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- Jun 8, 2005
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Today is my day back home prior to leaving again for 2 more interviews. I was supposed to interview in Iowa and Kansas City on consecutive days. Mother nature thought otherwise! I flew into KC on Wednesday around mid day, and drove the long boring drive to Iowa City which was about 5 hours. The drive ended as a big snow fall was starting so I avoided the worst of it that day. But when I woke up, there was about 5" of fresh dry powder on the ground. I had to spend 30 minutes sweeping away the snow on a path to my car so that my suit and shoes would not get screwed up. It was fun though. Then when I made it to the University of Iowa Hospital and I was amazed at how nice it was. 5 hours into the middle of nowhere sat one of Americas nicest college campuses, with the huge hospital complex sitting right next to the football stadium.
The program really impressed me because it was the first place that I had actually met the department chairman, not just the residency coordinator. This guy really knows how to get a new program up and running because the kinks seem to either never have existed or were worked out beautifully. He met with the 4 of us interviewing for almost half an hour, and really talked about the research component of the program. I have never been big into research, but the stuff he was talking about interested me greatly. Being an ex military guy like he, I could tell that he was one of those guys that would go to bat for you and carry a real freaking heavy stick! And at 6 foot 6" or so with hands the size of small 1970's Volkswagons, I see why the other services get along so well with him!
After meeting him, we moved on to our 4 interviews. My first was with an RN who is an integral part of the department. She has been there the longest and it shows why the department is so well received by the lifers in the institution. They also have PA's who see patients in the ED as well and this seems to be a great working environment that values all roles. This interview was very casual and more a get to know you conversation than anything else. She did ask me one question that was structured and it was about how I would handle a situation regarding a nurse taking my orders to an attending to change them without coming to me first. My next interview was with the program director. Once I met this guy I knew that this was a very special place. I have already met good PD's, but this guy was sort of the equivilant of the 29 year old Army Major who got promoted very fast. He is probably only mid thirties if that, and he is a well dressed, articulate, intellectually top knotch guy. He is dual boarded in IM and EM, and he is from SoCal of all places. If I did not mention it before, the chairman of the EM department is from Boston, and so you have the leadership with two different spheres of EM training. This is great for future networking as often times you are limited to the geography of a program in terms of job searches (because new programs have no grads US wide yet to assist you). This is a big plus for this new program.
My next interview was with a resident who is their only chief and 3rd year because he was previously trained as a Peds doc before coming. So he had a little more advanced standing than other residents. He was absolutely without a doubt the most kind, down to earth resident I have met along the trail. He complimented many of the details deep within my application so I knew he had prepared for the interview. I can say the same thing for every person I interviewed with in Iowa City. It was scary almost because they would talk about things as if they had known me a really long time. The tactic paid off because I was impressed. The resident and I just talked so he could sell the place. And sell he did! I was very happy to spend this time with him so that I could get answers to many of my questions. My last interview was with a DO who is tghe assistant residency director. He was very nice and prepared as well, and he showed their liberal side with his gold hoop earring in his left ear. I figured he could see the long time whole in my ear as well from years back (one thing you can never hide once you have had one). If nothing more, this showed to me that the PD and chair are open minded people and I want to be around people of many different personalities. I am a middle of the road kind of political ideologist, and thus its nice to have liberal and conservative types around because I certainly can't fit simply into one camp.
At the end of the interview, all the applicants left but I stayed behind to talk to some of the residents longer. I was amazed to see how much experience was among these guys. Several (probably half) of the residents were boarded in other specialties already, mostly FM. So I got the impression that this was quite possibly the only program where I could walk in and feel like my 3rd years would always know more than me in virtually every situation. Sometimes knowing as much or more than the uper levels in areas not related to EM is a bit awkward, but with these guys they have way more experience in FM than I do. After all, I was just a PA in FM and they were docs. So that experience is a unique twist to this program and one that brings more training to the entering class of 2006. Its just unheard of to have this much supervisory knowledge from upper levels and I for one consider it a benefit like few others.
When I finally decided to leave, I realized that the travel to KC would be virtually impossible for me with the roads the way they were. I had already nearly run into someone's house on the way to the hospital and slid all the way through one traffic light. So I decided to stay an extra night in Iowa City and it happened to work out because they were having a dinner for the applicants that previously I would have had to miss. I cancelled my next morning's interview at Truman and will reschedule later.
I ended up being invited to stay with the resident who interviewed me. He and his wife (an OBGYN in her ReproEndo fellowship) gave me their basement which was very nice and cozy. That brings me to the part about Iowa City in general. The town is truly an incredible city that you would never guess was in Iowa if you were dropped there after being blindfolded and sedated for several hours prior. You would think you had woke up in some culturally rich, quite beautiful, college towns like maybe Raleigh or Durham North Carolina. The people were all incredibly friendly and the downtown was full of good restaurants, good coffee houses, and typical college pubs. They have a great mall with a children's museum, and they have lots of outdoor activities on the Iowa River which runs through the campus. It was definitely cold while I was there but surprisingly tolerable. If I had to say there was a downside it might be the fact that there are 4 months that you have to drive daily to Cedar Rapids for your community EM rotation, and those months are 12 hour shifts...around 20 of them I was told. So after the drive back and forth, and the turnover, you are really putting in like 20, 14 hour shifts. But they say the rotation is incredible.
EMS is huge here. The entire state sends people to train as paramedics and EMT's here in the EM department and they employ several who run simulator labs for the trainees and residents. They have their own flight program as well, and residents fly all the time.
Last big perk...you get to moonlight while having your feet on the wood floor at the UI basketball games, and you have full field access at UI football games. All this for 50 bucks an hour....sure......force me to do it!!
Bottom line...I think this place has been overlooked by many because of the location, but in actuality you are only about 2.5 hours from Chicago. The schools here are the best in the nation for public schools, and the cost of living for this quality of a college town is very reasonable. And lastly, they pay full health coverage for all members of your family including spouses and kids, and you never pay a copay or script EVER! No place has this kind of a deal that I know of! If you are married with kids, you would be a fool not to apply to this program. And being on an undergraduate campus with thousands of single people can't be too bad for the "single young doctor" either 🙂 This place will be very high on my list I can promise. The only places I see comparing to this place might be Mayo, Duke, Indy, and Tech. But you never know what lies ahead, because I have been way more impressed with every place I have been thus far. I am hoping to have a few dissappointing places in the coming weeks otherwise this is going to be an incredibly difficult decision in the end!
The program really impressed me because it was the first place that I had actually met the department chairman, not just the residency coordinator. This guy really knows how to get a new program up and running because the kinks seem to either never have existed or were worked out beautifully. He met with the 4 of us interviewing for almost half an hour, and really talked about the research component of the program. I have never been big into research, but the stuff he was talking about interested me greatly. Being an ex military guy like he, I could tell that he was one of those guys that would go to bat for you and carry a real freaking heavy stick! And at 6 foot 6" or so with hands the size of small 1970's Volkswagons, I see why the other services get along so well with him!
After meeting him, we moved on to our 4 interviews. My first was with an RN who is an integral part of the department. She has been there the longest and it shows why the department is so well received by the lifers in the institution. They also have PA's who see patients in the ED as well and this seems to be a great working environment that values all roles. This interview was very casual and more a get to know you conversation than anything else. She did ask me one question that was structured and it was about how I would handle a situation regarding a nurse taking my orders to an attending to change them without coming to me first. My next interview was with the program director. Once I met this guy I knew that this was a very special place. I have already met good PD's, but this guy was sort of the equivilant of the 29 year old Army Major who got promoted very fast. He is probably only mid thirties if that, and he is a well dressed, articulate, intellectually top knotch guy. He is dual boarded in IM and EM, and he is from SoCal of all places. If I did not mention it before, the chairman of the EM department is from Boston, and so you have the leadership with two different spheres of EM training. This is great for future networking as often times you are limited to the geography of a program in terms of job searches (because new programs have no grads US wide yet to assist you). This is a big plus for this new program.
My next interview was with a resident who is their only chief and 3rd year because he was previously trained as a Peds doc before coming. So he had a little more advanced standing than other residents. He was absolutely without a doubt the most kind, down to earth resident I have met along the trail. He complimented many of the details deep within my application so I knew he had prepared for the interview. I can say the same thing for every person I interviewed with in Iowa City. It was scary almost because they would talk about things as if they had known me a really long time. The tactic paid off because I was impressed. The resident and I just talked so he could sell the place. And sell he did! I was very happy to spend this time with him so that I could get answers to many of my questions. My last interview was with a DO who is tghe assistant residency director. He was very nice and prepared as well, and he showed their liberal side with his gold hoop earring in his left ear. I figured he could see the long time whole in my ear as well from years back (one thing you can never hide once you have had one). If nothing more, this showed to me that the PD and chair are open minded people and I want to be around people of many different personalities. I am a middle of the road kind of political ideologist, and thus its nice to have liberal and conservative types around because I certainly can't fit simply into one camp.
At the end of the interview, all the applicants left but I stayed behind to talk to some of the residents longer. I was amazed to see how much experience was among these guys. Several (probably half) of the residents were boarded in other specialties already, mostly FM. So I got the impression that this was quite possibly the only program where I could walk in and feel like my 3rd years would always know more than me in virtually every situation. Sometimes knowing as much or more than the uper levels in areas not related to EM is a bit awkward, but with these guys they have way more experience in FM than I do. After all, I was just a PA in FM and they were docs. So that experience is a unique twist to this program and one that brings more training to the entering class of 2006. Its just unheard of to have this much supervisory knowledge from upper levels and I for one consider it a benefit like few others.
When I finally decided to leave, I realized that the travel to KC would be virtually impossible for me with the roads the way they were. I had already nearly run into someone's house on the way to the hospital and slid all the way through one traffic light. So I decided to stay an extra night in Iowa City and it happened to work out because they were having a dinner for the applicants that previously I would have had to miss. I cancelled my next morning's interview at Truman and will reschedule later.
I ended up being invited to stay with the resident who interviewed me. He and his wife (an OBGYN in her ReproEndo fellowship) gave me their basement which was very nice and cozy. That brings me to the part about Iowa City in general. The town is truly an incredible city that you would never guess was in Iowa if you were dropped there after being blindfolded and sedated for several hours prior. You would think you had woke up in some culturally rich, quite beautiful, college towns like maybe Raleigh or Durham North Carolina. The people were all incredibly friendly and the downtown was full of good restaurants, good coffee houses, and typical college pubs. They have a great mall with a children's museum, and they have lots of outdoor activities on the Iowa River which runs through the campus. It was definitely cold while I was there but surprisingly tolerable. If I had to say there was a downside it might be the fact that there are 4 months that you have to drive daily to Cedar Rapids for your community EM rotation, and those months are 12 hour shifts...around 20 of them I was told. So after the drive back and forth, and the turnover, you are really putting in like 20, 14 hour shifts. But they say the rotation is incredible.
EMS is huge here. The entire state sends people to train as paramedics and EMT's here in the EM department and they employ several who run simulator labs for the trainees and residents. They have their own flight program as well, and residents fly all the time.
Last big perk...you get to moonlight while having your feet on the wood floor at the UI basketball games, and you have full field access at UI football games. All this for 50 bucks an hour....sure......force me to do it!!
Bottom line...I think this place has been overlooked by many because of the location, but in actuality you are only about 2.5 hours from Chicago. The schools here are the best in the nation for public schools, and the cost of living for this quality of a college town is very reasonable. And lastly, they pay full health coverage for all members of your family including spouses and kids, and you never pay a copay or script EVER! No place has this kind of a deal that I know of! If you are married with kids, you would be a fool not to apply to this program. And being on an undergraduate campus with thousands of single people can't be too bad for the "single young doctor" either 🙂 This place will be very high on my list I can promise. The only places I see comparing to this place might be Mayo, Duke, Indy, and Tech. But you never know what lies ahead, because I have been way more impressed with every place I have been thus far. I am hoping to have a few dissappointing places in the coming weeks otherwise this is going to be an incredibly difficult decision in the end!
