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UC San Diego
Overview
An average 2-4 year program with a built-in transitional year at a nearby private hospital. Nothing about this program stood out to me as exceptional or unique, aside from their excellent exposure to Hyperbarics (They have eight faculty members who are board certified in it!) and the optional opportunity to fly on their helicopters during your 3rd and 4th years (about 1-2 shifts per month once you're trained). Good research opportunities, nice residents, and SD is a pretty good place to be if that's your cup of tea. However, to me, the numerous negatives of the program were notable and definitely outweighed the positives: Having to rotate at FIVE hospitals, the main ED not being especially busy and also TINY, a very strong surgery/trauma program that clearly holds the reigns, and definitely not a very academic or intense flavor to the program.
Curriculum
2-4 with a built-in transitional year at Scripps Mercy.
Scripps is a private hospital just down the street with a very cush transitional year program with about half being UCSD EM interns and the others going into radiology, anesthesia, derm, etc. Nice group of people, lots of perks (free food, pretty easy hours, lots of great electives like ortho trauma). Pretty cush, if that's what you're looking for.
The curriculum for PGY 2-4s felt haphazard - all of your EM shifts are interspersed between five different hospitals (including a dedicated Children's hospital) and you're generally at different places for every shift. So Monday you could be at one, then Tuesday at another, etc...! All of the other hospitals, aside from UCSD and Children's, are private. Moonlighting is allowed starting halfway through 3rd year.
Facilities
This was definitely the big negative for me. You rotate through FIVE different hospitals during all three years. They mostly all driving distance from each other, so even if you live right across from UCSD you'll still have to drive to about half of your rotations. The UCSD ED itself is tiny - only 27 beds, the smallest one I've seen on the interview trail. Additionally, while the ED is on the 1st floor, the trauma bay is on the 2nd floor (run by trauma surgery)- so all of the 'trauma activations' go there almost directly. EM residents do rotate on the trauma team, but only for two months (1st and 4th years). They claim to get a decent amount of trauma, but the residents just said that they get "enough" to feel competent. Ultrasound is used fairly regularly, though it was unclear how well it was incorporated into the curriculum.
Research/Opportunities
As of 2002, they had the most publications per faculty member of any program in the country - I know this because I was told about it during the interview day THREE times. I don't think this is true anymore, but they do still publish quite a bit. The residents I spoke with - all except one - were not actively involved in research beyond the requirement, and no one this year is pursuing a fellowship. They admitted that their international connections weren't strong, but would be willing to work with an interested resident to set one up. In the past, several residents have done rotations on USS Mercy, a navy ship that runs humanitarian missions abroad.
Fellowships
Hyperbaric Medicine
EMS/Disaster
Medical Toxicology
Pediatric EM
*Currently working on getting an ultrasound fellowship, but sounded like it wouldn't happen for another 1-2 years
Residents
Really nice group of people, from diverse backgrounds and of varying ages. Most were married and a few with kids, but there were a few singles who outright said that SD was not a great singles scene. Many told me they chose this program because they wanted to be in SD for family/life reasons, though one mentioned that the 2002 article about them producing the most research swayed his decision
.
Location
It's in San Diego, just a quick drive from the beach and tons of beautiful scenery. A lot of the faculty and residents are into sailing, surfing, rock climbing, etc., so if you're an outdoors enthusiast you'll certainly find your niche here. Not a great social life (compared to NYC, LA, SF) but not bad.
Overview
An average 2-4 year program with a built-in transitional year at a nearby private hospital. Nothing about this program stood out to me as exceptional or unique, aside from their excellent exposure to Hyperbarics (They have eight faculty members who are board certified in it!) and the optional opportunity to fly on their helicopters during your 3rd and 4th years (about 1-2 shifts per month once you're trained). Good research opportunities, nice residents, and SD is a pretty good place to be if that's your cup of tea. However, to me, the numerous negatives of the program were notable and definitely outweighed the positives: Having to rotate at FIVE hospitals, the main ED not being especially busy and also TINY, a very strong surgery/trauma program that clearly holds the reigns, and definitely not a very academic or intense flavor to the program.
Curriculum
2-4 with a built-in transitional year at Scripps Mercy.
Scripps is a private hospital just down the street with a very cush transitional year program with about half being UCSD EM interns and the others going into radiology, anesthesia, derm, etc. Nice group of people, lots of perks (free food, pretty easy hours, lots of great electives like ortho trauma). Pretty cush, if that's what you're looking for.
The curriculum for PGY 2-4s felt haphazard - all of your EM shifts are interspersed between five different hospitals (including a dedicated Children's hospital) and you're generally at different places for every shift. So Monday you could be at one, then Tuesday at another, etc...! All of the other hospitals, aside from UCSD and Children's, are private. Moonlighting is allowed starting halfway through 3rd year.
Facilities
This was definitely the big negative for me. You rotate through FIVE different hospitals during all three years. They mostly all driving distance from each other, so even if you live right across from UCSD you'll still have to drive to about half of your rotations. The UCSD ED itself is tiny - only 27 beds, the smallest one I've seen on the interview trail. Additionally, while the ED is on the 1st floor, the trauma bay is on the 2nd floor (run by trauma surgery)- so all of the 'trauma activations' go there almost directly. EM residents do rotate on the trauma team, but only for two months (1st and 4th years). They claim to get a decent amount of trauma, but the residents just said that they get "enough" to feel competent. Ultrasound is used fairly regularly, though it was unclear how well it was incorporated into the curriculum.
Research/Opportunities
As of 2002, they had the most publications per faculty member of any program in the country - I know this because I was told about it during the interview day THREE times. I don't think this is true anymore, but they do still publish quite a bit. The residents I spoke with - all except one - were not actively involved in research beyond the requirement, and no one this year is pursuing a fellowship. They admitted that their international connections weren't strong, but would be willing to work with an interested resident to set one up. In the past, several residents have done rotations on USS Mercy, a navy ship that runs humanitarian missions abroad.
Fellowships
Hyperbaric Medicine
EMS/Disaster
Medical Toxicology
Pediatric EM
*Currently working on getting an ultrasound fellowship, but sounded like it wouldn't happen for another 1-2 years
Residents
Really nice group of people, from diverse backgrounds and of varying ages. Most were married and a few with kids, but there were a few singles who outright said that SD was not a great singles scene. Many told me they chose this program because they wanted to be in SD for family/life reasons, though one mentioned that the 2002 article about them producing the most research swayed his decision
.Location
It's in San Diego, just a quick drive from the beach and tons of beautiful scenery. A lot of the faculty and residents are into sailing, surfing, rock climbing, etc., so if you're an outdoors enthusiast you'll certainly find your niche here. Not a great social life (compared to NYC, LA, SF) but not bad.
