"Cush" PGY-1 year

Spokane Program in WA.
St. Mary's in SF.
Kaiser SF.
Highland Alameda County in Oakland.
Scripps Ty, Sandiego.

 

Add:

Kaiser LA - Sunset
Huntington Memorial - Pasadena
Santa Barbara Cottage

 

ADD:

Harbor UCLA Transitional year, BUT NOT PRELIMINARY MEDICINE (VERY HARD + MANY MEDICINE WARD MONTHS)

 

How about in the northeast...any somewhat easier prelim programs or transitional that still have good learning?

 

don't forget santa clara

 

Any opinions on Cedars vs. Kaiser Sunset?

Thanks

 

Hey Perzian, congrats on the match!

I strongly considered both programs and it's a tough call. Both are in excellent locations and are very competitive. Cedars just combined with West LA VA, so they've made several changes for their intern year: 1. there are only 6 call months now (instead of 9!); 2. they are opening the new hospital wing with new ICU; I am told that the number of ICU beds is going to skyrocket; probably not so good for interns ; 3. you have 1 month (I think) of elective; one guy I know was able to do ophtho.

I don't know too much about Kaiser LA, but I think this program was disscussed in Ruben's excellent thread.


Hope this helps and let me know if you have more specific questions.

 

roger williams in ri
greenwich in ct
reading in pa

 

Ok, now that we have the West Coast and East Coast knocked out, any recommendations on the Dirty South or the Midwest?
Thanks

 

wm beaumont in mi
oakwood in mi

 

Santa Clara? Is that Santa Clara Valley near San Jose? I heard it was really cush too, but when I interviewed there, it sounded like the transitional residents work as hard as the medicine residents and it really didn't sound cush to me at all.

 

I agree with what you are saying. I know this program very well and many of my friends have done TY internships there over the years...

It is a GREAT program -- you will be an excellent clinician, you will have a good experience on your surgery, ICU, OB/GYN, and Peds months (as well as your medicine months). The staff is very interested in teaching and the program director is good at taking care of you as an intern. The ancillary services are good. Plus, the pay is the highest for any internship that I have heard of and they let you do anything you want for your elective months.

BUT -- you will work your butt off. It is not uncommon to be there till the mid-late afternoon on a post-call ward (IM) month. The hospital is a very busy county hospital with the largest catchment in the Bay Area (it puts SF General, for example, to shame). Plus, with the closure of many hospitals on the penninsula = lots of patients to take care of. They routinely cap every call night (and this is with 2 admitting IM teams per day!)

Still... had I stayed in the Bay Area for my internship, it would have been #1 on my rank list.

Conclusion: it is NOT cush as say, Ca"breezy" or "Joke"wood

 

feel free to PM me if you want to more info on Kaiser Sunset.

 

You might like the TY programs in Newport News (Riverside) and Roanoke (carillion). The program in Roanoke included a membership to a golf club in the past.

 

We just recently had a discussion with my co-residents regarding who had the cushiest prelim . I think the program that takes the cake is:

Reading Hospital, Reading, PA

Something like 9 months of electives, obsene education fund, minimal call, etc. If you get in to that program, you should be set...

Hope this helps

 

Most TY programs in Chicago/ suburbs are outstanding. 4-6 months of pure electives, only a few inpatient months, good ophtho electives, good perks. Plus you get to live in a great city and not in the middle of nowhere (like most "cush" TY's)

 

The title of this posts justs confirms that reputation that ophthalmology residents are either lazy or are so tricky that they try to do the minimum amount of work possible. That's not so good. That's why some of the tricky bunch become cataract cowboys. Usually the neuro-ophthalmologists are a more honorable bunch because they do it either because they have poor stereopsis (not too many of them) or really like the sub-specialty. I only know of one, perhaps two, academic neuro-ophthalmologist who belongs in the "tricky" bunch but the trickier of the two has lost his job more than once. Is that enough punishment?

 

You should be careful with your generalizations. Similar topics have been discussed in EM, Anesthesia, Derm, etc., etc. forums. Some people choose to do very hard academic medical or surgical internships, others look for cushier transitional or community programs. The decisions are based on the location, personality, personal goals, and desire to do academic medicine. I think most people become fine ophthalmologists no matter what. And what do you have against "cataract cowboys" as you call them? Are these physicians blinding people? Do they not get excellent post-op results? Or is it because they choose to refer out a lot? I also do not agree with you that neuro-ophthalmologist are the hardest working bunch. At my institution, ALL services work very hard and see hundreds of patients per day.

 

of my gosh IEye, you have unlocked the secret to becoming an ophthalmologist. in fact, i spend my days calculating how to do the least amount of work possible. give me a break, i agree with JR in that i would be careful against making sweeping generalizations. in my intern year, i have encountered lazy internists, anesthesiologists and surgeons that have been "tricky" themselves and dumped their patients on the on-call residents. i also fail to understand how being a cataract jocky makes you tricky or lazy. most that i know run very busy clinics to sustain a high level of surgical volume.

and finally, what does "cush" even mean? i don't think there is anything wrong in striving to match at an internship that has great ancillary staff so that you don't spend your days wheeling pts to the CT scanner, or doesn't make it's house officers take q3 call or allows it's PGY1s to have elective time to pursue interests outside of internal medicine? who said that any of these things make better MDs?

 

any "cushies" in the NY/NJ area?

 

Atlantic Health Transitional Year in Summit/Morristown, NJ
maybe Flushing? in Queens

Though not in NY/NJ heard good things about Christiana (Delaware) and the University of Hawai'i transitional programs.

 

thanks for that tip.

is it wise to do a prelim IM/surg or TY year in the same program that you applied for but didn't match? maybe some people from the dept. where you did your PGY-1 can go the bat for you when you apply into ophtho again next year?

 

I haven't seen any thoughts on TY programs in the South. ANybody know about southern florida or new orleans area?

 

St Vincent's in NY is the best . Cush preliminary and transitional programs and subsidized housing. They say they can't guarantee housing for the one-year programs, but it seems like everyone who wants it can get it.

 

St. Joeseph Hospital in Houston is a very cush one too

 

This isn't exactly true. It is a fun program and the subsidized housing is great but only about 1/2 of the tranny's get it and most all of the prelims. Those that don't get it receive a stipend but it's nothing compared to the difference in cost and quality of housing for the same price and location.

 

I can vouch for the cushiness of the Riverside program. I worked alongside those transitionals as a family medicine resident. My residency was far from malignant, but their schedule was to die for...something like 8 mo. of electives.

 

Anybody know if these Cush TY programs in CA are DO friendly? Or know of any DO cush internships in CA? My family is in CA and I want to stay close. Thanks!!

 

could someone tell me the cushest family medicine programs? And I mean "cush" and laid back.

 

You may want to post that question in the family medicine forum.

 

Important questions you all need to ask when you are searching for your "cush" year:
1. When is your accreditation due? I thought I had the most cush of the cush, then found out that next year is ACGME accredidation time, and the program found out they were not admitting enough. Therefore, my class is the first of the new regime in which we are up all night admiting. I did not even considering asking about this during the interviews. It made all the scouting reports I heard useless.
2. Open vs closed ICU? If you have an open ICU you have to follow your pt in and out of the unit. This means some of your patients will be in there for months at a time, and you will never get them off your service. Perhaps if I would have taken a real rotation during M4 (instead of 4 ophtho) I would have known this.

 

Fatman41,

Both question I would have not thought to ask- Thanks for your insight!

 

beware, this used to be true, but apparently not anymore. i interviewed there last year and the residents were miserable. they were sold on the program by former interns there, but when they got there, they found out that major changes were made in the program (including taking call while on elective, etc.).

 

Does anybody have an idea of cush/laid back transitional year programs that people can get during the scramble? Any laid back programs that consistently don't fill? Thanks

 

Can anyone create a list of the cushiest pgy1 in the LA area - also include far programs if u think they deserve the honors!

thanks!

 

The one in Roanoke still includes the golf course membership...as well as a palm pilot...an athletic club membership... http://www.carilion.com/Community/S...ePages&docid=88D9D0A371CA448588A4133B32CD0BED is a list of the benefits

additionally, the schedule is outstanding in that you 6 blocks of elective, 2 blocks of medicine (plus one in a medicine subspecialty)...i cant remember off hand, but I think only 1 or 2 months of surgery, 1 or 2 month of peds, 1 month of ER (ALL TYs interestingly only have 1 month of ER, with the rest filled in per program in particular)

not only that, you get $45K in your TY and living in Roanoke is ridiculously cheap...and from what I hear you can live there for $450-650 ALL included (internet, heat, cable, parking, etc), meaning you will save TONS of money to buy a place next year for PGY2-4...it's a really great situation

also, the people at Carilion are some of the nicest I've ever met...and the interns LOVE the program...and I can see why...easily one of the best TYs in the country...and I would agree, Riverside Regional in Newport is also outstanding for many of the same reasons

good luck

p.s. also liked Spartanburg Regional in SC, but it has a lot more medicine months (but their medicine months apparently arent that bad in that often they get home by noon-2pm range)

 

in my opinion Harbor UCLA TY is the cushiest in LA...plus they have lots of spots...other than your medicine months there (which sound brutal) most of the residents there seem to have TONS of free time and really love it

 

I am actually looking for a program in a driving distance from LA? the only TY near is harbor and i have heard bad stuff about it.. any suggestions about the medicine prelim in :UCLA Cedars Sinai + VAWhite M.USCKaiserHarborHuntington M.SylmarSt. Mary

 

the TY program at Harbor is quite good. The prelim medicine program at Harbor is quite brutal. Perhaps you are confusing the 2. Other programs worth considering are Kaiser Sunset, Olive View Medical Center, Huntington Memorial, White Memorial and West LA VA/Cedars. Prelim surgery at Huntington and Kaiser Sunset are quite good and worth considering.

 

Thanx a lot ruben! can i ask u to grade them in order of cush? where did u do yours?
what do u think is so good in harbors ty?

 

I'm finishing up my TY at Harbor, and I can tell you: it is quite cush. I personally cannot imagine a program as easy as this. Not saying that there aren't programs easier out there, but I've just had it so easy this year, I can't even tell you. I definitely do not feel like I've done an internship.
As far as the schedule is concerned, you have 4 hard rotations...that's it: IM wards, CCU, Trauma surg, and a surgery subspecialty. You then have only 2 other required rotations: outpatient clinic and ER, both of which are easy (you are like a med student in the ER, and the pediatric clinic, which is one of the options, is 4 days a week). The remainder of your schedule is electives, and there are some electives that are so easy that it basically feels like a vacation. Dermatology is 16 hours a week (4 half days; you get off saturday, sunday, and monday). You can do a research "elective" which for most people ends up being a month of vacation. The anasthesia elective is even easier than derm (read: you make your own schedule, and nobody cares if you show up or not). I can honestly say that I have had so much free time this year that I haven't known what to do with myself. Yes, your IM month is hell, absolute hell. I hated it. I wanted to cry. You will work more than 80 hours a week. But it's only 1 month. Trauma surgery can be rigorous work-wise, but the surgeons at Harbor are so fun, and you see such amazing ****, that it really ends up being one of your best rotations. Most people, in fact, love trauma. Plus, you are gauranteed every post-post long call day off, and you get out your post-long call day at 8am. So you are actually off quite a bit. CCU is hit or miss. I had a very easy month; others have a more difficult month. Surgical subspecialty month is consistently rigorous, although not as bad as IM. Other great electives if you are interested: Peds ER and Psych ER. If you aren't going into ophtho, ophtho elective is easy as well. (beware if you are going into that specialty, however). You cannot go wrong with Harbor.
Sorry about the rambling...but one other thing. Thought I would briefly discuss some of the questions I have heard raised about Harbor: 1. No PACS--used to be true, but no longer. Just instituted a PACS system this year. 2. Blood draws: interns no longer have to do blood cultures. 3. ABGs: Interns do do stat ABGs, but if you are willing to wait, RT will do it. But you definitely will do some ABGs while you are here, so that is one "myth" that is true. 4. Paperwork: yeah, there is a lot of paperwork. You will get sick of it when you are on a ward rotation. But there are so few rotations where you have to do the paperwork that it doesn't matter. 5. Approval for Radiology Studies: yes, all studies have to be approved. But, once again, if you schedule correctly, you will have very few rotations where you have to deal with this ****, so who cares? 6. Safety: harbor is not in the ghetto. It's not Beverly Hills, but it isn't the ghetto. you don't have to worry about you car being stolen. There are plenty of nice cars in the parking lot. I have a 50k plus car, and I've never worried. I've gone to restaurants in the area at night, and I've never been scared. Hell, many of the residents live in the apartment complex across the street.

 

why should i be ware if i want to go to ophto?
from the website:
"Elective experience is available from rotations such as Head & Neck Surgery, Neurology, Neurosurgery, OB/GYN, Orthopaedic Surgery, Surgical ICU, Pediatrics, Plastic Surgery, and Urology. One block of special electives is available from the list of services that do not have regular intern assignments such as Anesthesiology, Family Practice in-patient service, Ophthalmology, Pathology, Psychiatry, Radiology, the General Clinical Research Center (for experience in clinical research) and Public Health. "
are u sure i can choose derm + research +anasthesia in these 5 also or only the 1 special?
is it true u never get the electives u want?

 

Website must be mistaken. For my electives, I did derm + anasthesia + research + psych ER + Peds ER + Neuro, so yes you can. The research is part of the "special" elective. The other prominent special elective is radiology. Everyone does research or radiology for their special elective. Derm and anesthesia are not part of the special elective...unless they changed things for this year. I didn't hear anything about changes, though.

You will get 4/5 of the regular electives that you choose. That's how it works out. I ranked ER number 5, but got my 6th choice: neuro. No big deal, though. Neuro is pretty easy as well. You do have call, but you always sleep. And there a 4 interns on the service plus an R2 and R3. The service is small, and I never carried more than 4 (usually easy) patients. Neuro is actually one of the hidden gem electives.

The reason I say be wary of ophtho if you are going into ophtho is that they will work you hard if you are going into the specialty. If you aren't then I hear it is pretty chill. The thing is, I have noticed that the people who actually got ophtho all were going into ophtho, so I'm not sure if they even place non-ophtho people in it any more.

 

east coast...harbor hospital baltimore transitional

 

John Peter Smith hospital in Fort Worth - please refer to my old posts about that. Great pay and benefits. Nice call schedule. Awesome director. Fort Worth is a nice city with a lot of hot women in it. No ICU or OB/GYN.

 

I just wanted to set the record straight about Spartanburg Regional. I'm not sure where MAYOphtho got his info, but the only way that you are getting home by NOON while on Medicine is if all your patients expired overnight! With the service having NO CAP, you are sometimes lucky even to finish rounding by that time. There is also a MANDATORY NOON CONFERENCE (12:30-1:30) every day for the TY's and FP residents that everybody must sign in and swipe their badge for. Finally, TY's often have to hold the pager for the FP residents on service when they have clinic hours in the afternoon. In conclusion, if anybody who is leaving by noon everyday, they are either neglecting their patients or burdening the rest of the team by not finishing their work! And that does NOT go over well with the rest of the team, including the attendings........

 

wow...that's some hostility...I got my information from one of the TYs there on interview day. The reason I ranked it lower than Carilion and Riverside Regional was because it has more medicine months. If it was true that you don't get out by 12-2pm everyday on medicine, I doubt I would have ranked it as high as I did.

Again, my information is based on what I was told (I have no control over how accurate the information I am told on interview day is...obviously...I can only hope/assume it's true and factual).

I wouldnt make stuff up just to brag about a program to which I have no ties (other than an interview day), but again...it was a TY that told me about the program on interview day...so that's the basis for my information.

 

No worries man. If calling you out for posting false information makes me "hostile," then you can me the president of Iran! It doesn't matter where you get your information from, YOU are ultimately responsible for its accuracy if you decide to post it. And putting things in bold print or italics doesn't make them any less false. I never said that you were making stuff up. All I'm trying to do is make sure people aren't misled by inaccurate comments.

Just realize that there is always more to the story. You shouldn't base your opinion of a program on what one TY (who already has one foot out the door) tells you on interview day. Try to be responsible about what you share with your colleagues on SDN, that's all..............