Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children

[Swiper]

I'm looking for opinions about the Peds residency at Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children. Does anyone have feedback or impressions about either the interview, rotations there (UVA / VCU / G'town students?) or reputation in the northern VA area?

Thanks!

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[TexasRose]

Sorry, I know nothing about the programs in VA. I just had to hijack to say you shoulda come to TX. My kids could have babysat your kids. 😉

/hijack

 

[bjackrian]

I'm not overly familiar with the program, but I did medicine and OB-GYN at Inova-Fairfax. The peds residents I met were generally happy with the program. The facilities are excellent--a new/updated hospital with good resident facilities. The ancillary staff and nursing, at least on medicine and OB were great--always around and willing to help with whatever needed doing. The social work staff at Fairfax were the best of any hospital I worked with. The hospital is one of only two level one pediatrics trauma centers in the Washington metro area and serves as a referral center for a fair amount of Virginia, so they have a good depth of experience. At the same time, many low-income patients use the hospital as a primary source of care, including a large number of Spanish speaking patients.

Anyway, I'm a third year, so I haven't interviewed there, and I'm sure if anyone has they can provide a lot more detail/knowledge, but I have a very positive impression of the hospital.

 

[Swiper]

Sorry, I know nothing about the programs in VA. I just had to hijack to say you shoulda come to TX. My kids could have babysat your kids. 😉

/hijack

Your kids would probably be more affordable in TX than babysitting will be in Fairfax County!

 

[Swiper]

I'm not overly familiar with the program, but I did medicine and OB-GYN at Inova-Fairfax. The peds residents I met were generally happy with the program. The facilities are excellent--a new/updated hospital with good resident facilities. The ancillary staff and nursing, at least on medicine and OB were great--always around and willing to help with whatever needed doing. The social work staff at Fairfax were the best of any hospital I worked with. The hospital is one of only two level one pediatrics trauma centers in the Washington metro area and serves as a referral center for a fair amount of Virginia, so they have a good depth of experience. At the same time, many low-income patients use the hospital as a primary source of care, including a large number of Spanish speaking patients.

Anyway, I'm a third year, so I haven't interviewed there, and I'm sure if anyone has they can provide a lot more detail/knowledge, but I have a very positive impression of the hospital.

Thanks for this bjackrian!

Any other thoughts?

 

[DoctorSoccer]

I interviewed there in November, so it's been a while. But here is what I remember/have written down to remember.

PROS
- Nice facilities
- Location near DC is great
- Residents were nice and genuinely seemed happy there
- Easier call schedule than most places

CONS
- Being a guy, I was a little worried by the fact that there are only 1-2 guys per class
- The board pass rate hasn't been great in the past (although I know they're setting up new regiments to improve this)
- There is a research requirement, and I'm not that into research
- The training seems more geared towards general peds, and at this point I'm thinking I'll end up in a fellowship


I guess basically I didn't get the best gut feeling on interview day, so I won't be ranking it very high on my list. I do really think that the program is up and coming, and they have good resources. I also spoke with a couple attendings throughout the day and they were awesome. It's not the program for me, but I think most people would be happy there. Good luck with your choices (everyone).

 

[Spooner13]

bump. any updated info on this program would be GREATLY appreciated!

 

[WestcoastMedicine]

I don't know much about the program, but in regards to the cons listed for research, I would take this off the con list. Obviously if you have an interested in research or pursuing a fellowship and likely academic medicine career it is a plus. Also, I don't know of any programs that don't have a requirement for research or atleast a QI project now.

 

[eternaloptimist]

BUMP!!! Any thoughts as to how it compares to Georgetown Peds?

 

[mvenus929]

I'm looking for opinions about the Peds residency at Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children. Does anyone have feedback or impressions about either the interview, rotations there (UVA / VCU / G'town students?) or reputation in the northern VA area?

I did my third year rotation there, working on both the general peds floor and the Heme/Onc floor. The set-up was different than what I was used to, in that there were multiple attendings admitting (I'm more familiar with a strict hospitalist system, not private attendings admitting to the hospital as well), but the hospitalists were good teachers. I learned a lot while I was there.

I was put off by the fact that all the interns I worked with seemed super stressed without apparent reason. I was there at a slow time of year, when the interns had already been there for a few months. I can only imagine what it was like in the winter when they're filled to capacity. The call structure on the weekends also seemed weird, with people covering on teams they weren't on during the week (as in, switching from one general team to the other for the weekend) and upper levels from other services coming in to cover patients they didn't know. I haven't done any other peds inpatient rotations, so I'm not sure how this compares to other programs, but other specialties that I've been on inpatient services with have split weekends up much more logically.

That said, the NICU is huge (I think it's like 100 beds), and I don't believe there are NICU fellows, which makes it much easier to get involved in patient care. There was a nice mix in the patient population that we saw, with a few very niche populations (Sickle Cell for instance). So I imagine the overall preparation for practice is great.

They are DO friendly. We had two DO AI's there while I was on service. I didn't dig too much into the background of the residents, but they do take DO students.