Medical College of Georgia (MCG) Residency Reviews

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There was a previous review of MCG but since someone asked here is an updated version. Fair warning...this was a "warm up" interview for me and i was not all that into the program except for location to family. I was open going into it, but a saw a lot of red flags.

Residents--I think it's 8 per year. Very nice and welcoming. all seemed fun, but maybe to a fault. Some make a point to get by without doing a lot of work-they told me this!!! Not a way to win me over. None that I spoke with ranked MCG 1 but all seemed pretty happy. Almost all own homes and say traffic is not an issue.

Faculty--The brag on having the first EM trained MD in the world (Janiak sp?) and use him as a selling point-not sure why, but i didn't speak with him during the day-maybe he is god. The didn't seem to speak a lot about teaching but mentioned several times they were in the 88 percentile of scores on the feb test that we will take. The PD is new to the position this year and he didn't seem quite comfortable in the "sales pitch" but did a good job.
The medical director interviewed me and asked the "what do you think about treating the poor?" question. I admit that I'm a softy and idealist and this is a bit of an attraction for me to EM. He then turns around and says that that is what everyone says and really poor people clog the system and need to be weeded out (not exactly those words, but close.) Then he tells me that the business side -medical director- is how to make money in EM. He later puts words in my mouth and says that the problem with applicants who did EMS prior to med school (me) is that I'm jaded already and have no knowledge base. Yeah, that was great (why do they let him talk to applicants??). I was ready to go after that...

FACILITIES-Nice enough. nothing great and nothing bad. They use pa's during the day for fast track which everyone seemed to like.
As far as the campus there is a bug problem-in one interview a little bug crawled across my application on the desk. In another interview there was a dead roach beside my chair.

Cirriculum-Again, nothing stood out. Decent amount of off-time. When asked about off service the residents said cards was the worst, but a learning experience. They really pushed disaster medicine aspect of the training. Like REALLY pushed it...and this is where i fell out with them- I asked what their relation was to SRS (a NUCLEAR plant about 10-20 mins away) and they don't do ANYTHING with the plant. I think that negates the disaster training. Apparently, if there is a situation/exposure, the pt goes 50+ to columbia,sc. Granted, I don't think that is a major thing i want in my residency, but to push that aspect as their selling point but not take care of a disaster was weird. That was the theme of the day. Big talk but when probed a bit you find out that not ACTUALLY the way it is.

Patient population-judging by the hotel i stayed at (and was on the suggested list) they have plenty of penetrating trauma. mix of inner city type and retired people to be adequate. they volume seemed low when we walked through, but then again it was in teh middle of the day.

Location-depends on what you are looking for. About 2 hours or less to atlanta. Affordable. Seemed ok to me, but if you are a big city/24hr person, probably not the ideal setting. Beautiful campus and quiet.

overall- i think it is what you make of it. The residents aren't bookworms by far and have lives (and families) outside of the hospital, but seem competent. I think the downfall is the discrepancy between what they say in the morning sales pitch and what really happens according to the residents. They push "finding your niche" but residents admit to not really doing a lot of anything.

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I am a 2nd-year resident at MCG. I thought I would pass on some info on what I like about my program. Obviously, I'm biased in favor of the program.

1. Augusta: The CSRA (Central Savannah River Area) has a population of about 400,000-500,000 people. However, the catchment area for MCG is larger. We routinely get transfers from Columbus, Athens, Macon, and all of southern Georgia and parts of South Carolina. Patients routinely bypass Atlanta, Macon, and Columbia for MCG.

2. Lifestyle: The cost of living here is quite low. I have 3 kids and my wife doesn't work. I own a great home out in the nice suburb of Augusta; all on a resident salary. Traffic is minimal. I have a 20 min commute to work. Other residents own homes only 10 minutes away next to Augusta National or across the river in North Augusta, SC. Homes in these areas are cheaper but schools aren't as strong. I live where I do because I have school-age children and Columbia County has some of the best schools in the state.

Some people complain that there is nothing to do in Augusta. There is a huge reservoir "Clark's Hill/Strom Thurmond" not 30 minutes away. There are miles of great mountain biking and running trails along the Savannah River parkway. The city has several museums, AAA baseball, semi-pro hockey, arena football, ballet, opera, symphony, a few good restaurants, and plenty of bars and nightclubs. Augusta is not Atlanta, but the city sponsors monthly city party called First Friday which features live music and food.

MCG sponsors the resident-spouse auxiliary club. The club plans monthly activities as well as other events like supper club, book club, bible study, etc. MCG has a mix of married and single residents. You can usually expect several marriages and babies born to residents and attendings during your residency. My youngest was born last year during my OB rotation. The program was very supportive. All I can say more is that my wife is very happy here.

3. Patient Population: Augusta itself is a middle-sized city but has plenty of population that doesn’t take care of themselves. Consequently, we see plenty of decompensated CHF, COPD, DM. Also, it's the south. So, we also get plenty of uncontrolled HTN, MI's, and Strokes. And in case you were worried, we have a modest amount of crime and distracted drivers. So, we see plenty of blunt and penetrating traumas. Our ER has just the right amount of acuity, ICU admissions, and procedures opportunities.

4. Work: 1st-years spend 6 months of their first year in the ED. We do 23 9-hr shifts per month. Off service rotations include: Anesthesia, OB, Cards, IM, Ortho, Trauma ICU. 2nd-years spend 6 months in the ED. We do 22 shifts per month. Off service rotations include: peds anesthesia, PICU, Trauma ICU, MICU, elective, ultrasound. Third-years do 20 shifts and spend 7-8 months in the ED with several elective and EMS months mixed in. MCG is 80-hr workweek compliant. This applies to off-service rotations as well. IM, trauma, and OB use the night-float system. Other services are q4 call. ED schedules are arranged either in blocks or waterfall (your choice). We have 3 weeks of vacation per year. ED rotators do 3-4 peds. shifts/month.

5. Didactics: We have 5 hours of lecture every Thursday including a comprehensive pediatric curriculum and monthly US review. We hold a daily 1-hr morning report in the ED and have a monthly journal club. We are excused from all off-service duties to attend lectures and journal club. We have scheduled reading assignments from Rosen’s and every-other-week quizzes. There is a month long set of lectures for incoming 1st-years. We also participate in patient simulation labs, cadaver procedure labs, and pig procedure labs (held monthly at Ft. Gordon). We have yearly in-service exams and practice oral boards.

6. Administration: We have bi-annual interviews with the residency director to review our progress. We keep brief, monthly patient follow-up logs, procedure log, and do quarterly chart reviews. We hold a residency meeting every month. I feel like the faculty hear our suggestions and implement good ideas. Every resident selects a faculty mentor. We are required to do an administrative and scholarly project before graduation.

7. Facilities: The MCG adult ED has 8 fast-track beds, 15 acute beds, and 8 critical beds. The adjoining pediatric ED has 2 critical beds, and 10 acute beds. Occasional stable patients are put in hallway spots. Patient volume is 75,000/yr. The ED uses a simple template form for our medical record, which is then scanned into our electronic medical record-- Power Chart. The ED also uses an electronic patient-tracking program. All Xrays, CT, US, MRI are on a PACS system. The entire system can be accessed from your home computer. We have just gone through an ED upgrade including new Phillips patient monitors, stretchers, paint, and flooring. All adult acute and critical beds are monitored.

8. Trauma: We control the airway for all traumas. We trade off with the trauma chief resident as Trauma Team Leader. EM senior residents serve as trauma team leader every other day. I did an away rotation at Grady in Atlanta. MCG is no knife-and-gun club but you can expect a steady mix of blunt and penetrating trauma. Burns generally go to the regional burn center at Doctors’ Hospital in Augusta.

Moonlighting: Residents are permitted to moonlight after passing USMLE Step 3 and the EM In-service exam. Most residents start 2nd-half or 2nd-year. We have established moonlighting at several neighboring rural ER’s. We can do no more than 2, 12-hour shifts each month. Attendings are very supportive. We can call any ED attending at any time while moonlighting and ask for advice. We can also arrange a transfer of any patient to MCG.

10. Niche stuff:
Ultrasound: Dr. Mike Blaivas is one of the leaders in ER-US research. At least a 3rd of the faculty are credentialed to perform and bill for ER-US. Credentialed faculty do all their own US-guided peripheral and central lines, FAST, pelvic/transvag, gallbladder, renal, cardiac, soft tissue, ocular, DVT, AAA, appendix, and code-resuscitation scans. If you can stick a probe on it, we scan it. MCG has a one-year ED-US fellowship position.

Operation and Disaster Medicine: Dr. Phillip Coule worked to develop the National Disaster Life Support Courses™ and travels the nation and world as a speaker and consultant in disaster medicine. See a picture and article on our last disaster exercise at http://www.mcg.edu/news/beeper/Dec7/disaster_drill.htm. During this last exercise, I got to put on the Tyvex suit, respirator, and triage patients.

Wilderness Medicine: Dr. Hartmut Gross heads an excellent wilderness medicine lecture series each year. Residents and attendings present lectures together. Last year I spoke on High Altitude Medicine and Cold Injury/Hypothermia. This year I will be presenting on Heat Injury. Each spring MCG hosts a regional adventure and skills race at Ft. Gordon. For more information visit: http://www.medwar.org/southeast/index.html

Event Medicine: Residents provide on-site medical care during the Masters Golf Tournament. Last year I was able to watch the Wednesday practice round and Par-3 competition and then the final championship round on Sunday. Teams are given jump bags, golf carts, and are assigned to strategic areas around the course. Additionally, residents earn CME money for their participation. Volunteer medical services are also provided at the annual Boshears SkyFest and Southern Nationals Boat Races.

Tactical Medicine: Several attending work with the FBI Academy in Quanitco, Va., are military consultants, and provide support for local SWAT operations. Also, several attendings have been or currently are in the military/reserves and have done medical tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Residents can spend a month in Quanitco, teach tactical medicine classes, and participate in exercises and operations.

EMS: MCG has it’s own flight program. Several attendings and residents are involved in EMS medical direction.

Pediatrics: MCG has an excellent Children’s Medical Hospital and ED. Peds ED staff teach a comprehensive curriculum during weekly lectures. Residents rotate on Peds anesthesia, PICU and do 3 Peds ED shifts/month. MCG has a 2-year Pediatric EM fellowship.

International Medicine: Dr. Walter “Ted” Kuhn organizes multiple medical mission trips through his affiliation with the Presbyterian Church of America. Dr. Kuhn spends more time out of the country than at home. Medical Students and EM Residents are welcome on any trip. Read more about it from a student’s perspective at: http://www.mcg.edu/news/MCGToday/Spr05/MedMission.htm

Infectious Disease: Dr. Jim Wilde is a pediatric EM who has done extensive research in pediatric infectious disease, seasonal influenza, and antibiotics resistance. He is currently involved in a CDC associated program involving surveillance and education about inappropriate antibiotic prescribing. You can read more about it at http://www.mcg.edu/guard/index.asp
 
Telemedicine- Dr. Hartmut Gross in collaboration with the Dept. of Neurology has established the REACH program. This program uses live video and web conferencing to connect rural Georgia ED's with Neurology Subspecialists at MCG to eval. patients with acute stroke for treatment with tPA.

Advanced Airway: Dr. Richard Schwartz has an interest in fiberoptic/optical and other airway devices for easier naso- or oral-tracheal intubation.
 
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Location: Augusta is not what you think. Whatever you think it is, you are probably wrong. Most guys think of the Master's when they think of Augusta, however the prestigous Augusta National Golf Course is right of a pretty crappy main drag with more tire stores then antebellum mansions. However, it is not all redneck either, there is certainly a part of Augusta that is nice quiet suburbs with newer retail areas. Combine this with downtown Augusta which is sort of an eclectic area with lots of smaller bars, coffee shops, delis, pizza joints, and tatoo parlors. Augusta is definantly unique.

Positives: One great positive is the PD. He is a really cool guy with a very strong academic track record (he started a big name program in LA, either UCLA or LLU, I can't remember) and has high expectations for the program. They have numerous fellowships (intl med, U/S, peds) and have a real niche approach. If you want to do it, they will probably help you develop at MCG. Lots of oppurtunity for international medicine if you like that sort of thing. The chair is also a leader in EM, so there is definantly some strong academic firepower here. 9 hr shifts also a plus, can be arranged either block type schedules (week of days, then nights) or a sort of waterfall schedule, i.e. circadian. Residents seemed happy, and spoke highly of the academics at MCG. U/S is strong here.

Negatives: For me, I didn't like Augusta, some people may. Also, they have a lot of off service time, the majority of which is ICU time. While there is a great deal of momentum here thanks to a new and energetic PD, it is all on the horizon right now, not yet realized. Overall, not really too many negatives. Per PD, their Peds experience is not were he wants it to be yet, but again they are working hard at it. For some this program may lack a sort of prestige factor, as there are quite a few DOs and other from lesser known schools. If you are the sort of person that gets his jollies off feeling like he is in a prestigous program, this might not be it for you.

Summary: MCG was a very pleasant surprise. I had no idea that I would like it so much. The program is very strong, in fact one of the most impressive I interviewed at. Really great people and a passion for education that I really appreciate (contrast this with Palmetto). This program will be ranked in my top 3.
 
Glad to hear that MCG was a surprise. I am a current MS4 in Augusta and had remember a previous post/review that seemed a bit off. Just wanted to give another plug for the home program and add that I can try to answer people's questions via PM. Just hit me up.
I would second that the strong points are a passion for education and really down to earth people (contrasting with some of the ivory tower types - yes, even in EM - that I have come across on the trail). The niche concept is big, but certainly there are aspects to the program that are currently planning phase but not yet reality. On the academic front, there is quite a bit of work being done in tactical medicine and disaster, which is nationally recognized. Also, international experiences are plenty (even for med students interested in EM...yay!) . Lastly, if you are into Ultrasound, look no further. Dr. Mike Blaivas is a national leader in US and they scan virtually everything in the ED here when he is on shift. There are also two other attendings that are very actively doing US work.
Augusta is the biggest drawback for me, especially after 4 years already and coming from Atlanta life, however, it is an exceptional place for a family. Cost of living is dirt cheap and the city is very safe and clean. Again, PM if you need any more details.
 

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I have interviewed at 2 thus far.

MCG- Interview day is very relaxed. Day begins with brief power point presentation that goes over the salient points about the program. Then you have 4 interviews, 3 with faculty and 1 with a resident. All interviews were very laid back and conversational in nature. After that you have lunch with the residents, and finally a tour of the facilities. Strong points about the program: U/S experience (we have a fellowship and Dr. Blaivas is one of the founders of EM U/S), Relationships with other depts (attendings go to bat for their residents), 10 hr shifts, good camraderie of residents. Not so strong points: Augusta (smells bad alot of the time, not much to do), Not that much penetrating trauma (this might be a positive for some). This is my home institution, so if anyone has any specific questions feel free to PM me.

Vanderbilt- Another relaxing interview. Day begins with morning conference where you get to listen to Dr. Slovis of Dr. Wrenn lecture the residents from 8-9 AM. The lecture was EXCELLENT, and is done everyday in addition to the 5 hours of lecture required by the RRC. Teaching is what Vanderbilt prides itself on, and is definitely a huge benefit of the program. After that, you go to b'fast with Drs. Slovis and Wrenn where you get to ask q's and chit-chat. You have a total of 6 interviews (5 faculty and 1 resident). Most are laid back, with one being an actual "interview." The day is concluded by a tour of the facilities. Strong points: TEACHING, Drs. Slovis and Wrenn are nationally renowned educators, Trauma experience (EM residents do trauma intern year where surg residents don't do trauma until 2nd yr so when the EM's are on the trauma service their second year they know more than the 2nd yr surg residents), Nashville is inexpensive to live and has alot to offer, and their new ED is beautiful and totally electronic. Not so strong points: U/S experience is still being expanded, From what I heard they have a rough relationship w/ Cards (this is in the works though), and they have some issues with getting patients from the ED to the floor (bed availibility). I think that's it, if anyone has any q's PM me. Thanks
 
Mcg is increasing their class size from 10 to 11-12 this year and 12 next year. Free iPad to new residents. All the residents I talked to seemed very happy to be there, all very chill. 9 hour 8+1 shift structure with 22 shifts intern year. Moonlighting encouraged by pd but limited to 36 hours a month. Low cost of living. Columbia county, just a few minutes away, supposedly has one of the countries best public school systems for those with kids. As per the pd, this is a strong family oriented program, hence the 9 hour shifts. Pretty big similar with full time staff. Didactic month with reduced 7 shift responsibilities to warm you into their system. Ed just expanded, even the older Ed is in good shape and pretty modern. No floor medicine, ever. Low volume obstetrics but you'll get the 10 you need for sure, to some this may be a big plus. They seemed very willing to basically let you do anything you want with the electives and there are multiple international medicine locations where they go. I really liked them, surprised really. I'll def rank them high.
 
Mcg is increasing their class size from 10 to 11-12 this year and 12 next year. Free iPad to new residents. All the residents I talked to seemed very happy to be there, all very chill. 9 hour 8+1 shift structure with 22 shifts intern year. Moonlighting encouraged by pd but limited to 36 hours a month. Low cost of living. Columbia county, just a few minutes away, supposedly has one of the countries best public school systems for those with kids. As per the pd, this is a strong family oriented program, hence the 9 hour shifts. Pretty big similar with full time staff. Didactic month with reduced 7 shift responsibilities to warm you into their system. Ed just expanded, even the older Ed is in good shape and pretty modern. No floor medicine, ever. Low volume obstetrics but you'll get the 10 you need for sure, to some this may be a big plus. They seemed very willing to basically let you do anything you want with the electives and there are multiple international medicine locations where they go. I really liked them, surprised really. I'll def rank them high.

Columbia County has excellent schools. The training is excellent and by the time you've completed it, will be able to work comfortably at any type of facility. I've worked at lower volume facilities (15K) to higher volume facilities (>120K) and I felt my training prepared me well for either.

Good peds experience as well.

I used my electives to focus on my area of interest and am now doing a fellowship in that field.


Wook
 
I am a current second year resident, been on sdn for a few years but made a new profile for anonymity. I have loved my time here and was much more than I expected, here is the breakdown. Ill try to be honest about the pros and cons, I always felt suspicious reading posts that were ONLY glowing, especially knowing residents at the respective programs who had some issues (as we all will at times):


General: Usually a 1st and 3rd year staff the A pod, 15 acute beds and 4 critical beds. Most big traumas go to A side. 1 second year staffs the D pod with 10 acute beds and the other 4 critical beds. We also have 6 fast track rooms staffed by APP’s. The D pod acute beds are slightly less sick than A pod, but you don’t feel much of a difference, especially with 4 critical beds to yourself. Sometimes there is one more resident on either side to help with work load. During 1st year on A pod you split patients with a 3rd year, who keeps things moving in other rooms if you get bogged down. You pickup anyone you feel comfortable taking, If you wanna take all 4 critical rooms, run codes, go for it. 3rd year gets airway on level 1 traumas, that’s about the only limitation. 2nd year you learn how to manage an entire pod by yourself and become much more efficient. You also get much better at managing really sick patients since C5 through C8 are yours alone. Some larger programs have entire dedicated critical bays where you do “critical shifts” and focus solely on critical pt’s and/or trauma. While probably more safe and efficient for big centers, this does not emulate the real world, and learning how to actively manage sick patients while still keeping the rest of the department moving is very difficult as a resident and important to master. The children’s hospital is physically attached to the adult hospital with 12 acute beds and 2 critical beds. You do one dedicated month during intern year and one during second year. On your other ED months, you do 3-4 peds shifts so it stays fresh. You do 2-3 shifts per month at the VA which is across the street. Only 1 resident there so interns generally like it because any sick patient is yours, but 2nd and 3rd years generally groan because on average its lower acuity and its, well, the VA.


Facilities: I don’t think facilities are very new, but definitely do not feel old. We have dragon mic’s for dictating on all workstations which saves so much time. We have 4 nice Philips US machines shared between both pods. We rarely have issues with stocking of procedure kits (CVL art lines, sepsis bundles, etc). Have both a glydescope and c-mac for VL, and a difficult airway cart with various sizes of fiberoptic scopes for difficult airways, nasal intubations, etc.


Lifestyle, Location: To me the weakest part of the program and most difficult selling point is the programs location, Augusta. I’m very much a city guy and foodie, Augusta is just not a big city. a few good restaurants have popped up in the last few years (arsenal, hive, finch and Fifth to check out if you interview here) and there are 2 pretty cool breweries but as people above have said, its no Atlanta. To some this is a plus, very low cost of living, little traffic, lots of outdoorsy stuff (lakes, hiking/biking trails) but I tend to like the hustle and bustle. However, still not enough of a weakness to overshadow all the strengths. Some residents sublet during Masters week for around $1000 per night (if you know what you’re doing) which is pretty awesome.


Co-residents: Really chill group, our class is close and hangs out a lot. My class has ppl from southeast, midwest, southwest, all over really. Our program has no tiers for our rank list, so your like-ability and attitude can really up your rank, residents have a very large say in the rank list, which may be why we all get along so dang well. I have a crew that plays volleyball, board games, go to the breweries, etc. Honestly though, you will probably hear very similar things from other programs, which I think exemplifies how laid back and sociable most EM people are in general. If you go to interview dinners/social events and find few residents there or don’t get a vibe of cohesion, that’s a definite red flag as great colleagues should really be the standard. Some days I look forward to going into shift or lecture just to see everyone. Half military half civilian, so definitely a spectrum of interests. Some percentage of the military residents (not all) are very interested in tactical/field medicine or have had extensive prior service, and I have learned a ton from those guys. 14 residents per class, so middle of the road size-wise.


Didactics: Not a ton to say here, wouldn’t say it’s one of our strong suits. No heavy hitting names like Corey Slovis, Reuben Strayer etc from a lecturing/teaching standpoint, though you will occasionally hear Dan McCollum on EMRAP and is an editor for EMBasic, he’s an awesome teacher. In the last few years we have focused much more on sim and have very high quality sim production (we have an entire floor of the med school setup like a hospital wing with high-fidelity mannequins). Amazing pig lab with live anesthetized pigs to do thoracotomies (so your first real one isn’t a cluster), float trans-venous pacers and other procedures. In the footsteps of JPS, we recently started doing “Cases and Beer” to discuss the month’s EMRAP episode while drinking beers at an attending’s house. Some cool out of classroom didactic days like tactical day, mini-MedWAR which are awesome, but overall for us most days lectures (4hours on Wednesdays) are just lectures.


Patient population: We have such a wide catchment area, people are a lot sicker than you would expect without being metropolitan. Definitely not a county program, which is a plus for some and minus for others. Don’t get me wrong, you do see plenty of patients who NEED a county hospital (no medical care, very sick) but there is a wide variety of demographics and socio-economics within the ED population as well. Some patients having great followup and prior medical care, some you are their only doctor so you learn to manage both sides. The minus is without much county funding we don’t have many outpatient resources for the poorest of the poor, and that can be frustrating at times.


Off service: On MICU nights, you and the fellow cover the whole service, which can be up to 40 patients at times and you learn a crap-ton. EM are the only residents allowed to do nights as interns, medicine and others must be 2nd year or above, this shows how much they respect our program and trust our critical care training. Multiple nurses said something along the lines of "I'm so glad youre here" or "We love you emergency guys" not infrequently on shift. Our other off service are either very useful or chill, no medicine or surgery floor. Ortho is just coming down to ED for reductions, Ob is catching babies mostly, Anes for controlled tubes+learning adjunct airways. No off service rotation feels like a waste or scut work. Trauma is very challenging as you cover the shock trauma ICU and come down for trauma activations in ED and some of our surgeons are difficult to work with (as may not be surprising) but you learn a ton there as well.


Work Hours: I feel like we work a lot, but we are currently in 52nd percentile so can’t complain. As an intern you work 22 9’s in 28 days. I love working 9's. You still have an evening and by that 9th hour as an intern it was hard to imagine having the gas to stay an extra 3hrs. As 2nd and 3rd year you can opt into 12 hour shifts on weekends for a shift reduction. The 9’s are technically "8+1" so your last hour you stop seeing new patients, wrap up your old ones, finish charting. Frankly, as an intern, I was consistently staying 1-1.5 hours late. As upper level you tend to get out on time unless you get destroyed on shift or have a really sick person come in right before backup arrives, but I didn't mind staying later if it was for resuscitating a sick patient or doing a procedure.


Moonlighting: Faculty actively encourage moonlighting, think it’s great to learn how to transfer patients and get some independent experience without the all-knowing attending so readily available. You can start moonlighting in 2nd year if your in-service scores are >50th percentile. There are a few nearby hospitals where residents often moonlight so we have good relationships with them and easy transfers to MCG for sicker patients.


Service relationships: We try to not consult too much, which was something I was very impressed with coming from a bigger county hospital. We still probably consult ortho too much especially when things get crazy. We rarely consult optho, uro, ob, we try to do stuff ourselves though they are in house if we need them. Many attendings (not all granted) worked in community and know this isn’t the real world, so they try to prepare us for it. At my med school, one attending said he came to our big center right out of residency because he was uncomfortable w/o the ancillary support, that didn’t’ sit well with me.


Overall I have really enjoyed my time here, feel extremely well trained, and still look forward to going into work. Each day I am constantly reminded that I made a good choice in specialty. PM me if you have any questions!
 
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