St. John Hospital and Medical Center Emergency Medicine Residency Reviews

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Pure Anergy

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Posted anonymously on behalf of a student who interviewed there:

*****

St. John Hospital and Medical Center, Detroit, MI
High Points
• 120k visits in 2011 makes it among the busiest EDs in the nation, and definitely the busiest in the Detroit area.
• Level II trauma center technically, but no trauma is diverted away from them. Residents stated they see plenty of gun-shot wounds and blunt trauma. Have four large and relatively new resuscitation bays.
• 3rd year residents are more than happy to give away procedures to interns.
• Program Director is receptive to resident input and is willing to implement changes to improve curriculum.
• Are frequently integrating Ultrasound into patient care, which tells me they are dedicated to keeping up with the curve in terms of advancements in EM.
• Hospital has diverse patient population that includes the full range of socioeconomic status. This is thanks to the hospital’s location, which draws both the urban population that comes from Detroit and the affluent population that comes from surrounding suburbs.
• Great facilities. ED is large (73 beds) and spacious, individual patient rooms with TVs. I’ve toured/rotated through 8 different EDs in the Midwest and can easily say this ED had the most impressive facilities.
• All rotations are done at the same hospital (St. John) until 3rd year. Dedicated Peds ED is also in the hospital.
• Low cost of living compared to other big cities (LA, NYC, CHI). Hospital also has contracts with certain apartments which offer reduced rates on rent for employees.
• Meal allowance for residents, iPad provided, free parking, EM residents have their own lounge by the ED.

Other Information
• Interns do a 1 month rotation in Nephrology, which is unique to EM programs. This is in curriculum due to high number of ESRD patients in Detroit area. St. John has inpatient and outpatient dialysis centers on-site.
• 10 hour shifts for interns with 2 hour overlap at the end of the shift.
• Paper charting with electronic order-entry.
• Associated with Wayne State University in Michigan.

Impression
With such a high volume of patients, there is no doubt that you will be exposed to a variety of pathology, procedures, and high-stress environments. Residents have no complaints about the program, the attendings, or the city. Despite the high-volume, many attendings make a point of doing “teaching rounds” at some point during their shift. Admittedly there are some shifts where you are overloaded with patients and “formal” teaching goes by the wayside, but I imagine this is the case in any busy ED. Academics and research were not emphasized during the interview, but the program has all the resources you need to conduct research and crank out publications. The hospital is affiliated with Wayne State University and, as such, the faculty members are consistently working on research projects that residents can partake in. Medical students also rotate through the ED and provide an opportunity for teaching. Overall, I believe this program provides you with excellent training, a nice work environment, and plenty of small benefits that add up to sweeten the deal.

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Any updates on this program? Now an Ascension product so curious how that affects the residency program
 
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This is the main campus, technically in Detroit, in reality right off the border between Detroit and ritzy grosse pointe. The transition from inner city ghetto to old money suburb is quite stunning when you drive through that area.

I graduated from here 3 years ago. Obviously biased, but phenomenal program in terms of volume, pathology and trauma, that will turn you into an well trained ED physician, if you let it. Kevin Nunes, the guy who triaged and treated patients during the Las Vegas shooting, trained here, FYI. Was level 2, now officially designated at level 1. We can hold our own against any of the Detroit EM programs like Sinai grace, Henry Ford, Beaumont royal oak, or Detroit receiving, we just don’t have the name recognition.

Super approachable PD, double boarded in EM and IM. One of the faculty docs is actually triple boarded in EM, IM, and FM, go figure.

It is a pediatric hospital (and pediatric burn center) as well, so you don’t have to go out of the hospital to get a good peds, and peds EM experience.

Only thing I wasn’t crazy about was the nicu rotation, which was lame and not much of a learning experience.


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What campus is it? There are many St Johns in Metro Detroit.
St John Hospital and Medical Center is the official name of the Moross Campus, in Detroit. The other hospitals have other names. Those names have changed now, and the Detroit campus is now Ascension St. John, not positive what all the others changed to.
 
This is the main campus, technically in Detroit, in reality right off the border between Detroit and ritzy grosse pointe. The transition from inner city ghetto to old money suburb is quite stunning when you drive through that area.

I graduated from here 3 years ago. Obviously biased, but phenomenal program in terms of volume, pathology and trauma, that will turn you into an well trained ED physician, if you let it. Kevin Nunes, the guy who triaged and treated patients during the Las Vegas shooting, trained here, FYI. Was level 2, now officially designated at level 1. We can hold our own against any of the Detroit EM programs like Sinai grace, Henry Ford, Beaumont royal oak, or Detroit receiving, we just don’t have the name recognition.

Super approachable PD, double boarded in EM and IM. One of the faculty docs is actually triple boarded in EM, IM, and FM, go figure.

It is a pediatric hospital (and pediatric burn center) as well, so you don’t have to go out of the hospital to get a good peds, and peds EM experience.

Only thing I wasn’t crazy about was the nicu rotation, which was lame and not much of a learning experience.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Current PGY3 resident there. Do you mean PICU? We don't rotate through the NICU currently.

I would agree with this. Huge volume, you act independently a huge amount of time when in the department, see all the patients in your module (each module is single coverage by resident, with usually one attending covering two modules). See a ton of patients often with attending oversight only as needed. Great place to learn, teaching is hit or miss due to how busy the department is, but there are several attendings who go out of the way to teach.

Any specific questions anyone has feel free to PM me.
 
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we used to rotate through the NICU, looks like they got rid of it after people complained, lol!
 
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Sounds like a real good residency. Volume is key in residency. I remember my last year in residency hoping that I would get more practice with things like unstable tachyarrhythmias, they just don't come in all that often. I know it's "how hard is it to deal with, just shock", well you gotta have experience doing it!

I still have only cardioverted prob 10-15 times in my life (excluding CPR) in my 4.5 yrs being an attending. Those opportunities don't happen all the time.
 
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