Any push to change the EMR?
Yeah, I mean everyone knows it's crap and we are "currently undergoing a transition" to get everything under the same EMR (Cerner), but it's been extremely slow going. At the moment they are prioritizing merger of the outpatient EMR, with plans to merge the inpatient EMR after that. Based on the rate of current progress I'd expect it'll at least be another full year or (more likely) two before things are close to fully integrated. This is a constant frustration, probably one of the worst aspects of this program, but I agree with you in that it's not a deal breaker. The worst of it is when you're an intern and you have to learn silly things like "oh that order can only be done on paper, and has to be actually faxed - using a fax machine - to the pharmacy, because this type of order is special for some reason." That kind of thing. But we're immersed in this system so, crap or not, we learn quickly.
When you rotate through WHC, which has a residency program in its own right, how is the work split?
So we only go there for certain things like the cardiac ICU and (sometimes) the CHF service. The reason for this is because since the merger with MedStar, the majority of the cardiac care (including all of the interventional stuff) has been moved over to WHC. I felt it was a good experience when I rotated there. We're treated like any other resident, and it isn't entirely a foreign world because the EMR is the same and the cardiology fellows work both hospitals so we tend to see a lot of familiar faces. I didn't see any territorial behavior or uneven distribution of work if that's what you're asking. We also rotate with residents from other programs at the VA (GW, Walter Reed, and WHC), and the situation is similar there. We're all residents doing the same job.
Attitude toward IMG applicants? I see several St Georges matches every year on your roster but none from other US-IMG programs, and few elsewhere.
We have a couple each year so obviously the program is open to matching applicants from those schools, but beyond that I'm not sure I can comment further on what the attitude is from the admissions perspective. From the day-to-day resident perspective, there is no discrimination or anything like that. Once you're part of the program, you're part of the program, and that's all there is to it. Feel free to PM if you like.
How's the patient diversity in regards to pathology vs GWU? Is there a DC program considered the "inner city" hospital and if so where does GT fall. Ie bunch of private patients, uninsured, gomers, etc.
I've never worked at GW so I don't have any direct experience with their patient population. Among the three hospitals in the city (WHC, GW, GT), I'd say that WHC is probably carries the most "inner city" reputation, whatever that means, just by virtue of the fact that they have the largest and most prominent ED. In regard to diversity of pathology, I think GT gets its fair share compared to the other hospitals. We certainly get plenty of sick patients and there is no shortage of comorbidities. I think all three hospitals share the uninsured population roughly equally (maybe slanted slightly towards WHC, but not enough to matter), though there are some areas of disproportion. As I mentioned above, WHC is the "cardiac center," so the good heart stuff tends to go there. Likewise, Georgetown is the "liver center," so we see LOTS of liver disease and its complications, as well as transplant stuff that the other hospitals don't see (GT is huge on transplants, and is one of only a few places in the country where some of these complex multiviceral transplants are done). We also rotate at several other hospitals which have different mixes of patients, so overall I think we get a pretty good breadth of both population and pathology.
Be real with me - how friggin expensive is DC to live in on a residents salary?
It's bonkers expensive. The decision you'll have to make is whether you want to spend less (live with a roommate or travel from a distance through notoriously awful DC traffic), or just suck it up and pay through the nose to live close to work/in the city. The upside is DC is a fantastic city with lots of stuff going on all the time and living in the city (as I do) is a really amazing experience. Depends on what your priorities are, I suppose. I'm living beyond my means and racking up some credit card debt to close the loop on some things, but I love living here and I guess medical school was bonkers expensive also so why stop there. YOLO?
I'm a DO though. How friendly are they towards DOs and COMLEX?
