Calling all philly people!!!!! Lankenau or Graduate!!!!!

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marchiafava

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I am about to enter my rank list for dually accredited internships, and I am having trouble deciding between two places: Graduate Hospital and Lankenau Hospital. I liked both places and they are both dual accredited, which is nice because I am a D.O. but will be doing a M.D. Neuro Residency. If anyone has any opinions on either of these I would appreciate it.

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I interviewed at both Lankenau and Graduate last year when looking for an internship program. I ended up at neither, since I am pursuing anesthesia, and I was able to do a AOA-approved internship and did not need a dually accredited program. I really liked Lankenau at my interview....great facility, excellent teaching with morning report, noon lecture, plus teaching rounds daily. They take 6 DO's for the categorical internal medicine program and 2 DO's for prelim medicine spots. From what I remember, though, you'll do
something like 9 months of medicine and something like 9 months of q4 call. They do have a cap on admissions (5) as far as I know.

Graduate, on the other hand, I believe does a system where you are on short call q5 and overnight call q10. I didn't get the impression that the teaching was quite as good as Lankenau, however the call didn't seem as brutal, either. I ranked Lankenau higher than Graduate mainly because (1) Lankenau was about 5-10 minutes from where I live, as opposed to Graduate being in South Philly, and (2) I was somewhat turned off by Graduate's "if you don't tell us you're our first choice than we're not even going to rank you" conversation I had with the program director prior to match. Although I did get phone calls from Lankenau as well, they were much less pressuring and much more understanding about my undecidedness prior to the match. Personally I think you might learn more at Lankenau, but I think you'll work a lot harder, too.

Both are good programs, and really two of the only choices (besides Mercy Fitz) of you need a dually accredited program for neuro. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for your response. I really appreciate it. I guess I am looking for utopia: Decent call with an excellent education. I am inclined to take Graduate because the call is very nice and I'm sure I will get what I need out of it. I did really like Lankenau, it seemed very strong, very good with IM, but 9 months of Q4....?? Where are you now for internship and what is your call like????
 
I am at Delaware County Memorial Hospital in Drexel Hill. We rotate through DCMH, Crozer Chester Med. Center, and Springfield Hospital. I chose this program because it is a true transitional program and not solely medicine based. Our required rotations are medicine (1 mo), surgery (1 mo), cardio (1 mo), ER (1 mo), Peds (1 mo), FP (1 mo), Rad Onc (1 mo), and trauma (1 mo). We have anywhere between 3-5 months of elective time and it is up to us what we do....I did radiology, PM&R, and will do ophto and anesthesia later in the year. So we get a great varied experience. We only take call during our three months at Crozer. We take Peds and Trauma call which is q4, as well as medicine call which is q4 except that there is night float so during the week you leave at 10 pm. And during Family Med you have to come in on 3/4 Saturdays to round, and take office hours one night a week from 5-8, other than that there is no call on FP. I am very happy with my program, learning a lot, great attendings, etc.

Did you rotate at Lankenau or Graduate? If you're still really unsure, I would suggest spending a day and/or night on call at each if you have the time...that might give you more inside prospective. Good luck!
 
i spent 12 weeks at lankenau. 8 during 3rd year. and 4 during 4th. interviewed at graduate about 3 wks ago.

lank is definitely newer and nicer. the call is q4 overnight, though. and it's a drive from phillly. the guy who runs grand rounds - is the most loved/hated attending - dr. cohen. he gets pimp speakers all the time. really commited to education. just built a new education center. lots of money there. computerized everything there (except order entry, which might be by now). nursing is solid. nice ER. not too many bums walking in.

graduate is kinda sh1tty as far as facilities are concerned. but they don't work that hard, at all. plus, you can live in the city and walk to work. population is mostly lower class. education seems fine. call is laughable. people are nice. both places have their share of prelims.

i'm ranking graduate 1st - great call schedule, fair didactics, reasonable work load, nice people, walking distance from nice places to live in the city - it is NOT in south philly. it's lombard and 18th.

if location is not that big of a deal, i would probably go with lank.
 
Thank you both for your replies. They gave me some insight. I guess my hangup is will I be a better intern coming from lank or just as good at Graduate??? Basically, I would think it is like everything else in this world, you get out what you put in. I just want to be prepared for neuro residency.... be comfortable with reading chest films, ekgs, other medical things.... so I can put most of my mind to learning neurology. I am thinking Graduate is my number 1.

p.s. location isnt an issue because i live in fox chase with my girlfriend and to get to either will take 30 minutes.
 
marchiafava said:
Thank you both for your replies. They gave me some insight. I guess my hangup is will I be a better intern coming from lank or just as good at Graduate??? Basically, I would think it is like everything else in this world, you get out what you put in. I just want to be prepared for neuro residency.... be comfortable with reading chest films, ekgs, other medical things.... so I can put most of my mind to learning neurology. I am thinking Graduate is my number 1.

p.s. location isnt an issue because i live in fox chase with my girlfriend and to get to either will take 30 minutes.

You are ranking only TWO programs? You are a *****. I see why my post about the rank upset you so. :laugh:
 
your still an idiot MD. Those are just my top two that I am very interested in. Im not upset by you, just want to meet you and talk things over.
 
I'm an intern at Graduate and here's the honest breakdown

4 months floors
1 MICU
1 CCU
(or 3 floors and 3 units)
5 months of elective
2-4 wks of NF
2 wks vacation block
5 days off christmas/new year's

Pros:
can't beat q10 overnight
5 electives
No overnight call on electives
South Rittenhouse area

Cons:
Electives are not really electives, they're all in the medicine department, you work 40-60 hour weeks
2 weekends of coverage (9-1 / day) on each elective
No cash for prelims ($500 for categoricals/year)
Units are q3 which gets to you after a while

Overall a pretty sweet deal if you want to live in center city. Only Einstein transitional can compete.

PM me with questions.
 
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