St. John ER Elective

[ollaguna]

Does anyone have anything to say about the ER program at St. John Hospital & Medical Center in Detroit Michigan? I'm scheduled to complete an elective there but know nothing about the program other than what's on the web site. Any Michigan residents have anything to say about the neighborhood (Harper Woods). Is it a safe walk?

Any info is greatly appreciated!

By the way, congrats to all you guys that matched

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[edinOH]

I'm not sure if I am the person you are wanting to reply to this message but I think I can offer a couple of points.

I interviewed at St. Johns during this past interview season. In fact, it was my first interview. I can tell you that the hospital is located near the edge of a nicer suburban type area and a more inner-city area. The impression that the residents tried to give the applicants was that they see a good mix of inner-city trauma and really sick people and suburban type minor medical/old man having a heart attack type stuff.

I thought the program director was a flake and most of the residents I met were kind of strange. Te pediatric EM attending that interviewed me was an odd ball as well. I discovered from talking with other applicants on the interview trail that this guy is notorious for his interviewing style. On the other hand I met a couple of other attendings on my visit who were pretty cool and down to earth.

That's all I have to say about the place. These are my honest impressions from one day's visit. I ultimately ended up ranking the place very low. In fact, I considered not even ranking the place for a while. Perhaps there are others on this board who can give you some deeper insight.

Good luck on your rotations. Enjoy the next year. It is awesome and goes way too fast.

 

[ollaguna]

Thanks for the info. Hopefully it'll turn out to be a good experience.

 

[sgufmg]

I rotated at St. Johns as a student and it was an excellent experience. I saw at least 3-4 penetrating traumas per week, learned to suture, do LPs, IVs, blood draws, etc. It is definitely a busy ED with >85,000 visits per year. You will see alot of variety there. Stay in the St. John-sponsored hospital apartments nearby if possible. Plus unlimited food from the cafeteria.. Good luck!

BTW, why are you rotating in MI if you're from NYC?

 

[ollaguna]

For one I wasn't able to schedule any EM electives in NY prior to completing my sx core (July through Oct). So I went to the SAEM website, looked up sites that offer housing, and sent out requests. On short notice, St. Johns was the only place that offered a spot. With that said, I'm off to Michigan in a few weeks!

Do you go to SGU? I found it difficult to schedule some EM rotations as a IMG (Ross). I think you guys have more affiliations with hospitals that offer EM electives (with EM residency programs).

 

[Sheerstress]

A good friend of mine is on the faculty of St. Johns - he has implied in the past that the program director is a little strange, but the program generally does a good job of training the residents.

As far as the location, the main Grosse Pointe campus (Harper Woods) is in one of the predominantly white, suburban, higher-income areas of Detroit. Two country clubs are within 2 miles of the hospital, so it's certainly not like you're going to be in a war zone like Detroit Receiving or Henry Ford. Way back when I first moved to Michigan, people from that area told me that local police were especially focused on making it uncomfortable for people from the inner city to be around Grosse Pointe for long periods of time.

With that said, however, there are other branch hospitals that are closer to the downtown area, and I wouldn't know if you'd rotate through any of them.