My impressions:
St A's: unopposed urban/suburban with Level 1 Trauma at the main hospital. Program has recently moved all residents from main hospital to North (in Thornton); residents still do some rotations e.g. EM @ Central. New building under construction at North. Central will eventually move to Lakewood. Currently looking for new PD (former PD is becoming CMO of hospital), but faculty are very stable, cohesive, seem to work well together. Big emphasis in this program is community, family and having a manageable life. Faculty really look out for residents. Intern year starts you out slow with a reduced pt load and lots of time to learn the system, which is good if you need time to adapt to a new place. Commitment to the underserved. Catholic hospital restricts practice somewhat (i.e. you learn IUD placement, vasectomy at another facility; no tubals in-house). Some travel between facilities. As most urban Denver hospitals, unusual/super-sick peds and peds trauma will go to Children's; St A's does not rotate there. CU students currently do not rotate here except for subIs.
St J's: opposed (IM, Surgery, Ob/Gyn) urban. FM program generally seems to be well respected and well treated by other specialties. There is a ton of ob/gyn so plenty to go around for everyone. Very recently got a new PD. This is a very nice hospital with free food, free parking, a collegial atmosphere; students love to rotate here. Closely tied in with Kaiser system, will work with Kaiser docs. Catholic hospital with same restrictions as above.
UCHSC: opposed by everything. Often scrambles to fill spots, but they have a lot of excellent residents. You will rotate and train with experts in every field, often not with FM attendings. Denver Health has heavy indigent care focus, great training in low-cost effective care, Level 1 Trauma. NO pharm reps = no free lunches, breakfasts, pens or anything else unless the rep takes you out off the DHMC campus. Univ Hosp has more of the academic weird pathologies, burn unit, transplants, very high risk OB, etc.. You may spend hours traveling across town between rotations and clinics. Refugee clinics provide opps to work with a very wide variety of very needy people. Good for those who want to work with urban underserved. Current residents very involved in improving didactics and structure of program, faculty responsive. Home of Mark Deutchman, legendary FM guru of operative obstetrics. As an intern on other services, you will often supervise MS3 students.
Swedish: unopposed. Unlike other CO programs, has a "longitudinal" approach. This is more like a real FM doc's practice in that you are simultaneously admitting to the ED, managing your ICU pt, and monitoring your OB pt who is in labor. Good for those who like to multitask. I've heard it said that they say they train hospitalists for urban hospitals. 4-mile travel to clinic. Level 1 trauma. Only students are externs and subIs. You do your first-year Ob rotation at Denver Health so you can get more volume.
Fort Collins: unopposed. Residents will proudly tell you "we work hard." The beginning of their intern year sounds like the exact opposite of St A's: a massive pt census right from the start. Students do some rotations here. Good for those who like to be challenged.
In Denver, there is also Rose. The more rural programs are Greeley, Pueblo and Grand Junction. I could write more, but I have work to do!
