University of South Florida (USF) Residency Reviews

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USF

Residents: 10 per class is 99% sure for this incoming class, they had been 6 since inception. All the residents are pretty laid back and seem to enjoy their experience very much. They hang out often and do many fun outdoor activities. Many of them chose this as their #1 because of the great atmosphere that the faculty has developed for residents. The happiness factor is high.

Faculty: Dr. O’Keefe is a strong leader and a kick-ass kind of guy with a stone face, but he is very resident focused which is important since this is a newer program. Having worked with many other faculty members as a student, I can say that the attendings are great to work with, laid back, and will let the residents (even interns) run the show on complicated cases. They let you do a lot of hands on learning but take the time to teach when they can.

Facilities: Tampa General is the only hospital you’ll work at. The current ED itself is small and outdated but there is a new addition to the medical complex that will house the new ED, surgical suites, and ICU’s. It is projected to be finished by October of 2007 and looks like it will be quite impressive.

Curriculum: Fairly standard, and there is 1 month on medicine wards. They seem to emphasize leadership more than most other programs, using their unique relationship with Team Health to expose their residents to what it will take to actually run a department (Hopkins is also forming a relationship with Team Health). The leadership exposure stood out to me because I would like to explore serving in a leadership role in the future. Dr. O’Keefe feels confident that many of their grads will finish with what it will take to eventually run a department.

Patient population: Tampa General is technically a private hospital but they see every kind of patient. There are a lot of sick patients that present there and there is plenty of trauma.

Location: Tampa General Hospital is on Davis Island right next to the Bay in an affluent area. Tampa is a great place to live. I’ve lived here for med school and would not mind staying here for another 3 years. Great weather, beaches close by, lots of places to hang out, great place for single people and families, and affordable places in live in the Tampa Bay area although probably not so on Davis Island or nearby south Tampa.

Overall: This is my home program and the only negative is that they are new, which isn’t a negative to me. I think they have everything that an EM program should have and it’s located in a great area. The new ED looks like it will be amazing, and the new ICU suites are also a greatly needed improvement that is a slight attraction. I know a lot about this program and having visited places that are considered more competitive because of their name and reputation, USF does not lack anything except for a flight experience (which in the end isn’t that important since there are rare instances where attendings serve as flight physicians). I will be ranking this program towards the top.

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University of South Florida – Tampa General Hospital

Residents: 10 residents per year starting this year (currently 6 PGY3, 6 PGY2 and 8 PGY1). Residents were all friendly and down-to-earth. Apparently there weren’t as many around during our interview day as usual because some were on vacation or electives. They seem happy, but tired (we were largely exposed to interns, so they had every right to be). The demographic seems skewed to older residents with kids, although there are some single ones. This program has been friendly to FMG’s, DO’s, and residents with prior experience in the past, and there are currently 2 interns who are MD/PhD’s. Lots of USF students were interviewing with me, and it seems TGH takes a lot of their own for all residencies. They live all over the Tampa area.

Faculty: The people I met were all very nice, although the interview process here can come off a bit unnecessary (more on this later). The PD, Dr. O’Keefe, is extremely personable and has been a PD for 11 years total – he has a lot of experience and is confident in the program he built. The chairman, Dr. Orban, was out of town during my interview, but has also been a PD, so this new program has very experienced leadership at the top. Residents were hot and cold about their relationship with attendings – there are some exemplary teachers (the winner of the ACEP teaching award a year ago), but also some faculty the residents did not seem to be happy with. Obviously, this is the case everywhere – but separate residents mentioned that a “drawback” of the new ED is that you can get stuck in a pod with an attending you didn’t like for a whole shift, and couldn’t just present to someone else...There is a big connection to Team Health here (they pay for everything but the residents salary), which could be a positive (they offer leadership conferences and help with job placement), or a negative (they care about the bottom line).

Hospital:
There is one site.

Tampa General Hospital: 800+ bed tertiary medical center, Level 1 Trauma center, Regional transplant and burn center. Located on an island facing downtown Tampa – palm trees, sailboats, and pelicans included…The ED is brand spanking new (opened one month ago), and beautiful. It’s part of a new pavilion that includes more ICU beds. It’s huge (70+ beds, capacity for 140+), with private rooms broken into Pods, plus a pediatric side, a “fast track”, and 4 big trauma bays (plus a Ped trauma bay). The layout takes some getting used to – all Pods are connected by one long hallway, but the location and view couldn’t be better. There is on-site X-ray and dedicated CT. There is electronic patient tracking, ordering, and charting for the whole hospital. Residents each have phone-thingies (vocera) so they can be reached anywhere in the ED. The conference room is also refinished and very nice (how many residents have water views while they daydream?) The physical plant is outstanding. The patient population is pretty awesome as well – a mix of county-types with the privately insured. The pathology and acuity seem as good as anywhere.

Ancillary Stuff: We were told the ancillary support is awesome.

Admitting/Documentation: I think they have full admitting privileges. Totally computerized.

Curriculum: 3 year curriculum with no graduated responsibility (you start seeing the sickest patients as an intern, and you don’t pull your first shift in Fast Track until you’re PGY3 – O’Keefe’s philosophy is that you should learn to take care of sick people first, then the rest is easy). Interns spend the first month in the ED, with a week of nursing shifts (IV’s, NG tubes, nursing basics – seems like a great idea, actually). There are some unusual off-service rotations (neurosurgery, in-patient psych), as well as a medicine month. Residents do only 3mo in the adult ED as interns. There are 4 total unit months. There are two dedicated Peds Ed months, plus Peds shifts interspersed as a senior. They do 2 weeks of anesthesia (room to room throwing tubes), and the anesthesia residency at the hospital has essentially been shut down, meaning they get 100% of the airways. They do 2 weeks of dedicated ultrasound, but not until PGY3. Residents work all 12’s and some 10’s as seniors – around 20-22 shifts a month. Interns said the juniors pass of procedures to them, and they do a ton of procedures off-service, where EM residents are very well respected.

Didactics/Research: Standard didactics, one morning a week. Nice Simulator experience which is being increased. They are just starting to put together a research program, but the department is involved in many national trials. They are starting a “research associates” program for undergrads soon. There is no basic science at this time. With 2 MD/PhD’s in the mix, I assumed there would be more research opportunities than there seem to be, but things are just getting started. They offer a unique Emergency Cardiology fellowship, but there is no fellow in it right now.

City: Tampa is an awesome city, sort of a lesser-known jewel on the east coast. Hot and sunny year-round, located between a river and the bay with warm blue water everywhere. The incredible gulf-coast beaches are 30-45minutes away (they seem so much closer because of the water all around you, but with traffic it has always taken me this long), boating, fishing, and golf are everywhere. Additionally, it’s an actual city – professional sports, museums, theatre, concerts and all. There is relatively cheap housing in and around the city.

Extras: Salary starts at $42,500 as PGY1, which is supposed to be pretty good for Florida (no state income tax, pretty cheap cost of living). The health insurance is excellent, the program does not match retirement savings. There are local conferences that you can go to if your schedule permits, but those I met said they were too busy to take advantage so far. Apparently moonlighting is tough to find, but some people are able to work at urgent care places.

Negatives:
A lot of floor work (neurosurgery? Psych? – they carry the consult pager, but still mostly floor intern responsibilities) with fewer total ED months compared to many places I'm interviewing. However, there are a lot of shifts during those ED months. We did not have a lot of interaction with the residents during the interview day, and I wish I got to meet more of them. All of the residents basically admitted there were attendings that they wished weren’t in the program (again, this is probably typical, but these folks were more open about it). The residents I met seemed tired, and all seemed to feel they had to justify how much they hated intern year (ie “you don’t learn as much in places that don’t work you this hard”) - but this may be biased by who I interacted with. The interview process creates more stress than it should - interviewees have to work through a case with an EKG for one, and answer medical ethics questions in another. Being a relatively new program may be a negative for some.

Overall: Fabulous new Emergency Department in a great location with very good leadership for a new program. Lots of potential here (awesome patient population and pathology), but still finding their identity. Research just getting off the ground, program still increasing # residents per year, so it’s tough to tell exactly how it will run when there are 10 in each class. I think they should revamp their interview process because some folks seem to avoid applying/interviewing because of it (which is ridiculous), and more importantly it gives a weird impression compared to the low-key interviews elsewhere - which may not reflect the actual stance of the program. In a few years, this place may be among the most reputable (especially in the southeast) – and if you factor in a gorgeous location…
 
University of South Florida – Tampa General Hospital

Residents: 10 residents per year starting this year (currently 6 PGY3, 6 PGY2 and 8 PGY1). Residents were all friendly and down-to-earth. Apparently there weren’t as many around during our interview day as usual because some were on vacation or electives. They seem happy, but tired (we were largely exposed to interns, so they had every right to be). The demographic seems skewed to older residents with kids, although there are some single ones. This program has been friendly to FMG’s, DO’s, and residents with prior experience in the past, and there are currently 2 interns who are MD/PhD’s. Lots of USF students were interviewing with me, and it seems TGH takes a lot of their own for all residencies. They live all over the Tampa area.

Faculty: The people I met were all very nice, although the interview process here can come off a bit unnecessary (more on this later). The PD, Dr. O’Keefe, is extremely personable and has been a PD for 11 years total – he has a lot of experience and is confident in the program he built. The chairman, Dr. Orban, was out of town during my interview, but has also been a PD, so this new program has very experienced leadership at the top. Residents were hot and cold about their relationship with attendings – there are some exemplary teachers (the winner of the ACEP teaching award a year ago), but also some faculty the residents did not seem to be happy with. Obviously, this is the case everywhere – but separate residents mentioned that a “drawback” of the new ED is that you can get stuck in a pod with an attending you didn’t like for a whole shift, and couldn’t just present to someone else...There is a big connection to Team Health here (they pay for everything but the residents salary), which could be a positive (they offer leadership conferences and help with job placement), or a negative (they care about the bottom line).

Hospital:
There is one site.

Tampa General Hospital: 800+ bed tertiary medical center, Level 1 Trauma center, Regional transplant and burn center. Located on an island facing downtown Tampa – palm trees, sailboats, and pelicans included…The ED is brand spanking new (opened one month ago), and beautiful. It’s part of a new pavilion that includes more ICU beds. It’s huge (70+ beds, capacity for 140+), with private rooms broken into Pods, plus a pediatric side, a “fast track”, and 4 big trauma bays (plus a Ped trauma bay). The layout takes some getting used to – all Pods are connected by one long hallway, but the location and view couldn’t be better. There is on-site X-ray and dedicated CT. There is electronic patient tracking, ordering, and charting for the whole hospital. Residents each have phone-thingies (vocera) so they can be reached anywhere in the ED. The conference room is also refinished and very nice (how many residents have water views while they daydream?) The physical plant is outstanding. The patient population is pretty awesome as well – a mix of county-types with the privately insured. The pathology and acuity seem as good as anywhere.

Ancillary Stuff: We were told the ancillary support is awesome.

Admitting/Documentation: I think they have full admitting privileges. Totally computerized.

Curriculum: 3 year curriculum with no graduated responsibility (you start seeing the sickest patients as an intern, and you don’t pull your first shift in Fast Track until you’re PGY3 – O’Keefe’s philosophy is that you should learn to take care of sick people first, then the rest is easy). Interns spend the first month in the ED, with a week of nursing shifts (IV’s, NG tubes, nursing basics – seems like a great idea, actually). There are some unusual off-service rotations (neurosurgery, in-patient psych), as well as a medicine month. Residents do only 3mo in the adult ED as interns. There are 4 total unit months. There are two dedicated Peds Ed months, plus Peds shifts interspersed as a senior. They do 2 weeks of anesthesia (room to room throwing tubes), and the anesthesia residency at the hospital has essentially been shut down, meaning they get 100% of the airways. They do 2 weeks of dedicated ultrasound, but not until PGY3. Residents work all 12’s and some 10’s as seniors – around 20-22 shifts a month. Interns said the juniors pass of procedures to them, and they do a ton of procedures off-service, where EM residents are very well respected.

Didactics/Research: Standard didactics, one morning a week. Nice Simulator experience which is being increased. They are just starting to put together a research program, but the department is involved in many national trials. They are starting a “research associates” program for undergrads soon. There is no basic science at this time. With 2 MD/PhD’s in the mix, I assumed there would be more research opportunities than there seem to be, but things are just getting started. They offer a unique Emergency Cardiology fellowship, but there is no fellow in it right now.

City: Tampa is an awesome city, sort of a lesser-known jewel on the east coast. Hot and sunny year-round, located between a river and the bay with warm blue water everywhere. The incredible gulf-coast beaches are 30-45minutes away (they seem so much closer because of the water all around you, but with traffic it has always taken me this long), boating, fishing, and golf are everywhere. Additionally, it’s an actual city – professional sports, museums, theatre, concerts and all. There is relatively cheap housing in and around the city.

Extras: Salary starts at $42,500 as PGY1, which is supposed to be pretty good for Florida (no state income tax, pretty cheap cost of living). The health insurance is excellent, the program does not match retirement savings. There are local conferences that you can go to if your schedule permits, but those I met said they were too busy to take advantage so far. Apparently moonlighting is tough to find, but some people are able to work at urgent care places.
Negatives: A lot of floor work (neurosurgery? Psych? – they carry the consult pager, but still mostly floor intern responsibilities) with fewer total ED months compared to many places I'm interviewing. However, there are a lot of shifts during those ED months. We did not have a lot of interaction with the residents during the interview day, and I wish I got to meet more of them. All of the residents basically admitted there were attendings that they wished weren’t in the program (again, this is probably typical, but these folks were more open about it). The residents I met seemed tired, and all seemed to feel they had to justify how much they hated intern year (ie “you don’t learn as much in places that don’t work you this hard”) - but this may be biased by who I interacted with. The interview process creates more stress than it should - interviewees have to work through a case with an EKG for one, and answer medical ethics questions in another. Being a relatively new program may be a negative for some.

Overall: Fabulous new Emergency Department in a great location with very good leadership for a new program. Lots of potential here (awesome patient population and pathology), but still finding their identity. Research just getting off the ground, program still increasing # residents per year, so it’s tough to tell exactly how it will run when there are 10 in each class. I think they should revamp their interview process because some folks seem to avoid applying/interviewing because of it (which is ridiculous), and more importantly it gives a weird impression compared to the low-key interviews elsewhere - which may not reflect the actual stance of the program. In a few years, this place may be among the most reputable (especially in the southeast) – and if you factor in a gorgeous location…

just an update sept 2013

the negatives have been changed (we change a few things based on resident feedback but mostly everything is the same).
-neurosurg (optional) is replaced with a 6a-6p mon-fri neuro stroke service. you will be confident reading scans and giving Tpa after the month
-extra elective in ICU for those who like it or going towards ICU fellowship
-possible MICU fellowship starting 7/13
-no general medicine rotation
-trauma and ortho is purely a procedure month, no floor work. responding to ER trauma and ER consults only. (we're #1 volume in ortho trauma)
-new teaching/procedure shifts for MS4 has been added
-an extra elective maybe in the works
-with new acgme rules, no overnight call for interns. only q4 call on PICU and trauma ICU

-there are no ekg/medical questions on the interview. it's purely a laid back "get to know you" process
-research dept is growing with a new director and have a dedicated 24hr staff to come in to gather data for your research projects
-tox dept has a new director. we still do monthly trips to the zoo, a medicinal plant tour at USF with a botanist, also a visit to the venom snake lab in orlando, FL
-Ultrasounds are sonosite brand. we are testing new machines now (maybe a handheld on the way)
-has national and international posters/presentations/papers
-q path wireless cloud for storing/editing/reviewing ultrasound images
-dedicated ultrasound month
-we slot a dedicated ultrasound MS4 month
-you can mix/match your off service rotations within the 3 yrs
-new addition in ultrasound is an extra 6 one on one 4 hr shift with the ultrasound fellow throughout the residency to reinforce your skills

field trips (all paid for)
-we're on our 9th yr with a joint us-india program. location changes in india each year
-the special forces/ranger medics train here so we go to ft bragg to see how they train in the field once a year.
-all seniors go to ACEP or EM essentials
-any presentations you are accepted for

monthly meal cards are pretty generous, I've never gone hungry. team health offers plenty of benefits for residents. we're pretty settled in the ED, getting around is easy. dr okeefe is phenomenal, no non sense down to earth teaching. we spend time with attendings outside of work.....and tampa is still awesome. I have been here 4 yrs now and absolutely have no complaints. feel free to PM me with any questions/comments. good luck with interviews! :thumbup:
 
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Any more updates on this program?

The website link I was sent after accepting the interview doesn't work.

I was looking for some more details on their current curriculum, current residents, departmental status and shift schedules.

Anymore details would be great.
 
http://health.usf.edu/medicine/internalmedicine/emergency/residents.htm
thanks for saying something about the website, did you try this link? i just checked it and it works. i just wrote to our program rep to check it in the morning also
I edited the update (see previous post)
dept status? you mean like rrc? we've been here since 02, already been site checked and good for many years to come
shift schedule- the saem report recently came out saying we're right at the median in work hrs. as for specific work schedules, we plot everything on excel for the entire program. some residents like to work all in a row, some like to break it up, interns have more hrs than seniors....etc. it's easier to see it than explain it. just ask one of the residents to pull it up on their phone during your interview down time
what day are you interviewing? usually if I'm around I pop by and meet the applicants/lunch
feel free to ask anything you like
 
http://health.usf.edu/medicine/internalmedicine/emergency/residents.htm
thanks for saying something about the website, did you try this link? i just checked it and it works. i just wrote to our program rep to check it in the morning also
I edited the update (see previous post)
dept status? you mean like rrc? we've been here since 02, already been site checked and good for many years to come
shift schedule- the saem report recently came out saying we're right at the median in work hrs. as for specific work schedules, we plot everything on excel for the entire program. some residents like to work all in a row, some like to break it up, interns have more hrs than seniors....etc. it's easier to see it than explain it. just ask one of the residents to pull it up on their phone during your interview down time
what day are you interviewing? usually if I'm around I pop by and meet the applicants/lunch
feel free to ask anything you like
I feel like I saw you mention somewhere that the dept was evaluating about whether or not to go away from the 12 hr shift length in lieu of something else (8-9 or 10s I assume). Has that changed or has it been decided to stay at 12s? Seems almost everyone is at a shift less than 12 and most that have 12s that I've heard about are all planning to change this year or next it seems...
 
yep we sure are, the dept is changing the way the flow structure works. with that the attending schedules definitely changed and just a little for the residents. as of this month majority are doing 12's, 8's and 10's on tue up to 10pm and wed after grand rounds starting at 1pm, I saw a few sporadic 8's for peds. depending on the dept statistics and how all the residents wants to work it, it may change. longer shifts=less days at work and vice versa. some like it, some don't
 
yep we sure are, the dept is changing the way the flow structure works. with that the attending schedules definitely changed and just a little for the residents. as of this month majority are doing 12's, 8's and 10's on tue up to 10pm and wed after grand rounds starting at 1pm, I saw a few sporadic 8's for peds. depending on the dept statistics and how all the residents wants to work it, it may change. longer shifts=less days at work and vice versa. some like it, some don't
Cool, thanks for the follow up... definitely will be interesting to see how the changes are integrated!
 
Not a resident here, but interviewed this year. Overall I loved this program.

From what I gathered from talking to the chief resident, that did the schedule, there was a total number of hours you had to work per month in the ED. MSmentor, correct me if I am wrong, but as an intern this was 240 hours decreasing over the 3 years. So break it down; if you work 12's that is 20 shifts/month or if they switched to 8's that would be 30/month! Also on those shifts I was told that there was no overlap, so no one coming in on hour 11 so you could stop seeing patients and just sit at a desk and chart. The current residents said they stopped taking all but the critical patients a half hour before the end of their shift. Sounds like most are there an hour, give or take, after their shift making it 13 hours total. These residents work very hard, and the hours are much more than other places I interviewed at (some doing less 8 hour shifts/month than they do doing 12 hour shifts). For some this might be a turn off, but I feel that I am going to residency for a reason and the increased hours means better training. There are only 4 months in the ED intern year (3 adult, 1 peds, I guess another month on trauma), but working more would mean you are in the ED more than other programs.

Curriculum: Pretty standard i.e. ED and ICU. There is a general medicine month and get a choice to work on the neurology or neurosurgery service for a month (I was told everyone chooses neurology/stroke service) to really get comfortable reading scans and handling strokes especially TPA vs. no TPA. You get dedicated peds months 1st and 2nd year and then peds shifts are incorporated to your ED months throughout 3rd year and possibly an elective if you want at a local peds hospital (forgot the name) although I was told this may not be an option going foreword. Overall not a huge focus in EMS or International medicine, but they do have staff for both and was told that if you have an interest in either (or others) they can help you get experience. Apparently over the years some of the "off service" months that were more floor work (i.e. trauma, orthopedics, ophthalmology ect.) have been turned into ED based rotations where you don't do floor work and just do the ED consults. No graduated responsibility so you do not start working in the acute care and work up. You start seeing sick patients the first day.

Residents: Like most places they take you out to dinner the night before, but you also go off campus for lunch on the interview day. I got to meet a ton of residents and they were probably the most friendly (and sarcastic) group of people I have met this year. They didn't hide that they worked hard, but also talked a ton about how they loved the program and also had a lot of fun outside of it. They talked highly of their faculty and PD.

City: Tampa; I didn't get to spend a ton of time here and am not all too familiar with it in general. It seems great and right on the Gulf. I won't say too much more just because I do not know it other than it is much much warmer than where I come from.

PD/Faculty: As someone else said this guy has a stone face. If you can get a read on this guy you are doing much better than me. At first I was somewhat turned off by him but as we talked more it was obvious that he was very dedicated to his residents and the program. Several residents joked about how he could come off very business like but they talked about how he was a great person after you get to know him. The other faculty were awesome and several stopped by during the interview process to talk and answer questions. They are part of Team Health which apparently gives you some great advice and lectures on the business aspect of EM.

Facilities: ED is beautiful, I believe it was remodeled in 2007?. It is on the 2nd floor (apparently to stay above the flood area) so there are actually windows looking out! It is over 70 beds and can be turned into 140 if there were ever to be a disaster. ED is split into several pods and I am not sure if there is a difference in acuity level between the pods because I forgot to ask. As much it doesn't matter some of the views from the hospital would make call nights a lot easier.

Overall I loved this program. Being 10 or so years old I feel like they are very established, but still had the new program feel in that they seemed very open to changing anything to make the program better (residents verified this). If I end up here I know I will work very hard, but think that it will be very worth it. Residents were friendly and raved about how they loved coming to work. Faculty showed up just to chat with the interviewees during the day. I wish I would have interviewed here earlier because I liked it so much and after so many interviews I felt like I didn't have my best. Overall it will be my number 1.
 
If i remember right the floor medicine month is also optional, i believe it can be replaced by another ED month. Can anyone confirm this?
 
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Not a resident here, but interviewed this year. Overall I loved this program.

From what I gathered from talking to the chief resident, that did the schedule, there was a total number of hours you had to work per month in the ED. MSmentor, correct me if I am wrong, but as an intern this was 240 hours decreasing over the 3 years. So break it down; if you work 12's that is 20 shifts/month or if they switched to 8's that would be 30/month! Also on those shifts I was told that there was no overlap, so no one coming in on hour 11 so you could stop seeing patients and just sit at a desk and chart. The current residents said they stopped taking all but the critical patients a half hour before the end of their shift. Sounds like most are there an hour, give or take, after their shift making it 13 hours total.
.
thanks for writing a great review!
as for the shifts, yeah the 12's sounds about right but it'll never shift to all 8's! plus it's only 2 mo in your intern yr. your 1st mo is 2 wk nursing shifts and 2 wks more/less orientation to the ER. 24o hrs intern, 220 2nd yr, 200 3rd yr. you're also right about the overlap thing, there isn't any but with 1 hr left in the shift you slow down, start wrapping up, at least place orders on the new ones and see em if possible. if they're unstable then you see them right away and that's what really backs you up. sometimes we have 11a-11p shifts and that helps decompress this problem. a majority of the time it's waiting for consultants to call you back that keeps you over. I hate to sign out a call but if 30 min passes, its' time to go. but have i been there 1 hr past catching up or stabilizing? sure i have....it's all part of residency
 
Great reviews. Looks like things haven't changed too much. I was in the first class from 03-06. Great training. TGH has such wonderful pathology. You will see the CRAZIEST stuff there. I had such a blast there and am still friends with the faculty and nurses even though I'm 1500 miles away. It was a beautiful hospital, great city (parents still live there), and a great group of people. Go TGH/USF!
Q
 
Thoughts just from interview day at USF
Started in 2003. Part of USF and the largest private EM nationwide network, Team Health. Therefore you have access to all of Team Health’s affiliates across the country. Core Faculty are USF and Team Health, but other faculty are just team Health. You spend your entire time at Tampa General Hospital. There are no other shifts anywhere else. Dr. Orban is trying to get a month of peds at a neighboring hospital bc while TGH has a peds ED with a decent volume, it is not very strong and the sickest kids usually go elsewhere. We will have 4 peds shifts mixed in with your adult time. This is a Level 1 trauma center and it appears that the residents do all the work for the trauma. The hospital is absolutely stunning, yet it is a county hospital. It is a very large referral center with many patients requesting to go to TGH. It is a pods system with one attending and one resident in each pod. It seems like you’ll have a lot of one on one faculty time that way. There is no anesthesia residency at TGH. There is orthopedics. One downside is that you work 12hr shifts and you will work 20/month. The hospital is right on the bay and the resident lounge has one of the most beautiful sites I’ve ever seen. Rent is very affordable with many people living on the neighboring Harbor Island $1500 for 2br/2ba. I heard there was a decent night life. There’s a lot of colleges and there are some clubs with cover. Tampa is very close to the beach and the bay area is beautiful. You always leave within 30min of the end of your shift except in trauma cases.


Big Positives:

1. Tampa is beautiful and has great weather and beaches

2. The hospital is freaking gorgeous

3. It’s a county hospital that people with insurance also want to go to


Big Negatives:

1. I’ll be at TGH for the ENTIRE time. I’ll have a home but I won’t get other exposure

2. The program isn’t as prestigious, job search will be OK.

3. The PD O’Keefe seemed a bit off and unenthusiastic. Heard he was friendly amicable guy in the hospital though.
 
thanks for the post, i haven't updated since dec. I'll throw up a few quick notes:

-the peds thing is still in limbo since johns hopkins recently took over the "all childrens pediatric center"
-a community based rotation/elective (>70,000 visits) has been arranged at florida hospital system in tamp. that's the only official off site rotation so far. in the past residents have constructed their own elective month/rotation
-the intern EM hours can be rough, I think they've changed to a few 8's this year. scheduling is resident driven
-3 new ultrasound machines (totaling 7) arrived 2 mo ago
-5 one on one ER ultrasound hours with the fellow on 4 of the off-service rotations
-psych rotation has been removed and will be replaced with another EM month (for now)
-critical care fellowship starts july 1 2014
-EMS fellowship is now credentialed/board eligible. I am trying to add a SWAT/police tactical option to the fellowship
-most specialty are here except for psych, podiatry, dentistry, anesthesia. the GME added maternal fetal medicine

it's late, got a shift soon. feel free to PM with questions. thanks for interviewing. good luck
 
Hi, since it’s been some time since the last major update, can someone familiar with the program (preferably a current resident or recent grad) comment on the following?
  • Any updates on the Peds situation? I heard rumors that this is the biggest weakness of the USF program.

  • Are shifts stratified by acuity (e.g., “trauma” shift or “resuscitative” shift), or is the entire spectrum of pathology/trauma seen on each shift?

  • Who runs the trauma, EM or surgery residents, or is it an alternating schedule?

  • Who does the emergency procedures (intubations, chest tubes, resuscitative thoracotomies, etc), is it shared with anesthesia/surgery residents based on an alternating schedule?

  • Are there any emergency procedures that EM residents are not allowed to do (RSI, thoracotomies)?
  • How is the scut work for EM and non-EM months (e.g., transporting own pts to CT, obtaining vitals)?
  • How are recent grads doing in terms of job offers? Seems that the training would set the standard, not necessarily the lack of "big name"...?
Thanks so much for your time and contribution.
 
Hi, since it’s been some time since the last major update, can someone familiar with the program (preferably a current resident or recent grad) comment on the following?
  • Any updates on the Peds situation? I heard rumors that this is the biggest weakness of the USF program.

  • Are shifts stratified by acuity (e.g., “trauma” shift or “resuscitative” shift), or is the entire spectrum of pathology/trauma seen on each shift?

  • Who runs the trauma, EM or surgery residents, or is it an alternating schedule?

  • Who does the emergency procedures (intubations, chest tubes, resuscitative thoracotomies, etc), is it shared with anesthesia/surgery residents based on an alternating schedule?

  • Are there any emergency procedures that EM residents are not allowed to do (RSI, thoracotomies)?
  • How is the scut work for EM and non-EM months (e.g., transporting own pts to CT, obtaining vitals)?
  • How are recent grads doing in terms of job offers? Seems that the training would set the standard, not necessarily the lack of "big name"...?
Thanks so much for your time and contribution.
recent grad here, 2013. ultrasound fellow 2014, part time attending now
I'll PM you with some of the residents email so you can hear it straight from them
but i can help answer some of your q's
peds is peds. mostly general stuff. the real sick ones tend to go to st joes/all childrens although we are getting some traffic with sick ones b/c the admitting docs are coming here. some residents do extra months in peds, picu or all childrens. the picu rotation is rough but you'll learn a ton
the real bad traumas are ran by the trauma attending, airway always EM. the lower acuity types usually the trauma chief/EM attending will discuss and we share it
no anesthesia residency here so all airways are EM.
I did 5 thoracotomies as a resident. 2 in the ICU
procedures are shared with surgery if it's a trauma pt. otherwise we do them
no restrictions on procedures that I know of. scope of practice is pretty damn wide....esp if you're a resident
no scut that I remember doing. I only transport pts in conjunction with staff b/c they need a physician for sedation/unstable/airway issues. I'll throw on the b/p cuff, pulse ox...etc but I am not running around grabbing v/s if that's what you're asking
jobs are not a prob. as an attending I can tell you your alumni is just a networking thing. I've never heard of an EM doc not getting a job b/c of your alum

I am currently ultrasound and education director in community shop with EM rotators with USACS Florida. feel free to PM me with q's
 
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Heard this program was moving to all 9 hour shifts all 3 years. Can someone confirm? If so, what is the breakdown of shifts every 28 days?
 
Heard this program was moving to all 9 hour shifts all 3 years. Can someone confirm? If so, what is the breakdown of shifts every 28 days?
Interested about this too. If I remember correctly this was the direction they wanted to go but it didn't seem like it would be put in place until entering class of 2018
 
Interested about this too. If I remember correctly this was the direction they wanted to go but it didn't seem like it would be put in place until entering class of 2018

Yup, nothing yet. PD is new and mentioned that's the next step she would like to take. Right now the schedule looks pretty brutal 20-21 12 hour shifts during intern year that frequently rollover with an extra hour or two after the shift.
 
Yup, nothing yet. PD is new and mentioned that's the next step she would like to take. Right now the schedule looks pretty brutal 20-21 12 hour shifts during intern year that frequently rollover with an extra hour or two after the shift.

she's not new by any stretch, dr derr was the assistant PD and u/s director years before I got there. anyways she was already well established when I rotated there in 09. yeah there's going to be some changes, shaking things up in a good way. I can confirm we have a community rotation elective with me at florida hospital tampa. as for the brutal hours, not sure how's it going to change but that's how it was when I was there. it's only for the ED months in the intern yr which is 2 mo (the 1st mo isn't rough) so it's not as bad as you think. our old PD believes "you can't experience it if you're not there". 3 yrs later i can easily say from an all specialties perspective that's probably the most accurate statement ever. some of the stuff I've dx is because I was there, seen it once, looked it up and somehow it jogged my memory.

they tell us in the military, "more sweat during training, less blood during war". residency is suppose to push you. if it doesn't, you didn't do it right

if you don't get the answer you're looking for please email me. I'll either get you the answer or forward your email to one of the residents that do
 
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she's not new by any stretch, dr derr was the assistant PD and u/s director years before I got there. anyways she was already well established when I rotated there in 09. yeah there's going to be some changes, shaking things up in a good way. I can confirm we have a community rotation elective with me at florida hospital tampa. as for the brutal hours, not sure how's it going to change but that's how it was when I was there. it's only for the ED months in the intern yr which is 2 mo (the 1st mo isn't rough) so it's not as bad as you think. our old PD believes "you can't experience it if you're not there". 3 yrs later i can easily say from an all specialties perspective that's probably the most accurate statement ever. some of the stuff I've dx is because I was there, seen it once, looked it up and somehow it jogged my memory.

they tell us in the military, "more sweat during training, less blood during war". residency is suppose to push you. if it doesn't, you didn't do it right

if you don't get the answer you're looking for please email me. I'll either get you the answer or forward your email to one of the residents that do
update: hours dropped quite a bit and there's overlap so no one is staying late. interns approx 190/mo
 
Any updated info on this program? Nothing in last years interview cycle
 
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