IM Residency Programs in Bay Area

[bzbzbz]

Hi all, my wife is a second year IM resident. I just found out, unfortunately, that I am getting transferred for work out to the Bay Area. I have worked tirelessly to find a way to stay in our home city or a closer city, but have not had any luck. This has been a really difficult situation for our family, and wanted to see if you guys would be able to give us any advice. (My wife has been doing 24 hour shifts in the ICU, and has not been able yet to do much investigation.)

(1) Is there anything you would keep in mind in terms of dealing with your program director in cases like this?

(2) We have done some research on Bay Area programs, but the information doesn't really converge on any type of even rough consensus. Would you guys be able to give a rough ranking of these IM residency programs (all Bay Area programs listed except UCSF and Stanford)?

1) Kaiser Oakland
2) Alameda County (Oakland)
3) Kaiser SF
4) California Pacific Medical Center (SF)
5) St. Mary's (SF)
6) Santa Clara Valley Medical Program (San Jose)
7) Kaiser Santa Clara

Thank you very much. Really appreciate it.

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[mrpankration]

When you talk about ranking, what criteria are you looking for (i.e. prestige, difficulty, clinical training)? As someone with knowledge about a few of these programs I can tell you that they are very different and how your rank them really depends on what you are looking for.

 

[bzbzbz]

I PM'd mrpankration. We getting down to crunch time, so if anyone else has any thoughts, they would be enormously appreciated and valued. If you are more comfortable with PM, that would be great too. I really appreciate any help. Thanks!

PS - To the extent it helps, my wife's main focus is getting into a cards fellowship. She is in an academic program now, is currently doing cards research, and has strong reviews.

 

[P Diddy]

I PM'd mrpankration. We getting down to crunch time, so if anyone else has any thoughts, they would be enormously appreciated and valued. If you are more comfortable with PM, that would be great too. I really appreciate any help. Thanks!

PS - To the extent it helps, my wife's main focus is getting into a cards fellowship. She is in an academic program now, is currently doing cards research, and has strong reviews.

If she wants Cards, best would be Kaiser SF as they have an in house Cards fellowship and take their own.

p diddy

 

[bzbzbz]

Thanks, p diddy. I did see on their website that they have had several Cards placements over the past few years. I hear some people mention that CPMC is a great program, but given her Cards interest, maybe this would be better.

Any other thoughts would be great to have!

 

[gutonc]

Thanks, p diddy. I did see on their website that they have had several Cards placements over the past few years. I hear some people mention that CPMC is a great program, but given her Cards interest, maybe this would be better.

Any other thoughts would be great to have!

Honestly? She stays put, you move, you work it out for a year or so. She's going to wind up in a lesser program than she currently is if she has to transfer. And since there are no guarantees that she can transfer (i.e., a program will have to have a spot for her and be willing to take her), this might wind up being your fall back position anyway.