University of Mississippi Residency Reviews

I just graduated from UMC. Really enjoyed it and feel well trained, would highly recommend it. The only "catch" to the program is the 2-4 bit and maybe location, depending on what you are looking for. On the other hand, I think we had (have) great faculty, pathology, and camaraderie. PM me or emrebuilder if you have any questions.

Is it true they give you a computer to chart at home? I also was told that you get a phone, iPod, and camera. Sweet.

yep you do get a laptop, department pays for 9 sets of monogrammed scrubs, a fleece jacket, high-speed internet at home, cell phone (with camera on it) and service contract, Pepid, I-pod and books

as for your other question, we don't start interviews for a couple more weeks.

Kajunman

the spode said:

Is it true they give you a computer to chart at home? I also was told that you get a phone, iPod, and camera. Sweet.

Click to expand...

Residents all seemed happy and well prepared. Program seemed geared toward what residents need. I felt like I could hang out with any resident there they were so laid back and friendly. Moonlighting was a big plus. They offer ipod, camera, phone with service, computer for charting at home (paid for). Program director is new and liked by everyone...is certified in anes and em so doing many cool blocks in ed..is restructuring the em-0 year that includes trauma, micu, sicu,nsicu, anes, renal, neuro, peds er, gen med, xray/ekg, ob, adult er. EM-0 residents were all cool and felt the year is worth it. the emergency dept was nothing flashy but seemed like it was up to date with electronic charting and the nurses and staff greeted me and all got along like family. Those that I interviewed with were down to earth, just wanted to get to know me, and my people, where im from..etc. was nice to not be grilled/ asked rediculous questions. I think because it is such a nice environment to work and good people to work with will make this one of my top choices. I forgot to mention that the houses in fondren and bellhaven were extremely affordable and a few minutes from the med center. I heard that many banks give all the money you ask for and with low rates for residents...the university provides health insurance so thats covered too. I guess if you have always lived in a big city then Jackson isnt appealing; i am from texas so it is about like little rock but not as congested and still offers the same perks. I know UMC offers a great education and is a place that will be hard to compare.

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).

Interviewed here this cycle. Much of the technical stuff can be found on the website or in Rebuilder's updated post at the beginning.

Pre-Interview: Offered an interview fairly early on. Very easy to schedule. Program Coordinator was extremely prompt with responses. Recommended hotel is the Cabot Lodge, which is 3-5 minute or so walk from the hospital itself. Friendly and helpful staff there. Interview days were on Thursdays with a dinner the night before. Dinner was at a pizza restaurant/bar about 2 minutes from the hospital. It was well attended by residents with an even mix of years, which was good being able to talk to both PGY-1's and chiefs and others in between. Residents actually mingled with applicants, not just residents on one side and applicants + a chief or two on the other. It was a really laid back group and fun to hang around with.

Interview Day: Meet in the main atrium of the hospital in the morning. Chiefs knew applicants by name based on pictures we submitted, which was unique compared to my other interviews. There were 10 applicants on my particular day. From there we went and sat in on one of the morning lectures and had breakfast. Seemed like good camaraderie among residents and faculty during it. A hospital tour was next. Of note was a brand new Peds ED, which was gorgeous in my opinion. We were told that the Adult ED would be getting renovated next and done within a year to a year and a half, meaning finished probably during intern year sometime. ICU's are all in a common critical care tower. The teleconferencing room was neat, where satellite facilities can contact the hospital for consultation, which is done by residents. Also, they are the EMS hub for the area, and we were shown that center.

After the tour, we were brought to the office area and a conference room. There we met with Dr. Jones, the PD and the two aPD's. They went over the schedule and answered any questions. They are a younger bunch, but really excited about the program. I felt like they were very transparent about the program talking about where it's been and what they hope to accomplish in coming years. One of the big selling points for me was the "mini-fellowship" opportunity, where you take 3 months in your third and fourth year to "sub-specialize" in almost anything. Lunch was after that. The chairman of the department was away on my interview day, but the assistant chairman was very engaging about both the program and medicine in general.

The group gets split in half after lunch with half interviewing and the other half going on a car tour of Jackson. We interviewed with 5 different people- Dr. Jones, both aPD's, a chief and a PGY-2. Interviews were very conversational, no pimping. Really enjoyed talking to Dr. Jones 1 on 1. We were able to talk about the program, but he also gave me advice on questions to ask and such at future interviews. Seems like an all-around quality educator. Interviews were much more relaxed with the residents. The car tour took us around Jackson. It doesn't seem like the most exciting area to be, but it has all the necessities and then some.

Other notes that didn't fit in above:
-9 residents per year.
-4 year program
-A lot of graduates go into community practice, but those who want to do a fellowship have been able to.
-Scholarly project mandatory, but is as in depth (or not) as you want it to be
-Huge catchment area. Not necessarily knife and gun club type stuff, but plenty of trauma with unique stories behind it.
-Moonlighting is definitely available and seemed to be encouraged. A number of residents talked about owning their home outright and paying off of student loans prior to completing residency.
-Off service rotations tailored more towards EM. Administration listens to complaints about off service rotations and takes it very seriously.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience. Ranking for me was based on the ability to get experience in a certain sub-specialty area, which is possible through the mini-fellowships and the fit with the residents, which I also thought was great. Ergo, it ended up as #1 for me.

4 year program
1 month blocks
Intern year 18shifts/month- 12 hours. Down to 13 shifts/month as a 4th year. Easy to group shifts in blocks and switch with others. "Not a month in 2nd, 3rd or 4th years without a week off." Morning sign out together and evening sign out on individual basis
Moonlighting: Most 3rd and 4th years moonlight and make >100k/year on top of base salary. IMGs can only moonlight in 4th year in state of Mississippi, but can work in other states. Current 3rd year IMG moonlights in Virginia with paid transportation to and from and lodging but makes significantly less money than moonlighting opportunities in MS. Resident moonlighted 2 hours away during hurricane for $500/hour.
Curriculum: No floor months. Mini fellowships in 3rd and 4th years. In 2nd year introduced to the different choices so you can make a choice. Ultrasound tract enables residents to become RDMS certified.

Telemedicine- can run codes at hospitals with poor MD coverage. Enables resident to use cameras and technology to provide care and make diagnosis. Allows resident to think about what would you do next and command another to do it rather than doing it yourself.
Conferences: TTh, 2 hours/day. Residents give 30 min lectures. Attendings 1 hour. Additional 1 hour per week can be achieved by listening to podcasts, for example. Lecture time protected, need to meet 70%. Each month EKGs, oral board review, trauma M&M, ED M&M, more.
Simulation: 4x/year.
Teaching: As a senior work with medical students. EM clerkship not required for student. Opportunities to teach med students, teach AIs in sim lab, procedure labs, give lectures.
Helepad. During moonlighting if patient is critical and need guidance can call the EMS control center and be routed to an ED attending for help. Easy access to helicopter transport for your critical patients while moonlighting. Call center answers calls from EMS agencies around state.
Residents report directly to attendings.
Trauma: Chief surgeons and 4th year EM residents alternate on odd and even days. EM gets airway always.
Critical patients—everyone on team convenes in resus bays to resuscitate patient and then upper years take over. No shortage to interesting pathology. Many underserved patients, seek medical care with advanced disease processes. 50th most unhealthy state in union.
Peds: 30k/year volume. Shifts 1-2/month longitudinal in 3rd and 4th years. Only PICU and Peds trauma center in state.
Research: Multiple critical care studies going on. Southern equivalent to Manny Rivers on staff

Anyone know if they are 1 or 2 weekends per month in the ED months in your 2nd-4th year?

2014 Updates:
University of MS Emergency Medicine Program curriculum change to a 3 YEAR PROGRAM as of now.

Residents: Increased to 11 per yr. As a general rule, easy going residents who get along well. Upper levels appropriately push junior residents to effectively manage more patients while the upper levels frequently provide assistance to non-EM rotating residents (IM, FM, Psych, ENT, OB/Gyn, Anes) and medical students.

Faculty: Big range in faculty training and styles from older grandfathered EM attendings who provide a lot of independence vs. younger EM trained attendings who want to more closely supervise and teach at the bedside. Each has it's own +/-. Big departmental push over past several years for more faculty visibility through research, publication, etc. Department chair, Alan Jones, is nationally recognized sepsis researcher and 2013-14 SAEM president. Department Research Director, Mike Puskarich is continually being published in major journals. Ultrasound faculty, Brian Tollefson, and telemedicine faculty, Bob Galli, recently featured on several EMRAP episodes. As far as faculty coverage in the department, 2 faculty are present at all times. Will be adding 3rd faculty coverage when renovation is completed.

Hospital:
The Emergency Department is newly renovated! The first phase of the new department opened in March 2014 with a 12 room Acute Care area, 7 room Major Medical area, and 10 room Exam area. For now, the front 4 rooms of the Acute Care are acting as the Trauma rooms and the last 3 rooms of the Exam area are utilized as Psychiatry Emergency Services rooms. The second phase of the renovation remains underway with new huge trauma rooms and a resident lounge area which should be opening late Spring or early Summer 2015. We continue to have a Telemedicine room which houses the cameras and computers to provide 2-way audio and video interaction with multiple rural ERs throughout the state which have no EM physician. We can assist NPs with running trauma and medical codes and other decision-making needs in real-time while being able to see the patient, EKGs, etc. UMC remains the ONLY Level I trauma center in the state and we continue to receive a lot of transfers for both surgical and medical critical care.

New Acute Care Room.


New central work area in Acute Care. The room in the center of the photo is the EM resident and attending workroom. FYI - the workroom windows are now mirror-tinted for a bit of privacy from patients/families/consultants.


Documentation: EPIC EMR. Love it or hate it, EMRs are here to stay. + in that it is easy to see what patients have had in the past. - in that we are having to take time to order all tests ourselves which takes time when critically ill patient needs a chest tube, A line, and complete sepsis workup and management. Fortunately, the department has created EPIC order sets for Trauma, Sepsis, Stroke, etc., which make it a bit quicker. Plenty of computers/workspace available for residents.

Curriculum: New 3 year design:
PGY-1
Orientation (No clinical duties) - 1 month
EM - 5 months (1st month 14 shifts as rotating extra resident; 2nd - 5th month as EM resident)
Pediatric EM - 1 month
Medical ICU - 1 month
Neuroscience (Neurology and Neurosurgery) ICU - 1 month
Cardiology - 1 month
OB - 2 weeks
Ortho - 2 weeks
Anesthesia - 2 weeks
Ultrasound - 2 weeks
Vacation - 3 weeks

PGY-2
EM - 9 months
Pediatric EM - 1 month
Surgical ICU - 1 month
Elective - 2 months (EMS, Tox, Research, Ultrasound, Peds EM, Wilderness, Telemedicine, various aways)
Assistant Chief/Administrative - 2 weeks
Vacation - 3 weeks

PGY-3
EM - 9 months
Pediatric EM - several shifts per EM month for longitudinal experience throughout the year
Pediatric ICU - 1 month
Toxicology - 2 weeks
Elective - 2 weeks
Vacation - 3 weeks

Didactics: Thursday mornings 7a - 11a. Lectures are based out of Tintinalli's. Given by faculty and residents. Also have various other specialties provide lectures (e.g., MICU, Ophtho, Ortho, Peds). Mock oral boards, EM M&M, Trauma M&M. Procedure lab and simulation lab.

Links
UMC Department of EM Website
Facebook: University of Mississippi Department of Emergency Medicine

EMapp19 said:

Any updated reviews here since being a 3 year program? ED seemed very very small for hospital size. Worried about ED volume here, ED was a ghost town during afternoon tour. Even chair noted it as a negative, but I like everything else.

Click to expand...

Their website states the adult ER sees 70k/yr which is a little on the low side, but if the ER residents are seeing every single one of those patients, it's really not terrible. It comes out to somewhere slightly less than 200 pt's per day. If they are still doing 12's with shift reductions each year, with 39 residents, and 23 of 36 months in the adult ER, it comes out to an average of about 13-14 pt's per shift per resident assuming they are seeing everyone in the ER. Again this is a little on the lower end, but most residency programs have residents averaging somewhere between 1.0-1.5 pt's per hour.