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Icefrog

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Can anyone share his or her thoughts on UCSD prelim medicine? I interviewed there and it seemed ok, but several sources say it's a hardworking program and of little benefit if you're there for only one year.

Searching on SDN, there are a few threads about this but they have conflicting information and are several years old. I've heard a couple comments from these threads saying "it's getting better," but was wondering how much improvement has actually occurred.

I'm not from SD but have friends and family there, so I still haven't discounted the program just yet. I realize intern year isn't supposed to be a cakewalk so I'm willing to work hard to be in a good location near my friends and family... but I don't want to be at an unreasonably difficult program.

Any help appreciated!
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I was a prelim at UCSD last year and I would have to definitely agree that it was a very difficult year for the amount you get out of it. I felt I was sleep deprived much of the time because I was on call for most of the year. Interns do around 8-9 months of call doing wards, units or float time. It is true that cats and prelims are treated the same except that prelims don’t go to continuity clinic which really means you are stuck covering all the inpatient work while your co-intern or resident are in clinic. Teaching is hit or miss but often as an intern I felt like most of my attendings thought it was more important to discharge the patients than do bedside teaching or give us teaching pearls. The new program director is a little odd and many of us thought she was aloof and disconnected as to what was really going on with the housestaff and not that supportive…but perhaps that is more important for a cat than a prelim. Living in San Diego was a definite plus although it would have been nice to be on call less so I could have enjoyed it more. To be honest, if I had to choose again, I am not sure if I would have chosen to do my prelim training at UCSD. I think I could have learned just as much in another program that was less rigorous and more supportive. Good luck!
 
Anyone else have thoughts on the program since the location seems like it would be amazing and will be doing a Scripps interview but there seems to be a lot of people who will want it?
 
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Just finished a prelim year there. I would definitely do it again.

-6 months of wards (split between Hillcrest, a county that runs more like a private, and VA)
-2 months of ICU (Hillcrest or VA or Sulpizio, a private cardiology unit)
-1 month of covering ward teams overnight (2weeks @ VA, 2weeks @ HC)
-1 month of outpatient pull
-1 month of protected out patient
-1 month of vacation (2 2week blocks)

The "new PD" referred to above did a great job of turning the program around. Apparently back in 2010 they broke ACGME hours like it was no one's business, however, I can honestly say I don't think I ever broke 80 hours (though did come close on the ICU's). The faculty were amazing to work with (well 95% of the time, but there are always a few bad apples anywhere you go). It was a lot of work, but, it has definitely made me a much more competent/confident physician. Next year I'll have no problem managing urgent situations like cardiac catastrophies, massive GI bleeds, et cetera without breaking a sweat... If you are serious about building a strong IM background upon which to continue to build your specialty training to really make you a sharp clinician, than this is the place for you. It's probably not for you if you're looking for a "cush" transitional year sort of gig... but then you probably don't belong at an academic medical center anyway.

Oh two other big perks... there is a house staff union that gets the resident's killer benefits (like an annual $3000 housing bonus) and you get to live in San Diego. I'm really going to miss it here.
 
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