anyone doing a rotation at UC Irvine...

[nofear]

Anyone have any insight to this program or its competitivness and any goods or bads....
Thanks so much

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[FlemishGiant]

Anyone have any insight to this program or its competitivness and any goods or bads....
Thanks so much

Prob the most cush program in So. Cal. w/ those 2 things said, it is very competive for a. location (residents live at the beach) and b. lifestyle (things can get... slow sometimes). Residents are friendly and mellow. Path is fine, EM does airway on trauma (mostly blunt). Great U/S program. Over all a solid program in a fantastic location. Oh yea, its 3 years.

 

[11-44]

One word: somber.

 

[colforbinMD]

One word: somber.

I did a month as an U/S rotation there. Somber couldn't be further from my experience. If it weren't so far from home and competetive I might have applied and it probably would have been at the tippy top of my list

 

[AlienHand]

I rotated at UCI earlier this year. They have a strong faculty representing many facets of EM, including ultrasound, tox, EMS, disaster medicine, and health policy. The ultrasound program is especially strong, and Dr. Fox, the ultrasound guy, is fun to work with. I didn't encounter any malignant attendings. The atmosphere during the didactic sessions was collegial. The faculty and residents are active in local, state, and national EM organizations.

Having said that, I found the patient population lacking in terms of both volume and acuity. Too much time spent on urgent care and psych patients, and not enough complicated medical patients to go around. When it comes to trauma, Surgery clearly wears the pants in the family; EM residents only handle the airway except when rotating on trauma surgery. Procedures in the ED are somewhat scarce, but I don't doubt that residents become proficient during their off-service rotations.

I saw a patient with a large pneumothorax that was discovered on CXR after the trauma team left the ER. Vital signs were stable. The second year called Trauma for permission to put in a chest tube. (A bad sign.) Trauma didn't give permission but instead came down and took the procedure. (Even worse!) In busy centers, no one fights over procedures because there are plenty to go around, and in this case the fact that the EM resident had to ask permission to perform a clearly indicated prodcedure showed a lack of respect for EM within the institution.

I consider UCI an average program, but it seems to attract a lot of strong applicants due to the program's location in So Cal.

 

[morgaleese]

I'll echo your positive comments about Chris Fox. I've known him since his ultrasound fellowship...this guy is not only REALLY smart, REALLY talented, he's also one of the most fun, cool guys you'll ever have the honor of hanging out with. His name and "somber" can't coexist in the same sentence! He alone makes that program worth considering.

I rotated at UCI earlier this year. They have a strong faculty representing many facets of EM, including ultrasound, tox, EMS, disaster medicine, and health policy. The ultrasound program is especially strong, and Dr. Fox, the ultrasound guy, is fun to work with. I didn't encounter any malignant attendings. The atmosphere during the didactic sessions was collegial. The faculty and residents are active in local, state, and national EM organizations.

Having said that, I found the patient population lacking in terms of both volume and acuity. Too much time spent on urgent care and psych patients, and not enough complicated medical patients to go around. When it comes to trauma, Surgery clearly wears the pants in the family; EM residents only handle the airway except when rotating on trauma surgery. Procedures in the ED are somewhat scarce, but I don't doubt that residents become proficient during their off-service rotations.

I saw a patient with a large pneumothorax that was discovered on CXR after the trauma team left the ER. Vital signs were stable. The second year called Trauma for permission to put in a chest tube. (A bad sign.) Trauma didn't give permission but instead came down and took the procedure. (Even worse!) In busy centers, no one fights over procedures because there are plenty to go around, and in this case the fact that the EM resident had to ask permission to perform a clearly indicated prodcedure showed a lack of respect for EM within the institution.

I consider UCI an average program, but it seems to attract a lot of strong applicants due to the program's location in So Cal.

 

[11-44]

Shifts are not cush, an assumption made by some because its SoCal and they are probably desirous to come back after 4 years of medschool in snow-ridden states- 20x12 hours a month as intern- slightly reduced in second year. 6 residents a year. Hierarchy is slated towards trauma. PD is not particularly outgoing. Very expensive area to live- forget buying. Acute side of ER is cramped and beds are separated by curtains. Hospital has a disjointed feel. Fox is a diamond in rough, but not enough to justify working there despite all other considerations. If inclined, go and find out. If you like it, great. Just not to my liking. One plus is deletion of IM month from cirriculum.

FYI, the involvement in resident political groups is most likely because this is a primary focus of the Chair. Moonlighting appears to be severly frowned upon (if even allowed) in place of 'voluntary roles' in community and residency political activities. Substantial stress by admin on faculty to publish and become involved in political roles.

 

[The Game]

As a current resident in the UCI program, I'm writing this response to correct some statements made in earlier posts and hopefully clarify some points for the OP.. I have no interest in trying to make this program appear better than it is, so do not think that I'm blowing smoke up your a$$ because I'm a resident here. Our program, along with essentially most other EM programs in the country is very desirable by qualified candidates and this is only to point out some minor inaccuracies in previous post.

1) I agree that this program is not the most cush, especially in 1 and 2 years (which is great cuz that's when your learning curve is the highest), but during 3rd year, monthly schedule is usually 15 shifts (8-10 hrs) which leaves much time for extracurrics and yes, moonlighting
2) Moonlighting is not frowned upon, and half of current 3rd year class is moonlighting
3) I do not have any idea about "political party involvement". it is certainly an option to be involved in EM politics and decision making if one is interested, but it is certainly not an emphasis. In fact if any thing is emphasized here, it is doing a good research project and faculty and PD go out of way to facilitate that
4) Trauma: we run airway, surg runs trauma. when we rotate on trauma service, we do the traumas and get more than enuf experience in doing so.
I agree that our traumas are mostly blunt, so it's certainly not USC where you'll be getting multiple gunshots a day.
5) Chest tube: Surgery gets first-crack cuz they're the ones managing it (and its complications) upstairs. We do more than enuf in the ED, and on ICU and surgery months. and if you've done a couple you realize that it's a big tube going into a big chest, and doesn't take 250 chest tubes to figure out where it goes and how to put it there.
6) Housing - Agree, it's ridiculous. Unless you saved up a lot of cash or are inherently loaded, unlikely to buy during residency.
7) Fox - KICKS ASS. agreed by all.
8) Acuity - disagree. just last nite, had a guy with pH 6.75 after a week of replacing insulin with Vodka. Central line, intubation, cardioversion, the whole show. as an intern, i've already seen great pathology, lots of procedures and its only gonna get more dirty baby!

Dont wanna ramble on anymore, coming off night shifts and can't fall asleep so sorry for the long response. Final word for all aplicants is to realize that you are gonna get a great training in almost all EM programs you go and while each is different (trauma, helicopter time, 4 vs 3 yrs), at the end, the final product depends on you and your involvement. Focus less on the minor differences (ICU months, ...) and more on the important stuff like (where you'll be happiest living, being near or far from family, beach vs mountains, and who's got the hottes residents)...loved that post
Good luck to all of you applying, and party it up until July

 

[colforbinMD]

Nice post The Game. Thanks. Only thing I would add is the residents there were mostly all cool people who got along well and I thought would be fun to train with. Except this one intern...... j/k