Baylor Residency Reviews

Pure Anergy said:

1. There are two elective months and two research months (one 3rd year and one 4th year) which are designed to have you start a project and complete it during your PGY-3&4 years.

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Can anyone comment on whether or not Baylor is a three or four year program? Based on the SAEM's website and Baylor's brochure on its website it's only three years but this post mentions four...?

It is 3 years, they explained why they decided on 3 instead of 4 during the interview. Good Luck.

stiffany said:

Can anyone comment on whether or not Baylor is a three or four year program? Based on the SAEM's website and Baylor's brochure on its website it's only three years but this post mentions four...?

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Previous years' ROL threads were a great help to me when I decided where to interview, so here's my part this year.

My list would also be much different were it not for 1) a spouse in the picture and 2) my interest in international EM, so take it with a grain of salt and to echo SuziQ, feel free to PM me with questions regarding any of the programs I interviewed at. Honestly, I'd be thrilled to land anywhere on my list.

1. Vandy Pros: INCREDIBLE faculty, residents, unparalleled teaching, the PD and chair are a dynamic duo that are very involved in resident education. Busy, busy university ED where you see ALL the trauma in a large catchment area, plus all the weird tertiary stuff, and your bread and butter. Great international opportunities with the Guyana residency, New Zealand, ect. Off service rotations are great, peds shifts are mixed into your regular ED months, residents are happy, 10 hr shifts with 1 hr built-in overlap, COL is incredibly low, Nashville has a great live music scene. Cons: Less diversity (in both staff and patient population), you're in a smaller southern city (+/-). Caveat: I rotated here, so I'm bias in that I'd already spent a month getting to know and love the people. But honestly, couldn't find a better program on the interview trail.

2. Brown Pros: this was the program that snuck up on me. I even considered canceling the interview. Like Vandy, a university program with a large single hospital program with a huge catchment area, very busy ED. Happy residents, warm faculty, great peds experience, strong support for international work and opportunities (currently setting up a training program in Nicaragua), 9 hrs shifts all 4 years, Providence has surprisingly low COL for the northeast and is a great little town with amazing food and recreational opportunities. Cons: It's in Rhode Island, 4 yrs > 3yrs.

3. New Mexico Pros: another single-hospital system with a huge catchment area (which I like for the reasons above), incredibly nice PD, down to earth faculty, happy happy residents, strong commitment to underserved care with a large indigent community, great international/wilderness opportunities, one of the best programs for critical care exposure, great reputation, large Spanish-speaking population, only 4 months of call all 3 yrs of residency, 9 hr shifts with 1 hr built-in overlap, you have skiing and hiking less than an hour away. Cons: the city's economy somewhat depressed, less job opportunities for spouse (this program would be my #1 or #2 if not for this), less ethnically diverse.

4. Highland Pros: well-respected program, hard-core county training, in a beautiful part of the country. Great service commitment, residents are happy, strong pedi exposure at CHO, tox at SFGH, 8 hr shifts. Cons: the faculty are quirky (+/-) and somewhat inbred, very weird interviews, draw your own labs as PGY1, ED itself felt a little small, not a Level 1, the cafeteria food (yes, that's picky).

5. OHSU Pros: old, well-respected program with happy residents in a beautiful part of the country, diverse hospital exposure (university, VA, community), faculty very supportive of residents, 1:1 with attending as PGY2.10 hr shifts PGY1, 8 hr shifts PGY 2-3. Cons: low-volume primary ED, only 1 mo elective time, have to drive a lot.

6. Stanford Pros: Dynamic faculty, content residents, 3 hospital system with exposure to university (Stanford), community (Kaiser) and county (Valley), an AMAZING amount of resources for anything you could possibly be interested in, great fellowships, great international and wilderness opportunities, beautiful part of the country to live,time for research/scholarly project built into rotation schedule. Cons: COL (highest of anywhere I interviewed-this was huge for me), low-volume at primary ED (Stanford) which is where you spend 1/3-1/2 of your time, intern year spent with a lot of off-service rotations (including medicine and surgery wards and NICU time), 12 hr shifts, "country club" feel (the catered lunch comes to mind).

7. Carolinas Pros: incredible community program with great training, I loved the PD and faculty I met, residents are very tight and social, 1 hr conferences daily instead of a 5 hr block, single-hospital system, great U/S experience, starting an international fellowship, great COL. Cons: I thought Vandy was a better fit for me when it comes to Southern programs, their int'l focus is in Tanzania (my interest is Latin America), medicine and peds wards months, Charlotte, a very "proud" program.

8. USC Pros: Incredible faculty and residents who obviously enjoy working at LAC, probably the most amazing county training out there (certainly busiest ED in the country). Great diversity in both staff and patients, huge volume ED that probably sees some of the craziest trauma and pathology, residents run their own "pods" and jail ED, commitment to indigent care, in SoCal. Cons: 12 hr shifts all 4 years, maybe a little too autonomous for my taste, can only do international rotations on your vacation time, LA is not my favorite city.

9. BWH Pros: amazing resources for international EM, great U/S program, friendly, well-connected faculty, great opportunities for research and an interesting mix of pathology, shifts are a mix of 8,9, and 12 hrs. Cons: residents were the geekiest bunch of the trail (but seemed very happy!), greater focus on research, Mass Gen's ED felt very cramped, COL in Boston, 4>3 yrs.

10. Emory Pros: great service commitment, huge county program that is also academic, diverse residents and patients, busy ED. Cons: the number of patients I saw in hallway beds!, not as much international support, very county feeling, strange interview.

11. Harbor UCLA Pros: amazing country program in LA, great training, well-respected, good autonomy. Cons: not much international support, LA.

12. Baylor Pros: amazing county hospital with incredible pathology and young, enthusiastic faculty. Shifts 8's on weekdays, 12's on weekends. Cons: too new of a residency program.

13. Duke Pros: Dynamic PD, good mix of faculty, happy residents, time for scholarly track, COL. Cons: not very diverse, Durham, still young residency program, hard PGY1 year with lots of off service rotations, not as many intl opportunities.

ROL
The city for each program played a big role in my list.
1. Baylor: Pros: I liked Houston a lot and grew up in and still have most of my family in the SW. I liked the residents. Faculty seemed cool and are from all over. I think I would like to end up in the SW when I'm done with residency. Ben Taub was nicer than I was expecting and the Texas Medical Center was impressive, some Peds EM at Texas Children's Hospital. 6 months of ICU. I'd get to work on my Spanish. Free lunch everyday while working in the ED. 8's during the week and 12's on weekends to allow for a weekend off a month while in the ED. (I've forgotten how many shifts- 20-22ish?)
Cons: Newer Program (In its first year). Houston Traffic. Moonlight starting 3rd year. Residents Pay for parking.
2.Univ. of TN- Chattanooga: Pros: I rotated here and like the faculty and the residents. No floor months (Peds or IM). About 5 ICU months. Nice hospital, Nice ED. Free food + parking. Newer program (in it's 3rd year) but has a lot of support from the college of Medicine and Hospital- the Dean of the College of Med is an EP and the president elect of ACEP. Good "outdoor activities." Variety of good food- I've was pleasantly surprised. I'd be very happy to end up here, and thought about putting them number 1 but chose Houston over Chatt. 17 12's as an R1, 17 10's as R2, and 16 10's as an R3 (or something close to that).
Cons: Not a big city, although Nashville and Atlanta are close by (not a plus for me). Not a great place to fly out of- most flights take you to Nashville or Atl first. No family nearby.
3. JPS: Pros: Some of the faculty seemed pretty cool. Fort Worth seemed ok from what I saw during my 1 day visit. I like most of the curriculum- about 6 months of ICU. 1 mo of Cardiology is a plus in my book. Nice ED. Free food + parking. Good benefits package. Dallas nearby. This program could have gone lower on my list, but I like the city more than the ones below, and although the idea of being at a brand new program is a little scary it didn't scare me off. Also, it could be cool to be the senior-most resident in the ED on day 1 and not have 2 classes above to compete with for procedures and cool cases.
Cons: Brand New Program. Hard to get a feel for things because no residents to talk with. PD not at interview day. 2 months of Medicine. No Peds EM integrated into Adult EM months (this was the issue that most worried me, but the Assoc. PD said that they will see what the residents think and are working on some of the hospitals nearby but have nothing solid as of the time I interviewed. They do however, have 3 months of Peds EM- 1mo as an R2 and 2mo's as an R3 at Children's Hosp. of Dallas. Nothing R1 year).
4. Kansas City (KUMC): Pros: Nice people, Nice ED
Cons: 1 mo of Medicine + 1 mo of Peds, Newer program ( in 1st year), I think KC may be a bit colder or more snowy than what I'm looking for
5. Arkansas: Pros: Established program. Nice people. Newly built ED that was pretty nice. I believe an EM resident is involved in/runs all of the Traumas. A lot of moonlighting opportunities.
Cons: Little Rock. Residents give a lot of the lectures. 1 mo of Medicine at the VA (I think they may consider changing this?) 1 Month of Peds Flight experience (I think this is a combined EMS/Flight experience. You can opt out of the helicopter rides and do an additional month of PICU instead, but most people don't). All 12's (R1- 18, R2-17, R3- 16)
6. Christus Spohn: Pros: The beach. Good weather year round. Family is the only other program, so when you are off service you are working w/attendings. EM handles the all of the traumas (no surgery residents). No call, except for one service.. PICU, I think. Everything else is shift work. When on Trauma, it's 12 hr shifts. Moonlighting opportunites. 9 hr ED shifts (20/19/18 for R1/2/3). Weekly quizzes to go with reading (+/-) Free food + gated parking. Optional flight experience. 1 mo of Cardiology.
Cons: Older EDs. Level Two Trauma center (although they say they see plenty, plus no surgery residents to compete with). 1 mo of Neurology (they say it's beneficial, bc you're often consulting Neuro, good experience, etc.) 1 mo of Medicine
7. Emory: Pros: I rotated here for a month. I loved Emory (EUH, Emory Hospital- Midtown, etc) but wasn't a fan of Grady. Lots of sick pt.s at all of the EDs. At Grady, at the beginning/end of each shift the teams sort-of mini round on all of the pts. , it's brief (about 10 min max) and usually an attending, resident, and med student will share something cool that they saw or learned. Now have EMR. Some cool residents. The SICU month is supposed to put hair on your chest. During intern year (it may be during the first month in the ED) you get a month to cherry-pick procedures and can take some from the upper levels so that you get more comfortable and more experienced during that month. A lot of the faculty were very nice and the residents seem to like each other. I believe Emory gets the most NIH research money for EM. 8hr shifts during week, 12's on weekend to allow for 1 weekend off a month while in ED. Around 22 shifts a month(?).
Cons: Grady just wasn't really my style. Very crowded. Lots of pts on stretchers in the hallway, my 3rd year wheeled a pt to CT and then I took him to X-ray. A lot of the rooms don't have functioning ophthalmoscopes or otoscopes. Some of the labs didn't get drawn on a few pts. Very large class size (19, likely going up to 20). 1 mo of Medicine. ATL traffic. I'm also not a big fan of ATL and I think that colored my experience as well. I think it is a good program. Most of my mentors in EM went to Emory and they are awesome, that's one of the reasons why I wanted to check it out. I think when you come through the program you'll be very well prepared. 75% of the program is at Grady, 25% at Emory. Because of this and since I didn't like the city either, It had to be a lower ranking for me. I agree that Grady really is a place you should rotate at if you very interested in going there for residency. You'll find out if you like it or not during that month and they take heavily from those who have rotated (in one class, I think 18 of the 19 did a rotation there).
8. St. Louis (SLU): Pros: 1 mo of Tox + 1 mo of Burn Unit. St. Louis can be a violent city (trauma).
Cons: St. Louis can be a violent city. Small ED with lower pt census (I believe around 35K/yr). Interview day was a bit disorganized. Newer program (in it's 2nd year) 1 mo of Peds, IM, and Neuro. A couple of awkward interviews, although PD seemed cool. I also missed the pre-interview dinner and didn't get to meet some of the residents.
9. MS: Pros: A lot of moonlighting opportunities. Since it's a 4 yr program, they have room for all of the things that other programs pick only a few of (Cardio, Radiology, EKG, Tox, Ultrasound, Peds Sedation, TeleMedicine). Most of the resident were pretty cool.
Cons: 4 years is about 1 year too long for me. Jackson. 1 mo IM. 1st year is very off-service heavy, only 3 mos of EM (2 adult + 1 Peds).

This review is by a user who interviewed at Baylor and wishes to remain anonymous

Hospitals:
• Ben Taub General hospital (County, >100K) – main one for ED and offservice training
• Texas Children’s Hospital (Private, but sees lots of medicaid/uninsured too) –for peds ED and PICU months
• VA –CCU month only
• Possibly partnering with a community hospital in the future for 3rd yr rotation?

Resident Life:
-Vacay: 3 weeks all 3 years, plus 1 week for educational conferences.
-Hours: On ED, 8 hr shifts M-F, 12 hr shifts weekends, holidays, conference times. 12 hr shifts at TCH. Work 22-25 shifts a month (average 50-60 hrs/wk).
-Culture: Residents are happy, love their patients at Ben Taub (African American & Hispanic population; generally nice, grateful patients), and most seem excited to be in on starting a new program. Great teaching right now with no upper level residents, 1:1 resident faculty interaction so all procedures are the PGY1s, can cherry pick the most interesting cases. Lots of autonomy, Baylor has a “see one, do one, teach one” philisophy. Still experiencing some pushback from anesthesia, surgery as this is the first year of the program. Trauma hasn’t been worked out completely with surgery since ED residents are still interns, the PD imagines that they will run traumas on an every-other day system once their resident class moves up.
-Living: COL in Houston is very low, can live within 5 min of the hospital in a nice neighborhood on a resident's salary or even buy a home further out.

Clinical Curriculum:
-3 year program. Good critical care exposure (6 months total). Medicine wards month PGY1. 2 SICU/Trauma months (one intern, one 2nd year). EMS rotation 2nd year, with possible flight-time. Peds experience is unparalleled at Texas Children's. Good flexibility in terms of developing personal interests in EM with 2 elective months + 2 months research built in. The PD is fellowship-trained in international EM and is supportive of international opportunities during residency. They have two U/S fellowship trained faculty members, both young and approachable (Stan Wu, Jen Carnell). Strong off-service rotations, although still fighting the battle to not feel like the "red headed stepchild" on some services.

Didactics:
-Average 5 hrs didactics/week with Thursday AM conferences, Wed grand rounds. Didactics themed by system each month, 18 mo total so theoretically cycle twice by the time done with residency. Not necessarily protected time when on off-service rotations. Also have journal club at faculty member’s house once a month, discuss one article. No M&M or trauma conferences. One sim session/mo.

Research/Fellowships:
-Starting Administrative, Ultrasound, EMS fellowships this coming year. Probably will be another couple of years before they can get international fellowship off the ground. Fellows work part-time in ED as assistant faculty.

Faculty:
-Extremely supportive. Drs. Pillow, Hoxhaj and Kapur are a huge plus for the program. Bringing in a lot of new, young faculty who are very excited about starting a new program and committed to teaching. Diverse faculty training from all over the country, there is no “Baylor way” yet.

Overall:
Exciting new program in a busy country hospital with diverse patients & faculty. Still working out the kinks in one regard, but on the other hand there will be lots of opportunities for the incoming classes. I have no doubt this will be a kick-a** program in 5 years.

I used past posts about people's thought on the programs on their rank order list to help formulate my own preferences in the programs I interviewed at so I thought I would pass my thoughts along about the programs on my ROL, now that all interviews are said and done. Be forewarned: I'm not very picky about where I do my training, so I ended up making a lot of decisions based on gut feeling and eccentric preferences.

1. JPS, Ft Worth: Really clicked with the faculty and residents. Hospital and program is very well funded and the EM program has a lot of pull and respect within the hospital. Really like the city for its size, low cost of living, and reasonable traffic volume. Almost all the training (except three months) is at their hospital.
2. Christiana, Delaware: Very well respected program that's been around a long time. I did a rotation there and its clear that many of their residents are very strong. Has many of the same qualities I liked about JPS (strong and respected program within the hospital), but I grew up in the area and am hesitant to move back. Has two training sites that are 20 minutes apart.
3. Ohio State, Columbus, OH: Really liked a lot of the residents I met. Had trouble clicking with some of the faculty, but did get to sit in on a small group session with one of their younger faculty members leading who was a phenomenal educator. Columbus seems like an awesome town. Just a little hesitant about the separate training sites.
4. Summa, Akron, OH: The nicest cafeteria I've ever been to. New YMCA connected to the hospital. Maybe that shouldn't have influenced me so much, but it did.
5. York, PA: I was really into the program director's pride in having a strong sense of community in the program. I also thought their simulation and other educational programs sounded really engaging.
6. Baylor, Houston, TX: Assistant residency director (Tyson Pillow) was the most personable, fun, and candid person I met the entire interview trail. Would love to work under him.
7. Jefferson, Philadelphia, PA: Three different training sites, some of which appeared to be long commutes. Really cool neighborhood for the university hospital, but pricey. Awesome airway course included with the education.
8. Little Rock, Arkansas
9. CHRISTUS Spohn, Corpus Christi, TX: Program director seemed a bit awkward and not very personable, but the assistant program director and a lot of the other faculty seemed cool. Didn't really click with any of the residents. Seemed like they have a cool simulation experience.
10. St. John's, Detroit, MI
11. UTSW: Very cool residents. Did get the impression that their training experience was a bit skewed to free labor taking priority over education side of things. Clerkship director was very arrogant. Very insistent on his excellent clinical and educational abilities.
12. Metro/Clevland Clinic: Great reputation, but many of their residents seemed burnt out and dissatisfied. They were also the only place where the residents didn't seem to hold their program director in especially high regard.
13. New York Hospital Queens: The fact that this is one of the most ethnically diverse areas in the US makes me think I'm going to have to use a translator way too much.

Is there a Baylor EM resident available to contact w Qs?

Or...any reviews from interviews this season? Would really appreciate it. Specially opinions on: quality of bedside teaching considering its a BUSY county hospital, quality of residents/strength of program considering its only 4y.o. w lack of alumni placement to go by, how much pull/respect the ED has considering its still under Medicine, and life/COL in Houston.