Louisiana State University (LSU)-Baton Rouge Residency Reviews

[kungfufishing]

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Actually I think its probably better than reputed on scutwork. Everyone is pretty happy down there, and Baton Rouge is actually a pretty cool town - really close to New Orleans, good food, and of course Death Valley.
The facilities, especially EKL are not the greatest, and it probably isnt the most academic spot in the world. As someone who interviewed there and is now on the matched side of the match process (not at LSUBR), LSU is one of the places that is probably better than I thought. You could get good training there, they were happy and laid back when I met them, and the location has plenty to offer. They also seem to make a point of convincing off service rotations to tailor their curriculum to EM, which is nice.

 

[USCDiver]

I interviewed there and I was convinced I wasn't going to rank them about 30 minutes into the day (and it's good that I didn't put them down as a safety program, because I would have ended up there and probably not been happy). My main beefs were that they contantly were bragging about things like "we don't have to take call on IM rotations." I think part of learning internal medicine is taking call. The rest of the work is just scut and dispo work. They kept bringing up the crappy hospitals they work at, jokingly of course but by the end of the day they convinced me they were right. But my main concern was that few of their rotations were with teaching services. The only other residents in the town were FP. There were some peds and I think OB/Gyns that come up from New Orleans, but the off service rotations were almost exclusively with private docs who aren't necessarily interested in teaching or have anything invested in the program itself. YMMV of course, and I could be mistaken, but that was the impression I had a year ago when I went out there.

 

[8744]

Please, please, don't any of you rank Baton Rouge. I really, really want to match there and I don't want to risk being bumped out of their twelve PGY-1 spots.

Hey, I did a rotation down there and liked it immensly. The faculty is excellent. The residents all seemed happy. The hours are good and there are plenty of opportunities to moonlight during second and third year. In fact, moonlighting is encouraged which is unlike most of the programs where I have interviewed. (It is "allowed" everywhere I interviewed except Shreveport but with varying degrees of enthusiasm.)

True, the facilities at EKL are kind of run down but they have everything they need even if the cabinets are kind of beat-up looking. You will also spend half your time at either Baton Rouge General Mid-City or BRG at Bluebonnet, both of which are top-notch from a facilities point of view.

As to taking call, look, if I wanted to be an Internal Medicine intern I would have tried to match into internal medicine. One of the reason I am trying to match into EM is that I hate call. Absolutely loathe it. I need sleep. I don't care if I work from midnight to noon, I need at least six hours of sleep a day and resent being deprived of it.

And rounding. Boy do I hate rounding. I would rather have a red-hot, salt-encrusted poker driven deep into my rectum than round. Therefore, I will rank programs highest which have the fewest off-service rotations which will minimize my exposure to both call and rounding.

In PGY-1, Baton Rouge has six months in the ED, one month of ortho, one month labor and delivery, one month pediatrics, one month anesthesia, and one month hospital medicine. I believe you only take call on hospital medicine and otho.

There is no surgery program at EKL so the EM folks get to handle all of the traumas which is not the case at larger, more academic programs.

 

[edinOH]

I'm a second year resident at Baton Rouge and honestly couldn't be happier.

As far as the medicine call thing goes, you were either misinformed or misunderstood how it works.

The hospital medicine service at the Baton Rouge General where we do our internal medicine months is indeed run by a group of private physicians. They are however a group of private physicians who are very interested in our being on their service and very interested in teaching. They approach our role on their service from an EM point of view. They assign us to patients who have very EM specific problems and/or teaching points. We don't round on the rocks from day to day. Instead we take care of the MI's, CVA's, pneumonias, sepsis etc. The goal is to understand what the typical hospital course of these kinds of patients looks like. They teach from a vantage point of "What are the things you can/should be thinking about when you see this pt. in the ED that will maximize their care during their hospital stay?" It is great for continuity in a teaching sense as well as gaining a better understanding of the disease processes which we might never truely understand from our often times limited view in the ED. All of the attendings in the group are young and very well read and trained. They come from some of the powerhouse type programs in IM and truely commit alot of themselves and their time to our education. We are anything but scutmonkeys. Having residents on the service is actually less effecient from a business point of view.

Regarding the call issue. We don't follow the traditional q4 call model. We work in shifts. We will do a block of nights (usually 7) from 8 pm to 9 am after morning report. The other three residents on the service will work typically 7 am to 3-4 pm with every third day being a "late day" where we alternate staying until 8 pm, when the night resident comes on. We will also rotate weekends working 8 am to 8 pm until, again, the night resident takes over.

This model actually fosters autonomy and decision making in a great way. When we are the night resident, we are typically the only physician in-house covering a service upwards of 70 patients, including floor, ICU and skilled nursing. You get more codes than you want, more crashing patients than you need and more experience than you would typically expect. There is also a night attending on, but he is usually at the BlueBonnet campus getting killed by the ER over there. So, in essence, the MidCity campus is pretty much your show. Between admitting pts from the ED, coding pts on the floor or in the unit, you get all the experience you want! No upper level, no three levels of decision making before it is time to nut-up and do something. Of course your attending is always on the other end of a cell phone and you have fellow residents and upperlevels in the ED and in the Unit if you bite off more than you can chew, but ultimately it is your service to manage.

Those two months of hospital medicine durning my intern year did just as much as any of my EM months in fostering confidence.

The unfortunate thing about our program is how incredibly ugly the Earl K. Long medical center looks from the road. It is a state Charity hospital, a smaller version of Charity in New Orleans. Since it is on a not so great side of town, we still get our share of trauma, but we aren't innundated all night like the folks down in New Orleans. We do in fact have surgery at the Earl as we like to call it, but they take call off-campus in their apartments (they are LSU surgery residents from NO). This means that we are typically taking care of the traumas ourselves until when or if we give them a page. This is different than the typical model of a trauma team coming in and kicking you out of the way whenever some thing good comes in. Same is true at the Baton Rouge General. It is a very busy community hospital on the edge of the innercity/midcity. This provides us with a nice mix of the innercity, nearly indigent (and often times indigent) crowd and the well-insured. Here to we get our share of trauma. Since the city of Baton Rouge is lacking in a designated level one center (economics...whole other discussion) when something bad happens to someone, they go to the closest facility usually. Again, since this is a community hospital, we don't have in-house surgery. Again we handle the traumas ourselves until the decision to notfiy surgery/ortho is made. Since the large majority of those training here are intending to practice in the community setting, I am of the opinion that this is an excellent opportunity to learn how to stand on our own without the benefit of the trauma chief standing over our shoulder and initially manage the trauma and make the initial, and often times, tough decisions. This is how we will be doing it in practice in a few months. Might as well learn how now.

I could go on and on... 😀

Cliff Notes:

Varied pathology
Early autonomy
Laid-back atmosphere
Happy residents
Quality off-service rotations
No regrets

 

[corpsmanUP]

Thought I would start a thread on my completed interviews, and feel free to chime in about your own.

LSU Baton Rouge- great people, very culturally unique city with an excellent major university in LSU. A great mix of county and private training. Will definitely receive a great deal of thought from me in the final rankings. I could see myself here. LSU is an incredibly beautiful university and the city of Baton Rouge is one full of very proud people who are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. They throw a party for just about anything and eat a few hundred crawfish! I don't know how anyone can not fit in with these people...maybe if you are anti-social or something! If only they could fix the traffic issue and disperse about 300,000 of their newest locals to the surrounding 47 mainland states! But its already getting better after months and will improve slowly.

Texas Tech El Paso- awesome faculty and truly a strong EM program in its facility. EM is well respected there. The patient population is mostly Spanish speaking and many are immigrants or illegals. Pathology is top knotch. The city was surprisingly beautiful much like Cali without the ocean. This is a great place for married people, and this could easily end up being one of if not my top ranked spot. The EMS exposure here seems to be oustanding and the ultrasound is as good as some top ranked 4 year programs. These people are incredibly laid back. I have spoken with some very knowledgable people in the field and all believe this place is a hidden gem and will be a leading institution in the coming years.

Next week, UMKC and Iowa City, with Indy, Peoria and Mayo the following week.

 

[2008 EM Reviews]

CCEMRP:

Residents: some very candid residents mentioned the program is going through more than its fair share of problems associated with being a brand new program. one resident is looking to transfer. it seems most of the problems are related to the unorganization and poor shift scheduling. a lot of the residents have completed prior post grad training primarily in family.

Faculty: most were nice and pretty laid back. they had just hired 2 new faculty the day before the interview. the residents feel the faculty are overall good and are very receptive to the residents suggestions and input. one faculty turned me off by making derogatory comments about the county facility not having the equipment it needed and the organizational problems among the administration. the program director seems like a very nice guy and i hear hes really putting everything he has into the program to better it.

Hospitals: the county/indigent facility is just what you would expect of a county facility. its run down but has the basics. it has 200 beds. the er has electronic bed tracking and some computerized record capabilities. there are talks of going all electronic at some point. the hosp is the only trauma ctr for the 12 county service area and just (3 days ago) got level 2 designation. i think it was like a 25 bed ed with 2 trauma rooms (small). they also have a burn unit but they only keep minor burns there. the other private community hosp er is brand new and nice. they are in the process of having the residents rotate through there as well. its a larger hospital and sees more internal medicine cases. the last hosp is the childrens hospital which is well known in the area where residents rotate for peds er and picu rotations. they arent a peds trauma ctr but they do get all the peds trauma in the area. its a busy peds er and the residents had nothing but good things to say about it.

Anc staff: nurses were viewed very positively in the ed. no scutwork.

Documentation: T sheets

Didactics: 5 hours on thursdays. excused protected time. residents felt overall they were good. they cover the curriculum put out by ACEP. mix of residents, faculty and guest lecturers. quality highly dependent on presentor.

City: 300,000 people primarily hispanic population. tropical climate. nightlife fair. restaurants very chain oriented but a couple of nice ones.

Perks/benefits: good pay, average vacation and conference time. free meals in hosp cafe no matter what rotation your on for all house staff. pay for your hotel at the only 3 star hotel in the city while interviewing (one night)

Negatives: new program, resident leaving due to problems, city less than desireable. unorganized (even during the interview process)

Overall: regional trauma center that sees a lot of various path and trauma. i think this program will be awesome in a few yrs once they work the bugs out. i likely wont rank this program due to concerns from the residents and the fact its so new.

LSU-BR:

Residents: residents seem very happy with program. they were all nice, out going and laid back. most are from the south.

Faculty: nice, laid back, several new young recent grads from program. residents felt faculty were good and let the residents run the show with over sight.

Hosp: the county/indigent facility looks horrible. it literally looks like two cans stuck side by side separated by a small building with windows (no windows on the cans). the only rotation done here is some of the ED months. whats very different about LA is that there is no designated trauma facility. all the local hospitals get trauma and there is only one that has neursurg so most head trauma goes there. the residents rotate at 4 hospitals! i dont know if i like that or not. it was a lot of driving around town hosp to hosp on the tour. the residents claim its nice to see different types of pts and work in different systems. but, i found it very confusing as one hosp uses computerized records, one is all paper, one is a mix, etc. however, most rotations in the second yr is at one hospital. only one was new and modern but is only for 3rd yr rotations.

anc staff: some scutwork at county hosp but not much. nurses were good per residents.

documentation: mix. some paper some computer.

didactics: protected time and they are serious about this. 5 hrs one a week. they do an intensive board prep for two months before the inservice exams. they started using a new review bk for boards. lecturers are a mix of residents and faculty.

city: i didnt see much of downtown other than driving on the interstate. since katrina crime has risen, traffic has worsened, and the med system is strained! the residency coordinator lived in a nice area. she hosted the social event which was awesome. good food, booze and everyone was very nice and laid back. but, its the south and most everyone is nice and southern hospitality reins.

perks/benefits: i was disappointed there wasnt more conference time and stipends. they only get $500 in their 3rd yr at graduation and most use this for their boards. but, they recently got approval to pay for your step 3 exam (which is about 650). otherwise pretty standard benefits.

negatives: possibly having to rotate at multiple hospitals and the drive between them. facilities. program director was not at interviews. we didnt even meet or see him. one faculty member said "yeah hes not around much"!!

overall: residents seemed very happy. everyone (residents, faculty, coordinator, etc.) were exceptionally nice.

 

[Redrox]

Hospitals/Facilities:
The Earl (main hospital) is ugly as hell, that'll be your first impression. Looks condemned, post apocalyptic, two grey molding cans stuck side by side. Inside just as bad. Small, dim flickering lights, curtains look dirty. Crowded. Trauma rooms a mess. Residents paper chart standing up. Random chairs with patients.

Earl's only other residencies are internal and OB-gyn. Surgical interns rotate in from New Orleans.

Understand that this hospital will be closed as soon as the new one is finished being built in 2015. Rotate at 4 differant ED's all over town but all your off service rotations as I understand it will be at the Earl. Other ED's in town are pretty damn gorgeous but you'll not spend much time there. Annoying to switch documentation systems at each place.


Residents:
Before thinking this place is a stinker, please note that your second impressions gonna be just how happy the residents are, program must be doing something right. Huge emphasis on just how often they all go out together. Big drinkiers, big partiers, no regrets on choosing their program. Great food. Good job placements, everyone seems optomistic on the future.

Cost of housing higher than you'd expect. Lotta traffic with the post Katrina boom. Pretty much every resident grumbled bout both.

Faculty and Administration:
Didn't meet many faculty, I interviewed and interacted with residents mostly. PD actively encourages moonlighting which was a nice change of pace. Kinda over encourages it actually. Places available seemed to be all single coverage rural. I'm matching this year after doing a TY and PD seemed kinda surprised and dissapointed that I wouldn't feel comfortable moonlighting as early as september in that kinda place. Residents quoted getting $180 + an hour at these places, though.

Location:
Really sold the program for me. Exciting chance to experience a whole new culture, food, college town with a chance to moonlight at football games and get free tickets, massive party town. Close to New Orleans, but tons of tradition of its own. Would be a really unique three years.

Conclusion: Great moonlighting financially. Great residents. Fun town. Kinda crappy facilities but good pathology and good training.

 

[mohands701]

LSU Baton Rouge EM

Hospitals/Facilities:
The residents have transitioned to a new set of hospitals (OLOLRMC and Baton Rouge General Hospital, which is spilit into Blue Bonnett and Mid City). I had the opportunity to see OLOLRMC, which was a fantastic Level II trauma hospital bringing in well over 80,000 a year (I believe they are petitioning to be Level I soon). The population has boomed in Baton Rouge since Katrina so there is tons of sick patients coming through. Baton Rouge General is mixed with a blend of private and inner city pathology.

Curriculum:
You can find it on there website. Only addition I can make is that residents seem to get tons of procedures in the ED alone (one second year told me she had 40 intubations in the ED alone!). Trauma is all run by emergency medicine because there is at least one resident on EM and on trauma any given month (that means a good deal of chest tubes, femoral lines, and intubations).

Residents:
Absolutely awesome group of residents! They are extremely down to earth and very easy to get along with. Love going out! Mix of married and single residents. Seemed very strong and confident in there program and the incredible progress it has made. Encouraged to moonlight as early as September of your second year (some spots even offer up to $180/hr from what I heard).

Faculty and Administration:
By far the most accessible faculty ever, especially Dr. Caffery, the PD. We spent a good half an hour talking about medicine, hobbies, the state of Louisiana as if we had known each other for some time at the residents dinner and my interview with him was one of the most relaxed ones ever. He has only been in the position for a short period of time now, but has already made tremendous curriculum changes. He knows his residents well and really implements change based on there feedback efficiently

Location:
Really sold the program for me. Exciting chance to experience a whole new culture, food, college town with a chance to moonlight at football games and get free tickets, massive party town. Close to New Orleans, but tons of tradition of its own. Would be a really unique three years.

Conclusion: Great moonlighting financially. Great residents. Fun town. Great Facilities too! Only bad thing is the traffic

 

[George P. Burdell]

LSU Baton Rouge EM

Hospitals/Facilities:
The residents have transitioned to a new set of hospitals (OLOLRMC and Baton Rouge General Hospital, which is spilit into Blue Bonnett and Mid City). I had the opportunity to see OLOLRMC, which was a fantastic Level II trauma hospital bringing in well over 80,000 a year (I believe they are petitioning to be Level I soon). The population has boomed in Baton Rouge since Katrina so there is tons of sick patients coming through. Baton Rouge General is mixed with a blend of private and inner city pathology.

Curriculum:
You can find it on there website. Only addition I can make is that residents seem to get tons of procedures in the ED alone (one second year told me she had 40 intubations in the ED alone!). Trauma is all run by emergency medicine because there is at least one resident on EM and on trauma any given month (that means a good deal of chest tubes, femoral lines, and intubations).

Residents:
Absolutely awesome group of residents! They are extremely down to earth and very easy to get along with. Love going out! Mix of married and single residents. Seemed very strong and confident in there program and the incredible progress it has made. Encouraged to moonlight as early as September of your intern year (some spots even offer up to $180/hr from what I heard).

Faculty and Administration:
By far the most accessible faculty ever, especially Dr. Caffery, the PD. We spent a good half an hour talking about wine at the residents dinner and my interview with him was one of the most relaxed ones ever. He has only been in the position for a short period of time now, but has already made tremendous curriculum changes. He knows his residents well and really implements change based on there feedback efficiently

Location:
Really sold the program for me. Exciting chance to experience a whole new culture, food, college town with a chance to moonlight at football games and get free tickets, massive party town. Close to New Orleans, but tons of tradition of its own. Would be a really unique three years.

Conclusion: Great moonlighting financially. Great residents. Fun town. Great Facilities too! Only bad thing is the traffic

 

[popeofem]

Hi. I was thinking about an away rotation here. I've heard amazing things about this program. Tons of pathology and procedures, and Baton Rouge is becoming a trendy place to live. Anyone have anymore insight on this program??

 

[Perrin]

Hi. I was thinking about an away rotation here. I've heard amazing things about this program. Tons of pathology and procedures, and Baton Rouge is becoming a trendy place to live. Anyone have anymore insight on this program??

It is a great program. The EM residency is the biggest one at the hospitals and has a lot of pull towards shaping curriculum and off service rotations. Most of the med students who come really enjoy their time there. You will get exposed to many proceedures and the residents/faculty are very willing to demonstrate and then assist you in performing them. The varied hospitals will expose you to the white collar pts who come in with a packed suitcase and the lowest pimp who got 'jugged' by one of his ladies after beating her one too many times. You will be given a good amount of responsibility as a student, but residents and faculty are very willing to help when needed. You'll get a lot of constructive feedback during your rotation which helps reinforce skills and build confidence.

On the social side, if you do rotate there, brush up on you beer pong, karaoke, pool, and be ready to expand you palette.

 

[William Brydon]

Be careful when reading entries in this thread. This program underwent a complete change in 2013. Any postings prior to 2013 are not relevant to the new program. The city and surroundings are, of course, still the same; but the program itself is not at all related to the one prior to 2013. Different base hospital, different faculty, different leadership, different institutional affiliation, different coordinator, etc. Emergency Medicine now comes under Internal Medicine rather than being its own department. About the only thing that didn't change was the city it's in.

If last year is any indication, rotating at this program as a medical student is highly correlated with not matching in the program. Of all the students that did emergency medicine rotations in 2013-2014, only one matched with the program.

As "Perrin" said above, the variety in the program is broad. However, there seems to be a lot of pressure to sacrifice almost anything to speed. It has something to do with how the faculty are employed by an independent private physician group. Their primary purpose appears to be staffing the entire ER, and primary focus is getting patients through as quickly as possible; not necessarily educating residents and students. Residents work in one part of the ER, and the residency faculty are only a small part of the group who staffs the ER. It isn't really clear, but the staffing group owners and leaders don't seem to be part of the residency program faculty, and the faculty may only be part-time LSU contractors.

The concern for being more of a free labor source for the private ER group rather than a developing resident could be a point to consider when ranking this program.

It would be interesting to hear what the program's residents have to say.

 

[SleepyGator888]

Interviewed here, didn't see any mention of EM falling under IM. Also didn't get a sense that there was any pressure to sacrifice anything for speed. Then again I don't remember the shift schedule here either as I interviewed a long time ago. I'm curious where you got this information from?

 

[George P. Burdell 1973]

William Brydon (above) makes very relevant points. One he left out was moonlighting. Moonlighting is almost impossible when working at the home hospital - Our Lady of the Lake. The monthly schedules for the residents are published so late that it isn't possible to give any available dates to other locations where you may be trying to moonlight. Typically, the resident schedule for any month is supposed to be released on about the 20th of the preceding month. With this late a release date, those residents who are allowed to moonlight cannot give enough notification to staffing agencies to get put on the next month's schedule for locations they could moonlight. The 20th is an ideal goal the program tries for. There have been a several months where the schedule is not released until the final day or two of the month - thus making any moonlighting scheduling for the following month functionally impossible. There was even one month recently where the full monthly schedule was not published until the 2nd of the month. The first day of the month was scheduled and everyone just waited to see when they were working for the rest of the month.

So, even thought moonlighting is technically allowed, it isn't possible when working at the base hospital due to the schedules being published so late. Unfortunately, that's the hospital where they work more often than any others.

The entry from mohands701 above is not correct in that no one is allowed to moonlight unless they have already passed Step 3 and got their own medical license and DEA number. It would be extremely rare for any intern to have completed all that, especially as early as September. The only ones who may qualify are people who have done previous time in another residency program and started over again as an emergency medicine intern.

And, anyone making $180/hour in a moonlighting job should drop out of residency and work full time at that job. I don't think the staff docs in this program make $180/hour.

 

[William Brydon]

Interviewed here, didn't see any mention of EM falling under IM. Also didn't get a sense that there was any pressure to sacrifice anything for speed. Then again I don't remember the shift schedule here either as I interviewed a long time ago. I'm curious where you got this information from?

To answer the question from SleepGator888. The information came from people in the residency program - residents, staff, and faculty. Also, LSU administrative people.

 

[George P. Burdell 1973]

The board written exam performance for the class that just graduated sounds horrible. A third of them didn't even take the exam. Of the remaining ones who did, a third of them failed.
No one I've talked with at my location has ever heard of class with that many people not even taking the exam.
For all the changes the program underwent, it doesn't seem to have helped them.
In the previous entry by "mohands701", he/she mentions "tremendous curriculum changes" made by the new PD. If the recent class' performance is a reflection of his curriculum changes effectiveness, the new PD may want to consider sticking to his commentaries about wine as his contribution to the program.
Definitely consider the class' board exam performance when ranking this program.

 

[Zebra Hunter]

Man, some scathing reviews from individuals not in the program who haven't backed any of their issues with the program up with anything other than hearsay. None of this was made aware to me during interview day or by those that rotated through the program and I have a hard time trusting anonymous internet strangers. I would love if an actual resident or attending from the program could clarify what is being stated, or at least if you are stating hard numbers like "a third of them failed", at least tell us where you got that information.

 

[Makati2008]

Man, some scathing reviews from individuals not in the program who haven't backed any of their issues with the program up with anything other than hearsay. None of this was made aware to me during interview day or by those that rotated through the program and I have a hard time trusting anonymous internet strangers. I would love if an actual resident or attending from the program could clarify what is being stated, or at least if you are stating hard numbers like "a third of them failed", at least tell us where you got that information.

I would totally ignore those two posters. This time of year people will do anything for a perceived edge.

 

[popeofem]

Rotated at this program and it is amazing!!! The residents are all really nice and they see so much crazy pathology in the bayou. i have heard spots here have become exponentially more competitive since the move to the lake hospital and recruitment of young and energetic faculty. Part of it is definitely because they have the most amazing interview dinner! There is a bit of pressure for time in the ER but this allows the residents to see more patients. No one complains. Moving patients is better than having them stalled out in the ER. Here they prefer to practice medicine instead of just talk about it. And practicing emergency med with speed and accuracy is the ultimate nirvana right! You will definitely work here. And eat a lot of shrimp.

 

[popeofem]

Oh and that exam thing is true! Sounds pretty bad. But there were some systemic issues with old class apparently. Talked to some interns who say PD is all business this year with test prep and academics. Board scores and etc are stellar on last couple classes also. So I dunno that's all I got for that.

 

[George P. Burdell 1973]

Oh and that exam thing is true! Sounds pretty bad. But there were some systemic issues with old class apparently. Talked to some interns who say PD is all business this year with test prep and academics. Board scores and etc are stellar on last couple classes also. So I dunno that's all I got for that.

Thank you. I appreciate the confirmation of my report about the board scores. I hope that it might lend credibility to at least some of my other comments.

The actual figures are that the class started with 15 members, but one had to repeat a year, so fourteen graduated.
Nine took the exam. Six passed, and three failed. Five did not take the exam.

Can you let us know what some of the systemic issues with the class were?

 

[Zebra Hunter]

And practicing emergency med with speed and accuracy is the ultimate nirvana right!

Man, this has got to be the weirdest residency review thread I have come across.

 

[Mom2bDocEM]

Thank you. I appreciate the confirmation of my report about the board scores. I hope that it might lend credibility to at least some of my other comments.

The actual figures are that the class started with 15 members, but one had to repeat a year, so fourteen graduated.
Nine took the exam. Six passed, and three failed. Five did not take the exam.

Can you let us know what some of the systemic issues with the class were?

 

[Mom2bDocEM]

I am a chief resident at the LSU Baton Rouge EM Program, and after reading several of the posts I was concerned about the accuracy of the entries in this thread. The program did indeed undergo a transition period in which many changes have occurred. These changes have improved the program tremendously. Currently, the faculty involvement has increased. The faculty is eager to teach and does not sacrifice your educational experience for speed in the ED. Given the nature of any busy EM department in the US, and the nature of the medical issues that must be addressed in the ED, an EM physician must move at a reasonable pace to address the needs of patients whose lives hang in the balance.

In recent years the first time passage rate has been less than stellar, but the new PD along with the faculty are working diligently to insure that the program passage rate increases. According to ACGME requirement a program has to maintain at least an 80% first time passage rate to remain accredited, and my program recently passed accreditation with flying colors. In regards to the last graduating class, theresults of the written exam have not been released to the programs from the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) and those results will not be released until the spring, so it is impossible at this point to know the number of residents that successfully passed. We are confident that the new passage rate will increase with the new changes that have been made.

As a medical student I had the opportunity to shadow and rotate at multiple EM residency programs: University of Maryland, George Washington University, Sinai-Grace Hospital/Wayne State University, and University of Chicago. Reflecting on my experience with other EM programs I understand that no program is perfect, but from my experience at OLOL and Baton Rouge General the quality of my program could match any program in the country. I am open to speaking to any medical students who have any concerns about ranking my program.

 

[Rich Coast]

To Mom2bDocEM,
Your post is well presented, as would be expected of a Chief Resident. It gives a great report for your program. It's understandable that you like your program, but that's still only an opinion. Your point about the accuracy of previous postings was not well addressed. Some of the previous posts made factual assertions that remain unchallenged.

The most significant one (at least for those considering ranking your program) is the breakdown of the most recent class' performance on the board exam. Granted, the ABEM may not release its statistics until the spring, however it is not "impossible to know the number of residents who successfully passed". The individual results have been known for several weeks. It's a bit surprising that the newest alumni haven't called back and told everyone how well they did; or that no one in your program has taken the initiative to contact them and find out. Particularly since you (all) "are confident that the new passage rate will increase with the new changes that have been made." This class' exam scores and feedback would be an excellent preliminary evaluation on the effectiveness of your new program.

If the post above with the specific numbers is correct, the most recent class board performance actually makes the changes in your program appear detrimental (rather than improving it tremendously). Especially since that class' performance cannot have been factored into the "flying colors" performance on your most recent accreditation. In that context, the pass rate for previous classes under the old program must have been at least 80% on average, so a 66% pass rate would seem to be a significant drop in performance. Not to mention how it must look to have over a third of the first post-transition class not even take the exam.

Can you refute the numbers given above? Maybe not officially from the ABEM, but from the graduates themselves as compiled by your program.

It would be tragic to rank your program highly only to find out in the spring, and potentially after matching with you, that the poor performance of the first class to graduate after establishment of (and a third of their residency in) the new program was indeed as presented above.

There are many who would greatly appreciate some objective answers.

 

[DVB]

I rotated at this program and absolutely loved it. I had no complaints except that I wish the rotation was longer. I was interviewed this season and chose to rank this program highly. I saw this forum this morning and decided to join just to add my 2 cents especially given that im trapped in the house due to this crazy blizzard in NY.
To Mom2bDocEM- some of these recently joined negative posters have very detailed information about the program that most medical students wouldnt care to go into detail about on a forum like this. Im also sure residents wouldnt want their program to look bad....but who knows. Who else related to the program would know that previous residents didnt call back or the program didnt reach out to previous residents? Who would be so closely related to know that a third didnt take the exam? Any disgruntled faculty around? Just wondering.....because something seems fishy about a few of the posts.

 

[DVB]

I rotated at this program and absolutely loved it. I had no complaints except that I wish the rotation was longer. I was interviewed this season and chose to rank this program highly. I saw this forum this morning and decided to join just to add my 2 cents especially given that im trapped in the house due to this crazy blizzard in NY.
To Mom2bDocEM- some of these recently joined negative posters have very detailed information about the program that most medical students wouldnt care to go into detail about on a forum like this. Im also sure residents wouldnt want their program to look bad....but who knows. Who else related to the program would know that previous residents didnt call back or the program didnt reach out to previous residents? Who would be so closely related to know that a third didnt take the exam? Any disgruntled faculty around? Just wondering.....because something seems fishy about a few of the posts.

 

[mohands701]

I see a lot of quotes from my post and I would like to make some clarification:

Moonlighting can begin as early as 2nd year in September with great moonlighting opportunities as high as $180/hr. This may or may not have changed in the last year.

The whole "talking about wine with the PD" was mentioned to convey the ease of communication between the program director and his residents and soon-to-be residents. A PD that can communicate with his residents well allows for growth from an academic and social standpoint, which ultimately helps a program. He is new to the position, but from residents I know at the program, he has been doing a phenomenal job with the 2nd and intern year class.

No single EM program is better than another. They each have their niche and ultimately ur strength as an EM doc boils down to you.

I am a resident at a different program, but I know that the graduates at LSU-BR will be great EM physicians!

 

[LSUEMRPco2016]

2nd year resident at LSU. No doubt that the program has not just gotten better, it is a different program. The class who just graduated spent 1 year there and is not an accurate reflection of the education residents will now be receiving. These are very specific stats that even I was unaware of. I'd be interested in learning how you found out such details

 

[CajunMedic]

Have they discussed any rotation changes with the upcoming closure of the BRGMC ED?

 

[William Brydon]

Have they discussed any rotation changes with the upcoming closure of the BRGMC ED?

Since they identify themselves as members of the program, maybe Mom2bDocEM or LSUEMRPco2016 will answer your question. Especially since Mom2bDocEM self-identifies as a Chief Resident.

You have brought up an important point. With the impending closure of the Baton Rouge General Mid-City Emergency Department there are additional questions to consider regarding this program. The seriousness of some of them makes the class board performance pale in comparison. How the resident rotations are changed could also be insignificant.

What is the future financial stability of the program? What is the future financial stability of the home institution? With one hospital’s emergency department failing due to ongoing money loss, are the remaining hospitals in the area fiscally strong enough to absorb that same loss? Are they operationally strong enough to absorb the patient load? Are the patients they are going to absorb indigent patients? This may be the most important question.

Some indicators that may give insight into the future of the program
Reduction in the number of residents taken in the match. This may take a couple of years, but if done this year or next, it indicates significant insecurity for the program’s future.
Following that would be reduction in faculty positions since they are no longer needed due to fewer residents. This may take place a few years after reducing the number of residents.
Dismissal of poorly and marginally performing residents, and if done as complete termination without help in finding somewhere else to go. This last point not only reduces resident numbers, but also contributes to improving board performance since the residents suspected to fail the boards will not be eligible to take the board exam once they’re dismissed.

There are a lot of other things to look for, so these are only a few of the more significant ones. Hopefully, none of the above will happen. But if they do, look for the program being eventually reduced to little more than a token presence.

 

[George P. Burdell 1973]

Baton Rouge General Mid-City will close their emergency room on March 31st.

There are more people that just CajunMedic who would like to know how the program will change its rotations after the loss. Since the Chief Resident and the 2nd year posting in this forum haven't replied yet, maybe someone else could let everyone know what the program's going to do.

 

[LSUEMRPco2016]

Sorry guys, it was Mardi Gras season so I've been busy and not checking on here much.

CajunMedic, I believe they emailed everyone applying a few days ago to address this issue so that you weren't left in the dark. I think it is a huge blow to the community to lose BRG-MC; however, it will not be overly significant to our residents. The plans are still fluid as I know so far but include more rotations at OLOL (which I prefer over any other site), Bluebonnet, possibly OLOL-Livingston. ICU is still being worked out, the ICU is currently still being open meaning that they could transfer pt's from BB campus. I don't think this will be what our ICU rotation remains at. I have heard plans to move us to BB (larger ICU, currently only having 3 IM residents on) or OLOL (same situation). I'll let you know when I find this out for sure.

As far as other insightful points made on here:
1. The other hospitals we work at are financially flourishing. OLOL has the contract w the State for indigent care so they get reimbursed where as MC did not which largely contributed to their forced closing. None of the hospitals pay for our salary. This comes from LSUHSC-NO paying hospitals to use us. Obviously they will now pay different hospitals what they were paying for each cap at MC. Again, small impact on residents
2. There is no reduction in residents taken, that was just a pointless game of what-if
3. See #2, that one doesn't even make sense. The only impact on faculty is for those affected by MC's closing
4. Great idea for improving our board scores, maybe that would let GPB discuss something else. In the 2 years I have been involved with the program, there has been no resident released purely for performance reasons. For the exceptional cases, we have had 2 residents repeat 6 months - 1 year to allow them more time in training. We also have academic enhancement programs for residents who do not meet their goals on In-Service. This consists of extra reading assignments and scheduling to assure 100% conference attendance. This program is new to ensure improved performance throughout the program.

 

[Circlehook]

Anyone affiliated with the program who can update us on the rotation changes discussed by @LSUEMRPco2016 above? Any other changes in the program following closure of the ED at BRG-MC? Any updates for the current application cycle would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[BabMorgagni]

Bump

 

[William Brydon]

Anyone affiliated with the program who can update us on the rotation changes discussed by @LSUEMRPco2016 above? Any other changes in the program following closure of the ED at BRG-MC? Any updates for the current application cycle would be appreciated. Thanks!

Some updates, and some insights on LSUEMRPco2016's post from February 5th above.
1. Financially flourishing hospitals.
The base hospital, Our Lady of the Lake, had a $15 million short-fall in their budget for medical education.
http://theadvocate.com/home/12128303-125/hospital-chief-lsu-lake-hospital-deal

The sponsoring institution, LSUHSC-NO, (the one that pays residents' salaries) had a $50 million "legacy cost" unexpectedly dropped on them in this year's budget.
http://theadvocate.com/home/12128541-125/privatization-deals-leave-schools-stuck

The base hospital is insistent that the money they get from the State is not for indigent care, but only for resident education. Yet, they still had the $15 million shortfall.
http://louisianavoice.com/2015/03/0...se-by-the-day-olol-refuses-indigent-patients/

2. No reduction in residents.
The program is taking only 12 residents - a reduction from 15 they've taken in the past. And, this happening in only the second year after the transition.

3. No reduction in faculty.
Formerly had 15, now only 13 - at least that's what's listed on their web-site. See what happens to he faculty numbers when the total resident count drops from 45 down to 36.

4. Dismissal of poorly performing residents.
They just had one quit outright, so that one technically doesn't count as being released. See what happens in the future. The most significant point is whether they're simply kicked to the curb, or if the program makes any attempt to help them into another residency program.

Keep an eye on what happens with Baton Rouge General. They're making plans for economic diversification of their campuses.
http://theadvocate.com/news/business/13948256-125/baton-rouge-general-unveils-strategy
The most significant point to look for is which services they either drop or move to the Bluebonnet campus.

 

[Rich Coast]

A couple more things to consider.

The LSU programs financial statuses are questionable.
http://theadvocate.com/news/14895097-124/hospitals-bracing-for-hits-linked-to-state-budget-crisis
With the condition of the Louisiana State budget, the public-private "partnerships" are on very shaky ground. Louisiana's past history is that healthcare and higher education get cut first and most when attempting to balance budgets.
Pay particular attention to the comments about terminating the agreement by the CEO of this program's base hospital, Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center.

The relationship between the private attendings and this residency program doesn't seem to be all that great.
http://louisianavoice.com/2016/02/17/louisianavoice-reveals-pair-of-frustrating-episodes-that-reveal-problems-of-state-hospital-privatization-closures/
The quoted email in the second half of this article isn't covering an isolated event when considering the "Increasing of late, I am getting this type of feedback, ..." comment. The paragraph with "... stereotypical dysfunctional training facility ..." gives a lot of insight.

Just some more things to think about.

 

[LSUBR2018]

Alright, I've tried to stay away from this thread long enough, but it seems that there is a single person who is continuously attempting to discredit my program on a highly visualized site around rank list certification time.

I'm a current intern here at LSU-BR, and I chose this program for the autonomy, the acuity, and I loved the residents I met during my interview day.

As for issues that have been brought up in this thread:

1. People that do aways here don't match here. Completely false, as one of our current interns did their away here.

2. Residents doing poorly on boards. I can't speak for past classes; however, Dr. Caffery's first class that he brought in (our current 2nd years), all but 2 performed above the 50th percentile on their in-service exam, and if STEP scores are any indication of future success on the in-service our intern class should do just as well or better.

3. Sacrificing learning for speed. I'm not sure where this comes from. Most of my attendings have had no trouble explaining to me their thought process in great detail regarding the management of the pt we are seeing together whenever I have a question. That being said, one of the most important jobs of EM doc out in the community is throughput, so practicing seeing more pts is part of the learning process.

4. Moonlighting issues. According to my upper levels, there has been some issues regarding setting up moonlighting shifts; however, most residents in this program still manage to moonlight extensively. I know at least 2 3rd years that are making 6 figures this year with moonlighting.

5. Decreased residency size from 15 to 12. This is true and from what was explained to us, our size was always supposed to be 12; however, following Katrina, LSU-NO had downsized their program and gave more funding for us to take 3 extra spots. Now the LSU-NO is back to their pre-Katrina allotment of residency spots, we lose our extra spots.

6. Decreased faculty size. We actually still have 15. It would seem that the poster above did not get to meet Dr. Gregory or Dr. Greer, who are both awesome clinicians and enjoyable to work with.

7. Location of the new ICU rotation that was previously at Mid City. New location is now at Baton Rouge General-Bluebonnet

8. Hospitals closing. Despite a detriment to the BR community, this has actually been a blessing for the residents of our program, as much of the indigent population that presented to Mid City and Earl K. Long now receives their care at BRG-BB or OLOL so we see a great mix of pts.


To keep it short, every residency program has issues. The autonomy allowed to our residents from day 1 is amazing, and we have attendings that encourage us to place ourselves in situations we are not completely comfortable with early on (obviously with their support). This, IMO, provides tremendous growth for us interns early on, as we become much more at ease with helping manage critical patients. The acuity we see at OLOL is exceptional since all of the 4's and 5's are syphoned off by either fast track or what we call our "T-pod". It is also not uncommon to have multiple GSWs in a shift. I know my first day of a shadow shift during my orientation month, I got to do a sitting intubation with our amazing "airway guru" (as we like to call him), Dr. Paul, and saw 3 seperate GSWs to the head. I know a few weeks ago, our "C-side" intubated 4 patients within a span of 9 minutes. You will be prepared for anything coming out of this program, and employers appear to think so, as well. Speaking with several of our 3rd years, they have taken many incredible, well-paying job offers ($250+/hr), in areas like Austin, the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Central Texas, New Hampshire, North Carolina. I bring this all up without mentioning what I believe is the biggest draw to our program, the residents. I've become close friends with those in my intern class up to the 3rd years. They are all great people, great doctors, and great to hang out with inside and outside of work.

I'm here if any of y'all med students have questions. Please feel free to message me.

 

[William Brydon]

Another newspaper article to take a look at:
http://theadvocate.com/news/1491899...ure-with-louisiana-amid-disastrous-budget-tal
The second half of the article has medical student and the Medical School Dean's comments.
The Dean's use of the word "anxiety" is an understatement regarding the concerns over the hospital public-private partnerships.

 

[Rich Coast]

The private partners are ready to terminate the agreements unless they're funded.
http://theadvocate.com/news/legisla...risis-threatens-charity-hospital-partnerships
Look at what even with the "best-case" scenarios entail.
And Our Lady of the Lake Hospital is emphatic that the money is not for indigent care, but for medical education. So, when it gets cut ...?
Ever more to think about.

 

[Bigbreath]

The LSU-BR program is awesome. It more than prepared me for the real world of Emergency Medicine. I am the highest performing MD in this ED and have the best patient satisfaction scores...I graduated before EKL officially shut down but OLOL and both BRGMC campuses were part of our rotations. I am in Texas making bank🙂.

 

[William Brydon]

And even another newspaper article to study:
http://theadvocate.com/news/1533376...rs-budget-including-baton-rouge-and-Lafayette
Look for the base hospital to start dropping services provided by residents. The smaller services will be first. If they drop any services before the new budget starts in July it's a signal of even more services being dropped after July.

 

[Rich Coast]

Another resident was recently terminated from the program. That's two gone in less than one year.

Point number 5 in LSUBR2018's post above. The three lost residency positions were not returned to LSU-NO. Residency positions are not owned by residency programs. They're owned by hospitals. The three positions were owned by Baton Rouge General. When the mid-city emergency room closed, there were three places that were no longer being used. The base hospital Our Lady of the Lake had the opportunity to take them, but chose not to fund them. Baton Rouge General doesn't want or need any more emergency residents at their remaining Bluebonnet location. So, the program was reduced in size because no one wanted to support the program's keeping three positions. At least not for emergency medicine residents. Look for Baton Rouge General to be increasing their Internal Medicine and possibly their Family Medicine programs.

 

[Mary Walker]

I've tried contacting the three people in this thread who identify themselves as residents at this program.

About a year ago I contacted Mom2bDocEM. She was Chief Resident at the time and I had a very nice email exchange with her. She was generally positive about her program, but when asked specific questions about it gave very vague and non-specific answers.

Several months later I contacted LSUEMRPco2016. No reply.

A few months I tried contacting LSUBR2018. No reply, even after two follow-up attempts.

Is there anyone at this program that is willing to talk about the program? Anyone have any contacts?

 

[Rich Coast]

USMLE scores matter more than anything else. If you're under 240, don't bother to apply.
Don't hope to get a SLOR from a student rotation. Rarely done.
Unless your board scores are above 240, a student rotation doesn't help with matching.
Don't be from an osteopathic school.
Don't be from a Caribbean school. (Unless you're the niece of a Baton Rouge General attending doctor.)
There's a good probability that you could get terminated from the program before finishing residency.
There's a probability that you may finish the program, but then be informed after finishing that you're not going to be allowed to take the Board Exam.

 

[deleted497653]

There is a lot of negativity on this thread and that's just sad.

I interviewed here more than 3 years ago but ranked the program lower than others because when I interviewed a lot of things were in the works but were not going to be completed by the time I started residency e.g they discussed that rotations were being moved to a new or different hospital etc.

Pros: Faculty seemed pleasant. There seemed to be time for studying and good work/time off balance (I don't remember the number of shifts/month), the class is large enough so you have a good chance to matching EM if you're average or below average which I thought was a plus (No offense intended, but not everyone applying to EM is a rockstar student), the residents were great to socialize well.

The biggest con of this place is that it is in Baton Rouge. The city is just ROUGH. Few people grow up wanting to end up in Baton Rouge. But if you really want to be an EM doc then it's really not the worst program out there ....and you can do anything for 3 years.

The program is not stellar by any means but the theme with EM programs is that if it is accredited, you will get ok training there.

 

[Emilio G. Volz]

Folks,

It has been brought to my attention that this forum has some negative posts about my program and I would like to make some comments.

I moved here from Delaware about 1 year ago and I have to say I am incredibly happy to be a part of this program.

The current residents are strong, hard workers, we have a lot of fun on shift and learn a lot from each other.

The faculty are motivated, smart and a pleasure to work with. I am proud to call many of them my friends.

About 3 years ago, the program underwent a major transformation. I was not here, but from what I can see, this was an extremely positive change.

As expected, some people were negatively affected and there are people out there who are bitter and want to hurt the program through anonymous posts on this forum.

As with any residency program, there are pros and cons to coming here, which I am happy to discuss with any potential applicant.

Luckily, getting in contact with me is quite easy! My personal e-mail is [email protected] (my e-mail is not a secret and is posted all over the fellowship website).

All residents and students have direct access to me via that e-mail, I am also happy to meet in person or via google chat/facetime.

My only request is that you step out of the shadows and contact me with your private e-mail.

I will only respond to people who write to me directly and will not respond to anonymous accounts.

I wish you well and bid you all good luck!

Sincerely,

Emilio G. Volz, M.D.
Associate Program Director
Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship Director
LSU Emergency Medicine Residency Program
Baton Rouge, LA

 

[William Brydon]

Another resident was recently terminated from the program. That's two gone in less than one year.

Point number 5 in LSUBR2018's post above. The three lost residency positions were not returned to LSU-NO. Residency positions are not owned by residency programs. They're owned by hospitals. The three positions were owned by Baton Rouge General. When the mid-city emergency room closed, there were three places that were no longer being used. The base hospital Our Lady of the Lake had the opportunity to take them, but chose not to fund them. Baton Rouge General doesn't want or need any more emergency residents at their remaining Bluebonnet location. So, the program was reduced in size because no one wanted to support the program's keeping three positions. At least not for emergency medicine residents. Look for Baton Rouge General to be increasing their Internal Medicine and possibly their Family Medicine programs.

The Baton Rouge General Internal Medicine program increased it's new residency class size. The LSU New Orleans program did not increase their programs' sizes.
The "lost" residency positions did not return to New Orleans as indicated by LSUBR2018.

 

[Sideways Mascot]

The question about the majority of the recent posts on this site is not whether they're negative or not. They are clearly negative. The issue is whether they're true or not.
The people blasting the program give links with references to support their assertions. Seems at least reasonably credible.
The people claiming to be members of the program give their opinions and personal evaluations - many of which are later refuted by the people criticizing the program.
Confusing at best.

 

[LSUBREM]

What questions do you have? I have experience living the resident life at this program. I can tell you that the negative parts of this thread have not been true for me. What parts of the thread do you want me to say are not true?