MUSC & My story

[Daftrage]

Fair warning. This will long winded but I cut down as I could

I have been hesitant to do this because it is already pretty easy to figure out who I am by posts and I am a fairly private person, but after reading about other residents treatment at programs I really just want to shine some light on how wonderful MUSC is and also receive some catharsis along the way.

I am married and my wife and I have always managed to do things the hard way for some reason beyond us (married just before I started med school and she Law school simultaneously). We found out were were going to have a child 2days before match day when we also found out we were going to be leaving our home state for South Carolina. In order to save money for our pending new child, my wife stayed back while I moved for the first 3months of residency which were the med wards months. During week 3 of residency I got the news from my wife that they found a serious cardiac defect with my child on sonogram. We were devastated and apart, but my wife had family and friends who really stepped up and helped. I called my chiefs who immediately helped go to bat to get me some time off to process things and I came back to work within a few days to get myself busy. Our program director found out and personally called me in for a visit to make sure I was okay and to also offer the programs support telling me my first priority was my family.

Fast forward 3 months. My wife is now with me in SCAR and I going to take an overnight call and am working on an inpt psych unit. My wife ends up going into labor while I'm in the ER and we are not term yet so we were very unprepared. We have multiple people on call (3) at a time and my fellow residents offer to cover the rest of my shift which means extra work for them. I email my chiefs and the PD and PC who essentially tell me, we'll fill out the paperwork and take care of things, go be with your family. They absolutely did just that. They spoke with my current team and all my future teams prepping for the possibility of me taking off since my son will require multiple operations, without me having to ask. My current team also fully supported me taking off which not only the fellow picked up work, but the attending also took care of part of my work so that I did not need to worry about it.

These are but a few of the examples of things they have done for me. There have been multiple calls to/for me, residents (including 4th years) offering to cover calls, fellow interns cooking meals, friendly words of encouragement. Throughout it all I have always felt like the program has had my back and will continue to do so. My story is far from over but things could have been infinitely worse had I not had this level of support.

There are many reasons to want to come to MUSC from research opportunities to fellowships but I can't think of a greater resource that MUSC offers to residents than it's outstanding faculty, residents and staff. I have been wonderfully blessed to be here and can't picture any other place I would rather be. Thanks for reading my lengthy story and I hope someone else benefits from it.

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[digitlnoize]

Thanks for sharing Daftrage. I had heard good things about MUSC, but this is a great sign. I'm glad you have been able to weather this storm thus far, and wish you the best of luck in the future. You seem to be dealing well and have a great support system!

Now I'm even more excited for my interview there next week! I am also married, with a kid, and want a place that is understanding of family time (when needed).

Honestly, my biggest concerns regarding MUSC are regarding the cost of living and traffic...I've heard the training, atmosphere, and city are great, and your story only confirms that!

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Thanks for sharing.

A tip to all of you who are interviewing: when they say "the residents are cohesive" or "we support our residents and families"--ask for examples! Face it--a lot of "Life" happens to us during these years. I think that any program worth its salt is going to be able to demonstrate that they have backed up their residents, and their residents have backed up one another through tough times like this.

 

[RookieRoo]

I agree. MUSC is an excellent program with close residents and approachable attendings.

 

[whopper]

I don't see much of a problem if someone is saying a program is good. It's when they say one is bad there's the problem because often-times it begs the question of a bitter and unfair person vs. a possibly truly terrible program. Tensions fly.

I will say that if the residents are good and friendly, this can and will likely change with the time. I can think of years in my own program where the class overall was good, other years where they were terrible. This was the case in several other programs I've seen as well.

I've seen no magic method to figure out if a resident will be a good one other than to know what they are truly like in the field, meaning seeing how they work for at least a few weeks. Despite the best efforts, you really don't know a person until you got them. One of the most toxic residents I knew did beautifully during interviews because she was histrionic. When you see a person for only one day, and they are vibrant, elevate your mood, and have some flamboyance, well this type of thing is good for one day, especially since the candidate wants to look their best. A particular resident already in the program kept boasting about how great she was (turned out he wanted to have sexual relations with her). When she was in the program, she was a nightmare, and that same resident boasting how great she was hated her with a passion. You start seeing the personality flaws after only being with them for a few weeks.

 

[primadonna22274]

That is really encouraging!! I am skimming the posts in this forum as I kinda wonder if psych would be a good fit for me. My other leanings are IM, neuro or FM. I have looked at the MUSC Neuro program but not psych. A little bit about me: 11 yr as FP/EM PA, house and husband in SC, displaced Oregonian and when homesick want to return. The rest of the time I enjoy 75 degrees and sunshine in February and not being too close to my mother. In first year of 3-yr track for PA-to-DO at LECOM-Erie... After a couple winters here I think I will really be ready to head back to the south. Did a fair bit of primary care psych in FM, I like it and have aptitude for it. Even applied to a Psy.D program years ago then decided it wasn't quite the right fit for me. No EM for sure: I really don't have an EM personality. One last thing: a hypomanic mother and brother with severe (but lately much better controlled) paranoid schizophrenia has often scared me away from making a full career of psych--hits a bit close to home--on the other hand I have empathy and want to better understand my dear brother's disease as he ages.
Can you comment on the degree of psychotherapy that is taught at MUSC? more? Less? Opportunities for fellowships or further study--Geri psych? Neuropsych? Palliative care? These are my particular interests. Research? Teaching? Haven't ruled out academics.
Thanks so much,
Lisa