IM residencies without VA rotations

[Zenfudge]

Hi all,

I'm crafting my PS currently, and am realizing that working with Veteran's is pretty important to me (I am a Veteran myself). In fact, I don't think I want to do a residency where there are not at least some rotations through the VA.

Are there any IM programs (competitive university programs) that do not have at least some component of the VA? I want to include the importance of Veteran health on my PS, but don't want to automatically exclude a bunch of programs by talking about this in my PS. I'm a competitive applicant and am not geographically limited if that helps. Pretty interested in critical care as well.

Thanks!

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[laconfidential]

Wake for sure. I think northwestern too since the VA downtown closed but I'm not 100% on that.

 

[Instatewaiter]

.

 

[FrisbeeDocIM]

UNC, UVA, and OSU (as in Ohio, not Oregon) don't.

 

[235009]

you can send different personal statements to different programs so you can very easily make one version of your personal statement where you mention how great working at a VA is and how important it is to you and send that to programs that have a VA affiliation.

alternatively, if it really is THAT important to you then you should limit your list to programs that have a VA affiliation. Shouldn't be that hard if you don't have a geographic preference.

 

[gutonc]

Another thing to keep in mind is that there is a wide range in quality of VA hospitals associated with residency programs. As a general rule, VAs that are located on/near the campus of the hospital they're associated with tend to be "better" than others. In my experience, this includes places like OHSU/Portland VA, UW Madison/Madison VA, NYU/Manhattan VA (there are plenty of others, these are just the ones I interviewed at). When the VA is physically separated, it can make it harder to attract good, academic teaching attendings. There are obvious exceptions to this rule (Seattle VA, Minneapolis VA, again, examples I'm personally familiar with...there are plenty of others out there).

FWIW, I applied to both kinds of programs (with and without VAs) but I really appreciate the training opportunities a VA provides you.

 

[Zenfudge]

Thanks guys! Your replies were certainly helpful. The only programs mentioned that I was considering were UNC and Mayo, and I'll have to dig into their websites a bit more before I put in an application.

I've also experienced what Gutonc mentioned (both as a patient and a student) regarding the range of VA quality and this is a point that I was not considering, so I'll have to think about that as well. Maybe this will end up being a genuine question that I ask on the interview trail instead of having to come up with a BS question. Thanks again!

 

[235009]

not sure whether the physical proximity of the VA to the university hospital has any effect but you should look closely at whether the VA associated with the program is the regional referral center or whether it's one of the smaller ones that will end up sending any interesting/complicated cases to the regional referral center. The VA associated with my med school was not a referral center whereas the one associated with my residency is. I think it makes a huge difference with regards to both breadth and depth of experience.