Hey all. I used this website a ton last year when I was applying so I figured I'd contribute a review of the department I ended up at, which is *the* Mayo. Some of these details I actually didn't know before I got here, so I hope this is helpful.
General:
-3 Year program w/ Departmental Status
-Started in 1999/2000 so about 13 years old
-I would classify us as a "University" type program, though I suppose we are technically a community program.
-Class size 8/yr. About half from the midwest. Mostly married.
Facilities:
-Emergency department is in St. Mary's Hospital, which is the original hospital that was founded by the Mayo brothers in the early 1900s. They will soon be changing the name.
-St. Marys hospital has 1265 beds currently, and like most hospitals, it is forever expanding. Rochester has a total of about 2000 beds and 200 ICU beds (the most ICU beds in the country). Read->We do not have trouble admitting patients.
-They are renovating and expanding the emergency department itself. We are going from 33,000 square feet to 55k. There will be 74 rooms . The entire department will be brand spankin new. The entire project will be complete in early 2015- Our facilities are okay now, they are definitely spacious enough. This is one of the only places Ive been with no hallways beds. I think it is because we are able to turnover so fast b/c our number of beds is humongous and mayo is a very efficient place
-See over 80 K patients a year.
-We use PICIS EMR in the department. The hospital uses another system which is linked into PICIS. Nothing is paper anymore. Most of the patients seem to be clinic patients for their primary care, so most of your patients will have medical records already in our EMR (which is heaven).
Shifts:
-All three years shifts are 8 hours + 1 hour to wrap things up. Most people leave around that 1 hour mark, making it a total of 9 hours from door to door.
-About 20-23 shifts a month, w/ 20% peds shifts integrated, and about 2 overnight shifts a month. A few 6 hour back-up shifts to cover people who need to call out.
-We do one month of all night shifts (why the rest of the year we have so few). During this month we work 5 days a week. I only interviewed at one other program like this, which was Christiana. In my opinion, this is a *huge* perk.
-Shifts are done in different sections which currently include Critical (includes the trauma bay), west and east, and peds. In most sections you have your own little pod that your are in charge of flow for. We almost exclusively staff with faculty, except occasionally we will staff with the senior residents if we are in Critical. There are usually about 2 residents for every faculty member.
Trauma:
-4 trauma bays. Level 1 trauma center for peds and adult. Huge catchment area .
-EM runs the traumas on even days, surgery on odd.
-EM always does the trauma airway.
-EM does procedures alternating with surgery.
-Tons of blunt trauma. Not much penetrating. About 4000 or so activations of level 1 and 2 a year.
Curriculum:
-PGY1- 2 weeks of orientation mid June, 5 months EM regular, 1 month Em nights, SICU, MICU, Anesthesia/Psych, EMS/US, OB/GYN, Ortho
-PGY2- 5 months EM, 1 month EM nights, SICU senior, Hand surgery, PICU, Research, Elective, ICU elective
-PGY3- 8 months EM, 1 month EM nights, US, Selective, Elective
-4 hours conference 1x week + 4 hours simulation 1x month
-Levitan airway course every july
-Central line simulation/certification through mayo at the sim center
-Other labs including pig labs etc
Ancillary staff:
-Fantastic. We have a team for everything. In house pharmacy, in house PT, in house social workers. Nurses are wonderful.
Faculty:
-Young, from all over the place, so far really fun and great to work with.
-Administration is super nice, as youll find out if you interview with us.
Patients:
-Not very racially diverse. Tend to be white or Somali. They come from *all* over though. You will have patients who have driven 10 hours to see y*ou* in the emergency department for a second opinion.
-Pts tend to have good primary care here but you will see some really complex/weird problems.
Perks:
-51k ish /yr salary which is amazing for the cost of living here. You can live walking distance from the hospital in a great place for <1300/month.
-AMAZING healthcare benefits. I pay next to nothing and the clinic gave me 2000/yr in HSA benefits. This is something I had no idea was true.
-Ipads-we got minis! Super cute.
-Batphones-you wont need to hunt down a secretary for everything-though we use those too.
Potential downsides:
-This place is not county. If you want knife and gun-go elsewhere. This place will not throw you to the wolves. You will practice it on a mannequin or a cadaver likely before you do it in real life. Mayo has resources and prioritizes patient safety and satisfaction-sometimes that will mean not having as much autonomy as you might have at a county program. For example everyone needs to be certified by mayo to do central lines before you can do one on an actual patient.
-You will be able to consult every kind of specialist known to man. You will be able to make outpatient dermatology appointments for patients. You will practice a type of medicine that probably does not exist almost anywhere else. The upside of this is that you will have an opportunity to ask questions of every kind of expert there is. Downside is you could rely on this and not learn to be as self reliant as possible.
-Rochester is not the place to be if you want a crazy night life, culture, or fine dining.This doesnt really bother me b/c Im a couch potato. Id be happy with a movie theater, a mall, and a nice place to run(which btw Rochester has a lot of really nice trails if you are into biking or running). However, upside is that theres no traffic and you can literally circumnavigate the city in about 10-15 mins from one end to the other. Minneapolis is about 1.5 hours away.
Overall, I love it here so far. I would be happy to answer any questions anybody has. I think there are tons of great choices out there and this is such a cool specialty you cant really go wrong. Come and check us out though. Mayo will even pay for your hotel!!!