DC Childrens

[helenb02]

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Hey everyone,

My interview at DC Childrens happens to be my last one, which is unfortunate because DC may be the town I really want to end up in due to my family/significant other. Unfortunately, I have heard some not too enthusiastic things about DC Childrens - that the residents are not excited about their program, that it is not a great teaching hospital, etc. I'm from DC and I know the hospital has a good name for patient care, but my attendings seem to think the residency program is not so hot. Is this true? I will obviously get an idea when I interview in 2 weeks, but I would love to hear what others' impressions were since I am already considering it seriously...

Thanks!!!

 

[mo6280]

I got a very good vibe from my interview at DC Children's and was ready to rank it very highly. However in hindsight, I realized that I didn't meet many of the residents during my interview day or even at the pre-interview cocktail. Other programs really went out of their way to give you contact info for the residents, arranging lunch or dessert with interns/residents, etc. I liked the program director and the current chiefs seemed nice and welcomed questions during the brief down-times between faculty interviews. But at DC the interview day was rather rushed. We ate lunch while we sat in on a noon conference, after which most of the residents scurried off back to work so I couldn't get a good feel for them.

I spoke to a current GWU med student and she thought it was a great program overall, but that the residents were stressed out and not very happy. I'm disappointed because I really liked the city and for me it would be ideal in terms of proximity to family/friends.

Anyone else have any thoughts on the program?

 

[tisreallyme]

I also just interviewed at DC Children's and am conflicted. Only got to talk to one resident who gave the tour and another one briefly. I was concerned that during the half hour morning conference, about half the residents showed up late and many were writing patient notes. Then, during the lunch conference, the residents were not prepared though they were supposed to have read a paper. Not sure what this means--either the conferences are not taken seriously or the residents are way too busy. Who knows? All in all, I liked it while I was there (snazzy new hospital, nice interviewers) but the more time passed from my interview day, the more confused I became. I wish I could have gone to the pre-interview day dinner to meet more residents but I was unable to go.

 

[DoctorWannaBe]

I agree with a lot that mo6280 said. We didn't get to have lunch with the residents as it was a boxed lunch during their noon conference and then I was rushed off immediately to interviews. I went to the social, and while the residents all seemed nice, a few of them admitted they were overworked. One resident basically talked to me for 30 minutes about how hard they work and how I shouldn't come there unless I want to work extremely hard. They are a high volume hospital and see a great deal of pathology due to it's location in D.C. Regarding tisreallyme's concern about the conferences, I think one resident I talked to said that it's really hard to make it to conferences and that they don't really try to help you so you can get to conferences. Also, I talked to another person who interviewed there in a previous year who said that they have q4 call x 11 months in intern year. In the end, it really depends what you are looking for in a program--if you don't mind working really hard then go for it; if you want a more relaxed program, this probably isn't for you.

 

[cya1013]

Hey there,

I have a lot of experience at DC Children's so hopefully I can clarify a few things. The previous post says that call is q4 x 11 months intern year: NO! They have a serious night float system Sun-Thurs. There is one month of q4 call during intern year at the GW NICU. There's more q4 call the second year on the subspecialty teams and PICU, NICU.

From my experience, conferences are taken pretty seriously. Everyone (certainly the interns!) goes to morning report and noon conference and seniors remind anyone who might be on the floor during those times. The chiefs take the pagers during those conferences. The seniors also take pagers during either scheduled or impromtu "attending rounds" during the day.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

 

[ESPNdeportes]

I thought the program was strong. However, a big red flag for me was the fact that the gorgeous new tower they built doesn't have call room for the residents. I was stunned when I heard this. They are scrambling for a solution right now.

I know they are unionized, just makes me wonder if the hospital and residents have an adversarial relationship.

 

[tawanda]

When I interviewed there, I found the morning portion pretty lackluster....my interviewer basically asked me if I had questions, then could not answer ANY of them. I felt like I was trying to think of questions that she could answer. Beyond that, I agree that we didn't get much time with the residents and they didn't seem very excited about the program. The teaching I did see was good.

However, in the afternoon I was really impressed with the primary care track. The residents seemed very happy with their program and Dr. Hamburger was great. You don't necessarily have to go into primary care, but if you want a great real-world general peds experience I think this program would be awesome. I highly recommend interviewing for this track, it's worth staying longer in the afternoon.

Good luck!

 

[tisreallyme]

Thanks Tawanda and Cya1013. On paper, I really like DC and was planning on ranking it highly. I guess every residency has hard days and maybe the hospital was very full that day. If conferences are generally taken very seriously, that's good to hear. I won't have a chance to do a second look, so I'll just have to talk to residents. Thanks again.

 

[helenb02]

Thanks guys. I appreciate your input. I really liked the residents and attendings I met at DC Childrens and the turnout at the happy hour was the best I have seen. The residents I spoke to did not seem to be overworked, which was encouraging. TisReallyMe, how are you going to get in contact with the residents? After I left, I realized that they did not provide us with the names or contact info for any of the residents and that's not available online. I'm pretty sure every other program I went to provided at least the names of the residents, if not their emails, med schools, etc.

 

[beegs80]

Hi. I am a second year resident at DC children's and can answer any questions you guys might have. I went to Cincinnati Children's for medical school and loved it there, but wanted a new program for residency. I interviewed at all the top ten programs and chose DC children's, mostly for it's location but also because it's a busy, big program. If you are like me and want to train at a place where you will see and do everything, then this is the right place. It's true it's busy, but so are all the other top children's programs, and I didn't want it any other way. If you decided from your interviews that the night float system is a must (as I did) then this also is a great choice. It makes intern year tolerable! I personally am very happy with my decision and love living in arlington and enjoying all the perks of DC. Please let me know if you have more questions.