Official Inteview Review Thread 2011-12

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splik

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Format from last year:

1. interview accommodations/food
2. interview day -- (e.g. schedule, interview types, unusual questions/experiences...etc. )
3. Program overview
4. Faculty
5. Location, lifestyle, etc.
6. Benefits
7. Program strengths
8. Potential weaknesses

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1. Interview Accommodations/Food
Stayed at the University Inn across the road - had to arrange myself. There was a dinner the night before at a restaurant in Durham and as I was the only applicant interviewing that day it was just me and 2 residents and one of them took me on a drive-by tour of the area afterwards.

2. Interview Day
I had 3 interviews - 2 30 minute interviews and a 45 minute one with PD Dr Thrall although it felt more like a conversation. Only the interview with the chief resident felt like an interview. I attended rounds on the I/P unit at Duke, and got a tour of the VA and the State Hospital, attended Chairman's round and briefly met the Chair, and had the chance to speak to a few residents and an attending. I got fed breakfast and lunch (pizza).

3. Program Overview
Key points about the program is only 1 month of neuro in PGY-1, with a further o/p neuro month in PGY-3 but this can include sleep medicine. Probably best family therapy training in the country (8 hours a week in PGY-3). Strong emphasis on evidence-based medicine. opportunity to do international electives all over the world, and a special global health residency track. motivational interviewing training in PGY-1. inpatient child rotation at state hospital in PGY-2. opportunity to do research. Although research-wise department is primarily biologically oriented, the residency program seems balanced with training in psychodynamic therapy, CBT, DBT as well as strong psychpharm training. One of the best academic psychiatry departments in the world.

4. Faculty
The PD Dr Thrall is probably one of the best PDs out there. All the residents spoke highly of her, she really cares about the residents and put thought into individualising my day to match my interests. The Chair has just been there a year so an exciting time for the department, and she has committed extra funding to residency education so attendings have protected time to teach. It is one of the larger psychiatry departments so lots of faculty both research and teaching. All the faculty I met seemed friendly and enthusiastic.

5. Location, Lifestyle
In the Research Triangle, Durham is probably the smaller and quieter of the areas although there is still stuff happening. Good for outdoorsy people, and Raleigh and Chapel Hill nearby. The area is invigorated by the large student population. Extremely affordable city, buying a home very doable (mortgage payments residents were paying are less than I've ever paid to rent!) can have a nice standard of living here. Some mumblings of Durham being unsafe at night, but is probably a lot safer than other cities.

6. Benefits
Fully paid health insurance (with negligible premiums), 4 weeks vacation with flexibility when this is, not sure about moonlighting as Im foreign so not allowed.

7. Strengths
CRH a large state mental hospital with over 200 beds including child and adolescent, geropsych, and forensics; Dr Thrall is an amazing PD; new chair bringing new life into department; one of the top psychiatry departments in the country; large well funded research program; emphasis on evidence based medicine; excellent family therapy training; can do electives from PGY-3; can start psychotherapy from PGY-1; opportunity to do sleep medicine for neuro requirement; residents seem happy; strong emphasis of training; residents feel able to air concerns and these are responded to; opportunities to teach Duke and UNC medical students; global health residency program; excellent psychpharm teaching; good camaraderie between residents; redeveloping neuroscience curriculum; Duke Hospital is undergoing expansion which will boost the C/L service; residents supported to develop their interests; residents seem to go on to do fellowships wherever they want; excellent health policy/global health work going on if that's your thing (it's mine)

8. Weaknesses
has not coped well with new work hour restrictions; residents typically work 12 hour days 6 days a week in 1st 2 years; can have 3 weeks of night float at a time; fair amount of scut (there are social workers but social work support not as extensive as residents would like); medical problems not dealt with by residents; no electronic records at state hospital (yet); Durham is a bit small; I saw a bunch of people waving Ron Paul for President placards :eek:.
 

I saw a bunch of people waving Ron Paul for President placards :eek:.


:laugh: Welcome to the south! NC is actually fairly liberal compared with the rest of the south, too, and I think the Raleigh-Durham area is one of the more liberal parts in NC. But yeah, it's still the south, and I join you in not being a Ron Paul fan.

On a non-political note, thanks for starting this thread. These posts are enormously helpful for applicants.
 
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Splik, you mentioned that one of the weaknesses of the program at Duke was that medical problems were not dealt with by residents - what do you mean?
 
Awesome. I don't honk anyone's ever organized it like that before -- it's always been hard to search through.

Thanks! It feels good to be appreciated! :D

I know it's been a pain in the past, that was exactly my thought.

I can't promise I'll keep up with it 100%, but I'll update it as often as I can...
 
Thanks! It feels good to be appreciated! :D

I know it's been a pain in the past, that was exactly my thought.

I can't promise I'll keep up with it 100%, but I'll update it as often as I can...

I meant to say 'think' and not 'honk'. That autocorrect creates more problems than it solves at a 3:1 ratio.
 
Great, glad to see someone doing this. I hope to contribute too.
 
1. Interview Accommodations/Food
Very disappointing to say the least. Although this was one of my first interviews, I was quite sure that G-Town did not meet the standards of most programs in terms of Accommodations/Food. For example, there was no resident dinner the night before and the only email I received was the first (the invitation email). There was no update of what I could expect during interview day other than what was sent the first day. Food: the morning did not include breakfast. However, I do admit that this was (partially) redeemed with lunch at the Faculty's Club which was quite amazing! Food selection was awesome and the dessert selection I highly doubt I will see again on the interview trail.

2. Interview Day
Day started off with Dr. Newman (PD) giving a 30 minute introduction to the program and history of G-town. He is quite the long winded fellow but very informative. I did enjoy listening to him. Afterward we got a tour of the Hospital (and Psych Units there). The hospital is extremely old (as mentioned before) and the psych unit is not the biggest (to be the only one on campus). The tour was guided by a senior resident who was very friendly and helpful. Later we were joined by two interns at the Faculty Club for lunch. Afterward lunch we headed back to the main building that houses the dept of Psych, it is very new and very nice!. Although not attached to the main uni campus hosp, it is fit for patient care such as groups and therapy. Interviews are conducted there in the afternoon, usually 2. One of them includes both the PD and the AsscPD which is relatively brief (20mins) and low stress. The other was with a faculty member and was actually longer (40 mins) and very intellectually stimulating. It was a little disappointing to interact with only 3 residents the entire day...but those we did meet seemed generally happy to be there.


3. Program Overview
Claims to have a "well rounded" curriculum but I left there uncertain of that. The PD is supposedly THE MAN in Forensics and the program particularly boasts this. They also have a very strong C/L service which I must admit is uncommon. Intern year seems pretty standard but one particularly BIG strength is that there will be NO OVERNIGHT call; however, this means that there may be more required short ones, especially on medicine months. Other than forensics and C/L, I could not identify anything other specialty that makes them standout. Admittedly, however, they are very weak in Geriatrics. They seemed to be more focused on community psychiatry more than anything esp with the new ACT team. The VA is also a big part of the curriculum and is where residents seem to concentrate a big portion of there training. It is also where most of their research experiences will be accessible to them in areas such as PTSD and Trauma. The program now takes 7 residents which would classify it as a mid level program. The dept seems to be very close knit and everyone has reason to believe that the PD is very "protective" of the residents. The FMG % is uncertain due to little resident contact on interview day. The PDs were very certain that there program was "one of the more competitive ones" but I was not sure if they were backing that up by academics or just raw location. 3 out of 4 of us were AMG so they do extend interviews to FMGs (and not the leftover/canceled ones).


4. Faculty
This is probably what could be the seller of this program (other than DC)...the people. The Faculty, although few in number, actually seemed to be pretty high yield in diversity and overall academic strength. The residents spoke very highly of them (both teaching wise and sociability). The PD is also very nice, and the AsscPD seems to be more (genuinely) warm than expected. It definitely has the feel of a family oriented program. I definitely developed an intellectual man crush on my interviewer after spending 40 minutes with him, he was awesome!

5. Location, Lifestyle
its DC, need I say more? An amazing place with small city charm and big city features. I feel sorry for ones salary here though. If you decide to live in DC-proper, much of it may go to rent but the PD claims that residents live all around the DMV and have no problems commuting, free parking. A mix of single and married residents, both young and more mature. Probably couldn't be classified as any where near a workhorse program, but I do wonder whether the experiences there are enough to confer confidence in ones training upon leaving, especially in light of all the other bigger name programs in the area (MD/Shepp and Hopkins). Georgetown area itself will always be amazing but the people of the area are pretty snobby. DC makes up for it in diversity, however.

6. Benefits
Standard bennies it seems (about 50k as an intern, health insurance, 3-4 weeks vacay). The issue is that DC is anything but standard in cost; on that note someone who matches here could cry an NYC resident a river.

7. Strengths
The People! Very friendly faculty and residents. The potential of the program is pretty obvious and there are many opportunities that are unique to being at Gtown and in DC (like treating the first psychotic break of a diplomat's son). The Forensic program is probably one of the best in the country ,and that's no surprise when sharing the name of one of the top 3 law schools in the country (G-town). C/L is also very well known here. Residents could probably be pretty well-rounded (medically) if they cared to be. DC is awesome, but again, its the people at Gtown that seem to stand out.

8. Weaknesses
I do have some suspicion that the department is not as "financially sound"; and if it is, its frugality would probably have something to do with why it has not grown into a major academic powerhouse. This was apparent from my first foot in the door as there was no breakfast, no resident dinner, and a lunch that was discounted by nature. There were not even any name tags (LOL...I did not know my fellow interviewees until mid day). I did not ask about educational funds but I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't much of one. The program is relatively small and is in an area that contains collosal programs that are generally more reputable. It is the "Cornell" of the DMV area in that it may actually be a pretty decent program, but it is stifled by much better nearby programs that will continue to attract better residents and better faculty (if it doesn't began to grow).

Overall Gut-Filling: I loved the energy of the people, but left unsure of the thoroughness in training and the overall vitality of the program. You could be happy if you matched here but it wont be for everyone.
 
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Splik, you mentioned that one of the weaknesses of the program at Duke was that medical problems were not dealt with by residents - what do you mean?

on psych rotations it seemed even relatively trivial medical problems or questions were referred out for a consult. some people might like that but i like the idea of being able to treat both the medical and psychiatric problems of my patient especially if it is bread-and-butter medicine. also i think if you keep consulting medicine for every little thing you cant complain when they refer every patient who cries or any slightly confused LOL or 'patient known schizophrenic' and in coma and other dud referrals.
 
on psych rotations it seemed even relatively trivial medical problems or questions were referred out for a consult. some people might like that but i like the idea of being able to treat both the medical and psychiatric problems of my patient especially if it is bread-and-butter medicine. also i think if you keep consulting medicine for every little thing you cant complain when they refer every patient who cries or any slightly confused LOL or 'patient known schizophrenic' and in coma and other dud referrals.

:thumbup: Splik = My new studentdoctor crush

Feel the same way, and this became obvious when my attending says to me " I think you would probably be better stimulated on the C/L service"
 
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:thumbup: Splik = My new studentdoctor crush

Feel the same way, and this became obvious when my attending says to me " I think you would probably be better stimulated on the C/L service"

The reality is that even if your medical knowledge is great, you're only able to practice under what your psych attending feels comfortable doing. Most psych attendings who are 20+ years out of med school don't feel it's in the patient's best interest for them to be writing medical orders.
 
The reality is that even if your medical knowledge is great, you're only able to practice under what your psych attending feels comfortable doing. Most psych attendings who are 20+ years out of med school don't feel it's in the patient's best interest for them to be writing medical orders.

It may not be appropriate to be checking blood pressures and prescribing lisinopril in your private practice but I think most would consider an excellent training one that affords you the "know how" and confidence to manage a patient during inpatient stays, even if that means knowing when to APPROPRIATELY call upon your internal medicine colleagues. I find it absurd to have gone through 4 years of med school only to consult medicine after finding a + Leuk Esterase and Nitrate....especially when the drugs we mix up are a gazillion times more problematic. Therefore one would think that it is more in the patient's interest to be seen by a Psychiatrist who is comfortable enough to be more involved with their overall care. Medicine is not rocket science and we are all forced to pass 3 steps of the boards.....and it should be even less of an issue in a generation where knowledge is not withheld or needed to be found in some dusty archaic book...we have access to uptodate.com ;).

As one IM doc beat into me when I revealed to her my fears of "losing all of my medical knowledge" in Psychiatry: its up to you to hold on to it, and the good ones (who will need it) will do just that.
 
It may not be appropriate to be checking blood pressures and prescribing lisinopril in your private practice but I think most would consider an excellent training one that affords you the "know how" and confidence to manage a patient during inpatient stays, even if that means knowing when to APPROPRIATELY call upon your internal medicine colleagues. I find it absurd to have gone through 4 years of med school only to consult medicine after finding a + Leuk Esterase and Nitrate....especially when the drugs we mix up are a gazillion times more problematic. Therefore one would think that it is more in the patient's interest to be seen by a Psychiatrist who is comfortable enough to be more involved with their overall care. Medicine is not rocket science and we are all forced to pass 3 steps of the boards.....and it should be even less of an issue in a generation where knowledge is not withheld or needed to be found in some dusty archaic book...we have access to uptodate.com ;).

As one IM doc beat into me when I revealed to her my fears of "losing all of my medical knowledge" in Psychiatry: its up to you to hold on to it, and the good ones (who will need it) will do just that.

I hear where you're coming from - believe me - I'm very medically inclined.

But as a resident you're practicing under someone else's license. You're only able to do what they feel comfortable supervising you on. I'm sharing this because it took me most of my intern year to realize that. Your attendings (and nurses) will hate you if you start a dilt drip on the psych floor - if your psych floor has tele (not that I did that, but I did do other things that - even though I was correct made attendings and nurses uncomfortable).

And most psych docs in a medical setting will treat UTIs. And we get BP's in our clinics. But we don't do extensive work ups, etc.

And BTW - at Duke you do hard cord medicine as an intern so you'd get plenty of experience that way.
 
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Figured I should do this while it's still fresh in my head...

1. interview accommodations/food
It's NYC, so best if you can stay with friend or family if you're coming from out of town. Breakfast was continental. Lunch was at a nearby Turkish restaurant, delicious and garlicky (fortunately after the faculty interviews, so breath mints weren't required)

2. interview day -- (e.g. schedule, interview types, unusual questions/experiences...etc. )
The day began in a conference room with the PD and a lot of residents, some of whom popped in and out to say hi. The PD gave an overview of the program after all the applicants introduced themselves. The gist of everything (and the whole day) is that what makes NYU special is Bellevue, where you are going to get exposure to every variety of psychiatric pathology and will leave being trained to handle virtually anything. On top of the core Bellevue experience, is a variety of other training ranging from an insured voluntary psych ward at Tisch to the VA to inpatient Hospital experience in Westchester to a community clinic uptown in Harlem. You get a wide variety of settings, a strong emphasis on psychotherapy, and opportunities for research, if you want.
The residents (a lot of whom interacted with us during the day) were, friendly, bright and seemed like they were enthusiastic about NYU and the PD. The PD was very friendly and actively involved during the day. He stressed that NYU is not for everyone, but for those who like to roll up their sleeves and learn by doing, rather than reading. Nevertheless, there is dedicated didactic time for residents, and an hour each week for the residents to have a group meeting where they can reflect on how things are going. The sense was that the PD and APD were responsive to feedback from residents.

After the morning session, there was a guided tour by two residents. They showed us the Bellevue Psych ER, the resident ward at Bellevue, and the relatively posk inpatient ward at Tisch.

After the tour we reconvened in a room where the faculty was assembled. From their we were paired off for faculty interviews. They seemed to try to pair faculty with applicant interest. Among the interviewers were inpatient attendings, faculty with research interests, psychotherapists, etc. Most of them had trained somewhere in NYC, a number of them at NYU. The interviews were about 45 minutes, straightforward with no crazy curveballs. All of my interviewers had read my application and referred to my CV and essay for specific questions.

After the interviews the chair stopped in. He was a big booster for NYU, who professed a desire to have direct contact with applicants and residents. He stressed that he though NYU was the best of the NYC programs and how he had former experience working at UCSF. One of the residents later told me that he is interested in boosting NYU's research profile.

Lunch was with residents, 5 or 6, who were friendly and eager to answer questions. They all had nothing but good things to say about there program and most seemed to suggest that NYU was there first choice.

After lunch the PD and APD met with us and a few more residents to go over the program curriculum. The APD did most of this presentation and she seemed equally warm and committed to resident success. Both the APD and PD have strong psychotherapy backgrounds and stressed that there was emphasis in this area that balances all of the intensive inpatient work of the first two years. They mentioned that call was being improved per resident feedback, though I don't remember if this was second or third year. Apparently before the on-call resident was responsible for 2 hospitals, but that is no longer the case. I'm not going to recapitulate the curriculum here because I think the program website would do a much better job of it than I could ever do.

The day ended with a short one-on-one (interview?) with either the PD or APD. Very informal. It probably was a very important interaction, but it felt very conversational and down to earth.

3. Program overview
SEE ABOVE

4. Faculty
Seemed like a strong, well-rounded group of people. The residents all stressed that there was a lot of supervision, something that has increased over the years. Those assembled for the interviews all seemed friendly.

5. Location, lifestyle, etc.
NYC. You gotta love it to come here. Residents all seemed to have time to take advantage of living in the city.

6. Benefits
Should have paid more attention to this... Sorry. Around 60k for salary. Once again the website has all this info. There is some subsidized housing available nearby, but many residents choose to live in brooklyn instead for the same money. Lots of moonlighting available.

7. Program strengths
Bellevue. Friendly, involved and responsive PD and APD (from what I could tell). Strong psychotherapy training. Opportunities and support for research. Great moonlighting opportunities.

8. Potential weaknesses
You're going to work hard (can be seen as a strength), not for someone looking for a cushy residency. Different electronic record systems at different locations. Have to do some traveling for different sites.
 
Waiting for a flight, so I might not get this done right away...will update later. It's later. Flight in Iowa delayed, so here we go...

Interview Accommodations & Food

Free Hotel. Sheraton University. Very nice. Decent view of the city, flat screen TV, indoor pool, exercise room (not that you'll use it.) Comfy bed. No complaints about the room really. The area around the hotel does have some construction going on (sidewalks mostly), but seems to be headed towards wrapping up (hopefully). At least the orange construction stuff fits in with the SU colors!

Dinner was with a PGY-1 and PGY-3. Both were from the area prior to residency though, so there wasn't much feedback as to why someone from elsewhere might pick this program, except that they said they were both very happy here and had great things to say about the faculty and their experiences here. They were both super nice, both married, brought their spouses who were also great. Talked freely about many aspects of the program and area. Went to a local Italian place, very good food and company.

Interview Day

You get a quick tour of the hospitals first thing in the morning. I'll talk more about this in the Program Overview section...

The day really begins with a short intro from the PD, who is very nice. He likes to make a point that he is the only full-time PD (i.e. his ONLY duties are running the program)...which I haven't fact-checked, but wouldn't surprise me, as most PDs have clinical or research duties, in addition to their residency-running.

After the intro, there were 2 1-hour interviews, then lunch, then 2 more 1-hour interviews. So far, these are the longest interviews I've been on. Most places have been doing 1/2-hour interviews, so having to fill an hour was rough. Lunch was catered sandwiches, but they were fine. The interview with the PD is a pretty...unique(?) experience, and felt closer to a therapy session than an interview, but I didn't find it too bad. Another applicant interviewing with me was offended by the somewhat personal nature of some of the questions, but it didn't bother me, and the questions were appropriate, I thought. Still...very unique experience, and a great PD, I think.

The other 3 interviews were very low-key. Casual conversation, typical questions (why syracuse, why psych, about yourself, etc...)

Call and schedule seems manageable. Most programs, including this one, seem to have gone to a short call for interns (until 10-ish), once a week, plus 1-2 12 hour weekend shifts a month, plus a night float month during 2nd year.

Program overview

I'll try and beef this up later when I'm near my info, but here's what I have from memory.

Residents thought the program was historically weak on psychopharm, and that is the reported history on SDN/Scutwork, but that was starting to improve. The program states they are actively trying to make their residents experts in everything, both therapy AND pharm.

There are TONS of didactics...maybe too many? ~6h "protected" time per week. Twice a week, 11-2 ish tentatively...this is a change from prior years when it was at the beginning or end of the day. It's now going to be at lunch with lunch provided, I think. No duties during that time, but your work doesn't go away. In addition to this there's Grand Rounds, and a bunch of other random didactic-like experiences that vary between required, recommended, and optional...seems like a lot of didactic time to me, but I'm sure you learn a lot.

The new VA psych unit is recently renovated and gorgeous. Wood paneling and fireplaces. Gorgeous. The University and Hospitals are at the top of a decent sized hill, with the State Facility (Hutchings) at the bottom of the hill. They said that you sometimes have to walk down there to write orders and things and that can be a pain, especially in the winter. Parking seems like a minor pain, and costs money ($80/mo?), but not a huge deal. Might be a different story in the snow

Educational time off to go present posters and such. Can get a month or two off to do your own research projects. Med school will get you into the MPA program pretty easily, which is a big deal if you want to do that since it's the #1 program in the country or something. Don't have to take the GMAT or whatever it's called. It's also a very demanding program, so most people recommend waiting until your 3rd or 4th year, if you're going to do it. Not many do it.

Moonlighting only in 4th year. $40/hour, not sure where right now...

Intern year seems reasonable, with no overnights, and lots of handholding at the beginning. First month is all didactics, no clinical responsibilities. You get some basic psych training didactics, as well as orientation to the hospitals/systems, and shadow a resident a couple times a week or so and see what they do and how they do it. Kind of a neat idea, really eases the transition.

Seems like there's good flexibility with rotations. Residents recommended child neuro for one of the neuro blocks, said it was a great experience. Some people have complained about the 4B unit in the past (Scutwork), but these residents didn't think it was bad at all. Said the key is making friends with nurses, which is always a good idea. Program is likely upgrading to Epic EMR (from current EMR system, which is ok apparently) sometime this year, so my class (2012) should be using Epic only, which may be good or bad. Most residents seem married, but current PGY-2 class is mostly single, so it's variable. Not a huge nightlife city, but still things to do. Seems like residents hang out occasionally. Both residents (and spouses) said they get to see each other a good amount. Seem to have good work life balance.

Faculty

Yes, Stahl & Gabbard skype their lectures in, except for one or two grand rounds presentations a year where they actually show up. Rest of the faculty seem very well liked, and everyone loves their PD. Great things to say about support from faculty in whatever your interests lie in. Faculty will nurture any desire to do research from minimal to hardcore. Other faculty I met seemed pretty friendly.

Location, lifestyle, etc.

Syracuse is Syracuse. It is one of the coldest, snowiest cities in the country. Many people have snow services who come plow your house when it snows. It seems that most of the residents were from the area, or nearby. Campus what much more hilly than I imagined it would be. Could be an issue in the snow. Definitely some downtrodden areas near campus that were a bit scary to drive through on my way in to town. Residents seem to have lives outside of work, and seemed to be happy with their lives. Many described Syracuse as a "foodie" town with many great restaurants. Trips to nearby large cities (NYC, Buffalo, etc) also occur.

Benefits

Coming later. I don't have this info on me. Available on their website. Typical stuff. Free iPod Touch or iPhone (doesn't cover the phone plan, obviously).

Program strengths

Happy residents, reasonable call schedule, good well-rounded training. Well funded program, seem flexible with regards to tailoring to resident interests. Overall, I think this is a very solid program, working towards being more well-rounded than they have been in the past. The only real drawback is Syracuse itself and its weather.

Potential weaknesses

Weather. It's Syracuse. Multiple sites/systems, although they're all fairly close to one another, but what's close in the summer won't seem so close in the winter. Weather. Not the greatest city, even aside from the weather...not sure how well it's fared in this economy. Did I mention the weather?
 
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on psych rotations it seemed even relatively trivial medical problems or questions were referred out for a consult. some people might like that but i like the idea of being able to treat both the medical and psychiatric problems of my patient especially if it is bread-and-butter medicine. also i think if you keep consulting medicine for every little thing you cant complain when they refer every patient who cries or any slightly confused LOL or 'patient known schizophrenic' and in coma and other dud referrals.

Interesting. I'm actually interested in med/psych, so I wonder if that's less of a problem for them - maybe not intern year, but surely the attending would give more leeway to a PGY5.
 
It may not be appropriate to be checking blood pressures and prescribing lisinopril in your private practice but I think most would consider an excellent training one that affords you the "know how" and confidence to manage a patient during inpatient stays, even if that means knowing when to APPROPRIATELY call upon your internal medicine colleagues. I find it absurd to have gone through 4 years of med school only to consult medicine after finding a + Leuk Esterase and Nitrate....especially when the drugs we mix up are a gazillion times more problematic. Therefore one would think that it is more in the patient's interest to be seen by a Psychiatrist who is comfortable enough to be more involved with their overall care. Medicine is not rocket science and we are all forced to pass 3 steps of the boards.....and it should be even less of an issue in a generation where knowledge is not withheld or needed to be found in some dusty archaic book...we have access to uptodate.com ;).

As one IM doc beat into me when I revealed to her my fears of "losing all of my medical knowledge" in Psychiatry: its up to you to hold on to it, and the good ones (who will need it) will do just that.

Without getting into my spiel about brain-body biology, not to mention mind-body psychology, let me just say that I once heard an attending tell me that any MD (regardless of specialty) should know how to treat 70% of what he sees, initiate the workup for 90% and know when to refer 100% of the time.

Having had to serve as de-facto care coordinator for a lot of patients with complex and interacting medical issues whose specialists weren't treating the whole patient, not to mention catching stuff that had been ignored (or not heard by) their PCP, I can vouch for the value of that mindset.

Then again, I'm technically now a GP with only 2 years of residency so what the hell would I know lol:laugh:
 
on psych rotations it seemed even relatively trivial medical problems or questions were referred out for a consult. some people might like that but i like the idea of being able to treat both the medical and psychiatric problems of my patient especially if it is bread-and-butter medicine. also i think if you keep consulting medicine for every little thing you cant complain when they refer every patient who cries or any slightly confused LOL or 'patient known schizophrenic' and in coma and other dud referrals.

I'm impressed you were able to elicit that info. Was that something the residents freely acknowledged, or is it something you ask on all of your interviews?
 
I started interviewing but likely won't post my reviews til after match. I think id be relatively easy to identify and I wantt to be open and honest about my opinions. Not that i think anyone would care enough to stalk me on SDN, but better safe then sorry.
 
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I started interviewing but likely won't post my reviews til after match. I think id be relatively easy to identify and I wantt to be open and honest about my opinions. Not that i think anyone would care enough to stalk me on SDN, but better safe then sorry.:sleep:

Every year, many people have this intention, but few follow through. Hope you do-- thanks in advance for your contribution to SDN.
 
Interview Accommodations/Food
Hotel: Brent House Hotel: one night stay is free. Room wasn’t the cleanest I’ve ever been in, but it wasn’t terrible, and considering it was free, it was ok.
Food options near the hotel are limited if you don’t have a car
No dinner the night before or breakfast, lunch at Patois (VERY nice restaurant) with two of the residents.

Interview Day

Started at 8/8:30. Interviews in the morning at Oschner with the Program director there, and the chief resident, and a tour of that facility. Then lunch at a very nice restaurant in uptown New Orleans. Afternoon started with a tour of DePaul (LSU Behavioral Health Unit) and the children’s unit. 3 interviews in the afternoon with the program director, assistant program director, and the medical director. The ay ended around 3:30.

Program Overview

1st – 5 months inpatient psych, 1 month emergency psych, 4 months medicine (one in a detox unit, one outpatient, 1-2 ward months) and 2 months neurology
2nd –3 months inpatient child, 3 months inpatient addiction, 2 months geriatric, 1 month forensics at a state prison, 3 months c/l
3rd – outpatient clinics
4th – 2 months c/l, 1 month emergency, 3 months junior attending on inpatient unit, 6 months electives.

Didactics are Tues/Thurs afternoons (fully protected time). The residents have a large amount of input as to what is covered for didactics, although there are some overriding educational goals.

Do get experience in ECT and various therapy modalities.

Faculty

Seemed genuine and very invested in the residents having a pleasant and complete residency.

Location/Lifestyle

New Orleans –lots of fantastic food, music, and psychiatric pathology. Some issues with crime, but residents were all very comfortable with where they lived and had no issues. Main issue they brought up was having to replace tires often due to street conditions.

Benefits

1st year, 3 weeks vacation, 5 educational days, 14 sick days
2-4th, 4 weeks vacation, 5 education days, 14 sick days

Strengths

Very happy residents
Excellent mix of practice types
Fantastic patient population
Very strong clinical skills
Interaction with medical students
No overnight in house call on psych (although do have to come in to admit patients
No nightfloat
2nd years take home call ~9th night
Moonlighting begins in 2nd year with MANY opportunities both within the program and in the area


Weaknesses

No research to speak of
Hospital situation in New Orleans in general
-New hospitals not set to open until 2014/2015
Very few benefits at hospitals (no meals)
Very strong child and c/l experiences


Fellowships

Psychosomatic
Child
 
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.Interview Accommodations/Food.
.Program pays for the Hilton the night before the interview. The hotel is wonderful. The program provides transportation from the hotel to all interview related activities. You are also taken to dinner the night before with a group of residents to a local Asian fusion restaurant. Breakfast the morning of the interview as well as lunch was provided..

.Interview Day .
.Begins early at 7:20 am where you are picked up at the hotel and driven to Vista (the inpatient behavioral health facility). Vista has 4 wings, mood, psychosis, addiction and child. You then go to "the brain" which is located on UF's sprawling campus. Interviews are either in the morning or after lunch with whichever group is not interviewing taking a tour of Shands Hospital. You interview with a 4th year resident, two faculty members, and the program and assistant program directors. Day ended around 2:30. .

.Program Overview .
.1st – 4 months medicine (1 month wards at VA, 2 months ambulatory, 1 month other), 2 months neurology, 2-4 months inpatient and c/l.
.2nd - months geriatric, 1 month child, 1 month addictions, 3 months c/l, 5 months inpatient, ½ day per week outpatient clinic.
.3rd – outpatient clinics (80% adult 20% child) .
.4th – 6 months electives, 2 months c/l, 3 months inpatient, 1 month forensics, ½ day per week outpatient clinic.
.Call is only taken in the 1st and 2nd year, no night float, do have to come in to admit patients .
.Didactics are Thursday afternoons and fully protected .

.Faculty .
.Very distinguished. UF keeps a lot of their own, and also likes to have big names..

.Location/Lifestyle.
.Gainesville – small down dominated by a huge university. And very, very proud of their "gator nation." .

.Benefits.
.Free health insurance for self and family .
.Free membership to APA and Florida Psychiatric Society .
.Stipend for books and travel .
.3 weeks vacation, 14 sick days, 5 educational days.

.Strengths.
.Psychotherapy training starts in 1st year and is designed to allow for managing therapy patients beginning 2nd year .
.Lots and lots of ECT exposure .
.Tremendous research potential .
.Very receptive and supportive program director and faculty .
.Very good fellowship placement .

.Weaknesses.
.Gainesville – Shands tends to draw a lot of zebras. The VA also gives a specific type of population. They are very strong in addiction psychiatry for a very good reason. .
.The city has a fair amount to do, and is reasonably close to the beaches (1.5 hrs) and Orlando and Tampa (2 hrs) but it is a small town with a big university. .
.Residents pay $400 a year for parking which is located some distance from the hospital (and it rains A LOT in Florida). .

Fellowships
Addiction
Child & Adolescent
Forensic
Research
 
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on psych rotations it seemed even relatively trivial medical problems or questions were referred out for a consult. some people might like that but i like the idea of being able to treat both the medical and psychiatric problems of my patient especially if it is bread-and-butter medicine. also i think if you keep consulting medicine for every little thing you cant complain when they refer every patient who cries or any slightly confused LOL or 'patient known schizophrenic' and in coma and other dud referrals.

I was actually a medical student at Duke and I'm not sure who told you this, but because of the med/psych program at Duke, a number of the attendings on the inpatient unit are actually med/psych trained and manage all of the medical issues that come up with their patients on the unit. Those that aren't med/psych trained usually ask a med/psych person. But maybe my experience there has only been when a med/psych attending is on service (which isn't infrequent).
 
I thought it may be useful to write about this program since it doesn't get much attention on SDN

1. interview accommodations/food
PC doesn't give any details until 3 days before interview! (this really made me feel like my time was not very important to them .) No pre-interview dinner; no breakfast; lunch in hospital cafeteria.
2. interview day -- Long interview day from 830am to 5pm.
5 interviews: 1 with chief resident; 1 with PD; 3 with other attendings; class with Dr. Kolansky on psychoanalysis. the morning is spent at albert einstein medical center in north philly; afternoon at Belmont-a non-for-profit private psych hospital on the outskirt of philly. Transportation via taxi- a lot of waiting and traffic. Lunch with one residents. Tour with another. Didn't get a chance to meet any first year residents .
3. Program overview
It is a community program that has lots of therapy training. There is not many research opportunities. Residents either go into private practice or child and adolescent psychiatry-most of them end up at Jefferson, it seems.
Einstein only has a small inpt unit; most inpt work is done at Belmont. Calls at Einstein seems easy, but calls at Belmont (second years) can be tough. At Belmont, you are the only resident on call for admissions and 150 patients (geriatrics, peds, adolescents, etc.) in the hospital. According to a resident, sometimes, there are 10 admissions over a 12 hour call. No caps. There is back-up, but the resident hinted that no one calls backup?! Lots of dual diagnosis patients. You are first call for all 150 patients. If pt needs more medical care, you have to call 911! jefferson do their inpt psych here, but don't take calls here.
All interns do IM for 4 months from July to November, then join the rest of the residents in psych. Starting this year, interns will take call with a second year residents (who do not seem happy with this.)
4. Faculty
PD seems accessible and tries to do best for residents. Dr. Kolansky is well respected in the Philadelphia area for psychoanalysis.
5. Location, lifestyle, etc.
Einstein is not the greatest area of Philly. Residents complained about driving back and forth from Belmont and Einstein due to the traffic in Philly.
Most residents are married with kids, so not sure how much they hang out together. But they do seem like a cohesive group.Many DOs and IMGs-all very bright.
6. Benefits
Many different insurance options-some without resident contribution.
7. Program strengths
Psychoanalysis; good exposure to bread and butter cases; lots of experience with dual diagnosis patients
8. Potential weaknesses
Not much research; no forensics rotations; not sure how easy it is to get a fellowship other than childs. Not sure how supportive the more senior residents are to the junior ones.
 
8. Weaknesses
has not coped well with new work hour restrictions; residents typically work 12 hour days 6 days a week in 1st 2 years; can have 3 weeks of night float at a time; fair amount of scut (there are social workers but social work support not as extensive as residents would like); medical problems not dealt with by residents; no electronic records at state hospital (yet); Durham is a bit small; I saw a bunch of people waving Ron Paul for President placards :eek:.


Anyone remember what the call schedule is like at Duke during the first 2 years? I think they mentioned that night-float in the first year, but interns not on night floats are working 8am to 8pm everyday. Are they doing short calls?

BTW, I love the program and will be willing to work hard the first two years. The family studies program is amazing.
 
Anyone remember what the call schedule is like at Duke during the first 2 years? I think they mentioned that night-float in the first year, but interns not on night floats are working 8am to 8pm everyday. Are they doing short calls?

BTW, I love the program and will be willing to work hard the first two years. The family studies program is amazing.

I think i remember one of the chief residents saying there was short call (but don't quote me on that), but got the impression that if you were on inpatient during PGY-1 and 2 you were pretty much going to be there until after 8. There are 2 months of night float in PGY-2 and I think there are 2 months in intern year (but on the rotation schedule it says 1 month which doesn't add up).

They freely admit to having problems reconfiguring the schedule to meet the new ACGME requirements, though I find it reassuring the interns I did meet did not look overworked or unduly tired.
 
Interview accommodations/food
-Hotel discount for VCU applicants for $50 at four hotels in the city ~5-10mins from the school. The night before the interview met up with two residents, both PGY-1s. Dinner was really good. Residents talked openly about their experiences. Both FMGs. Seemed to be extremely happy with their choice. They were friends and hung out with the rest of the class on a regular basis which was nice to hear about.

Interview Day
-Met at the outpatient office and walked over to the conference room. Given an presentation on life in Richmond. Really interesting information about the city. By the end, even I was excited to live there!! Then taken to a different site to start with interviews. Had three interviews and a short break which was nice. All interview really chill except for the fact that they basically ask you nothing about yourself. It was basically a chance to ask questions about the program so by the end it was a little repetitive. All faculty seem really open and excited seems like would be a great place to train. Based on my interactions with the faculty, got really excited about the program (practically ready to move to Richmond that day)!! We had lunch with residents (sandwiches- yumm!!!, no really). Had around five residents of various years stop by. Only two AMGs. Everyone was smart and nice. Everyone warm and friendly. Went on a tour. Facilities seem old and a little run down. Saw more residents…more IMG/FMGs. Resident really excited about their program and psych in general. Really happy with their choice.

Faculty
-Great program director and other faculty that have been there a while and are invested in the program. Residents RAVED about the faculty and the options available to them.

Location and Lifestyle
-Richmond seems like a nice city which is affordable. Residents live in many different areas around the city. Short commute. Nightlife seems active by resident standards (being busy) and seemed nice. Had a lot of restaurants based on the amount of people.

Program Strengths
-Team based inpatient units
-Patient diversity (socioecomonic, pathology, racial)
-Lots and lots of therapy w/ lots and lots supervision
-Very supportive
-Impressive match list for fellowships
-Great faculty
-Very low cost of living
-Near a big city but not too close
-Very nice and friendly residents
-Good ECT training
-Family friendly

Program Weakness
-MOSTLY FMG/IMGs (which made me extremely nervous; seemed to be a strong program but why are they not more competitive????, I don't know and it makes me nervous as I already said). Don’t have a full appreciation of their reputation outside of Virginia.
-Facilities older and a little run down
-Not too much research overall but strong in what is going on if that's what you like, most residency didn't seem all that interested in research which was OK by my standards, maybe off putting for some what actually want to do research
-Lots and lots of night float (between 3-4months, I think) but leads to a good call schedule (may be strength then….I don’t know)
-Residents kind of homogeneous….lots of South-East Asian residents (which is probably why the classes may be so cohesive) or maybe they are just all cool people….would have liked to see more diversity of residents is my point.

Fellowships
C/A
C/L
Getting Forensic in next few years (like 1-2yrs)
They sent people to good places for fellowship as well

OVERALL
seems like a nice place!
 
1. interview accommodations/food
Stayed with family, they don't provide accommodation or reimbursement. We were well fed during the day - breakfast was muffins, bagels, danishes, yoghurt, fruitjuice coffee, and there was always food during the day continuously! Lunch was mexican food which the residents attended, and in the evening there was a meet and greet with wine and appetizers which was at one of the PGY-4's apartment and was well attended by residents.

2. interview day -- (e.g. schedule, interview types, unusual questions/experiences...etc. )
Breakfast then a group meeting with the PD, then 3 interviews - I had one with the associate PD Dr Simon, one with Craig Katz (who is well known for disaster psychiatry), and one with a community psychiatrist. Really low stress, like conversations they had obviously read my application and seemed interested in me as a person and what I thought about various things. appx 30 minutes each. Then there was a break (more coffee and food) with the chief resident always there, and then lunch which had a showing from all 4 years. In the PM there was another presentation group meeting with the PDs and then a tour of the wards and o/p facilities.

3. Program overview

Key features are you do inpatient child, dual diagnosis, geriatric, Psych ER, and forensic in PGY-1 - I have not seen this anywhere else. 1 month of C/L psych in PGY-2 at the VA and 2 months in PGY-4. Some elective time in PGY-2, only 1 month nightfloat in PGY-1 and -2. 1 month of outpatient in PGY-3. There is a teaching resident stint of PGY-4, and 8 months of elective time. Opportunities aplenty to do research. Strong on psychodynamic/psychoanalytic therapy (affiliated with New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute), and increasingly CBT. Also they have 2 hours of didactics throughout PGY-1 which is predicted even if you are off service (except if on med ER). For I/P you are capped at 8 patients.

4. Faculty
Dr Rieder has been in the business for a very long time and is very passionate about his job and residency welfare and education in general. Dr Simon is apparently very responsive to residency concerns. Did not meet the Chair but he is a world expert in OCD. Dean and CEO of Sinai are both psychiatrists, as is Chair of Neuroscience. Very strong research faculty in biological psychiatry (imaging, genetics, molecular, psychpharm), but weak in epidemiology, and weak in social psychiatry (but then is there any US program that is strong in this?) Residents said attendings were variable in their style and how much they liked teaching, but most taught on wards.

5. Location, lifestyle, etc.

It's New York City! and all the joys and trappings of discontent that go with it. None of the residents I met seemed overworked or tired, workload probably most manageable of the 'big 4' NYC programs, but not a 'cush' program by any means. even some of the residents on nightfloat came to the meet and greet in the evening and one of the post-call interns was there in the morning and seemed remarkably cheerful! All adamant they had a chance to enjoy the city.

6. Benefits
Starting salary was ~$53000. They said salaries were comparable to other NYC programs but I have found that over the 4 years it is lower here then NYU, Columbia and Einstein. Partially subsidised housing which is guaranteed. Only major NYC program to guarantee housing apparently. Apartments are still ridiculously expensive (1200 for a studio, about 1800 for a 1br apt) but they are extremely nice, great location, very close to hospital. Usual insurance. they mentioned insurance would cover about 70% of personal psychotherapy costs for unlimited sessions however we would have to file the insurance claims as NYC psychiatrists are typically cash-only. 4 weeks vacation.

7. Program strengths
They really seem to care about the residents, there is lots of teaching and therapy supervision, strong teaching in psychodynamic therapy, opportunities to do mini-fellowships in psychoanalytic therapy and group therapy during residency, global health track including electives in Belize and Liberia, lots of research opportunities but optional, you could do research or rotations at other NYC programs if there was something you wanted to do they did not offer, very strong research portfolio (biological psychiatry only), lots of opportunities to teach, strong C/L experience, one of few programs in US to try and teach phenomenology (only others I can think of are Hopkins and Harbor-UCLA), strong psychopharmacology teaching, minimal scut work (good social work support), definitely possible to have life outside residency, very friendly call schedule in PGY-2 and no call in PGY-4, very flexible and changes in response to residency concerns. residents arrange the call rota and can do swaps amongst themselves. Residents are impressive, intelligent, interested, and in some cases international! (apologies for the alliteration)

8. Potential weaknesses
apprently so-so PGY-1 didactics; wards are more drab that I imagined; no inpatient ED; no inpatient PD facilities; group and family therapy are optional; weak on public psychiatry (no county or state hospital experience); only rotate at Brox-VA and MSSM with exception of forensics; weak on psychiatric epidemiology; they stated aiming to train psychiatrists for New York, which is regrettable since that seems to mean cash only practice listening to whiny meandering meditations of bored housewives (yes, i'm being facetious, but only a little i have no respect for boutique psychiatrists).

Final impression: Previous SDN reviews have commented that this is a 'program on the rise', that there wasnt much cameraderie between residents, and that residents seemed unfriendly. Well I think I can say Mount Sinai has arrived, and the current cohort seem to have a good amount of cameraderie and were approachable and engaging. Now if I could defeat my scepticism of psychoanalytic dogma, if they had the family studies program of Duke, the facilities of WPIC, the research faculty of columbia, and some of the county experience of NYU this would be the ideal program!
 
1. interview accommodations/food
Stayed with family, they don't provide accommodation or reimbursement. We were well fed during the day - breakfast was muffins, bagels, danishes, yoghurt, fruitjuice coffee, and there was always food during the day continuously! Lunch was mexican food which the residents attended, and in the evening there was a meet and greet with wine and appetizers which was at one of the PGY-4's apartment and was well attended by residents.

2. interview day -- (e.g. schedule, interview types, unusual questions/experiences...etc. )
Breakfast then a group meeting with the PD, then 3 interviews - I had one with the associate PD Dr Simon, one with Craig Katz (who is well known for disaster psychiatry), and one with a community psychiatrist. Really low stress, like conversations they had obviously read my application and seemed interested in me as a person and what I thought about various things. appx 30 minutes each. Then there was a break (more coffee and food) with the chief resident always there, and then lunch which had a showing from all 4 years. In the PM there was another presentation group meeting with the PDs and then a tour of the wards and o/p facilities.

3. Program overview

Key features are you do inpatient child, dual diagnosis, geriatric, Psych ER, and forensic in PGY-1 - I have not seen this anywhere else. 1 month of C/L psych in PGY-2 at the VA and 2 months in PGY-4. Some elective time in PGY-2, only 1 month nightfloat in PGY-1 and -2. 1 month of outpatient in PGY-3. There is a teaching resident stint of PGY-4, and 8 months of elective time. Opportunities aplenty to do research. Strong on psychodynamic/psychoanalytic therapy (affiliated with New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute), and increasingly CBT. Also they have 2 hours of didactics throughout PGY-1 which is predicted even if you are off service (except if on med ER). For I/P you are capped at 8 patients.

4. Faculty
Dr Rieder has been in the business for a very long time and is very passionate about his job and residency welfare and education in general. Dr Simon is apparently very responsive to residency concerns. Did not meet the Chair but he is a world expert in OCD. Dean and CEO of Sinai are both psychiatrists, as is Chair of Neuroscience. Very strong research faculty in biological psychiatry (imaging, genetics, molecular, psychpharm), but weak in epidemiology, and weak in social psychiatry (but then is there any US program that is strong in this?) Residents said attendings were variable in their style and how much they liked teaching, but most taught on wards.

5. Location, lifestyle, etc.

It's New York City! and all the joys and trappings of discontent that go with it. None of the residents I met seemed overworked or tired, workload probably most manageable of the 'big 4' NYC programs, but not a 'cush' program by any means. even some of the residents on nightfloat came to the meet and greet in the evening and one of the post-call interns was there in the morning and seemed remarkably cheerful! All adamant they had a chance to enjoy the city.

6. Benefits
Starting salary was ~$53000. They said salaries were comparable to other NYC programs but I have found that over the 4 years it is lower here then NYU, Columbia and Einstein. Partially subsidised housing which is guaranteed. Only major NYC program to guarantee housing apparently. Apartments are still ridiculously expensive (1200 for a studio, about 1800 for a 1br apt) but they are extremely nice, great location, very close to hospital. Usual insurance. they mentioned insurance would cover about 70% of personal psychotherapy costs for unlimited sessions however we would have to file the insurance claims as NYC psychiatrists are typically cash-only. 4 weeks vacation.

7. Program strengths
They really seem to care about the residents, there is lots of teaching and therapy supervision, strong teaching in psychodynamic therapy, opportunities to do mini-fellowships in psychoanalytic therapy and group therapy during residency, global health track including electives in Belize and Liberia, lots of research opportunities but optional, you could do research or rotations at other NYC programs if there was something you wanted to do they did not offer, very strong research portfolio (biological psychiatry only), lots of opportunities to teach, strong C/L experience, one of few programs in US to try and teach phenomenology (only others I can think of are Hopkins and Harbor-UCLA), strong psychopharmacology teaching, minimal scut work (good social work support), definitely possible to have life outside residency, very friendly call schedule in PGY-2 and no call in PGY-4, very flexible and changes in response to residency concerns. residents arrange the call rota and can do swaps amongst themselves. Residents are impressive, intelligent, interested, and in some cases international! (apologies for the alliteration)

8. Potential weaknesses
apprently so-so PGY-1 didactics; wards are more drab that I imagined; no inpatient ED; no inpatient PD facilities; group and family therapy are optional; weak on public psychiatry (no county or state hospital experience); only rotate at Brox-VA and MSSM with exception of forensics; weak on psychiatric epidemiology; they stated aiming to train psychiatrists for New York, which is regrettable since that seems to mean cash only practice listening to whiny meandering meditations of bored housewives (yes, i'm being facetious, but only a little i have no respect for boutique psychiatrists).

Final impression: Previous SDN reviews have commented that this is a 'program on the rise', that there wasnt much cameraderie between residents, and that residents seemed unfriendly. Well I think I can say Mount Sinai has arrived, and the current cohort seem to have a good amount of cameraderie and were approachable and engaging. Now if I could defeat my scepticism of psychoanalytic dogma, if they had the family studies program of Duke, the facilities of WPIC, the research faculty of columbia, and some of the county experience of NYU this would be the ideal program!

nice review, splik.
Just wondering, how late did everyone stay at the meet&greet?
Reason I'm asking is that I scheduled an interview the next day and it's about a 5 hr drive from NYC. I wonder if I should reschedule either interview if possible.
 
For people who would rather write a review anonymously, I don't mind accepting reviews via PMs and posting it up. Alternatively, what do you guys think about starting a community psych review account that anyone who wishes to post a review can log on and use? I don't mind starting one if you all think it's a good idea. As evidenced by the interview invites thread, we'll be going on a lot of interviews as a collective group and I just want to encourage as much sharing as possible. It's beneficial to everyone. :)
 
I like the community psych review account idea as well. I know it's paranoid but I'm hesitant to post a lot of opinions and all my invites while decisions are still pending. I really doubt anyone would bother to guess who I am in real life, but I don't think that would be too hard given everything I have posted.

Either way, I will start getting some reviews out soon!
 
Sorry to be the moderator downer, but SDN doesn't allowed shared accounts so we can't do that. That's why I had offered in the other thread to post things anonymously for everyone if they wanted.

I promise on my honor as a moderator to post exactly what is sent to me and to keep all names/screennames private. :)



By the way, as a reference point, the anonymous shared account thing has been tried in years past in other specialty forums, and wound up being abused by some members which has subsequently ruined what could be a good thing for the rest of us.
 
the other option which someone has already done is you could set up a new account and post your reviews. regardless i encourage everyone to post reviews in whichever way they feel comfortable, and to do so as soon after their interviews so the reviews are most useful.
 
:( Womp womp...well...I guess there goes that idea. In that case, my original offer still stands if anyone wants to PM a review. Otherwise, I agree with what splik says; post the information however you feel most comfortable (PM someone, create a new account just for this purpose, etc) but let's do our best to get the information out there so that we can all help each other.:)
 
1. interview accommodations/food
Breakfast and lunch provided. You find your own lodging and transportation.

2. interview day -- (e.g. schedule, interview types, unusual questions/experiences...etc. )
Pretty typical. My day started with an intro from the PD and included four interviews and a walking tour of the UVa hospital and psych ward. The interviews were very relaxed, very conversational with lots of ‘what questions do you have for me.’ I was out by four.

3. Program overview
Interesting features: residents can choose a psychotherapy, community psychiatry, or research track. Each of these offers residents opportunities to focus their education, building skills and the CV for a career in one of those areas. A certificate is issued at the end. You do not have to choose one of these tracks if you don’t want to, and a fair number of residents are not in a special track. Psychotherapy is the most popular choice.

The rotation schedule is on the webpage in detail. Basically first two years are inpatient, second two are outpatient/elective. First year has 4 months medicine (some of these months can be services like palliative, endocrine, or toxicology) and two months neuro along with six months psych. Third year is a comfortable outpatient schedule at Northridge clinic where you do both med management and therapy.

The rotations largely happen at UVa Hospital, Northridge outpatient clinic, and Western State hospital. There are, however, other teaching affiliates.

The schedule seems great, with the outpatient portions resembling a normal Mon – Fri job and the inpatient services generally still allowing for a real balance of work and play. Even the interns seemed quite happy and well adjusted, and people from each year made a showing at the resident dinner.

Fellowship options: CAP, geriatrics, forensics.

4. Faculty
Friendly and approachable. Lots of faculty from big-name institutions with expertise in various therapeutic modalities, ECT, and a fair amount of research. Recently Bankole Johnson has brought an excellent addictions research program to town, this provides excellent opportunities for residents interested in addictions research.

5. Location, lifestyle, etc.
Charlottesville, VA, a small college town in central VA. The hospital is right next to the undergrad campus. Great opportunities for outdoor activities (hiking, biking, etc.). Lots of great gyms on campus. John Paul Jones arena attracts plenty of famous bands and acts to Charlottesville, there are also many good restaurants and an art scene including First Fridays on the downtown mall (art viewing) and free summer concerts at the pavilion. Despite being a small town the dating scene is pretty good between UVa’s graduate and professional schools and local young professionals. Basically Charlottesville provides an excellent quality of life without the traffic and with quick access to real nature, and the program offers time to take advantage of it!

6. Benefits
Good (upper 50%ile, see website) salary, parking stipend, books/conference stipend, louge/workout room, dictation bonus of $10 for timely dictations, food/coffee money, medical and life insurance, ACLS reimbursement, annual resident retreat.

Vacation 3 wks/ year + 1 week at Christmas or New Year's. Interns get a beach week at the end of the year.

7. Program strengths
Very friendly. The residents are happy and appear to be a great group, and the faculty is very supportive. You will leave a solid clinician but still enjoy your life during residency, all set in a lovely small town with a reasonable cost of living and plenty to do. You can also choose a track and build extra skills in an area of interest in your four years (honestly it seems like the faculty would support you in most of the academic or research ventures you want to do).

8. Potential weaknesses
I don’t think the research opportunities stack up compared to neighboring programs like Duke or Hopkins. While the lower workload helps you enjoy life and gives you time to read (I see this as a positive), some might learn better by being in a higher-volume environment.
 
1. interview accommodations/food
The PC is extremely helpful. There is a discounted hotel near the hospital for $139 a night, but I was able to get a very nice room at the nearby Courtyard by Marriott for $100 through Priceline. So, it maybe worthwhile to shop around. There is a dinner the night before at either a Cambodian or a Mediterrean restaurant, but I couldn't attend. From what I heard, it was well attended by residents.
They provided breakfast (muffins/bagels/coffee), lunch (wraps), and afternoon snack (coffee/brownies) which was a nice touch after the tour. Overall, the program was very thoughtful.

2. interview day
The interview starts promptly at 830am, so be there by 815am. Dr. Sams (interim PD-yes, she is leaving for personal reasons) along with Dr. Surber (Associate PD) led an information session which addressed many aspects of the program. The chairman of psych from BWH also stopped by. The IM PD from BWH also stopped by to go over the IM rotations. Then the interviews began. Each applicant met with 3 attendings and 1 4th year resident. Everyone met with Dr. Sams for 20 min. Some also met with Dr. Surber for 30 minutes. The third interview was with an attending in the area that the applicant was interested in. Each applicant then met with a 4th year resident for 1 hour. Dr. Sams is an psychoanalytist so expect some personal questions, but overall she was warm and informative. All the interviewers were very benign. They really want to know what you are looking for in a residency program. Two of the interviews were in the morning and two in the afternoon. In between the interviews, there was a lunch in the conference room, and it was well attended by residents (6-7 residents-all female for some reason; 1 intern, 3-4 third year, and a few 4th year). The tour was led by a fourth year resident.

3. Program overview
What can I say, I was impressed with all the hospitals on the Longwood campus. I have to admit that I was starstruck. The two main qualities that were emphasized by everyone: 1. support from faculty 2. opportunity to get involved with any area of psychiatry. You will meet with 1 of 4 associate director twice a year.

PGY-1
Interns do 4 months of IM-1/2 will do it at Faulkner Hospital and the other half do it at Newton Wellesly. The IM months are not consecutive. At Faulkner, each team will have 2 interns and 1 resident. The residents are from BWH. Each intern carries 5 pt. You do an ICU month; but it is more like a step-down unit according to the IM PD. They follow the 16 hour rule. At Newton, you do 1 month of ER and 3 months of general medicine. The residents are from MGH or are doing a transitional year. You don't get to pick which site; the PD will decide. Because Newton is 20 minutes away, the PD recommending having a car during the first year.

Then there are 2 neurology months, 2 addiction months, 2 inpt months, and 2 months of emergency psych and nightfloat.

PGY-2
6 months of Inpt psychiatry-At Faulkner, you do overnight calls, and at BID, there is nightfloat. 3 months of Massachusetts mental health center (MMHC) at a brand new building doing partial hospital. 1 month of elective, and 2 months of child psych.
You start oupt psychiatry clinic (5 hours a week) in the second year, and 1-2 psychotherapy pt. 1 hours of outpt supervision. Research for 1/2 day a week.

PGY-3
6 months of CL and Geriatric, but you are not on Geriatric psych floor, but the geriatric experience is from doing consults. 6 months of community psychiatry at various rotations-including working in homeless shelters. While you are on CL or community psych, you are spending 1/2 of your time doing outpatient psychiatry. Subtracting the time for didactics and supervision etc, you end up spending 9.5 hours seeing patients. 2 hours are spent in the psychopharm clinic.

PGY-4
3/8 of the time is spent doing outpt psychiatry clinic. 5/8 time doing electives and chief resident activities.

There is a resident committee. Lots of teaching and supervision throughout the years. C.L. is excellent, but admittedly tough. The residents complained that the work can be overwhelming as a third year taking call at BWH on the weekends, where there are a lot of consults besides covering the floors. According to the residents, they are working to change this by hiring moonlighters.

Research is not required, but every resident is involved since there is so much support from faculty on research.

A lot of residents choose to short-track to childs by doing 3 years.

4. Faculty
Excellent faculty. Dr. Sams is leaving, but everything seems transparent. The C.L. is particularly stellar.

5. Location, lifestyle, etc.
It's near Brookline. Lots of traffic. It's Boston, so rents are expensive. Lots of cultural activities.

6. Benefits
Sorry, can't remember much about this. No one really talked about this during interview day. 4weeks of vacation each year. Interns start 1 week earlier, and then get that week back between the first and second year. So technically, interns will get 5 weeks off during a calendar year.

7. Program strengths
Excellent C.L. and women's mental health; lots of resources-faculty and being a Harvard program; historically well known for psychoanalysis; research opportunities; community psychiatry; various training sites; large program-they had a resident retreat this year.

8. Potential weaknesses
Cost of living in Boston or nearby. Residents mentioned about "turmoil" a few years back, but didn't elaborate. Not sure what they were talking about, but they all seemed to think that was in the past. Perhaps residents from Longwood can elaborate. ECT experience is available, but not required. Couple/group therapy also available, but not required. (I think I was spoiled by Duke.)
 
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Interview accommodations/food
They recommend a few places that have an OHSU discount. Public transportation is excellent, so you only need a car if you want one. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided the day of the interview. Dinner with residents at a very tasty Italian place which is owned by the spouse of one of the faculty members.
.
Interview day.
.Starts at 8 am. You get a key to a locked room so you can leave things there during the day, and the room has drinks and snacks. Day starts with an overview of the program by one of the chief residents followed by a tour of OHSU hospital and the VA. Interviews are between 10 and 4. There are 4 interviews: the program director, assistant program director, a faculty member, and a chief resident. No weird questions, very much conversational and recruiting.

.Program overview
PGY1: 2 mo ward medicine, 2 mo neurology, 1 mo emergency psych, 6 months inpatient psych, 1 mo ambulatory medicine
PGY2: 6 weeks each inpatient psych at VA and OHSU, 6 weeks geripsych, 3 months C/L, 3 mo state hospital, 1/2 day per week outpatient clinic
PGY3: 6 months community, 6 months substance dependence, 12 month child clinc
PGY4: 12 months electives


Call Schedule
PGY1&2 –
OHSU: Short call 5-8pm every 4-5 days; Friday 5p-8a; Saturday 24hrs; Weekend 2x/mo
VA: Home call every 5th night; Short call 5-8p; Friday 5p-8a; Saturday 24hrs; Weekend 2x/mo

PGY 3&4 -
Back up home call every 13th night
Assist with first 3 calls for interns

Didactics: Tues afternoons with an additional 1/2 day in 3rd year


Faculty
They keep a lot of their own graduates, with others coming mainly from Mass Gen and California.

Location, lifestyle, etc.
Portland, OR – Located between the coast and the mountains, near wineries, orchards, and every outdoor activity you can imagine. Very big on low impact, sustainable living. Very easy to be vegetarian or vegan here. Everyone walks, hikes, bikes, etc. Rare snow but near constant misting rain in the winters. Summers are reportedly amazing. City has 4 different quadrants with a different feel in each. Residents said that they all felt very safe just about anywhere in the city. Lots of festivals and activities.


Benefits
Salary: 45,600/47,800/50,000/52,500
Benefits include medical malpractice, life, disability and health insurance. Additional coverage is available for spouses, dependents and domestic partners.
No state sales tax, but state income tax
Meal tickets/allowance provided, and you can use the meal tickets to shop at the farmers market on campus

Program strengths
Very cohesive and supportive .
Location is excellent for outdoor activities
.Nearly every fellowship you can imagine.

Potential weaknesses.
.call schedule very rough first two years.
.parking at the hospital is $80 a month, but if you bike in 30 times you get $50 and there is the sky tram which is free.
.residents fully admit Portland is not the most diverse city, but they do have some unique experience with their cross cultural elective.
.Research is not a requirement, but available if you are interested
Not many residents moonlight
Residents share offices

Fellowships
Geriatric
Child & Adolescent
Addiction
PVAMC Mood disorders
Forensic
Psychosomatic
Sleep Medicine
 
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Interview accommodations/food
Tulane has a discounted rate with Maison Dupuy which is in the French Quarter ($79 for the night). The discount does not extend for additional days, and the hotel is expensive ($250 a night) if you want to stay longer in New Orleans. Dinner with a resident from each class at a ridiculously nice restaurant (we went to Herbsaint, but apparently the residents pick which restaurant they want to go to each week) where you are encouraged to order whatever you like off the menu (no alcohol). No breakfast, but some snacks after the tour of DePaul. Lunch with the residents.

Interview day
Day starts at 8am meeting at the Tidewater Building next to the medical school. Then a cab ride they arrange to DePaul (the psych hospital they share with LSU) for a tour and sit through morning rounds. Then back to the Tidewater building for interviews (2 in the morning, 2 after lunch) with the program director, chair of the psych department, faculty, and one of the chief residents. Attend grand rounds and then have lunch with ALL the residents. Day ended around 3pm.

Program overview
.Clinical sites: .
.PGY1&2: East Jefferson General Hospital, Southeast Louisiana Hospital, and the Medical Center of Louisiana – DePaul Campus. Other core rotations in medicine and neurology take place at other Tulane affiliated institutions..
.PGY3: full-time outpatient psychiatry split between the Tulane Hospital Outpatient Psychiatric Clinic and the Veteran’s Hospital of New Orleans. Also, Don Thomas Homeless Rebuild Center via St. Anna’s Medical Mission and telepsychiatry program.
.PGY4: ..Tulane Hospital outpatient clinic and electives.

.Curriculum: .
.PGY1: 4 mo medicine/peds, 2 mo neurology, 6 mo inpatient psych .
.PGY2: 2 mo.. Community Outreach via the Mental Health Intensive Case Management Team, 4 mo C/L, 3 mo child/adolescent, 2 mo addiction, 1 mo geriatric.
.PGY3: 12 Months Outpatient Psychiatry (Tulane Hospital outpatient, VA community psychiatry, Telepsychaitry, St. Anna’s Medical Mission).
.PGY4:..12 Month Outpatient Psychiatry, including a nine month elective block (Administrative, Junior Attending, Research, Geriatrics, Eating Disorders, Addictions, etc.).

Faculty
All were engaging and inviting.

Location, lifestyle, etc.
New Orleans, LA
All the residents seemed very relaxed and happy. They have a lot of time for outside interests. New Orleans is a love it or leave it city. The pathology here for psych is amazing, but you will also be living in it and below sea level.

Benefits
.Salary: 44,168/45,500/47,179/49,029.
.Vacation: PGY1 15 days, PGY2-4 20 days .
.Educational leave: 5 days .
.Insurance: Medical insurance is provided free for all residents. Coverage for spouse and dependents is available for an additional cost to the resident via payroll deduction. Dental insurance is available for a small premium. Life and disability insurance are provided at no charge to residents..
.Free parking .

Program strengths
Program director makes an obvious and strong commitment to resident happiness
Resident house staff association
Nearly all residents moonlight beginning 3rd year
Very easy call schedule (the residents make it themselves, and is basically only in 2nd year)

Potential weaknesses
Hospital situation in New Orleans is still not anywhere close to ideal
New VA isn’t set to open until 2013/2014
No ECT currently

Fellowships
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Forensic Psychiatry
 
CORNELL
1. interview accommodations/food:
7:45am-5pm. Stayed with friends, no reimbursement. Light breakfast. Lunch was buffet at fancy faculty club that is in the hospital, well-attended by residents. There is also a “party” in a resident’s house at night with pizza and wine, also well-attended. Give out case-based books to applicants. When scheduling interview, they give you 1-2 options and explicitly tell you that you can’t change dates.
2. interview day -- (e.g. schedule, interview types, unusual questions/experiences...etc. ): Meet in groups with chairman, program director, and research coordinator(?). Four interviews: applicants seemed to have 1-2 with residents and the rest with faculty, including PD. Conversational questions, one asked the psychodynamic type of “tell me about your family growing up.” Tour of o/p offices and psych ER. Institutional mandate to not show i/p wards, besides through window. Do not get to see Westchester Payne Whitney facility. Some questions about how I felt about New York and if I could live there.
3. Program overview: strong history of psychiatry program (with one designated scholar a year who does reading and projects), limited electives including forensics and psycho-oncology, medicine rotations include sloane kettering and much on neuro-oncology, intern year has 3 med months/2 neuro months/1 med er month, inpatient unit in manhattan downsizing from 60 to 30 beds, likely converting psych er to full CPEP with 72hr observation 6 bed unit and services that entails, main inpatient training at westchester with 250+ bed divided into such units as personality and psychotic, interesting “second chance” unit for severe mental disorders that haven’t been resolved in state facilities, senior paper requirement, new eating d/o unit, residents drive together to payne whitney in shared car though can take shuttle or train back if need to (residents describe liking the drive together), treated as med resident during medicine months, faculty called program “marine corps” and “intense,” intense with lots of C/L and a very high 3rd year outpatient load (said this will hopefully be decreasing), not research powerhouse though several very strong notable researchers in areas like geriatrics/cognitive neuroscience, residents described as having a lot of autonomy but being well-prepared to do things like direct ED or units when graduate, residents characterize program as seeing diverse patient base because in addition to medicaid patients that everyone sees they also see VIP/millionaires/etc., described as “intellectual” and “scholarly” overall
4. Faculty: faculty has a love-hate/accept-distance relationship with psychoanalytics trying to both embrace it and say it’s not their only modality, 100 of 600 faculty are psychoanalytically trained (including C/L and ER faculty), PD is psychoanalyst and a bit intense, residents described her as not warm but approachable if you have concrete ideas of what you want, chair is neuroscientist
5. Location, lifestyle, etc.: upper east side manhattan with subsidized housing (seemed about 1100-1300 for studio) essentially connected to hospital., unsure of call - none during 4th year - trying to switch to more night float, residents all love living in NY and want you to too
6. Benefits: unsure
7. Program strengths: Psychodynamics, interesting units at payne whitney, history program, ability to see wealthy/VIP clients if interested
8. Potential weaknesses: No VA, poor addiction exposure, poor community exposure, “rigid” with fewer electives, see above relationship with psychodynamics
 
EMORY
1. interview accommodations/food:
light breakfast, boxed burritos for lunch, no accommodations provided. nice dinner at restaurant with residents night before, well-attended.
2. interview day -- (e.g. schedule, interview types, unusual questions/experiences...etc. ):interview day from 7:45a-7p, 5 interviews from 15 to 30 minutes one of which is with resident.
3. Program overview: service > teaching program, electives start year 2 with lots of choices (addiction, domestic violence, oncology, family, trauma, forensic, hiv, schizophrenia, suicide), 4th year fully elective and can make own electives (e.g. toxicology or sleep), all fellowships available, can begin community fellowship as pgy4 with multidimensional focus, intern year has 1 month inpatient neuro/1 month neuro consult/1 month inpatient medicine(long call,post call, short call, post call schedule)/3 months medical or peds elective (such as ER and developmental peds), new bioethics center with possible ability to take classes, 8 hospitals and affiliated hospitals, 1st year at intense public Grady hospital (see transplants, suicide attempts, raw psychosis, etc.), 2nd year split between VA and Emory hospital (more affluent population), psychotherapy starts year 2 (very difficult to schedule around other obligations), strong psychodynamics with moderate CBT exposure, can start analytic training during residency, customizable fellowships, can take classes at other schools (?might need to pay?), ACT team and psychosocial rehab o/p center, applicants/residents seems to be from pretty average med schools, large refugee/asylum seeking population can work with, 20-25% to academic career, associations with Carter Center and CDC, no forced research or research tracks, can carve research time, residents “can be competitive or divided” but often get along
4. Faculty: PD is Grady C/L psychiatrist and very casual and youthful (residents have her cell #), new chair after nemeroff’s departure (chair was not present at interviews)
5. Location, lifestyle, etc.: call schedule: 1st year = 2x2weeks night float and approx 6 weekend shifts, 2nd year = q6-7 home call (with no postcall day unless 2 calls after midnight....go into hospital when called) at Emory and q6-7 house call at VA but no C/L call, 3rd year = 2x4 days night float teaching, 4th year = 2x4 days night float teaching, 4 million people in urban/suburban sprawl, 1 bedrooms $800-1200 in most areas, definitely a lot of traffic but less than LA (residents said most lengthy commute might be around 25 min if live nearby)
6. Benefits: 15 days vacation + 5 days professional leave, moonlighting, free parking at all three sites
7. Program strengths: many electives, flexible medicine months, diverse training sites, psychodynamics, research strengths in mood/trauma/stress/addiction
8. Potential weaknesses: difficult 2nd year, heavy traffic/accessible public transport, poor outcome and schizophrenia research
 
Emory
Wow, that was a great review of Emory. Thought I'd paste mine in underneath to keep everything consolidated. Not as concise or as detailed as the on above, but hopefully it can help.

1. Interview accommodations/food
Supplied list of discounted hotels ranging from $99-$159. Try to reserve early, as the ones on campus go fast. There was a resident dinner the night before, which was well attended.

2. Interview day -- (e.g. schedule, interview types, unusual questions/experiences...etc. )
Fairly standard format; opening remarks by PD followed by four to five 45 minute interviews, one of which is with a resident, another of which is the PD. Interview morning was followed by tour and lunch at Grady, where we met some of the happy residents rotating there. Pretty good lunch. Then we took a tour of Atlanta. Its pretty clear that they're trying to make the city a draw for the program. Wrapped up with a nice talk from the new Chair, a tour of one of their research cores and a brief chat with one of the chief residents.

3. Program overview
Time is generally split between Grady and Emory, with a smattering of VA and other sites. The program really takes pride in the clinical exposure that Grady provides. From what they said, the hospital basically services all of Atlanta's under- and uninsured. They have 34 beds there, with some nice looking renovations on the way.

You get what sounds like most of your personality disorders, didactics and psychotherapy training on the Emory campus. Psychiatry has the Tufts House, which acts as the administrative hub and offices for the residents. Residents get a two-patient load for psychotherapy starting PGY-2. There are also electives available starting second year.

4. Faculty
Everyone was friendly and fairly approachable. There's a new Chair from UCLA who wants research to become a big part of the curriculum, so that even if you are going into private practice, you have a solid basic science background to draw from. They admitted that the faculty had been fairly independent and withdrawn from the program in the period before the current Chair, but now there is an effort to centralize everyone.

5. Location, lifestyle, etc.
Atlanta is pretty much middle of the road in all regards. Not that big, but not that small, not the cheapest but also not the most expensive. You can probably find whatever activities interest you, but you'll have to search them out. There's decent restaurants, fresh markets, attractions, etc. As long as you stay within city limits, traffic and commuting isn't supposed to be too bad (you get to know the back roads well). And the airport is the hub for a couple of international airlines, so travel is pretty easy.

6. Benefits Pretty standard, I think its all on the website.

7. Program strengths

  • Research- Emory is definitely trying to make a name for itself in the basic and translational research front. They've recruited some big names from Duke and Yale. Some examples they gave us include Dr. Ressler (one of two psychiatrist who has a Howard Hughs grant), Dr. Mayberg (one of the top researchers in deep brain stimulation) and Dr. Rothbaum (VR therapy for trauma victims).
  • Customizability- The program seems very open to customizing the curriculum based on residents' interests. This includes new electives (international elective to Liberia, toxicology elective at Grady) and research (one resident had already co-written a chapter and given 10 poster presentations by PGY-2). I don't think they're just handing out these opportunities, but if you're motivated, you have a TON of resources at your disposal (a huge clinical setting, proximity to the CDC, 18 different research sites, Carter Center for international work etc.)
  • Fellowships- They have all of the ACGME accredited fellowships, plus community psychiatry. There's also a psychoanalytic institute available for training.
  • The campus- Absolutely beautiful med school and undergraduate campus, with opportunities to teach in small groups and clinical rotations. Honestly, I was so jealous of the students there.

8. Potential weaknesses

Not many. There was no dedicated Child Adolescent Psych unit at Grady; it sounded like most of your exposure was from consulting the psych ER, but you might be able to figure out an elective if that interests you. There's a new chair and PD, but I might even consider that a plus, since they seem pretty open to new ideas and feedback.
 
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Interview accommodations/food
The hospital has a long list of local hotels that provide a discount. No resident dinner the night before. Muffins, lunch and coffee break provided during the day.

Interview day

Day started at 8:30 with a tour of the inpatient wards. Interviews throughout the day, 2 with faculty at the main Hopkins hospital, one with the residency director, one with the department chair, one with the education director at Bayview (where the intern year is) and 5 with residents including the chief resident. Interviews were on the whole very laid back and conversational. Lunch was a bagged lunch during the noon conference (topic depends on the day you are interviewing). Coffee with the residents in the afternoon. Day was done around 5:00.

Program overview
Clinical Sites: Bayview Medical Center,
Henry Phipps Psychiatric Service of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Outpatient clinics

PGY1: 6 mo medicine, 2 mo neurology, 4 mo inpatient psych, 6 weeks neurology inpatient, 1 mo outpatient, 1 month vacation

Call: Inpatient psych: seven weekday calls per 28 days covering the inpatient unit, and inpatient consultations for other specialties (no emergency room call); all weekends off
Medicine Wards: every fourth night • CCU: every fourth night (four week rotation) • MICU: every third night (two week rotation)
No call during Neurology rotations

PGY2: Inpatient psych

Call:
approximately every 13th night (covering the inpatient services and consultations)

PGY3: Outpatient Department (FAMILY AND COUPLES THERAPY, AFFECTIVE DISORDERS, ANXIETY, SCHIZOPHRENIA, SEXUAL BEHAVIORS CONSULTATION UNIT, HIV PSYCHIATRY/MOORE, FORENSIC PSYCHIATRY PROGRAM), the Consultation-Liaison service and the Psychiatry Emergency Service
Call: one 12 hour shift in the JHH ER every five to six weeks

PGY4: 4 months outpatient (INTENSIVE OUTPATIENT PROGRAM, HUNTINGTON’S CLINIC, NEUROPSYCHIATRY AND GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY CLINIC),2 months child/adolescent, 6 electives
Research Electives: Brain Stimulation, Childhood Anxiety, Mood Disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Pediatrics and Psychiatry, Schizophrenia, Somatic Conditions
Call: one 12 hour shift in the JHH ER every five to six weeks

Faculty
Hopkins keeps their own. All the faculty, if they are clinically trained, are required to spend at least one month per year on the inpatient wards. The residents all said that the relationship with the faculty was very collegial, and they felt very supported. They all mentioned that they had a good level of supervision vs autonomy, with the faculty being readily available for assistance, but also allowing them to develop their own style.



Location, lifestyle, etc
.
Baltimore, MD – Not as scary as what is portrayed on “The Wire.” Residents tend to live in a couple of areas depending on their preferences of nightlife vs family life. All said they felt very safe on t he campus, and safe in Baltimore in general (excepting certain known areas). Very big arts scene with lots of visual and performance arts to be enjoyed. Close to D.C. and Philly and New York.

Benefits

Salary:
45,973/48,186/50,204/52,412
Maryland License fees and renewals are paid for by the department
Vacations: PGY1- two 2 week vacations (one per semester); PGY II, III, IV years - four 1 week vacations
Benefits include health insurance, disability insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, uniforms, retirement fund contributions, and meals on call.
Parking is subsidized, at about $50 per month.
Most lunches are provided through the noon conferences and seminars.
Residents have their own lounge separate from the GME lounge.

Program strengths
Hopkins Psychiatry is rated #1 by US News and World Report for 2011

Very strong clinical training
Very high patient volumes with their specialty wards and clinics
Strong research support, but no research requirements
Fellowship placement is fantastic
Job placement is very impressive

Potential weaknesses

No moonlighting (it isn’t allowed by the department and the residents said that they didn’t see where they would have time)
Intern year is very medicine based with 4 ward months and 6 weeks of ICU time, which is not for everyone

Fellowships

Child and adolescent
Geriatric
Neuropsychiatry
Neuroimaging
Affective disorders
Substance abuse
Public/community
 
Just a few little minor updates to CanHasNaps' (awesome name and avatar, btw) review. Our website is not as updated as is ideal (working on it), so I think some of the info there is a little dated, too.

We make a little more money than that. 1st year salary is like 48k, 2nd year 49k, 3rd year 50k, etc. Each salary level goes up a little big each year as well. You can check out this site for details --

http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/education/schools/school-of-medicine/gme-cme/gme/programs/employent-terms.cfm

Also, our call schedule is a little different (better!) now. Here's a basic breakdown.

1st year on inpatient psych -- short call (5 pm to 8 pm) usually twice weekly. Sunday 12 hour call (8am to 8 pm) every other week. On weeks where you do the Sunday call, you only do one short call. No overnights, Fridays or Saturdays.

2nd year -- 6 to 7 weeks night float which is 5 12 hour shifts 8 pm to 8 am Sunday through Thursday. Weekends off.

Rest of 2nd year -- call approximately every other weekend, which is either a 24 hour Saturday, a "sandwich" overnight Friday plus 12 hour Sunday shift, or just an overnight Friday or 12 hour Sunday shift. After the first month on inpatient psych, 1st years generally cover all the Sundays, so other than July and October, 2nd year calls are generally either Friday or Saturday night. Also, we usually do one weekday short call maybe every 2 to 3 weeks. We have a detailed call points program that attempts to balance out holidays, sandwiches, Fridays and Saturdays between residents.

3rd year -- one overnight call every 3 months or so.

4th year -- no call except for backup

3rd and 4th years cover backup and jeopardy (which comes after backup) divided up throughout the year. Right now, backup and jeopardy are rarely utilized.
 
YALE
1. interview accomodations/food:
no accom provided. food was amazing dinner and amazing lunch - both at nice restaurants with residents. light breakfast in the morning (coffee, pastries, fruit).
2. interview day: 7-:45 until 3:30 stay later if interest in child, 4 45 min interviews, tour of community and yale facilities (including call rooms with flat screen tvs and large showers), PD emphasized that they will not be contacting applicants after interviews because they think the pressure that puts on interviewees is unethical
3. program overview: very large amount of electives (dbt, sexuality, correctional, holistic, witness statements, etc), all available fellowships, intern year: 6med(one of 2 hospitals)/2 neuro, always #1 or #2 in both NIMH and VA research funding, really unique didactics that seem very well-structured and interesting, funded time in 2nd year to start research/projects, 20% protected third year time for research/electives, 4th year entirely elective, neuroscience research training program, well-respected department (2nd largest in university), resident and partner/spouse can audit any class at university tuition free, humanities in medicine and bioethics programs, teach brain and mind and social perspectives, really focus on developing leaders in psychiatry, discussed that every year they rank 1-2 IMGs in their top 12 because they value global perspective, global health electives, resident groups like global mental health and history/philosophy of psychiatry
4. faculty: PD seems amazing/intellegent/warm/thoughtful, chair is an amazing researcher also very approachable that works well with PD, three assistant PDs that all help residents develop individualized learning plans, responsive to residents
5. location, lifestyle: 1st year is 1 short call/week with 2 weekend shifts (8-5) per month with attending and upper resident, 2nd year is q10 overnight, 3rd year is 30 12-hour ER shifts during the year, no call 4th year, New Haven is small so all sites are easily accessible, don’t necessarily need car, commuter rail to NYC, some residents buy houses
6. benefits: flexible 4 weeks vacation, high pay
7. strengths: program adapted to ACGME requirements by making intern shifts available as moonlighting opportunities for upper residents, well-funded research in everything, good pay to cost of living ratio, individualized learning, biopsychosocialcultural considerations, very flexible
8. weaknesses: no night float if that is preferred, some people don’t like New Haven, some might want less than 6 month on medicine
 
Just a few little minor updates to CanHasNaps' (awesome name and avatar, btw) review. Our website is not as updated as is ideal (working on it), so I think some of the info there is a little dated, too.

We make a little more money than that. 1st year salary is like 48k, 2nd year 49k, 3rd year 50k, etc. Each salary level goes up a little big each year as well. You can check out this site for details --

http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/education/schools/school-of-medicine/gme-cme/gme/programs/employent-terms.cfm

Also, our call schedule is a little different (better!) now. Here's a basic breakdown.

1st year on inpatient psych -- short call (5 pm to 8 pm) usually twice weekly. Sunday 12 hour call (8am to 8 pm) every other week. On weeks where you do the Sunday call, you only do one short call. No overnights, Fridays or Saturdays.

2nd year -- 6 to 7 weeks night float which is 5 12 hour shifts 8 pm to 8 am Sunday through Thursday. Weekends off.

Rest of 2nd year -- call approximately every other weekend, which is either a 24 hour Saturday, a "sandwich" overnight Friday plus 12 hour Sunday shift, or just an overnight Friday or 12 hour Sunday shift. After the first month on inpatient psych, 1st years generally cover all the Sundays, so other than July and October, 2nd year calls are generally either Friday or Saturday night. Also, we usually do one weekday short call maybe every 2 to 3 weeks. We have a detailed call points program that attempts to balance out holidays, sandwiches, Fridays and Saturdays between residents.

3rd year -- one overnight call every 3 months or so.

4th year -- no call except for backup

3rd and 4th years cover backup and jeopardy (which comes after backup) divided up throughout the year. Right now, backup and jeopardy are rarely utilized.

Thanks for the update! I was trying to go from memory plus the website (which clearly was not 100% accurate).

Regardless, it was an awesome interview day and a very impressive program.
 
MOUNT SINAI
1. interview accomodations/food:
no accom, wine and amazing appetizers at residents house
2. interview day: typical interviews (maybe 3-4? ½ hour interviews, i forget), food follows you throughout the day
3. program overview: lots of electives (e.g. community, disaster, eating d/o, harm reduction, visiting doctors), intern year: 2med/1med elective/1 med ER/2 neuro, 1st year forensics rotation, residents with varied interests though not necessarily doing big ticket stuff, association with NY analytic, ethics conferences, C/L in PGY4 required but 8 months elective, psychodynamic with some CBT (seem to be other opportunities like group etc too), weak in social psychiatry, global health track (rotations in liberia, belize, st. vincents), only med school and science grad programs so no access to undergrad or other ongiongs, on upper east side with residents excited about having ritzy 5th ave offices though claim to see underserved too, Bronx VA is other site with shuttle, emphasize supervision, 80% of residents in their own therapy, mini analysis fellowships, didactics described as “okay,” diverse 1st year rotations, continue to have didactics when off service, 60-70% of residents go on to fellowships and ½ stay at sinai, have “psych buddy” when on medicine rotation so seem to be sub-I, can substitute peds for medicine
4. faculty: PD from columbia characterized as “politically savy but caring” and that he knows/has trained everyone so allows for residents to do things that aren’t necessarily formally offered by MSSM, Assistant PD is the younger complement to PD, nice chair, lots of hospital oversight is made up of psychiatrists
5. location, lifestyle: call(i think? forget how frequent weekend call is, but overall seems least of manhattan programs): 1: 3 short + 1wknd/mo; 2: 2wk NF then vacation and weekend call; 3: 1wk NF and weekend call; 4: none, guaranteed nice housing about 1200studio-1800 for 1BR,
6. benefits: guaranteed housing
7. strengths: manhattan if like it, electives/flexible (including medicine), less intense than other manhattan programs
8. weaknesses: though other people (above) may think it is now “established” i think there is still this “up and coming” element where everyone talks about your ability to start something even though it might not necessarily already be at the program, upper east side location/ excitement and clientele, weak public/social
 
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