Interview at NYMC-Metropolitan Hospital

[ScienceMind]

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I will be interviewing at Metropolitan Hospital next week and wanted to know what people thought of the program? Specifically didactics, call schedule, moonlighting, psychotherapy exposure, graduates getting fellowships. Thanks.

 

[Rpre19]

hey,

I was not particularly impressed with the program. It seemed very disorganized & to be honest...desperate. The residents were all extremely nice & friendly & welcoming. The faculty was really nice too, so it had nothing to do with the people or staff, but the program just didnt seem very strong. I cant remember the call schedule (sorry) but I remember getting a sense of it being a very hectic place to work. Their motto is clearly you learn by doing which is fine but this seemed to translate into the residents being a source of cheap labor. The residents seemed a little rundown.

The location means that you are mostly seeing the disenfranchised & the minority populations of black & hispanic--I think not so much other minority populations & not really the middle or upper class population. I am not being biased by any means, I am actually very interested in acute psychosis among the homeless & indigent population in my future career, but in my training I want to to make sure to see a whole spectrum of culturally diverse & socioeconomically diverse patients. The residents & faculty said you will mostly see black & hispanic pt's with drug issues, now that I remember it correctly. I understand that this is pychiatry BUT again, I would rather see as much of a mix of things as I can, especially if you are going to work me like a donkey...

Specific to your question, I dont remember psychotherapy really being emphasized-this is the trenches basically. They said fellowships are fine but didnt give any evidence or stats on residents getting them, so I would ask them to be specific about that.

They seemed to really want a US grad- all of the residents are foreign grads & the director who is new in the position but worked there for many years almost beat up the program herself & said they wouldnt rank me unless they knew I would rank them bc they thought I would probably get in elsewhere...that to me is a sign of a weak program.

Also the didactics seemed to be in a state of flux. & they give exams (each year & I think they count for your evals) to prepare you for the boards but this seemed more to make sure their residents were learning throughout their training rather than a tool for the boards. & my opinion was that its bc they work the residents so hard that formal teaching is lacking...

Hope this helps. I didnt mean to paint such a grim picture. There were other very busy commuinty based programs that I thought were superior to this one though...Its a shame bc with the new director the program should have some really good potential, maybe in the future??

You will probably enjoy your day though-its very relaxed & they are fun to talk to. If you get a different impression, let me know! 🙂

My advice is that when you ask a question, get them to tell you specific facts & stats.

 

[prominence]

this program has a notorious history of not ranking any applicants via the Match. They typically wait for the Scramble process to get the best candidates remaining for essentially all of their positions (excluding the spots they already gave out with prematch contracts). this has been consistent for the past several years. i can't recall them matching any US graduates recently. their residents are all IMGs, who are typically on H-1 visas.

i have knowledge about this program as i previously rotated there as a med student. i felt the place was a sweatshop, and i didn't even bother applying there. the didactics are not protected time. the call schedule is hectic, with even PGY-4 residents taking some call.

i remember one previous psych resident at Metropolitan who hated this residency program. he attempted to transfer to another NYC psych program as a PGY-4. he got accepted into the other program; unfortunately he never sought permission from the Metropolitan program director. Metropolitan ended up blocking his transfer, though they said they would allow him to stay "without any hard feelings from their side". it was a disaster.

all H&Ps and progress notes are written by hand; there is no dictation service. there is an archaic computer system to enter medication orders through. they have several psychoanalytically-trained faculty there, but they do not emphasize any teaching in psychotherapy (whatever psychotherapy that is done by the residents is essentially supprtive). in the outpatient clinic, there is a metal detector for everyone who enters. the patient population is diverse. it is not uncommon for the residents to have to use an AT&T telephone interpreter as a mediator for non-English speaking.

there is no "handholding" in this program. this is an example of a psychiatry residency program for applicants who are desperate of matching somewhere (regardless of whether they are interested in psychiatry). another such program is Bergen Regional Medical Center in New Jersey.

hope this helps.

 

[ScienceMind]

Thanks for the information. It is much appreciated.

 

[prominence]

this program does not offer any psychiatric fellowships.

if you are interested in doing a child psych fellowship elsewhere, Metropolitan will not let you leave until you graduate their program (i.e. you will be denied permission to leave Metropolitan after PGY-3 to pursue child psych).

 

[whopper]

I am actually very interested in acute psychosis among the homeless & indigent population in my future career, but in my training I want to to make sure to see a whole spectrum of culturally diverse & socioeconomically diverse patients

I understand what you mean. You want to treat poor patients, but also middle class & rich patients. You want to see it all.

On somewhat of a tangent, from my own experiences, the programs that offer the best diversity of patients are those that service an entire county (if not more) with a metropolitan area in that county. Closest to NYC that I'm aware of is Stony Brook.