Best Peds Residencies in the South?

[BigBlueDoc]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I've been reading in the forums about programs in the Midwest and Northeast, but haven't heard much about Peds residencies in the South. I plan on applying to some of the better programs in other regions, but have more personal reasons to stay in the South if possible. The programs I am considering in the South include:

Vanderbilt
Emory
UT-Memphis
Virginia
Eastern Virginia
Duke
North Carolina
Alabama-Birmingham
Florida-Gainesville
Florida-Jacksonville
FSU
Wake Forest
Cincinatti

What do you know about the reputations of Peds residencies in the South? Personal testimonies will also be appreciated.

 

[TexasRose]

There aren't any Texas programs in there. Are we not South this time? 😉

 

[No1Cub17]

Haha, Cincinnati isn't really "south". And I agree with TexasRose - where's the texas love? (I can't believe I'm saying this as a Sooner!), but from what I gather UTSW and Baylor would be the top 2 in texas (am I right, TexasRose?). I imagine UT Houston is pretty solid too. And UT-Memphis has St Jude if you're thinking Hem/Onc.

 

[BigBlueDoc]

I appreciate the Texas love. Didn't mean to offend Texas. I'm so far East I guess I think of Texas as more the great frontier than the South. Cincinnati feels like the South, even if it is in Yankee country. Of course, my in-laws in Alabama don't really consider Kentucky as in the South either.

 

[coldflare]

I went to med school at Emory, interviewed at twelve programs all over the southeast, (Georgia, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia), and my final rank list was as follows:

1. UF (Jacksonville)
2. MUSC (Charleston)
3. Carolinas Medical (Charlotte)
4. UAB (Birmingham)
5. Emory (Atlanta)

Matched #1, and I love it here. I thought that UF Jacksonville and MUSC seemed like fairly similar programs, with similar size and locations in Atlantic coastal cities. UF Jacksonville is affiliated with the Nemours/DePont empire and Nemours Children's Clinic, which is great for attracting subspecialty and tertiary care. Carolinas seemed like an excellent place to train, the residents were happy, and they have a brand new children's hospital. UAB and Emory are also pretty similar, both with larger urban settings and similar patient demographics. They both have excellent reputations and resources, and both offer a full complement of pediatric fellowships. I noticed that the residents at Emory and UAB seemed more stressed and intense than at other places, but whether it attracted them that way or made them that way was unclear to me at the time.

My recommendation is to keep your mind open when you visit - my initial rank list was appropriately organized by reputation and prestige, but I found that the reputation of a program doesn't necessarily tell you much about its organization, its politics, its setting, its educational style, or the satisfaction and happiness of its residents. When I saw these things first hand, some programs with great reputations dropped further and further down my final list, and others dropped off entirely. It's all about finding the right fit, an environment in which you will thrive, and learn well, and stay excited about it.

 

[Stitch]

Big Blue, I trained at Eastern Virginia/King's Daughters if you want to hear about it. We're not Carolina South, but we're still the southeast, and I love that program. It's fantastic and treats the residents extremely well. The program director is one of the nicest and smartest guys I know, and I feel well trained out on my first job post residency.

 

[J-Rad]

Stitch: congrats on you're graduation and new job. (Working with one of the CHKD groups now?)
I'll back up Stitch and say that while I was not a resident at CHKD in my experiences rotating through a few different departments, the residents seemed happy and the majority of them were nice. No dummies in the group that I met. A great many of the staff that I worked with on rotations were excellent and I enjoyed my times across the river there. The area is OK (traffic kinda sucks, but it's not the worst in the country) and I think I'm going to miss the mild winters down there.

 

[Stitch]

Stitch: congrats on you're graduation and new job. (Working with one of the CHKD groups now?)
I'll back up Stitch and say that while I was not a resident at CHKD in my experiences rotating through a few different departments, the residents seemed happy and the majority of them were nice. No dummies in the group that I met. A great many of the staff that I worked with on rotations were excellent and I enjoyed my times across the river there. The area is OK (traffic kinda sucks, but it's not the worst in the country) and I think I'm going to miss the mild winters down there.

Thanks! And yup, I'm working at the main hospital now instead of private practice stuff. When the wife finishes we're both looking at fellowships.

 

[CIO316]

What is the call schedule like at CHKD? Sorry if this has been asked/discussed before but could you give pros and cons of the program. Thanks!

 

[Stitch]

What is the call schedule like at CHKD? Sorry if this has been asked/discussed before but could you give pros and cons of the program. Thanks!

The call schedule is generally q4 with some q5s thrown in here and there. Nothing more frequent. Call is heaviest intern year, then slows down after that. Seniors are night float, and there's a lot of pressure from above to stay within work hour limits. There's also a lot of effort to make sure interns on the wards get their work done and are out of the hospital by noon on their post-call days, and that's a good thing.

The pros of the program are the program director and chairman who are both seriously dedicated to resident learning. We were very well taken care of at KD, from meal cards to a very nice retreat at a golf resort in November to day to day support. I'd say the rest of the professional staff follows that example and focuses on teaching; the teaching really is phenomenal. They're very responsive to resident input. Board passing rate is 95% last time I checked, and I felt prepared when I took them (or at least as prepared as you can be).

And dude, our lounge is amazing, with hardwood floors and a 40 inch LCD HDTV and Wii system plus multiple computers and work areas. My class was very close and the residents are very supportive of one another. We take 17 a year, so you don't feel lost in the numbers, but there's still plenty of backup if someone gets pregnant or sick. We're friends and hang out when we're not at the hospital, which always makes for a better work environment. When you graduate, the program continues to support you and it's not unusual to have recent grads in fellowship or general practice call CHKD to bounce ideas off an attending. You park (for free) either in a parking deck across the street from the hospital, or you live close by like I do and walk.

Cons: Our ER isn't a trauma center, so you don't see the peds traumas. You will take care of them in the PICU however, and there's still plenty of volume.

We're trying to become a cardiac surgery center, but that's in transition right now. We have 2 part-time CT surgeons who are working to come to CHKD full-time, but at the moment we have 9-12 CT surgeries a month and are working to increase it to 20-30 cases a month. We have dedicated peds anesthesiologists and an experienced PICU staff, it's just a matter of getting the surgeons here full-time.

The cafeteria isn't that good, but the program supplies lunches (often catered).

Hope that helps!

 

[CIO316]

Thanks so much. That is really helpful!

 

[HappyToBeHere]

I have an interview coming up at MUSC. Quick question for anyone that interviewed there: do you know the type of interviews that they give? I've had both the more traditional ("tell me about your biggest weakness") and the more conversational.