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Does anyone have any opinions on the reputations of the Chicago programs? I've heard good things about all of them- are there any that are famously malignant, or happy, etc.? Thanks! Grace
Chicago programs
- Thread starter gracie97
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I am interested in Chicago too...so if anyone out there has new info then please share. I did a search and found the following thread that gives a good summary of each Chicago program. Any new info would be appreciated though.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=70869
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=70869
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I am currently a PGY-2 EM resident at Christ in Chicago and I am new to these forums. I am very familiar with all of the EM programs in Chicago - I have lived in the area for 5.5 years (I went to medical school in the city), I rotated in the ED's at Cook County and Resurrection, I rotated at the Illinois Poison Center (run by CCH and UIC), and I interviewed at all six programs.
I concur with the information in the old thread that Dr. Evil attached to his response.
I will try to be as unbiased as possible. All six programs are excellent and very benign. It's been said so many times, but EM is not about rankings and hierarchy - it's about finding a fit. Christ simply was and is the best fit for me.
(1) Christ - far and away, my first choice. I have been tremendously happy here and I sincerely believe that my fellow residents are very pleased as well, both with their training and their quality of life. You had specifically asked about reputation - all I can say is that when I was applying, EM physicians told me that Christ was the best in the city. When I ask around now, I still get the same answer. Why? First, we have a county-size volume (81,000+ visits including 22,000+ peds visits with phenomenal socioeconomic and ethnic diversity) with the perks of being at a community hospital (good ancillary staff, good resources, friendly atmosphere). Christ is now the largest private hospital in Illinois based on admissions (38,881 in 2003). We are one of 4 Level I trauma centers that take Chicago-city trauma (3,000+ level I visits last year). We have one of the oldest EM programs in the city and EM is the oldest program at the hospital (UIC residents in Surgery, OBGYN, Ortho, and many other specialties do up to half of their rotations at Christ). We have one of the oldest ultrasound fellowships in the country, we have 6 ARDMS certified ED attendings (and MANY other attendings who are experienced and use US frequently), we have 3 Peds EM fellowship-trained attendings, and 2 Toxicologists on staff. Our schedule is very benign (18 ten hour shifts per 28 days) and our off-service rotations are very manageable and they include some cool services such as oral surgery, hand surgery, ortho, and we do a dedicated ultrasound rotation. We are able to moonlight starting our intern year (which helps tremendously with autonomy and $$$$ with some residents doubling their salary) in our 8-bed cardiac obs unit - we run the unit by ourselves but we have an attending in the main room who we staff the cases with. The biggest selling point is the extraordinary cameraderie between residents, attendings, and ancillary staff (being a one hospital program enhances this). The only negatives: most of the residents live downtown and the commute to Oak Lawn can be long (30-45 minutes but all of the EM programs in Chicago require SOME long commute times given where all of these hospitals are located) and we have no flight program. Please PM me if you have ANY questions about EM at Christ.
(2) UIC - three hospital system including UIC (tertiary center), Mercy (indigent population), and Illinois Masonic (yuppies, large spanish-speaking pop.). Great academic reputation including many leaders in EM. Phenomenally approachable program director. In addition to their three main hospitals, they also rotate at Christ (trauma, ortho, and PICU). Residents are very happy and they tend to be very gregarious (exemplified on Interview Day). I met several program directors on the interview trail who had trained at UIC (PD's at MCW, Resurrection, UIC, and others).
(3) U of Chicago - I believe U of C is in fact the oldest program in the city (with Christ being#2). Very good academic reputation with many well-funded research projects. Many of their months are at Lutheran General, which draws a very wealthy population. They also rotate at Mount Sinai which draws more of a county population (mostly spanish speaking). It was my impression that they just do a few months of ED and Trauma at Sinai. Their residents tend to be very well-rounded with many diverse interests. Their PD is very unique and eclectic. He rubbed many people the wrong way when I applied but I liked him, and I am told that he is an enormous resident advocate once you become part of the U of C family. As mentioned on the other thread, huge flight emphasis - can be both good and bad.
(4) Resurrection - 3 year program. Very benign. Residents are very happy and they receive many perks at the hospital (unlimited hospital food). I am told that their previous PD was unpleasant, but she is being replaced this year (by whom? I don't know). They primarily rotate at two ED's, both are somewhat low volume. Resurrection (wealthy, very elderly) is at 36,000 and I believe that St. Francis is about the same (also suburban, but indigent, providing a nice complement to the Res pop.). Attendings are super cool, and very laid back. As mentioned before, they didn't fill a few years back - that was more due to an administrative snafu, not due to lack of interest.
(5) Northwestern - Great faculty. They really do seem to be an up and coming program. Four years, and the curriculum includes some heavy off-service months (9 ICU months). In talking to Medicine and Surgery residents there, their reputation is gaining ground within the institution but they still have a ways to go.
(6) Cook County - Enormous county volume. Their new program director (Steve Bowman took over in 2003) is phenomenal - you'll never meet a more cool, laid back, approachable guy. Their last program director was somewhat malignant, and frankly, she made the residents miserable a few years back. Cook County HAD a malignant reputation at the time I was applying, but I think this is changing. I rotated there - the residents didn't seem like the happiest bunch, but again, I think this is improving (they moved into the new Stroger's Hospital shortly after I rotated and it's beautiful). They have some FANTASTIC teaching faculty....and they have some difficult personalities as well. While I saw some bizarre things on my rotation (tertiary syphilis, malaria), I felt like the acuity was missing. They have a large amount of non-clinical requirements (presentations, papers) and they obviously require a pre-lim year - these were just a few of the reasons why I ultimately ranked them lower on my list. It's interesting - Cook has a tremendous NATIONAL reputation.....but for those of us in the city,we see things differently.
So there you have it. If I can answer questions about ANY of the programs (especially Christ, 'cause I know that one the best), please PM me. Best of luck to everyone and I hope you guys rank Chicago highly!
Syd Barrett
PGY-2 Emergency Medicine Resident
Advocate Christ Medical Center
Oak Lawn, IL
I concur with the information in the old thread that Dr. Evil attached to his response.
I will try to be as unbiased as possible. All six programs are excellent and very benign. It's been said so many times, but EM is not about rankings and hierarchy - it's about finding a fit. Christ simply was and is the best fit for me.
(1) Christ - far and away, my first choice. I have been tremendously happy here and I sincerely believe that my fellow residents are very pleased as well, both with their training and their quality of life. You had specifically asked about reputation - all I can say is that when I was applying, EM physicians told me that Christ was the best in the city. When I ask around now, I still get the same answer. Why? First, we have a county-size volume (81,000+ visits including 22,000+ peds visits with phenomenal socioeconomic and ethnic diversity) with the perks of being at a community hospital (good ancillary staff, good resources, friendly atmosphere). Christ is now the largest private hospital in Illinois based on admissions (38,881 in 2003). We are one of 4 Level I trauma centers that take Chicago-city trauma (3,000+ level I visits last year). We have one of the oldest EM programs in the city and EM is the oldest program at the hospital (UIC residents in Surgery, OBGYN, Ortho, and many other specialties do up to half of their rotations at Christ). We have one of the oldest ultrasound fellowships in the country, we have 6 ARDMS certified ED attendings (and MANY other attendings who are experienced and use US frequently), we have 3 Peds EM fellowship-trained attendings, and 2 Toxicologists on staff. Our schedule is very benign (18 ten hour shifts per 28 days) and our off-service rotations are very manageable and they include some cool services such as oral surgery, hand surgery, ortho, and we do a dedicated ultrasound rotation. We are able to moonlight starting our intern year (which helps tremendously with autonomy and $$$$ with some residents doubling their salary) in our 8-bed cardiac obs unit - we run the unit by ourselves but we have an attending in the main room who we staff the cases with. The biggest selling point is the extraordinary cameraderie between residents, attendings, and ancillary staff (being a one hospital program enhances this). The only negatives: most of the residents live downtown and the commute to Oak Lawn can be long (30-45 minutes but all of the EM programs in Chicago require SOME long commute times given where all of these hospitals are located) and we have no flight program. Please PM me if you have ANY questions about EM at Christ.
(2) UIC - three hospital system including UIC (tertiary center), Mercy (indigent population), and Illinois Masonic (yuppies, large spanish-speaking pop.). Great academic reputation including many leaders in EM. Phenomenally approachable program director. In addition to their three main hospitals, they also rotate at Christ (trauma, ortho, and PICU). Residents are very happy and they tend to be very gregarious (exemplified on Interview Day). I met several program directors on the interview trail who had trained at UIC (PD's at MCW, Resurrection, UIC, and others).
(3) U of Chicago - I believe U of C is in fact the oldest program in the city (with Christ being#2). Very good academic reputation with many well-funded research projects. Many of their months are at Lutheran General, which draws a very wealthy population. They also rotate at Mount Sinai which draws more of a county population (mostly spanish speaking). It was my impression that they just do a few months of ED and Trauma at Sinai. Their residents tend to be very well-rounded with many diverse interests. Their PD is very unique and eclectic. He rubbed many people the wrong way when I applied but I liked him, and I am told that he is an enormous resident advocate once you become part of the U of C family. As mentioned on the other thread, huge flight emphasis - can be both good and bad.
(4) Resurrection - 3 year program. Very benign. Residents are very happy and they receive many perks at the hospital (unlimited hospital food). I am told that their previous PD was unpleasant, but she is being replaced this year (by whom? I don't know). They primarily rotate at two ED's, both are somewhat low volume. Resurrection (wealthy, very elderly) is at 36,000 and I believe that St. Francis is about the same (also suburban, but indigent, providing a nice complement to the Res pop.). Attendings are super cool, and very laid back. As mentioned before, they didn't fill a few years back - that was more due to an administrative snafu, not due to lack of interest.
(5) Northwestern - Great faculty. They really do seem to be an up and coming program. Four years, and the curriculum includes some heavy off-service months (9 ICU months). In talking to Medicine and Surgery residents there, their reputation is gaining ground within the institution but they still have a ways to go.
(6) Cook County - Enormous county volume. Their new program director (Steve Bowman took over in 2003) is phenomenal - you'll never meet a more cool, laid back, approachable guy. Their last program director was somewhat malignant, and frankly, she made the residents miserable a few years back. Cook County HAD a malignant reputation at the time I was applying, but I think this is changing. I rotated there - the residents didn't seem like the happiest bunch, but again, I think this is improving (they moved into the new Stroger's Hospital shortly after I rotated and it's beautiful). They have some FANTASTIC teaching faculty....and they have some difficult personalities as well. While I saw some bizarre things on my rotation (tertiary syphilis, malaria), I felt like the acuity was missing. They have a large amount of non-clinical requirements (presentations, papers) and they obviously require a pre-lim year - these were just a few of the reasons why I ultimately ranked them lower on my list. It's interesting - Cook has a tremendous NATIONAL reputation.....but for those of us in the city,we see things differently.
So there you have it. If I can answer questions about ANY of the programs (especially Christ, 'cause I know that one the best), please PM me. Best of luck to everyone and I hope you guys rank Chicago highly!
Syd Barrett
PGY-2 Emergency Medicine Resident
Advocate Christ Medical Center
Oak Lawn, IL
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