D
deleted6669
does anyone have any experience with the programs at madigan? I have heard only good things but don't know any current residents or students who have rotated there.
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2000
- Messages
- 3,525
- Reaction score
- 323
I've had contact with a first year resident who did a transitional year there, and a classmate who did an IM rotation there. Both had nothing but positive things to say. Even as bad as internships can be, the resident said if you're gonna do one, that's the place to do it. I've also heard good things from attendings at other hospitals who were either residents or faculty there, but their experiences would be from at least 3 or 4 years ago.
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2000
- Messages
- 754
- Reaction score
- 2
Just got back from Madigan this weekend. It was a fantastic rotation. Although I was in the Pathology department (so I can't give you any specific info, except for that dept.) I heard many good things. Of course, as the previous post stated the nature of many residencies is suckville, most of the residents that I met were in good spirits. I think that it is an excellent place to train.
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2003
- Messages
- 330
- Reaction score
- 1
Madigan Rocks!
Great attending staff (although, as is the problem with all military facilities, many of them tend to get transferred after a couple years -- still, they seem to have no problems finding good replacements); great, friendly, smart residents; relatively new, nice facility; residencies are pretty benign compared to civilian -- there is a lot of emphasis on academic learning (lectures, etc), not just ward scut; "call from home" is not unusual; rotations at U of Washington in Seattle to get the "big academic hospital experience"; great geographic location. Only cautions I would offer would be: 1) to surgery residents: OR time can be cut sometimes depending on "needs of the army" (i.e, all the surgeons get deployed, leaving a skeleton crew to run the place). 2) Although a good hospital, Madigan is not truly "state of the art" when it comes to more advanced cutting edge procedures. Lots of subspecialized surgery, interventional radiology, and some high-tech medicine stuff has to be sent out to Seattle. Nevertheless, whatever your residency, you will come out of there very well trained
Agree with the previous poster about the weather. Fall, winter and spring are rainy but tolerable; winter is looooooong and daaaaaaark (you are much farther north than you realize) and, frankly can be a bit depressing. Flip side is that summers are purely awesome. Like 18 hours of daylight, hardly ever over 80 degrees and no humidity. Location is great, very short trips to shore, mountains, hiking, skiing, Seattle, Vancouver, Portland, etc.
BTW, the REAL religion at Madigan is not coffee . . . it's TORTILLA SOUP!!!!!!
Great attending staff (although, as is the problem with all military facilities, many of them tend to get transferred after a couple years -- still, they seem to have no problems finding good replacements); great, friendly, smart residents; relatively new, nice facility; residencies are pretty benign compared to civilian -- there is a lot of emphasis on academic learning (lectures, etc), not just ward scut; "call from home" is not unusual; rotations at U of Washington in Seattle to get the "big academic hospital experience"; great geographic location. Only cautions I would offer would be: 1) to surgery residents: OR time can be cut sometimes depending on "needs of the army" (i.e, all the surgeons get deployed, leaving a skeleton crew to run the place). 2) Although a good hospital, Madigan is not truly "state of the art" when it comes to more advanced cutting edge procedures. Lots of subspecialized surgery, interventional radiology, and some high-tech medicine stuff has to be sent out to Seattle. Nevertheless, whatever your residency, you will come out of there very well trained
Agree with the previous poster about the weather. Fall, winter and spring are rainy but tolerable; winter is looooooong and daaaaaaark (you are much farther north than you realize) and, frankly can be a bit depressing. Flip side is that summers are purely awesome. Like 18 hours of daylight, hardly ever over 80 degrees and no humidity. Location is great, very short trips to shore, mountains, hiking, skiing, Seattle, Vancouver, Portland, etc.
BTW, the REAL religion at Madigan is not coffee . . . it's TORTILLA SOUP!!!!!!
- Joined
- May 25, 2002
- Messages
- 48
- Reaction score
- 0
I second the Tortilla Soup remark. Have one cup for lunch, and take another home for dinner. They'll also give you the recipe if you ask (although it's the 50-gallon recipe).
By the way, out of my four duty stations (previous career, before med school), the winner, far and away, is Madigan...
CA
By the way, out of my four duty stations (previous career, before med school), the winner, far and away, is Madigan...
CA
So what is the recipe?
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2008
- Messages
- 192
- Reaction score
- 36
Spent my residency at Madigan. The tortilla soup is over-rated. Otherwise, it is a great place to live and work. We all acted over-worked but compared to other military and civilian residencies NONE of the residencies were nearly as busy. As a result, academics is emphasized to make up for fewer patient encounters. Still I think the general impression is that MAMC turns out a good product. Most of the residencies obtain full 5 year accreditation on a regular basis. Living in Dupont (I got kids) was great as it took 10 minutes or less from driveway to doorstep. I'm biased because we (my family) loved it there. I would definitely take a look if they have a residency that you are considering.
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2000
- Messages
- 754
- Reaction score
- 2
in my experience this is the oldest resurrection of a thread that i have seen in my 10 years here at SDN. almost 7 years old!
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
- Messages
- 981
- Reaction score
- 51
As with any army program, lower volume than any civilian program, thus as said earlier, this is made up with academics.
I was a former resident there in a very small subspecialty program and have to say, I for one don' t feel that my training was all that strong, but there are reasons why that is, and you can PM if you want to know more. I feel that overall, most programs there are solid, from what I have observed at least, and for what you don't get to see/do, there is always the outside rotations at UW/Harborview which can be a valueable learning experience. The only problem with that, fighting the traffic!! You pretty much will have to stay in Seattle on an outside rotation, but no worries, MAMC, gives you a place to stay on Seattle's first hill near Harborview when you do such rotations.
Dupont is definitely the closest to MAMC for driving purposes and I would recommend living there to avoid going insane driving in traffic. I made that mistake!! It look me at least 90 minutes to get home at night, in any direction, at any time, from MAMC. At times, it took 20-30 minutes alone to drive from MAMC to just the gate at I-5, so the closer you live, the better. Unfortunately, no way to get away from any of those "cookie cutter" housing development in any direction.
Yes, people would rather buy five cups of overpriced coffee per day than to just brew a pot on their office for a third of the cost, but hey, that is Seattle, coffee is their thing.
People make a big deal about the weather. Its do-able! The summers in Washington are actually very nice, sunny, and dry.
The hospital itself is a very nice building and I liked the hospital.
Seriously, my only complaint is the traffic. That would be the only reason I would never want to go back there, the fact that you are pretty much will spend an hour of more in your car to drive a very short distance home (unless you live in dupont). Obviously, the traffic is no better at walter reed. I have heard that the traffic in san antonio has gotten worse over the years. I was in san antonio recently, yes a few slow downs, but nothing like the Tacoma area!!
If I think back from the time I was a medical student rotating through military hospital until now, I can honestly say that training methods and didactics were pretty similar at all hospitals/programs. Some may claim to be better than others but I don't see what you will get better at one versus the other looking back. So rotate through and decide for yourself whether you like it there or not, that is what makes/breaks your decision sometimes.
I was a former resident there in a very small subspecialty program and have to say, I for one don' t feel that my training was all that strong, but there are reasons why that is, and you can PM if you want to know more. I feel that overall, most programs there are solid, from what I have observed at least, and for what you don't get to see/do, there is always the outside rotations at UW/Harborview which can be a valueable learning experience. The only problem with that, fighting the traffic!! You pretty much will have to stay in Seattle on an outside rotation, but no worries, MAMC, gives you a place to stay on Seattle's first hill near Harborview when you do such rotations.
Dupont is definitely the closest to MAMC for driving purposes and I would recommend living there to avoid going insane driving in traffic. I made that mistake!! It look me at least 90 minutes to get home at night, in any direction, at any time, from MAMC. At times, it took 20-30 minutes alone to drive from MAMC to just the gate at I-5, so the closer you live, the better. Unfortunately, no way to get away from any of those "cookie cutter" housing development in any direction.
Yes, people would rather buy five cups of overpriced coffee per day than to just brew a pot on their office for a third of the cost, but hey, that is Seattle, coffee is their thing.
People make a big deal about the weather. Its do-able! The summers in Washington are actually very nice, sunny, and dry.
The hospital itself is a very nice building and I liked the hospital.
Seriously, my only complaint is the traffic. That would be the only reason I would never want to go back there, the fact that you are pretty much will spend an hour of more in your car to drive a very short distance home (unless you live in dupont). Obviously, the traffic is no better at walter reed. I have heard that the traffic in san antonio has gotten worse over the years. I was in san antonio recently, yes a few slow downs, but nothing like the Tacoma area!!
If I think back from the time I was a medical student rotating through military hospital until now, I can honestly say that training methods and didactics were pretty similar at all hospitals/programs. Some may claim to be better than others but I don't see what you will get better at one versus the other looking back. So rotate through and decide for yourself whether you like it there or not, that is what makes/breaks your decision sometimes.
