Cornell

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IMhappy

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Anybody have any information on Cornell's IM program? I have heard different opinions from various people? What have you guys/gals heard? Is it a malignant program? I know at some point in the not so long past, the program had lost accreditation but I'm not sure for what reason. I'm pretty sure they regained their accreditation. Any information would be helpful. Thank you.

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Cornell never lost accreditation, they were on probation for 3 months about old problems that had already been corrected (same as hopkins, univ of washington, etc in the past). Cornell is now off probation. I am a Cornell intern and I'll give me $.02 when I get back from the hospital today. But to sum it up - the hospital is amazing, the people are amazing, and the housing is by far and away the best in the city.

People are more than welcome to shoot me a message if you have specific questions that I don't answer later on.
 
Anybody have any information on Cornell's IM program? I have heard different opinions from various people? What have you guys/gals heard? Is it a malignant program? I know at some point in the not so long past, the program had lost accreditation but I'm not sure for what reason. I'm pretty sure they regained their accreditation. Any information would be helpful. Thank you.
Cornell resident here. I echo that our program never lost accreditation. We were temporarily on probation until we fixed some unusual work hour violations on certain services. We have full accreditation. The same thing happened to Johns Hopkins in 2003 and, like Hopkins, we beat it because we're doing what we are supposed to do..

I would not call Cornell malignant. It is a pedigree program, and you will definitely work hard here. It's NYC. The turnover is tremendous, and you'll be at maximum capacity for most of the year. The strength lies in the people - they really look after housestaff. I wanted a program that was not malignant or filled with arrogant people (pm me for specifics - I was fortunate to interview at all of the big IM programs I applied to in the U.S.), but I was not interested in a cushy program where you just write the orders and ancillary staff do everything. You will gain excellent practical experience here, and you'll be competent in manual procedures. If you have been invited for interview, come by and see for yourself.
 
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Thanks for the information. I look forward to hearing more from dreamfox. Sorry for saying that they lost accreditation...I meant to say that they were on probation.
 
Alright, let me preface this with the fact that I am from the west (not Cali). I'm not a die hard new yorker and I interviewed all over the country (including the major programs in nyc).

I agree with my fellow intern above. You will work hard here, I am almost always capped. The patient population is VERY diverse. I've said this a few times - but every program you interview at will say they are "diverse" which usually translates to "we have all uninsured people." Well, that's great - but when you have too much of one thing then it's not diversity. At Cornell you will literally see every end of the spectrum. You will take care of the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor. Don't get me wrong, we have a very large underserved population, but if you plan on dedicating your life to them then Cornell probably isn't the right fit for you. I don't need to explain the fact that NYC is NYC and that it's probably the most diverse place in the world when it comes to nationality/language/etc.

Honestly, I was a little scared when I came to NYC because I thought everybody would be a so-called "east-coast, ivy-league prick." I would have to say I'm pleasantly surprised by the fact that everybody is extremely nice. Our chief resident and our assistant chief residents are great, they are constantly looking out for you. NYC can be overwhelming and so can NewYork-Pres Hospital and it's been really nice knowing that they are making sure everything is going smoothly (if smoothly could possibly describe being an intern).

As for housing, we have the best in the city, period. We have five very large apartment complexes and they are very affordable. All of the doctors/nurses/hospital employees live in these buildings, unless they choose not to - but I would say most do. I have an air-conditioned studio by myself facing south on the 33rd floor looking over all of manhattan. I live in the building that's right in the middle of price ranges. There is also a brand new apartment complex that is very, very nice if you are willing to spend a little bit more money (lots of attendings/fellows live there, but I have we have a few in my intern class). Best part about our housing is that everything is literally within one block of the hospital on the upper east side.


We were on probation for three months for work hour related issues last year. They made all the necessary changes after the review last year, yet for some reason they placed us on probation in early april. We had a re-review in August and the RRC realized that everything had been fixed and we were taken off probation. I don't go over work hours.

As for intern year, you are basically q4. You will have two ICU months - MICU and CCU (q4 as well). The rest is spent on general medicine, renal, lymphoma, outpatient, neuro, cardiology, elective, and one month at memorial sloan-kettering (which is also one block away). As a resident, they have essentially done away with q4 call and you do a few months of night float over the last two years instead of taking overnight call.

Again, Cornell is in a great location. I live 4 blocks from Central Park and 3 blocks form the subway that will take me downtown. It's also a little bit more quiet on the upper east side which can be nice when you want to escape from the chaos. The hospital is located on the lower part of the upper east side so it's close to everything downtown. Far closer than columbia and sinai.

To sum it up, I'm happy here. I work very hard, but Cornell is known for having a hard intern year. However, after having survived 4 months I'm getting an experience here that few get and that I'll be more than prepared to venture out.

If you are curious about our fellowship match list then you can go here: http://www.cornellmedicine.com/education/graduates_where_are_they_now/index.html - if you have any specific questions then feel free to msg me. good luck on the interview trail and enjoy fourth year.
 
And one of the things I forgot to mention is that we have a hospital in Tanzania that 75% of the residents rotate through their third year for 6-12 weeks.
 
Could any Cornell residents please comment on the following (I interviewed there but only saw a glimpse of the day):
  1. Autonomy- during rounds who guides the care of the patient: intern, R2, R3 or attending. For example, do the attendings remove themselves from the assessment/plan, and only interject with teaching points?
  2. Is there any active EBM-based bedside/formal teaching or review?
 
Could any Cornell residents please comment on the following (I interviewed there but only saw a glimpse of the day):
  1. Autonomy- during rounds who guides the care of the patient: intern, R2, R3 or attending. For example, do the attendings remove themselves from the assessment/plan, and only interject with teaching points?
  2. Is there any active EBM-based bedside/formal teaching or review?

1) Interns. You are responsible for your patients, residents mainly provide backup and/or if you missed anything/they have suggestions/you have questions. Attendings teach during rounds on pertinent points, do EBM, etc, etc.

2) Lots of teaching. The old PD (who is still very active) does lots of EBM teaching, as well as most attendings on service. Again, last year the residents got to vote on which attendings to keep for service patients. If an attending never taught, tried dictating plans, etc - they are no longer on resident teams. New York Hospital is giant with many attendings, we are fortunate enough to be able to pick the best "teaching" attendings to be on resident teams. If you want specifics, msg me.
 
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