Cardiology Program Impressions

[stea1th77]

Was hoping folks could start a thread where they shared what they thought of various programs around the trail. Perhaps picking a few of the best they thought of around the interview trail with pros/cons about the places, thoughts of prestige, how good training would be, and ability to find job after fellowship.

UNC
Pros
-large academic center with high amount of volume, even with duke in area
-call is q4 and only when you are on service
-opportunities to shape your fellowship
-excellent residency program meaning you can rely on folks
-chapel hill is nice college town while not feeling like big city
-fellows seem sharp and well trained and get job placements and competitive -subspecialty fellowships
-?electronic medical record - was told the medical record is electronic, but did not actually see on tour. Coming from a place with electronic medical record, it makes all the difference.
-no VA!!
-training all at one facility which is nice.

Cons
-research seems limited but opportunities are there
-not duke - some of that envy can be felt
-crowded area w/ cardiologists and may not have job in immediate area
-no ep program currently (at least not for american graduates as not ACGME accredited yet. program director is foreign graduate, so cannot be director, but this is being fixed soon).


University of South Florida Tampa
Pros
-Dr. Curtis, head, is world-renowned EP doc who also works on EKG portions of cardiology boards
-busy, nice looking hospital
-placement after fellowship does not seem to be an issue and can get really competitive subspecialties
-busy VA where get good training
-in south florida where the sun is nice 😎

Cons
-Tampa - supposedly 4th biggest transplant area in the country - unfortunately no exposure to this in the USF program anymore. Transplant cardiologists are all at a private hospital in the area and fellows not allowed to go over and work with them any longer - apparently a rift between hospitals over legal issues regarding insurance malpractice coverage for fellows.
-For same legal reasons, other private cardiologists no longer teach fellows
-A good amount of previous attendings left for unknown reasons
-Previous fellows work over at VA now to avoid legal issues
-no real imaging curriculum
-training divided over 3 hospitals, including busiest VA in the country (plus and a minus)

University of Florida at Jacksonville
Pros
-no rotating call system, but a night float system (plus and a minus)
-5 months dedicated research time
-job placement doesn't seem to be a problem
-good noninvasive training
-attendings really friendly and interested in teaching

Cons
-Not Shands (Gainesville) and along same lines, not too big of a prestigious name
-night float/call is in house
-residents mostly foreign graduates with some really good but some really poor which is likely the reason the fellows need to be in house

Please let me know what you guys think and if you guys had other impressions about these places.

Thanks

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[u_r_my_serenity]

At the University of Florida Jacksonville the PD likes to brag that it's a "fellow run" program. What that actually means is the cardiology fellows must personally write the notes and orders on every patient. The residents are not allowed to do any of that because they don't trust their own residents. This means welcome to being an intern again!

 

[cardiolipin]

I think this goes without saying. Any place saying they're "fellow run" pretty much means their residents aren't doing most of the gruntwork and they have to be somewhat of an intern again. Fellow run does not mean they call the shots or have independence in patient management. Beware the term!

 

[LBFKCC]

Any recommendations on UK Cards fellowship?

 

[stea1th77]

I'd like this thread to be a thoughts about any programs.

Didn't interview at Kentucky unfortunately.

Rank lists are in today, so good luck to everyone.

 

[RickyBobby23]

This board has been a great help throughout the interview process. I plan on writing impressions on all the programs I interviewed at over the next week. I hope others will also join in now that the match is over. I have not saved any material so this will all be from the top of my head so I hope the information is accurate.

I'll start with UF -Jacksonville since it's been reviewed already. I was definitely impressed with the program. They seem to be a clinically busy program with most of the areas of cardiology covered including good imaging experience (don't remember what they said about MRI though). They are not a heart transplant center although they say you can do rotations at either Mayo clinic or gainesville if you want to experience this. They are strongest in interventional and recently started up an EP program. The downsides as previously mentioned is that they do not trust their residents at all so you as the fellow will be doing majority of the work. You are the only person when on consults. They have a nightfloat system which I actually like. However I believe the fellow is the one doing the admissions at this time since they do not trust the residents. Also the program director is a bit on the let's say weird side although he seems to be a strong advocate of the fellows.

Hopefully we'll see some more responses and I'll put up more impressions in the coming days.

 

[RickyBobby23]

Pros: extremely strong in echo, has a heart transplant program, very supportive faculty, active in clinical research, location, mayo clinic name, minimal scut all around

More like a community program, average EP/interventional program, below average to nonexistent CT program, possibly lack of autonomy

 

[RickyBobby23]

Great program, didn't really see any weaknesses in the program, cardiology is very strong at Strong Memorial where CEO and chairman of medicine are both cardiologist. Extremely strong clinical and basic research program. MADIT registry based here. Active heart transplant/LVAD program. Practicing all aspects of interventional and EP including percutaneous valves and carotids. Although there are subspecialty fellowships seems as if general fellows get lots of experience. Ability to get certified in vascular medicine. Faculty extremely supportive on whatever your career goals are. Only obvious con is location with the long and cold winters however the summers are supposed to be great there.

 

[RickyBobby23]

Great facilities however didn't get a great feeling about the fellowship program. First year fellows work like dogs taking in-house calls 5-6 times per month. You are the only fellow in house and are the code team leader. Didn't seem fellows were all that enthusiastic about the faculty. Unique aspect of program is training at MD Anderson if you are interested in heart disease in cancer patients although I'm not sure how relevant this training would be in real life setting. The city is either a pro or a con depending on what you're looking for. There seem to be lots of FMG fellows here (not a con but just stating an observation). However seems like fellows do get good training here.

 

[RickyBobby23]

Extremely research heavy program. A few years back had a bunch of faculty come over from Duke. Seems like it's a struggle to get level 2 training for most things even echo. They are looking to make the next generation of academic researchers and unsure how supportive they would be for those looking to go into practice. Have all the subspecialty fellowships. Cleveland sucks.