speak up. Most of the attendings are graduates of the program and know how she has ruled with an iron fist and still have traumatic experiences from their residency. Hence, they are scared to stand up for residents for fear of their jobs and being reprimanded. The attendings talk behind the back of the program director and hate when she is in the OR.
She has constantly manipulated ACGME and anyone coming to survey the program. We have a Core Clinical Competency made up of selected attendings. According to the ACGME, the program director cannot sit on these meetings or influence the decision of the CCC. However, over here, she pressures the head of the CCC directly or indirectly through the residency coordinator. Every resident has a file with positives and negatives. If you do well on the exams, the positive evaluations will be prominent. However, if you start doing poorly on the exams, the positive reviews disappear and the negative ones start to accrue. So when it comes time to report the resident to the ASA and ACGME for being held back, the program director has ammunition to justify holding back that resident. Its very shady business but it has been done successfully for years and now the residents are trying to get this nonsense out in the open for everyone to see.
Also your scores are leaked to the entire department. The program director just sent everyone an email with a list of residents who got over a 60% on the recent ITE. Now, imagine the resident who got a 50-something percentile who is now considered a bad resident? Do you think this is right? Is this even allowed by ACGME? Why doesnt ACGME do something about this?
We have had 4 residency coordinators over the past 3 years. One residency coordinator even quit after 3 weeks because how malignant it was working in the anesthesia office for the program director. If the program director has an agenda against you, you better score well on those exams or you might as well get a 6-month sentence. This continues to destroy the morale of the department and new applicants can see through all of this. Many of the residents have gradually gotten proactive in telling new applicants and medical students NOT to apply here. I am sure the program director and administration will read this post and will somehow try to refute it again. They will probably send all the residents in the program a mass email and threaten us or warn us that we are being unprofessional for posting on the internet reviews of the program. In fact they will go on a witch-hunt to find out who is writing negative but true things about the program. But enough is enough and after years of being treated poorly and scorned by administration, the residents are finally standing up. Its not 1 or 2 disillusioned or angry residents, but many in every level of training. We are frustrated that no one to listen to us. We have regular meetings with the chairman but everyone is terrified to speak up because of the threat of being held back and fearing retribution from the administration.
2. The program is delusional in that they think the reason they didnt fill their spots was because mainly of location and that they didnt rank enough applicants. What they dont realize is that with the internet and forums, applicants are doing their homework and programs cannot hide their deficiencies anymore. This year there were NO SUNY Downstate students who are coming to the anesthesia program here. Many saw how the residents are treated and how poor the training and education is here and many made the decision not to come here. Location does impact many applicants decision but if the program is considered pro-resident and strong, I am sure that place will be highly competitive. And we are talking about anesthesia, a highly competitive and sought after residency spot.
3. At Downstate hospitals, residents sleep in BUNK BEDS! The OR director knew that the attendings call room was going to be under construction and instead of relaying this information to the attendings, residents and department, everyone found out about this after the fact. So what does the hospital and department do? They take our call room and give it to the attendings and force us to sleep in BUNK BEDS. Yes, professional, grown up adults who are physicians are forced to sleep in BUNK BEDS like we were cattle rounded up and confined into a small space. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE AT ALL. I dont care what sort of excuses the administration is making but this is a clear example to every applicant out there that you will be treated like an animal here with no respect.
4. Our beloved clinical director at Downstate is going to Stony Brook after the department turned their backs on him. For over a decade he was the only pro-resident attending who would stand up for residents. All the residents are extremely sad and disappointed he is leaving. He pushed all the residents in learning and protected us from the wrath of other malignant attendings and surgeons.
So enough of the negative stuff. So what needs to be done? If the chairman is serious about improving the program, I hope he will take these into consideration.
1. The program director needs to step down her post. It would be best if she was let go completely because the whole program has been destroyed at the core and the morale has been completely sapped. We can make a million changes, but this is the one that needs to be done if ANY change can be expected. The light will start to shine the moment she is gone and instantly this program will become one of the most competitive places in NYC. In fact, a lot of the older administration needs to step down. They are conniving, manipulative who are only there to collect a paycheck. There is one pediatric attending who will whine and complain when she has to work with a junior resident because she doesnt want to teach and wants a senior to run the case. We are in a TRAINING PROGRAM!
2. The residency coordinator needs to get relocated FAR away from residents and new applicants. We had applicants this year who said they got a bad vibe from the program because the residency coordinator was boorish, rude and cold. One applicant in particular commented on how she was constantly talking down to the residents. She is very difficult to work with. Oftentimes, she will yell at residents in the middle of meetings in front of colleagues and attendings. She sits on those CCC meetings and influences who moves on to the next level of training and who doesnt! The residency coordinator is supposed to be a resident advocate and understanding to our needs but in this place its an antagonistic relationship. They are the first face a new applicant sees at a program and if you see someone who is rude and with a sour disposition, immediately someone will think whats wrong with this place?
3. The infrastructure is in place for this program to be remarkable and one of the best in NYC. Kings County provides us with excellent trauma, LICH gives us an insight into ASA 1 and 2 patients from an outpatient perspective, SUNY has some of the sickest patients with severe cardiac and renal issues, Lutheran provides some great regional experience, Maimonides and Beth Israel great cardiac anesthesia, and Sloan Kettering with good neuroanesthesia. All we need is a pro-resident program director who trained at another institution with new and innovative ideas who will utilize the current infrastructure and make this an amazing place to be. There are about a handful amazing attendings in this program. The clinical director at LICH, who was voted teacher of the year, is one of the best teachers in the program and a lot of residents really appreciate him and his efforts. The pediatric anesthesiologist who trained in LA is probably the most favorite attending in the entire program because he has the wildest ideas and makes anesthesia really fun to learn. The rest are just there to collect a paycheck and hope that you dont kill anyone.
4. We need a stronger regional presence. If this means arranging away rotations, then this should be done. Right now, we are very, very weak in regional almost to the point where we are being very liberal in how we record our regional numbers to get by for ACGME.
5. SUNY Downstate anesthesia is notorious for holding back residents for poor exams however the department does not realize that some residents are poor test takers but do have the knowledge and are clinically very strong. Its all about numbers at this place and that needs to change. The emphasis should still be on the ITE and AKT exams but if you do poorly, there should be a system to HELP those residents- some lectures, question bank sessions, review courses, etc.- rather than threatening the residents by holding them back.
I dont think any of my recommendations are unreasonable. None of us are asking for better hours, more opportunities to make more money, etc. We are tired of this malignant environment and are concerned about our education and training. Being an anesthesiologist is not just about taking tests, but being clinical sound and competent. If the chairman of our program is reading this, the residents at SUNY Downstate anesthesia are pleading with you to make some of the proposed recommendations. No one will come forth and talk because they are terrified of the program director finding out and destroying their medical careers. There is a resistance brewing here at Downstate and human history has taught us that oppressed groups of people will eventually stand up for all the transgressions against them and finally the Downstate anesthesia residents are speaking up for years of abuse.
If anyone on this forum can comment and give us some insight, we would appreciate it. I dont consider any of what I wrote to be false and any new applicant is always welcome to come visit us and see firsthand the trauma we are experiencing here.
A few weeks another, a fellow resident posted a review on the website scutwork and it opened up a firestorm in our department amongst our residents and attendings. Subsequently the anesthesia administration had the chief residents, program coordinator and a recent graduate of the program who is working here as an attending to write a positive and false review of the program. In response, more residents started writing on scutwork to express our displeasure. As many of you saw from the 2010 match, 12 spots went unfilled in anesthesia at our program which constituted close to 50% of the unmatched spots in the country. There are many reasons for this and I will lay it out from a residents perspective.
1. We get held back if we do poorly on the ITE or AKT exams. You will get these warning letters in the mail to improve your performance on the next exam or threatened with being held back 6-12 months. There have been numerous lawsuits by former residents against the program director and anyone can look these up on any search engine so none of this is secret knowledge. She has had a stranglehold on the program for decades and everyone is terrified to speak up. Most of the attendings are graduates of the program and know how she has ruled with an iron fist and still have traumatic experiences from their residency. Hence, they are scared to stand up for residents for fear of their jobs and being reprimanded. The attendings talk behind the back of the program director and hate when she is in the OR.
She has constantly manipulated ACGME and anyone coming to survey the program. We have a Core Clinical Competency made up of selected attendings. According to the ACGME, the program director cannot sit on these meetings or influence the decision of the CCC. However, over here, she pressures the head of the CCC directly or indirectly through the residency coordinator. Every resident has a file with positives and negatives. If you do well on the exams, the positive evaluations will be prominent. However, if you start doing poorly on the exams, the positive reviews disappear and the negative ones start to accrue. So when it comes time to report the resident to the ASA and ACGME for being held back, the program director has ammunition to justify holding back that resident. Its very shady business but it has been done successfully for years and now the residents are trying to get this nonsense out in the open for everyone to see.
Also your scores are leaked to the entire department. The program director just sent everyone an email with a list of residents who got over a 60% on the recent ITE. Now, imagine the resident who got a 50-something percentile who is now considered a bad resident? Do you think this is right? Is this even allowed by ACGME? Why doesnt ACGME do something about this?
We have had 4 residency coordinators over the past 3 years. One residency coordinator even quit after 3 weeks because how malignant it was working in the anesthesia office for the program director. If the program director has an agenda against you, you better score well on those exams or you might as well get a 6-month sentence. This continues to destroy the morale of the department and new applicants can see through all of this. Many of the residents have gradually gotten proactive in telling new applicants and medical students NOT to apply here. I am sure the program director and administration will read this post and will somehow try to refute it again. They will probably send all the residents in the program a mass email and threaten us or warn us that we are being unprofessional for posting on the internet reviews of the program. In fact they will go on a witch-hunt to find out who is writing negative but true things about the program. But enough is enough and after years of being treated poorly and scorned by administration, the residents are finally standing up. Its not 1 or 2 disillusioned or angry residents, but many in every level of training. We are frustrated that no one to listen to us. We have regular meetings with the chairman but everyone is terrified to speak up because of the threat of being held back and fearing retribution from the administration.
2. The program is delusional in that they think the reason they didnt fill their spots was because mainly of location and that they didnt rank enough applicants. What they dont realize is that with the internet and forums, applicants are doing their homework and programs cannot hide their deficiencies anymore. This year there were NO SUNY Downstate students who are coming to the anesthesia program here. Many saw how the residents are treated and how poor the training and education is here and many made the decision not to come here. Location does impact many applicants decision but if the program is considered pro-resident and strong, I am sure that place will be highly competitive. And we are talking about anesthesia, a highly competitive and sought after residency spot.
3. At Downstate hospitals, residents sleep in BUNK BEDS! The OR director knew that the attendings call room was going to be under construction and instead of relaying this information to the attendings, residents and department, everyone found out about this after the fact. So what does the hospital and department do? They take our call room and give it to the attendings and force us to sleep in BUNK BEDS. Yes, professional, grown up adults who are physicians are forced to sleep in BUNK BEDS like we were cattle rounded up and confined into a small space. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE AT ALL. I dont care what sort of excuses the administration is making but this is a clear example to every applicant out there that you will be treated like an animal here with no respect.
4. Our beloved clinical director at Downstate is going to Stony Brook after the department turned their backs on him. For over a decade he was the only pro-resident attending who would stand up for residents. All the residents are extremely sad and disappointed he is leaving. He pushed all the residents in learning and protected us from the wrath of other malignant attendings and surgeons.
So enough of the negative stuff. So what needs to be done? If the chairman is serious about improving the program, I hope he will take these into consideration.
1. The program director needs to step down her post. It would be best if she was let go completely because the whole program has been destroyed at the core and the morale has been completely sapped. We can make a million changes, but this is the one that needs to be done if ANY change can be expected. The light will start to shine the moment she is gone and instantly this program will become one of the most competitive places in NYC. In fact, a lot of the older administration needs to step down. They are conniving, manipulative who are only there to collect a paycheck. There is one pediatric attending who will whine and complain when she has to work with a junior resident because she doesnt want to teach and wants a senior to run the case. We are in a TRAINING PROGRAM!
2. The residency coordinator needs to get relocated FAR away from residents and new applicants. We had applicants this year who said they got a bad vibe from the program because the residency coordinator was boorish, rude and cold. One applicant in particular commented on how she was constantly talking down to the residents. She is very difficult to work with. Oftentimes, she will yell at residents in the middle of meetings in front of colleagues and attendings. She sits on those CCC meetings and influences who moves on to the next level of training and who doesnt! The residency coordinator is supposed to be a resident advocate and understanding to our needs but in this place its an antagonistic relationship. They are the first face a new applicant sees at a program and if you see someone who is rude and with a sour disposition, immediately someone will think whats wrong with this place?
3. The infrastructure is in place for this program to be remarkable and one of the best in NYC. Kings County provides us with excellent trauma, LICH gives us an insight into ASA 1 and 2 patients from an outpatient perspective, SUNY has some of the sickest patients with severe cardiac and renal issues, Lutheran provides some great regional experience, Maimonides and Beth Israel great cardiac anesthesia, and Sloan Kettering with good neuroanesthesia. All we need is a pro-resident program director who trained at another institution with new and innovative ideas who will utilize the current infrastructure and make this an amazing place to be. There are about a handful amazing attendings in this program. The clinical director at LICH, who was voted teacher of the year, is one of the best teachers in the program and a lot of residents really appreciate him and his efforts. The pediatric anesthesiologist who trained in LA is probably the most favorite attending in the entire program because he has the wildest ideas and makes anesthesia really fun to learn. The rest are just there to collect a paycheck and hope that you dont kill anyone.
4. We need a stronger regional presence. If this means arranging away rotations, then this should be done. Right now, we are very, very weak in regional almost to the point where we are being very liberal in how we record our regional numbers to get by for ACGME.
5. SUNY Downstate anesthesia is notorious for holding back residents for poor exams however the department does not realize that some residents are poor test takers but do have the knowledge and are clinically very strong. Its all about numbers at this place and that needs to change. The emphasis should still be on the ITE and AKT exams but if you do poorly, there should be a system to HELP those residents- some lectures, question bank sessions, review courses, etc.- rather than threatening the residents by holding them back.
I dont think any of my recommendations are unreasonable. None of us are asking for better hours, more opportunities to make more money, etc. We are tired of this malignant environment and are concerned about our education and training. Being an anesthesiologist is not just about taking tests, but being clinical sound and competent. If the chairman of our program is reading this, the residents at SUNY Downstate anesthesia are pleading with you to make some of the proposed recommendations. No one will come forth and talk because they are terrified of the program director finding out and destroying their medical careers. There is a resistance brewing here at Downstate and human history has taught us that oppressed groups of people will eventually stand up for all the transgressions against them and finally the Downstate anesthesia residents are speaking up for years of abuse.
If anyone on this forum can comment and give us some insight, we would appreciate it. I dont consider any of what I wrote to be false and any new applicant is always welcome to come visit us and see firsthand the trauma we are experiencing here.
