University of Nevada Residency Reviews

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

I didn't see this program reviewed yet, so here goes!

Residents: 8 per class. The program is in its second year and the current census is 16 residents. From what I hear, the program is approved for 10 per class, and will likely expand in the future. The residents are impressive for a newer program, many of them from top-notch schools. They all seem to get along great, and have bonded well. Many are interested in the outdoors. Decent mix of married and single residents, most live west of the city close to Red-Rock. All seem to be happy with their decision and confident in what they do.

Faculty: The PD, Dr. Epter, is one of the most enthusiastic PD's I have met across the interview trail. He won Educator of the Year award this past year and is intent on making this program reach the top of the list. His dedication to the residents and education was apparent as he stated several times that he wants his residents to compete with the best. He also referred to the residents as his extended family, and the entire program seems to have a "family" type of feel to it. The residents stated that they are able to contact the PD 24/7 as he is there for them at all times. I felt the level of dedication to the program was immense and the PD wants this program to be the best. I think at this rate, this program will quickly become well-known in the following years. The PD's enthusiasm reflects in the faculty. The faculty trained at top institutions including Cook County, UCSD, UPMC, Fresno, Baltimore for example. They are young and willing to teach as much as they can as they remember their resident days.

Ancillary Staff: Excellent according to the residents...no scut! It's like having a county facility with the staff of a community hospital.

Curriculum: PGY 1-3 setup. Most of the rotations are typical of 3 yr. programs and the rotations are in 4 week blocks. Didactics are held every Wed. from 8a-1p. Of note, the residents only work until 7pm on the Tuesday before conference when they are in the ED. This shows the importance the faculty place on didactics and education. My understanding is also that the 2nd year class scored in the top 1/3 of all programs on inservice the past year...remarkable for a new program. Most of the shifts are 12 hours long, with one less shift in the ED each progressive year. There is one month of dedicated Peds. ED the first year, and then in each ED month thereafter the residents do 2-3 peds shifts. The neat thing about the new program is their appears to be flexibility and that the faculty take into consideration what the residents have to say. Per the residents, there have already been major changes to make the program better. This is good because my sense was that many of the well-established programs don't change the way things are done as this has been "tradition." The entire curriculum is as follows:

EM1:
ED (15 Weeks)
Trauma (4)
ICU (4)
CCU (4)
Medicine (4)
OB/GYN (4)
Rads/US (4)
Research (2)
Neurosurg (2)
Hand (2)
Anesthesia (2)
Peds ED (4)
Vac (3)

EM2:
ED (27)
TICU (4)
Trauma (4)
EMS/Research (4)
Elective (4)
Tox (4)
Ortho (2)
ENT/Ophthal (4)
Vac (3)

EM3:
ED (33)
Trauma (4)
PICU (4)
Elective (4)
Admin (2)
Research (2)
U/S (2)
Vac (3)

Facilities: UMC is the state's only level 1 trauma center and the largest referral center in the state. The facilities reminded me of Cook County in that the Peds ED, Adult ED, and Trauma center are all separate. Taken off the website, here is the relevant info:
• Nevada's only Level One Trauma Center
• Nevada's only Burn Care Center
• 105,000 visits/year including 32,000 pediatric visits and 8300 trauma visits annually
• 28% admission rate
• 12% Critical Care admissions
• 512 bed hospital, 56 bed Adult ED, 11 bed Trauma Center, 19 bed Pediatric ED

The Community ED months are done at St. Rose Sienna. This is a level 2 hospital about 20 mins away from UMC and the 2nd/3rd years rotate here. The census is about 45k.

Location: It's Vegas, open 24/7! You can get off a late shift and still find some of the best food around in the country! In fact, many of the residents meet after their late shifts and go out in the town to eat and socialize. There is plenty to offer here as I found out. Many of the residents love the outdoors, and not too far away are some excellent skiing/snowboarding areas. The grand canyon as well as Utah is not far off. There is tons to explore and So. Cal. is a few hours drive away. Vegas is the fastest growing city in the country (despite the economy) and the residents stated they heard figures from 5-7k people moving in every month. The hospital is located approximately 2 miles from the strip and in the center of town. Most of the residents live about 10 miles away in the west by red-rock hills. The Attendings seem to live all over town, with several living in east in Henderson (if you are familiar with the region). Owning a house/condo here is reasonable on a resident's budget, as it is a buyer's market. Overall, I think Vegas has much to offer to everyone because it appeals to everyone.

Negative: Hot Summers!! Name recognition as this is a newer program.

Overall: Very impresed with the program. They seem to have their act together and the docs will be able to handle anything when they are done. This program has a lot of potential to be a top-notch program with a great reputation in a few years. The pathology is amazing and the faculty, especially the PD, is intent to bring this place to the top. The location suits all as Vegas has much to offer in terms of the outdoors and the strip. This program seemed to be a hidden gem.

Website: www.lasvegasemr.com

studentem said:

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

I didn't see this program reviewed yet, so here goes!

Residents: 8 per class. The program is in its second year and the current census is 16 residents. From what I hear, the program is approved for 10 per class, and will likely expand in the future. The residents are impressive for a newer program, many of them from top-notch schools. They all seem to get along great, and have bonded well. Many are interested in the outdoors. Decent mix of married and single residents, most live west of the city close to Red-Rock. All seem to be happy with their decision and confident in what they do.

Faculty: The PD, Dr. Epter, is one of the most enthusiastic PD's I have met across the interview trail. He won Educator of the Year award this past year and is intent on making this program reach the top of the list. His dedication to the residents and education was apparent as he stated several times that he wants his residents to compete with the best. He also referred to the residents as his extended family, and the entire program seems to have a "family" type of feel to it. The residents stated that they are able to contact the PD 24/7 as he is there for them at all times. I felt the level of dedication to the program was immense and the PD wants this program to be the best. I think at this rate, this program will quickly become well-known in the following years. The PD's enthusiasm reflects in the faculty. The faculty trained at top institutions including Cook County, UCSD, UPMC, Fresno, Baltimore for example. They are young and willing to teach as much as they can as they remember their resident days.

Ancillary Staff: Excellent according to the residents...no scut! It's like having a county facility with the staff of a community hospital.

Curriculum: PGY 1-3 setup. Most of the rotations are typical of 3 yr. programs and the rotations are in 4 week blocks. Didactics are held every Wed. from 8a-1p. Of note, the residents only work until 7pm on the Tuesday before conference when they are in the ED. This shows the importance the faculty place on didactics and education. My understanding is also that the 2nd year class scored in the top 1/3 of all programs on inservice the past year...remarkable for a new program. Most of the shifts are 12 hours long, with one less shift in the ED each progressive year. There is one month of dedicated Peds. ED the first year, and then in each ED month thereafter the residents do 2-3 peds shifts. The neat thing about the new program is their appears to be flexibility and that the faculty take into consideration what the residents have to say. Per the residents, there have already been major changes to make the program better. This is good because my sense was that many of the well-established programs don't change the way things are done as this has been "tradition." The entire curriculum is as follows:

EM1:
ED (15 Weeks)
Trauma (4)
ICU (4)
CCU (4)
Medicine (4)
OB/GYN (4)
Rads/US (4)
Research (2)
Neurosurg (2)
Hand (2)
Anesthesia (2)
Peds ED (4)
Vac (3)

EM2:
ED (27)
TICU (4)
Trauma (4)
EMS/Research (4)
Elective (4)
Tox (4)
Ortho (2)
ENT/Ophthal (4)
Vac (3)

EM3:
ED (33)
Trauma (4)
PICU (4)
Elective (4)
Admin (2)
Research (2)
U/S (2)
Vac (3)

Facilities: UMC is the state's only level 1 trauma center and the largest referral center in the state. The facilities reminded me of Cook County in that the Peds ED, Adult ED, and Trauma center are all separate. Taken off the website, here is the relevant info:
• Nevada's only Level One Trauma Center
• Nevada's only Burn Care Center
• 105,000 visits/year including 32,000 pediatric visits and 8300 trauma visits annually
• 28% admission rate
• 12% Critical Care admissions
• 512 bed hospital, 56 bed Adult ED, 11 bed Trauma Center, 19 bed Pediatric ED

The Community ED months are done at St. Rose Sienna. This is a level 2 hospital about 20 mins away from UMC and the 2nd/3rd years rotate here. The census is about 45k.

Location: It's Vegas, open 24/7! You can get off a late shift and still find some of the best food around in the country! In fact, many of the residents meet after their late shifts and go out in the town to eat and socialize. There is plenty to offer here as I found out. Many of the residents love the outdoors, and not too far away are some excellent skiing/snowboarding areas. The grand canyon as well as Utah is not far off. There is tons to explore and So. Cal. is a few hours drive away. Vegas is the fastest growing city in the country (despite the economy) and the residents stated they heard figures from 5-7k people moving in every month. The hospital is located approximately 2 miles from the strip and in the center of town. Most of the residents live about 10 miles away in the west by red-rock hills. The Attendings seem to live all over town, with several living in east in Henderson (if you are familiar with the region). Owning a house/condo here is reasonable on a resident's budget, as it is a buyer's market. Overall, I think Vegas has much to offer to everyone because it appeals to everyone.

Negative: Hot Summers!! Name recognition as this is a newer program.

Overall: Very impresed with the program. They seem to have their act together and the docs will be able to handle anything when they are done. This program has a lot of potential to be a top-notch program with a great reputation in a few years. The pathology is amazing and the faculty, especially the PD, is intent to bring this place to the top. The location suits all as Vegas has much to offer in terms of the outdoors and the strip. This program seemed to be a hidden gem.

Website: www.lasvegasemr.com

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Hi all,

I'm an R-2 at the Vegas program and wanted to clarify the above review. We definitely scored in the top 1/3 of all programs on our inservice exam and our didactics and academics are excellent. Also, our PD is truly amazing and has really transformed this program into quite an amazing one. I can state that I am heading to one of the busiest EDs in the nation next year and feel like I am getting the training I need for that job.

Also, in terms of name recognition for purposes of job acquisition and so forth, the residency's faculty is actually part of EPMG a large EM group with numerous hospital contracts. This allows for access to potential jobs from an insider's position and also allows for learning the business of medicine early and thoroughly. I'm not sure how many other programs' residents know all about the fundamentals of dictations and how that interacts with billing by the end of year 1. During my first year out, I expect to be very efficient at maximizing the credit I get for work done.

EM is a small academic community and all the PDs know each other and the quality of their respective programs, so academic positions should be more than available as grads of our program. One of our residents was recently offered a position at U Pittsburgh's critical care fellowship after graduation.

Any questions please email me using the lasvegasemr.com website. Good Luck everyone!

DM

I interviewed there and walked away with a really good impression. Every time I tinker with my ROL it loiters around the top. The two PD's are young and seem really interested in creating a great program. I was very impressed. There's also an attending, Dr. Slattery, who was great and does a lot of research. The program strikes me as a place with a lot of opportunity with both EMS and research. That's my .02 cents...Anyone else get the same impression? Is there anybody out there?...Nod if you can hear me...

I got a similar feeling in Las Vegas. I think the program has a ton of potential and the 2 PDs are very dedicated to making this program a huge success. There is a ridiculous amount of pathology in Vegas, so I think you will be well trained by the end of residency. They have a solid curriculum and are committed to resident education. Overall I got a great vibe from the program and am putting it at the top of my list.

It seems like the ED physicians run that city. Dr. Carrison is vice cheif of staff of UMC and very well respected throughout the state, the attendings are the medical directors of the big casinos, fire departments, national parks, and NASCAR. The only thing (unfortunately) they aren't involved in is boxing and the UFC.

With regards to a posting on Vegas hours earlier, Vegas does 12 hour shifts in which you get out on time due to sign out.

R-1: 18 shifts per 28 days
R-2: 17
R-3: 16

As a now third year resident I can say that there really shouldn't be a focus on hours. You only get one shot at a residency that flies by and next thing you know you are in a single coverage ED and lives really will depend on your experience and skill. Most EDs don't have 25 in house specialists at night to cover your deficiencies.

I can tell you that if your focus is more along the lines of nailing over 100 rapid sequence intubations over how many shifts you have a month, then you will love this in the trenches, county program!

Please see the website lasvegasemr.com and message me via sdn with any questions regarding our program. I will be happy to relate my experiences here over the last 2 1/2 years.

This level 1 facility serves a huge catchment area and receives all the sick and broken from far and wide. There was no shortage of procedures or critically ill patients to see, even as a med student. Interestingly, this is one of a handful of EDs where trauma is separate from medicine, even having its own building. So when you’re on a trauma shift that’s all you do. Trauma shifts are 12hours long, but the time goes fast. Patients come in and are sorted into the first two trauma beds if it’s a trauma activation, or into the next three beds if lesser injuries are involved. After stabilization they can be sent to the dedicated CT scanner right there in the trauma area, then around to the back to be sewn up and splinted/casted, then admitted or D/C’d. It moves fast and furious. The medical side is divided up into Med-Surg, Ambulatory, and Critical Care areas. Attendings and their assigned residents and students are posted to West or East sides, which is a bit arbitrary and confusing at first. They use an archaic-looking computer system to track patients, and orders are on paper. Residents are a mixed bag, very nice folks with varied backgrounds, and varying ability in the ED. The ancillary staff ranges from outstanding, knowing what you want before you do, to dismal, taking forever, and loosing stuff. Labs and imaging can take forever to come back sometimes. This place has the total “county” feeling to it. A plus or a minus depending on your view.

Attendings range from friendly and laid-back, to indifferent. Some of them seem like they are not really interested in teaching. This might stem from the newness of this program, and from the fact that the ED is run by a large corporate practice that is charged by UNLV with running the ED and now the residency. According to Dr. Epter, the PD, this large corporate, multi-state practice will be a boon when grads are looking for work, because they staff many hospitals in many states. The med student didactics seem well thought out, and you basically work through provided packets and reading. As for the town, Vegas is gaudy and loud, but has something for everyone. Just be prepared to do a lot of driving to get anywhere. Many residents live on the west side of town in Summerlin and drive a half hour to an hour, depending on traffic.

Overall this residency is under-construction, with a motivated PD that has a vision to make this program into one of the best, but with large variations in staff, resident, and attending quality and commitment, he has his work cut out. If you want to be at a program that has a lot of promise but that is still very much a work in progress, then this may be the place for you.

Bump, can anyone offer a more recent review? I think their old PD recently left for Maricopa? What's the sitch on the ground now?

Any more recent reviews? How competitive is it to get into the program?

BabMorgagni said:

Any more recent reviews? How competitive is it to get into the program?

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It's great here, what do you want to know? I'm a current resident and very happy with my choice to come here. Very busy county hospital ED with high volume (130k visits/year) and high acuity. Lots of autonomy, procedures, trauma. It's a county ED so EM residents do a lot of heavy lifting: i.e. do your own reductions and call ortho to arrange for follow-up in their clinic, remove the ocular foreign body and arrange for ophtho follow-up. Strong adult and peds faculty. All the local EMS directors are on faculty and there are great opportunities for event medical staffing (Burning Man, EDC, etc.). Check out our website and blog: http://www.lasvegasemr.com/

I'm not sure there's an objective measurement of competitiveness that would be available to anyone other than the residency selection committee. That said, matching to a residency program is about finding where you fit personally and professionally, not about one person's evaluation of the "competitiveness" of the program.

ORMD said:

It's great here, what do you want to know? I'm a current resident and very happy with my choice to come here. Very busy county hospital ED with high volume (130k visits/year) and high acuity. Lots of autonomy, procedures, trauma. It's a county ED so EM residents do a lot of heavy lifting: i.e. do your own reductions and call ortho to arrange for follow-up in their clinic, remove the ocular foreign body and arrange for ophtho follow-up. Strong adult and peds faculty. All the local EMS directors are on faculty and there are great opportunities for event medical staffing (Burning Man, EDC, etc.). Check out our website and blog: http://www.lasvegasemr.com/

I'm not sure there's an objective measurement of competitiveness that would be available to anyone other than the residency selection committee. That said, matching to a residency program is about finding where you fit personally and professionally, not about one person's evaluation of the "competitiveness" of the program.

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Thank you for taking the time to respond. You're response touched on a lot of what I wanted to know. Is moonlighting allowed during residency?
Thanks again.

^Per Nevada law, you can only moonlight once you are a PGY3.

Can anyone (especially current residents) comment about on-shift education and the quality of didactics? I've read multiple complaints from medical students about attendings not wanting to teach on-shift (including a classmate of mine who rotated at Nevada), and I wondered if it gets better as a resident.

Current resident here - we're aware that this was a perceived issue for med students this year, and are working on addressing it for next year. I am a bit surprised by it and wonder if it comes from having the students present largely to the R3s (insulating them from the attendings a bit), because I'll tell you that from a resident's perspective, I am very happy with the clinical and didactic education here. Personally, I think that our attendings are a huge strength of our program - they are a dedicated and diverse bunch. We are definitely not an inbred program, and our attendings come from a wide variety of residencies and backgrounds and span the spectrum from just out of residency/fellowship to decades in practice, conservative to more liberal medical practice style, etc. I think this very beneficial in residency education and is a huge help in developing your own practice style, especially when it's in the setting of a crazy busy county hospital that sees over 130,000 patients a year. I also think our didactics are great - we have some faculty who are very dedicated to our didactics, and the program is proactive in improving and responding to resident feedback about didactics and conference. It helps that we're a very close-knit and laid back group, which helps to make conference more relaxed and engaging - it's not uncommon for us to have lively discussions between residents and faculty on whatever the topic of the hour is. If there are any other questions, I'll try to answer them.

Now that rank lists are in and solidified, I will post my review of this program. I rotated here for a month over the summer.

Shifts: R1: 18 12's, R2: 17 12's, R3: 16 12's. Some people like 12's, some don't. I'm kind of indifferent - i like shorter shifts, but i want days off too haha. ok that just means im a lazy person.

Length of Training: 3 years

Residents: 8 residents per class. They seem VERY close and supportive of one another. I had not even begun my away rotation and received an invitation from a R3 for a pool party/BBQ at his home to welcome me, which I thought was very nice of him. This group of residents is one of the most welcoming, fun, laidback crowds I have ever met. I ended up going on 16 interviews total and there was not a group of residents I connected with more than this one. You can tell each and every one of them is passionate about the program and it shows while on shift as well.

Academics: Once a week on Wednesdays, where they have lectures given primarily by senior residents and top faculty members which are very discussion-based. Usually they will incorporate a game component (jeopardy, beer giveaway, gift cards, etc) which makes sure that everyone stays engaged and interested. Sometimes part of the didactics take place in the Sim center down the street from the hospital. This place is enormous, brand new, and full of fun gadgets for students and residents to practice with. For me personally, academics was a concern of mine when I began the rotation but I soon learned that their grads had gone on to do fellowships to top programs (Ultrasound in Cali, EMS in Washington, blah blah). One of their grads from just two years ago is already Assistant program director at UC Irvine!

Clinical Experience: The reason I came to Las Vegas. THIRD busiest ER on the entire west coast. Their census is an insane 130,000 per year. I don't think this number is all that important - the real important number is the number of patients per resident. My home institution for example is very well respected and gets approx 2,500 patients per resident. When you take 130,000/24 (3 years of 8) residents, Las Vegas sees 5,416 patients per resident. What this means is that residents get a full patient load of only the sickest patients. There were numerous times on my away where I was honestly freaking out inside helping to take care of very sick ICU level or trauma patients, and the senior resident I was working under would look cool as a cucumber and handle all aspects of care very well. The other important thing is that Las Vegas has no neurosurgery, ophthalmology, orthopedic, neurology, etc residencies. What this meant for the clinical experience was that the EM providers were the ones deciding whether or not to push TPA in stroke patients, were doing all reductions, etc. The interns generally have met graduation requirements by the year's end. Not to mention that your procedures bump even higher as the ED here is similar to Fresno and USC in that it is the most respected department. We were often called by IM, ICU, etc services to come upstairs and help them with difficult airways (no anesthesia residency either) or central lines.

Clinical Presenting/teaching: As many have mentioned, on the away rotation I generally did not present to attendings and was assigned to an R3. The R3s were very receptive, and would teach along the way giving me pearls at the bedside or while reviewing radiology. From what I observed though, faculty were very much involved in resident education and tried to give pearls and teach whenever possible.

PD: Dr. Berkeley is simply the hardest-working, most dedicated, and caring PD I have ever met. You can tell that he is extremely proud of this program, and does anything he can for the residents and program to ensure that it is successful. He responds to emails literally within a few hours (even overnight - when does he sleep?!), constantly is asking for feedback, and is always looking for new ways to make the resident experience better. Many programs on the trail have their PD state proudly how much they would vouch for you when it comes time to find a job or fellowship, but I truly believe Dr. Berkeley would go to the moon and back to make sure you got whatever you wanted. I worked with him on 3 shifts during my rotation, which was definitely intimidating as I was scared to mess up. However, he is the smartest attending I have ever met and I learned tons of EM pearls from him in just those few shifts.

Ancillary Staff: Nurses, Techs, EMTs etc were very hard-working, helpful, and just overall pleasant to work with. Nothing but positive things to say about them.

Location: Located in Las Vegas, most residents live in Summerlin (high class suburb) or just off of the main las vegas strip. Cost of living is very cheap (most people without roommates pay approx 800-900/month while those with roommates can expect to pay just 500-550/month. No state income tax is also a very big plus. You are a very short drive from the LV strip (which as most of you know, contains 24/7 world-class restaurants, bars, clubs, outlet malls, etc). It was very nice to get off shift on a random Tuesday morning or Wednesday afternoon and have plenty to do. You are also extremely close to beautiful hiking, climbing, and running trails within a 20 minute drive. Skiing/Snowboarding is generally a 45 minute drive away in winter.

Event Medicine: Best out of anywhere on the interview trail. Electric Daisy Carnival, Burning Man, Las Vegas Marathon, Indy Car Races, and many more.

Negatives: HOT in the summer. It was over 100 degrees my entire time there (but in fairness, this was in August and September). Very dry heat, which made it more tolerable. I would be one of those people blasting AC for three months straight if I lived there.

Overall: Fantastic and diverse pathology at one of the busiest Level 1 Trauma centers in the nation, close-knit and fun residents, and dedicated faculty. Cheap COL, with tons of outdoor stuff while having all of a big city's advantages next door on the LV strip (restaurants, bars, clubs, etc). This is at the top of my list for residency, and I would feel ecstatic to match here. I would feel prepared to go anywhere in the planet after training here.

I was thinking of doing one of my 4th year away rotations here but would it effect the SLOE if you are usually presenting to residents? It seems like the PD (I'm assuming that's who writes the SLOE) wouldn't know you as well as other programs.

At lots of places it's the CD not the PD who writes the SLOE. You will not work with any single person more than a couple of shifts anyway. I don't think presenting to residents is bad but I do know that per my friend that rotated at Vegas you are often presenting to second years as often as you are presenting to 3s. I don't think it would matter for recommendations but I could see it being somewhat less educational as the newly minted 2's still probably have lots to learn (of course they will still know a hell of a lot more than you will). My friend had good things to say about the program but did wish the clerkship was run differently. You should look at the clerkship review thread too. People may have posted about the experience there.

rkmoto121 said:

I was thinking of doing one of my 4th year away rotations here but would it effect the SLOE if you are usually presenting to residents? It seems like the PD (I'm assuming that's who writes the SLOE) wouldn't know you as well as other programs.

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After every shift, you give your evaluations to those you worked with. This can be residents (R2 or higher) or faculty members. In my experience in medical school in general, residents are usually nicer and if anything this would help your SLOE rather than hurt it. I probably had 5-6 faculty members and 7-8 residents total contribute to my SLOE. And I agree with the above poster, usually it's never the PD who writes these. At my home institution it's the clerkship director who writes these as well.

How competitive is the program from a medical student applying viewpoint? Important to do an away rotation here?

OSUguy17 said:

How competitive is the program from a medical student applying viewpoint? Important to do an away rotation here?

Click to expand...

PLEASE check the away rotation reviews thread. It's for your own benefit.

No moonlighting allowed in nevada

cbrons said:

No moonlighting allowed in nevada

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This is huge. People who are applying for residency should understand this. Moonlighting is a tremendous advantage, and I'm not talking about the financial aspects. Even more-so for a three year program.

cbrons said:

No moonlighting allowed in nevada

Click to expand...

Wait, are you saying this about the program specifically or the state of NV as a whole? They have a state law prohibiting residents from moonlighting?


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