Add insight Utah and Case Western UH

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PassinGas

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I am trying to decide between two programs and would appreciate any input on Case Western Reserve University Hospitals and the University of Utah.

I am looking to return to the southeast after residency and am curious if one program would have a stronger name here or not...or if it even matters. Also, if I choose to do a fellowship, would one program be stronger than another when applying for fellowship. Again, does it matter?

Thanks

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I really enjoyed my interviews at each of these programs. I applied to these places because I had heard great things about the happy residents, friendly attendings, and low cost of living and I found that the rumors that I had heard were all true. Both great places to live, both have friendly, excellent chairman and PD's, and the residents looked very pleased to be in their respective places.

Where did you feel most comfortable? Do you like the mountains or the "North Coast" of the U.S. (being Cleveland?)

- As far as name recognition if you are going for the Southeastern U.S.??? I would guess they are on equal footing. The job market is going to be good for awhile so I think you could go to either program and still find a good job in a place you want to settle.

Good luck, I'm having a hard time sorting out the order as well. Although I'm leaning towards more east coast programs at the moment, I think both Utah and Case will be in good spots on my list.
 
Palabra:

Yes, I was referring to the southeastern US.

I enjoyed the two programs as well, which is making for a very tough decision on my part.

The residents all seemed happy at both programs. I liked both cities in different ways, of course. The programs both seemed strong. I guess that I would say that I see more posts on SDN with regard to Utah since that one post describing tiers was put out and mentions Utah but not CWRUH. However, I would think that the name of Case Western is a bit stronger generally speaking, but I may be mistaken. As far as which program I feel most comfortable at, I'm not sure...1 day is just too short when the decision is this close.

Based on some reviews that I've read, I believe that Case Western residents work a bit less--if I'm correct, they work an average of about 55 hours/wk and get out around 4PM on average. As far as I can tell, Utah works a bit more--around 65-70 hours per week and get out around 5-7PM on average. Can anyone validate this info. I'm not saying that I will simply choose the program with fewer hours, but it may factor a bit. I may choose Utah just for the mountains...man this is hard.

Any other insights into these two programs that may help me make a decision would be most appreciated.
 
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I don't know anything about Case Western, but here is what I know about Utah (did an away there):

-residents extremely happy
-did hear that work was 65-70 hrs/week, some months home by 4-5, others home by 6-7.
-Chairman & PD are huge resident advocates
-faculty on a first name basis with residents (except for a few), very laid back and happy people
-5-6 calls/mo, with 2 weekends/mo on. your precall day home by 10-12 AM (pretty religously), obviously post call day home by 7 AM
-all residents get along very well w/ each other, most are married, 30-40% are mormon
-a couple CA-3s feel that 4 months of elective time in their last year is not enough, the chiefs and other CA-3s feel like it is enough
-chairman came from UCSF about 3 yrs ago and is HIGHLY regarded in the Anesthesia community

good luck with your choice, i thought an overall great program and will be ranked highly by me
 
For Utah: When you say 2 weekends/month on, do you meen the whole weekend on or just one day of call (yes, I know it's almost the same, I'm just curious)? Also, are the two weekends counted in your total of 5-6 days/month of call? Thanks.
 
PassinGas said:
For Utah: When you say 2 weekends/month on, do you meen the whole weekend on or just one day of call (yes, I know it's almost the same, I'm just curious)? Also, are the two weekends counted in your total of 5-6 days/month of call? Thanks.

On call 5-6 days per month, and 2 of those days will be weekend days, just for 1 day of the weekend. The residents are NOT on for the whole weekend. Yes, the 2 weekend days are included in the 5-6 days/mo. Sorry for the confusion.
 
No problem...thanks for the clarification. By the way, what do you think about fellowship opportunities coming out of Utah?
 
What I learned was that most graduates choose to go into private practice after graduation. Many want to stay in Utah for lifestyle (mts, skiing, etc) or for family reasons. I would guess with Cahalan coming from UCSF and being so well known, coupled with less people doing fellowships secondary to such high paying private practice jobs, that it wouldn't be too hard - but this is all personal speculation.

I also learned that Dr. Cahalan set up special fellowship arrangements for CA3s who want to stay at the UofUtah whereby they will be doing fellowship a couple days a week and also working as an attending a couple days a week. It's a win for the fellow b/c they earn an attending salary for a couple days a week, and a win for the school b/c they get to keep the resident as faculty.

Check out their Alumni newsletter: http://anesth.med.utah.edu/postgrad/central_line.pdf

Looks like from class of 2004, 2 are doing fellowships at Utah and 1 is doing a cardiac fellowship at UCSD.
Hope this helps - Good luck with match

Hope this helps!


PassinGas said:
No problem...thanks for the clarification. By the way, what do you think about fellowship opportunities coming out of Utah?
 
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