Posted anonymously on behalf of a student who interviewed there.
U Pitt Review
Pre-Interview Social: The pre-interview dinner was at the Church Brew Works, which is a really cool pub in what literally used to be a church. (The taps are sitting where the altar would have been.) All of the stained glass windows are still there, and its a great ambience.
Interview Day: The interview day started at 8:30 AM with breakfast and a talk by the chairman. He talked about their achievements and wanted to know what rumors we had heard about the program, which was kind of awkward. Except for the Jeep (see below), I couldnt think of any rumors that Id heard about Pitt. Afterward, we had a slideshow by one of the residents about the program, which was followed by a tour of the WISER sim center, interviews, lunch, and a city tour in the Jeep. (They take you around to see all of the main hospitals.) There were four interviews. Mine were with the PD, associate PD, assistant PD, and one other faculty. All of the interviews were pretty relaxed. I was asked why Pitt, tell them about myself, where I see myself in 15 years, and describe one of my ERAS activities. Everyone also asked me what questions I had, so make sure youre prepared to ask questions!
Curriculum: Pitt is a three year program. The primary hospitals are UPMC Presbyterian (main campus tertiary referral center), UPMC Mercy (more of a community ED but still academic), Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh, and UPMC Shadyside (community hospital). They also do one month at St. Clairs, another community hospital. The main UPMC, Mercy, and Childrens are all trauma I. Shifts are scheduled rolling forward with five or less shifts in a row. PGY1s do 22 x 10s per month. PGY2s do 20 x 10s per month plus two 12-hour Jeep shifts or one 24-hour STAT (helicopter) shift. PGY3s do 18 x 10s per month plus two Jeep shifts or one STAT shift. Flying on the helicopter is required. From what I can put together (see below), total EM time is 23.5 months, including peds EM. There are three ICU months.
They have their orientation month in September, which I thought was kind of weird and still dont really understand the rationale for. There are lectures, 8-hour ED shifts, dental lab, a weekend trip, sim labs, and a course to prepare them to teach students. Also, there isnt a list of their rotations on their website or in their interview day packet, so here is what I can piece together from the resident work schedule. PGY1 rotations are UPMC ED (3 months), CH ED (1 month), Shadyside ED (1 month), Mercy ED (1.5 months), Mercy Triple Threat (Anesthesia/US/OB) (1 month), Mercy ICU (1 month), UPMC MICU or SICU (1 month), UPMC Trauma (1 month), UPMC Cardiology (1 month), UPMC Toxicology (0.5 month). PGY2 rotations are UPMC ED (2.5 months), CH ED (1.5 months), Shadyside ED (1 month), Mercy ED (3 months), EMS (1 month), CH Triple Threat (Anesthesia/US/OB) (1 month), Mercy Trauma (1 month), Shadyside MICU (1 month). PGY3 rotations are UPMC ED (3 months), CH ED (1 month), Shadyside ED (1 month), Mercy ED (3 months), St. Clair ED (1 month), UPMC Trauma (1 month), EMS (1 month), Elective (1 month). As I said, there are longitudinal EMS shifts in PGY2 and PGY3, so Im not sure if there are two additional months where they do nothing but EMS as well. Im also not sure if the cards month in PGY1 is a floor month or an ED consult month.
EMS training at Pitt is extremely strong and one of this programs biggest draws. The residents get tons of prehospital experience, including Medic Command, responding to emergency scenes in the EMS Physician Jeep (its an online/on-site medical command experience where they manage critical patients), and STAT MedEvac (serving as the flight physician on the helicopter). There is one elective month that many people spend away. Up to six people per year can go to Hawaii, and there are other away electives in St. Lucia, Russia, Italy, Qatar, and Australia. People have also done electives in tox, U/S, research, and peds EM. There is a yearly U/S course, and residents can get credentialed. Residents are heavily involved with teaching medical students, and teaching skills for residents is a major emphasis at Pitt.
Didactics: They have your standard five hours per week of didactics on Thursday mornings. Some of the activities include Grand Rounds, journal club, and the September intern core lecture series. They also do simulations at their super nice sim center. On top of the regular didactics and intern orientation, there is a lecture week for the PGY2s where they do a bunch of labs and workshops. There are also online tests to prepare residents for the in-service exam, and an interesting requirement for residents to Q & A each others charts.
Benefits: Benefits at Pitt are pretty good. Vacation is three weeks per year. They pay for your annual membership dues to EM organizations and will pay for residents to go present their research at conferences. It seems like a lot of residents take advantage of that and go present their research. The education allowance is more generous than most ($1000 per year), and they give you an EM book besides. Plus they give residents scrubs, health insurance, etc. The salary is a little lower than a lot of other places, but so is the COL.
Administration: We didnt hear too much about resident wellness issues. But from what little I can tell, it seems like people like the PD and feel that he is supportive.
Pittsburgh: I dont know why some people rag on Pittsburgh so much, because I thought it was a great city. It looks kind of like San Francisco with all of the hills, and it seems like there would be a lot of fun things to do and cool places to go hang out. (I would like to go back to the Church Brew Works some time!) They have all the usual cultural amenities that you find in most cities. COL is very reasonable with residents able to buy property if they want to. There is also a push to make Pittsburgh a more eco-friendly city.
Summary: Pitt was one of my top pre-interview choices, and I was super impressed with the program and opportunities available there. Its definitely possible to go into community practice coming out of this program, but the overall slant and feel seems to be more academic than most programs. There are fellowships available in several of the EM subspecialties. Research is big, so if you want to do some during residency, this is a great program for it. It seems like they have projects going on in just about every major area of EM. Also, even for people who arent that into EMS, you cant help but be impressed by the EMS training at Pitt, not only the Jeep, but the flying as well. It seems like the residents get a great experience as first responders and plenty of procedures out in the field. In addition, their U/S experience seems pretty strong. Even though it comes three months into the program, their orientation month sounds really helpful and high-yield, too. Another thing I really liked about Pitt was the emphasis on teaching. One of the problems with being thrust into a teaching role as a resident is that you may not have ever had any teaching experience before, and no one ever tells you how to teach better. At Pitt, they actively train residents to be effective teachers rather than having them try to learn how to teach on the fly. I already mentioned that they have the orientation course to teach the residents how to teach. But in addition, Dr. Dorfsman (assistant PD) does observed shifts for each resident where she watches them see patients and teach medical students, then gives them feedback afterward on how they can improve their teaching. Im not aware of any other program that does this. Also, I really like Pittsburgh as a place to live.
As amazing as the program itself is, Pitt was the biggest disappointment on my interview trail. Maybe I just caught them during a bad week, but it seemed like most of the people I met on both days were negative, from trash-talking other programs to lots of venting about the curriculum. (The peds experience and having to learn multiple EMRs were the main topics being vented about, and having to use so many different EMRs does sound like a pain.) I also felt like there was way too much emphasis on how elite the program is.
Overall, I was so impressed by Pitt's program, and so sad to realize that I would not fit in well there at all.