Temple Residency Reviews

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Pelivar

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Here is my contribution:

Temple- Dr McNamara would be great as a PD and I'm sure would help finding a job. The program is relatively new and seems to still be going through some growing pains. The curriculum seemed a little week and they are working through kinks in the schedule but the administration seemed dedicated to making it a good program. They do a ton of ICU, 6 months I think (Q3 call), which is probably good for learning but bad for having a life. The program is in a bad arrea but they seemed to get good pathology. The ED is small and old, with crappy computers and charting. Overall they seemed to work hard but get a good education. Interview day is an overview of the program followed by an ED conference, 3 interviews (mostly laid back but Dr. McNamara asks some typical semi-hard interview questions), then lunch and a tour.

Camden- Very good medium sized program. The PD and Chairman are great and get you excited about their program. They have good U/S and clinical tracks that allow you to focus on whatever your interested in as well as good research support. The PD seems very dedicated to making it a great program and keeping residents happy. Their ED is old but useable. The interview day is an overview by the PD and Chairman, then 4 interviews a tour and a lunch conference. I will rank this program higher than the philly programs.

Christiana- Great program. They do seem to have it easy working mostly 8 hour shifts and having tons of protected time for their 10 hours of conference per week. Despite not working much they seem to have a good pathology and get to do a lot of procedures. The biggest negative about the interview day is the crappy lunch. The interview day for me was an overview of the program by the PD, a morning conference, 5 interviews, a tour and then lunch. I read the old threads about Christiana before I interviewed and I had a chance to meet the past president of EMRA. She was a bit over enthusiastic about the program, but I think she would be a good resource for residents their. I plan to rank this program high.

-P

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FYI...I'm pretty sure Temple only does 4 months of ICU time, one in each of the following:

Resp ICU
Surg ICU
Ped ICU
Burn ICU

I had to brush up on this program as I'm going there soon so figured I'd post what I found. ;)

Hope that helps.
SkiDog
 
They only do 4 now, but by the time we would be in residency, they are adding a 5th ICU rotation in the CT surg ICU to increase thier chest tube and line numbers. They may have another ICU rotation but I'd have to look at my notes. Program websites are almost always outdated and so is the info they give you at the interview sometimes. Good luck.

-P
 
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Temple Interview Review

The day started out at 8pm. The lot for free parking was full by that 7:45, so try to get there earlier if you want a spot. I parked in the street. We met in a building across the street from the hospital on the 12th floor. This is the setting of their ED administrative offices. There were approximately 8 people on the interview and while half of us were on the tour the other half were interviewing. I met with three interviewers including the legendary Dr. McNamara. I've heard that he was a difficult interviewer because he interviews with a poker face, he doesn't give you any feedback at all while interviewing. And believe me it's true! I thought I answered some questions PERFECTLY, and he would just scribble some notes and then ask me the next question. Not even an ah huh, or REALLY, that sounds interesting! It can be a little intimidating but only if you let it bother you. The other two interviews were with the PD and another attending. Each interview was very different, and they all asked something in my application that struck a personal chord in them. Not stressful at all.

+++ North Philly is a great place to train for EM. If you're ever in the Philly area and watch the news, something sensational always makes the 5 o'clock news and they're all brought to Temple. Lots of penetrating trauma.

++++ Dedicated resident's night out! For 6 hours a month all of the attendings cover the ED to allow the residents to get out with each other.

++ 10 hour shifts. Most interns work 18-20 12's, their program gives residents a little breathing room before having to show up for work the next day.

+++ Rotate through CHOP for some months of the year. They also have their brand new children's hospital.

++ The attendings and PD seem to be very responsive to the residents' gripes and make the necessary changes. They've made a lot of significant changes recently and emphasize resident feedback.

++ Up coming program but known as one of the top three programs in the Philly area.

+ McNamara. Very well known chair in the EM community. Love him or hate him, he has earned his respect in the EM world. He is a former president of the AAEM, and gives grand rounds all over the country. He doesn't seem like the lovable kind of guy you want to take out for dinner though, but he will go to bat for you.

+/- Great place to train, but no one wants to live in the area!

+/- inner city program. Lots of work, lots of experience but you don't have to call primary care docs because you are their primary care doc. I've heard that the population can be difficult because they expect a lot from the docs and tend not to follow advice.

+/- 3 year program.

-- Relatively new program. Started in 1997, and they are still trying to establish a niche in the hospital. They just got full admitting priveleges, and they recently kicked anesthesiologists out of the ED allowing ED residents to be responisble for the airways.

-- They are still trying to work out their relationship with Trauma, they used to rotate days with trauma. Now it seemed like whoever responded first got the case.

--- No Variety! I've heard from many sources that their population is about 95% African American. The African American part isn't the problem for me, it's the 95% part....I need a little diversity like a little old Polish lady or an Indian every now and then.

--- Growing pains. They are still a relatively new department in the hospital. They are building a new building which will serve as an expansion to their current ED. Once it's built, they will then renovate the current one. Therefore, expect a lot of construction and moving for the next year. They sort of mentioned that the planned move, and current cramping of their space has generated some tension with everyone including nursing staff. Imagine contractors in your apartment or house for two years?? They have also increased the number of residents in the program by two in anticipation of the greater workload with the expansion. They expect the work to be completed by June 2006.

Overall, sounds like a solid program. Lots of experience, you will come out well rounded and know how to handle real emergencies.
 
Temple

Residents: 12 residents in the intern class. There was no pre-interview dinner the night before, so I didn't get to meet too many of the residents, but they had a lunch at the end (which was great!) and there were many residents that showed up to that. All the residents seemed very smart and very competent. I was impressed with the general caliber. We also sat through an oral board simulation in the morning, and I was also very impressed with how well the intern did! It seemed like there was a good mix of married/single residents; with the residents living all over the city. Everyone seems very close, with a laid back air; everyone was teasing each other! They also have a 6 hours of protected time every month where the residents are excused from all responsibilities (including a shift) and they all go hang out at a different spot every time.

Faculty: This was one of the most fun set of interviews I had; it really felt like the interview revolved around getting to know me better. Except for one of the interviews, they were conversations that ranged from travel stories to musical abilities. The program director seems like such a great guy! He had this great smile on his face throughout the day and he seems like such a down to earth guy; everyone is on a first name basis with both the PD and the Chair. The residents all seemed to love their faculty. The Chair is great! I had read previous reviews and had heard from a lot of people that he was a tough interviewer and so I think I walked into that interview pretty scared; but he absolutely commanded my respect. I felt like even though he did have a list of questions to ask; they weren't the usual "what are your strengths/weaknesses" they were questions that were extremely pertinent to the practice of EM. They were by far the most thought provoking questions on my trail! The assistant PD is absolutely wonderful! I thoroughly enjoyed my interview with him and I felt like I would love to come back just so I could hang out some more with him. He is just a down and out nice guy. I also heard that Dr. Lex (not sure if I spelt it right) is doing a phenomenal job bringing BIG names and having them lecture for grand rounds. The residents dropped names like Tintinalli, Rosens, Manny Rivers, etc and said they had all been there within the past two years. Because Dr. McNamara was a past president of AAEM, the residency is very much an AAEM loving program!

Hospital: The hospital is much nicer than what I thought it would be for the kind of patients that it sees; it's actually a very pretty, clean, and new place. The ED is pretty big (i'm sorry, I don't remember how many beds); pretty typical with the usual resus centers, etc. Computer system seems a little outdated, but the resident said it was just very user friendly and functioned just great. Because of where the hospital is; their is a metal detector at the door, and patients get wanded if they come in via ambulance. The residents said that they never felt like they were unsafe, and none of them have been hurt. It is important to keep this in mind, and you have to be careful and be vigilant... the program is what it is because of where it is. One of the few places in the country that still sees trauma; a lot of trauma, a lot of penetrating trauma. The residents here regularly do ED thoracotomies. The femoral cutdowns are learned on real patients and not on pigs/cadavers. Def. a knife and gun club with still a lot of sick people coming in.

Ancillary Stuff: The residents raved about how great the nurses are; tons of experience, in fact, i think the majority used to be ICU nurses so everyone had nothing but good things to say about them. You will wheel your patients to radiology, you will get good at IVs, you will hang up your own bags. This does not bother me at all, but if you aren't interested in a program that does have a county feel to it; then you might want to rethink Temple. Temple is a University hospital that feels exactly like a county hospital.

Admitting: I'm not really too sure about the answer to this actually; nobody complained about it; but for some reason I do not remember what the answer was :S This is what happens when I don't take notes!!

Curriculum: Three years. TONS of ICU time. Time in CHOP which is an awesome plus of the program. You spend some time on the floor, but I am of the mentality that floor months help to build relationships, so I don't mind the endless rounding, as long as it only lasts a month!! They have a helicopter, you can do ride alongs if you want; you play an observer role I believe. I think one of the things that appealed to me the most is just the variety of the lecturers they are able to have come and talk to them.

City: Philly is an interesting place. Where Temple is is a very shady part... Nobody lives near the hospital, in fact, nobody walks out onto the street outside the hospital. Philly seems like a nice place to live; like an interesting combination of town/city with a European feel to it. Housing and cost of living seem quite reasonable and residents are able to stretch their salary quite a bit.

Negatives: The lack of diversity of the patient population is the only thing that comes to mind. The majority of the patients are African-American with very little of anything else.

Overall: This program is one of the best programs I have seen on my trail. I felt like it has done a phenomenal job with the curriculum, they are doing a great job balancing clinical teaching and didatics. The residents are just incredibly happy. They still see trauma. Very, very few negatives I thought. You will come out of this program an outstanding EM doc able to literally handle anything that comes through that door. I would be very lucky if I match here and it will def be one of my top three choices.
 
Overall: by far the best program in Philly if what you want is "county" experience

The ED has great volume, very sick "county"-esque patients although 90% are black so racial diversity is absent but pathology diversity is not. They are also the busiest trauma center in Philadelphia and the joke is that more gunshots patients are dropped off Cadillac than by Ambulance. Lots of drugs and lots of poverty in northeast philly. Everything is computerized.

Away sites: Lankanau on the Main Line for a community experience and Episcopal for a rural experience where there is no other consultants in the hospital.

Faculty: have a priority to teaching that I haven't seen anywhere else except in Univer. of Maryland. There is even 1 month of curriculum dedicated to the PGY3 being in charge of teaching in the ED and learning effective medical educational techniques.

Residents: One of the most fun bunch of residents I've seen since St. Luke's in NYC. They all work hard and get together in the city often. 50% want to work after graduating and the other half usually do academic or fellowships.

Although the program is somewhat new there is always the risk of not having a long established program behind your name but Temple has emerged as the most action packed place to learn in Philly so there is no doubt that you will leave here with both awesome medical and trauma experience.

Ultrasound: tons of it and are even testing it's use in differentiating CHF vs COPD and in assisting in performing LPs

PD: McNamarra is known as a teaching legend in the field of EM and has a lot of committee experience

Tox: the one downside is there are no tox trained faculty on staff and tox education takes place at Einstein further away in Philly.

Gut Reaction: If you are looking for an incredibly robust 3yr program with a "county" focus and an emphasis on teaching then you'll really enjoy Temple.
 
PD: McNamarra is known as a teaching legend in the field of EM and has a lot of committee experience.

Just a quick correction:

Dr. McNamarra is not the PD, he's the Chair of Emergency Medicine. I wholeheartedly agree he is a teaching legend and is among the finest physician leaders I have ever encountered. I owe my career to him for help and advice he gave my during my residency application process. Ed Panacek (another legend in EM who is at UC Davis) described Dr. McNamarra as the conscience of EM.

The PD is Dr. JJ Ufberg who is a terrific teacher as well and has been the PD for many years now.

Other faculty standouts from when I was a student there are Rich Harrigan and Nina Gentile, all are just fantastic.

Here's a link to the Temple EM faculty page for reference
 
my bad, yes McNamarra is the chair and UfBerg is PD. Both are super cool docs.
 
I interviewed at Temple and was really impressed by the program. I would love to talk more with other residents who went to temple or rotated there to get a bit more information.

If this applies to you, please send me a personal message.

Thanks!
 
Temple

PROS: Very strong ED leadership (chair, PD, aPD) and had excellent interactions with all of them; very fun residents (and best social event of the trail) with work hard/play hard mentality and strong desire to help each other through residency; sick pts and crazy trauma; lots of procedures; residents and attendings seem to have a fantastic relationship and multiple residents mentioned this attracted them to the program; Burn Unit (aka "trial by fire" as one resident put it) seems like an awesome experience with great autonomy since you're the only overnight resident; very good nursing per residents; can moonlight in pgy 3 (fast track) and by carrying a pager and answering calls for research studies; health insurance is free; all shifts are 8 hrs in pgy2 and pgy3 year

CONS: peds—rotations at CHOP sound good on paper, but residents say there can be too many learners there at times and it sounds like peds airways may be tough to come by; only 1 month of elective time; Less ICU time than I'd like (no CCU, and only one month of MICU and SICU…though the Burn unit sounds outstanding)
 
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I spoke with the PD a few months ago (not on an interview, fyi) and I asked about the ICU experience and he said they will be adding more ICU time to the curriculum as all programs will have to have 4 months per ACGME, however he believed they (TUH EM) would end up with 5 months total ICU time. (I didn't ask, but I'm really hoping they'll be trading out the floor month for ICU.)
 
Posted anonymously on behalf of another sdn member:

TEMPLE (Philly)
Shift schedule:
PGY1: 10s, PGY2/3: 8s. Follow 2 days-2 afternoon-2 nights-2 off
Vaca: 3wks PGY1, 4wks PGY2/3
Salary: 51k, 53k, 55k (get paid bi-weekly)
Orientation month: NONE
Sites: Temple Univ Hospital, CHOP (Peds ED), Jeans (for community ED), Episcopal (for psych ED)
Some pros: Gun-and-knife club galore...you'll see tons (too much?) trauma, burn-ICU experience at TUH, awesome program leadership, residents seemed upbeat
Some cons: North Philly (not much diversity in patient population...mostly AA), area surrounding hospital not the safest (residents lives in center-city or manayunk), only x2 2wk elective time (residents said they use at least one for vaca)
 
How much do ya'll have to spend on parking here as residents?
 
It's free except when rotating at CHOP (1 month per year), but you can get there easily by public transit.
 
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I just noticed a previous post that mentioned that Episcopal is "psych ED". It is NOT a psych ED, it is a community ED. However, Episcopal is the hospital within the Temple system that has the inpatient psych and it is one of the Crisis Response Centers in the city. As far as I know, if the patient has only a psych complaint, at most your role is to wave at them as they are escorted to the CRC.
 
Anyone with an updated review of the Temple program? Current residents or people who rotated? Would love to hear about pros/ cons.
 
I went to med school there, but did residency at another program.

Temple sees a lot of penetrating trauma along with the typical inner city EM stuff.
Very good faculty dedicated to teaching.
The PD is a fantastic guy, so are many of the other attendings.
The graduates are well trained.

Downsides. Little patient diversity. Little community ED training.

Overall it's a very good program.
 
I just noticed a previous post that mentioned that Episcopal is "psych ED". It is NOT a psych ED, it is a community ED. However, Episcopal is the hospital within the Temple system that has the inpatient psych and it is one of the Crisis Response Centers in the city. As far as I know, if the patient has only a psych complaint, at most your role is to wave at them as they are escorted to the CRC.
This is largely correct. A patient with solely a psychiatric complaint -- i.e., no injuries, no toxic ingestion -- bypasses the emergency department to go straight to the CRC. Exceptions are minors (psychiatry evaluates in the emergency department to arrange for transfer to a pediatric psychiatric CRC) and people who are high risk for organic illness (e.g., no prior psychiatric history, visual hallucinations, significant vital sign abnormalities). Patients in the CRC or on the psychiatric ward with acute medical issues will be returned to the emergency department. Overall the Episcopal ED is a lower-acuity and much lower-volume setting than the Temple ED, but significant pathology lurks (sometimes in very well-appearing patients). Given the lack of specialists on-site, rotating residents get to experience the "do I treat or do I transfer" question that just doesn't arise at a quaternary care center, but with rapid and easy transfer to the main facility when necessary.

Some love it, some hate it, but it's certainly a valuable educational site in the Temple healthcare system.
 
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