Columbia Hospital/St Lucie Medical Center - Emergency Medicine

[Lals]

Does anyone know anything about the elective rotation here? What I'm particularly looking for are hours, shifts, etc., for practical reasons. So far I've been in touch with the people at www.pbcgme.com 3 or 4 times, and they offer nothing but a dearth of information.

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[Kuba]

Does anyone know anything about the elective rotation here? What I'm particularly looking for are hours, shifts, etc., for practical reasons. So far I've been in touch with the people at www.pbcgme.com 3 or 4 times, and they offer nothing but a dearth of information.

im doing my cores with pbcgme. I can try to get you some info. It might not be available since it is a brand new program, though.

 

[gildas]

Do you guys know if this program is participating in the ERAS? I am getting conflicting info.

 

[4thyrstudent]

The EM program is a good program, but it is run by fear by the Director of Medical Education (DME...who is Thomas Matese). He is an ER doc by trade, so he will pull whatever strings he can to help the EM program. He is very close the Regional DME (Feurer...forgot his first name). He controls the show at SLMC, and if you cross him, he can and will make your life hell based on people I've spoken to directly.
The entire east FL program is under the title Palm Beach Consortium of Graduate Medical Education (PBCGME) that comprises of 4 hospitals (St. Lucie, West Palm [formerly Columbia...name changed due to extensive medicaid fraud], Palms West, and University hospitals) that are 45-75 miles between hospitals. Residents must make that drive for certain rotations. PBCGME hospitals are owned by Hospital Corporations of America (HCA) along with many other hospitals across the US. Those don't know, HCA is a for-profit corporation, so the corporation bottom line trumps residents education. This is especially the case for PBCGME!
There are 2 AOA residency programs (EM and FM) there. Feurer and Matese will do whatever it takes to help all of the EM residents but will not lift a finger to help the FM program succeed. They have started to make positive changes due to the AOA/ACGME merger. Be forewarned if you decide to be a resident at SLMC of the culture.

 

[docabc123]

I read the post there, but don't see what you are trying to say about the culture. What Is the culture there? I am interested in doing a PBCGME residency (specifically ER) and haven't been able to find much. Does anyone have anymore information on the amount of travel required? A 75 mile drive in that area could take 3 hours each way with traffic. Where do most residents live? What pathology does the hospital get? Is it a good learning environment?

 

[docabc123]

Anyone have any more information on the PBCGME programs?

 

[Siggy]

Anyone have any more information on the PBCGME programs?

I'm one of the PGY 1 IM residents at West Palm Hospital. Granted I'm a little over a month in, but it isn't bad. While a small hospital, it does have the advantage of being an unopposed program. So the residents get first shot at procedures, including assisting consultants (i.e. IR or for patients in the ICU). The ICU is an open ICU (with intensivist in house during the day), so even if you aren't on an ICU rotation, you still end up following and treating ICU patients. Also, being unopposed, you end up working with consultants instead of residents, which gives a much more realistic idea of what consultants are looking for in the real world.

As a PGY 1, the only scheduled rotation that isn't local is my EM month at Port St. Lucie. Otherwise it's all local. Similarly, the other main non-WPH location is at the VA... which is about 10 minutes away.

 

[docabc123]

Thanks for the information. Its nearly impossible to find out details about many of the osteopathic residencies without knowing someone who recently graduated from the program and is willing to tell you truth, both the good and bad.

 

[Dwayne Minni]

The EM program is a good program, but it is run by fear by the Director of Medical Education (DME...who is Thomas Matese). He is an ER doc by trade, so he will pull whatever strings he can to help the EM program. He is very close the Regional DME (Feurer...forgot his first name). He controls the show at SLMC, and if you cross him, he can and will make your life hell based on people I've spoken to directly.
The entire east FL program is under the title Palm Beach Consortium of Graduate Medical Education (PBCGME) that comprises of 4 hospitals (St. Lucie, West Palm [formerly Columbia...name changed due to extensive medicaid fraud], Palms West, and University hospitals) that are 45-75 miles between hospitals. Residents must make that drive for certain rotations. PBCGME hospitals are owned by Hospital Corporations of America (HCA) along with many other hospitals across the US. Those don't know, HCA is a for-profit corporation, so the corporation bottom line trumps residents education. This is especially the case for PBCGME!
There are 2 AOA residency programs (EM and FM) there. Feurer and Matese will do whatever it takes to help all of the EM residents but will not lift a finger to help the FM program succeed. They have started to make positive changes due to the AOA/ACGME merger. Be forewarned if you decide to be a resident at SLMC of the culture.

I am rotating in PBCGME now, as a core student. I will agree that Feurer and Matese (his consigliere) are hard-asses, and sticklers for professionalism. They chose academically superior candidates, and then hold them to the highest standards of professionalism. But they also give preference to core students. Since the FM program is relatively new, I've been told that they had some challenges that they weeded out. That process apparently was disruptive and ticked off the residents who "didn't cut it". The vast majority of PBCGME residents I've worked with are very smart, really nice and really happy residents. They help each other, and enjoy teaching. Speaking to my classmates doing rotations in "nonprofit" hospitals, I think HCA has their act together more than most. They are dumping a lot of money into these programs to graduate quality residents that will stay with the company. I guess it's working, because a lot of the attendings, including EM, IM, Psych, and Peds, are graduates from the program. We rotate through four HCA hospitals, and HCA is anal-compulsive when it comes to quality, and accreditation standards. THIS is especially the case for PBCGME. You will be challenged to meet compliance requirements of the hospital and the programs. Sometimes this can be a little overwhelming, and causes you to focus on compliance when all you want to do is learn about your patients. By the way, the food is free, the parking is free and, while I am biased because I grew up in South Florida (Go NOLES!), the beaches are amazing. While some of the programs (like FM) are new, this overall program is older than I am. Along with students from NSU, they also take cores from KCUMB and PCOM (only GA, I think). I hear rumor that they, along with the ACGME merger, are thinking about starting a new rad-onc residency.

 

[4thyrstudent]

I am rotating in PBCGME now, as a core student. I will agree that Feurer and Matese (his consigliere) are hard-asses, and sticklers for professionalism. They chose academically superior candidates, and then hold them to the highest standards of professionalism. But they also give preference to core students. Since the FM program is relatively new, I've been told that they had some challenges that they weeded out. That process apparently was disruptive and ticked off the residents who "didn't cut it". The vast majority of PBCGME residents I've worked with are very smart, really nice and really happy residents. They help each other, and enjoy teaching. Speaking to my classmates doing rotations in "nonprofit" hospitals, I think HCA has their act together more than most. They are dumping a lot of money into these programs to graduate quality residents that will stay with the company. I guess it's working, because a lot of the attendings, including EM, IM, Psych, and Peds, are graduates from the program. We rotate through four HCA hospitals, and HCA is anal-compulsive when it comes to quality, and accreditation standards. THIS is especially the case for PBCGME. You will be challenged to meet compliance requirements of the hospital and the programs. Sometimes this can be a little overwhelming, and causes you to focus on compliance when all you want to do is learn about your patients. By the way, the food is free, the parking is free and, while I am biased because I grew up in South Florida (Go NOLES!), the beaches are amazing. While some of the programs (like FM) are new, this overall program is older than I am. Along with students from NSU, they also take cores from KCUMB and PCOM (only GA, I think). I hear rumor that they, along with the ACGME merger, are thinking about starting a new rad-onc residency.

Got their act together? PBCGME is in shambles! IM program is shutting down and not accepting anymore students, and they even cancelled the students rotation 3 days before they were about to start. ER has to go to another Level 2 hospital to get trauma experience?!?! FP doesn't get enough (LEGITIAMTE) outpatient visits per resident in their clinic to even graduate a class, so you can forget it for the ACGME merger. Peds is a 30-bed/10-bd PICU part of the 2nd floor of the hospital, and a Peds Hospitalist repeatedly told students only to come to PBCGME. Psyc lost their PD and are frantically looking for replacement.

Clearly, they don't have it together! The FP chief (last name I believe was Younker) failed COMLEX 1 twice. PBCGME will not survive the merger.

 

[Dwayne Minni]

Got their act together? PBCGME is in shambles! IM program is shutting down and not accepting anymore students, and they even cancelled the students rotation 3 days before they were about to start. ER has to go to another Level 2 hospital to get trauma experience?!?! FP doesn't get enough (LEGITIAMTE) outpatient visits per resident in their clinic to even graduate a class, so you can forget it for the ACGME merger. Peds is a 30-bed/10-bd PICU part of the 2nd floor of the hospital, and a Peds Hospitalist repeatedly told students only to come to PBCGME. Psyc lost their PD and are frantically looking for replacement.

Clearly, they don't have it together! The FP chief (last name I believe was Younker) failed COMLEX 1 twice. PBCGME will not survive the merger.

I am now a resident at PBCGME. The email by "4thyrstudent" was clearly written by a disgruntled FM residents, who has since graduated. First, the IM program was NOT shut down. The base hospital for that program merged with another, larger HCA hospital that already has a UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI IM residency, so there clearly was no reason to convert their existing program. But the decision was made to continue to support existing residents, and the program is running at full speed until the remaining classes graduate. (As for student rotations being cancelled, I asked about that and was told that students were not cancelled, but rather notified asap after the decision was made to not convert/accept a freshman class, so that they would not waste an audition rotation; many students still chose to come for the rotation).

I challenge you to find a better EM program in the state of Florida. The attendings, from the PD down, are outstanding. Yes, trauma is done at a sister-facility (owned by HCA) which is a trauma facility located nearby in the same county. So what? The uniqueness of PBCGME is the ability to use the strengths of all our facilities, and additional facilities run by HCA in South Florida.

Regarding the FM outpatient clinic, keep in mind that this was a NEW program. I am told that, even so, ALL residents met their requirements and graduated on time. This year, the clinic is SWAMPED with patients, so much that they added an additional attending.

Peds is an amazing (and very competitive) program based out of a children's hospital.

And psychiatry still has the ORIGINAL program director. Too bad people don't use their real names when posting this trash, PBCGME would have a great lawsuit for defamation! (Their DME is a lawyer!!!!)

I'm sure that the disgruntled graduate passed his boards. Why? Because PBCGME has a 100% first-time board pass rate. And residents in most of the programs score in the top quartile of annual inservice exams. Oh, and PBCGME also does a fairly good job of weeding out the "bad apples". I love (most of) my fellow residents; we are like family and like to work hard, and play hard, together. We are a TEAM. Is PBCGME perfect? No. But it's one of the best programs out there.

As for conversion to ACGME, PBCGME has already achieved institutional accreditation by ACGME. EM and Psych applications will be submitted by December, which is the AOA deadline for those programs.