Hey,
Has anyone interviewed at Cedars-Sinai? Opinions?
As a more general question is there anything bad about going to a new residency program at a private hospital? Seems liek they have the financial backing to survive for a while although their psychiatry residency program has shutdown. I feel bad for those residents.
I interviewed there as well. I previously emailed the PD to get more information, so I wanted to share what I've learned about the program so you all can make an informed decision.
-In regards to the inpatient wards/consult load: the PD estimated that we would see 80-90 pt's/month and performing 100 consults/month. Sounds like they will have flexibility to titrate the primary service up/down to have an ideal inpatient service of 5-10 and 4-6 consults per 24 hr work day
-I asked about the PM&R block during PGY2: this was designed because there is a PMR inpatient service with extensive outpt clinics, there is an active PMR residency (but I couldn't find this online), includes procedures of interest including nerve blocks, neurolysis, EMG/NCV, and research
-there is 1/2 day continuity clinic throughout the residency
-they received an initial ACGME accreditation of 3 yrs (the max). I asked about their last site visit and was told "site visitor was very impressed with the breadth and depth and well developed plans for the residency."
-throughout the residency, call will be home-call, however during the NICU blocks you will have to do in-house calls. Because of home-call, you will be required to be within a 20min drive during call nights.
-the inpatient team will generally consist of a neuro jr and senior resident, attending, IM resident, and sometimes a NGSY intern
-as for the teaching faculty, you will be taught mainly by the full-time faculty. In addition there are clinical faculty who are highly engaged with educational activities, as well as some private neurologists (UCLA trained) who have stated interest in teaching ((Steve Sykes and Nick Szumski).
Because this is a new residency program, I think a person considering CS will need to have a high level of maturity to accept the fact that there will be bumps along the way as the program matures and evolves. I can see how some people would rather not deal with this, but on the other hand others may see it as a unique opportunity and challenge to be the pioneering class to help shape this residency program towards excellence. I can say that there is a lot of potential. The chair is Patrick Lyden, a highly respected leader in Stroke Neurology (previously director of the Stroke fellowship at UCSD). He has been well funded, recently received an NIH grant, and is a forward-thinking and progressive minded individual. Since his start as chair a couple years ago, he has recruited an impressive roster including for example movement disorders expert Michele Tagliati (previously at Mt Sinai, and currently director of MD at CS) and ALS/neuromuscular expert Bob Baloh (previously at WashU). There are many other notable faculty, most of whom trained at UCLA. The PD is Nancy Sicotte, UCLA trained, MS expert with research interests in brain imaging. From what I gathered talking to UCLA neuro residents who worked with her, she is a great mentor, approachable, and committed. All in all, the teaching faculty have a lot of experience mentoring residents. Despite the tough funding and economical climate, CS continues to expand, with the brand new state of the art facility (Health Sciences Pavilion) slated to open in 2013. See the video on youtube...Neurology clinics will be located on one of the floors with proximity to basic research labs - a positive for those interested in doing research. There is in fact quite a lot of elective time built into the program, thus allowing one to tailor their educational experience/interests. If you are serious about doing research, there are a lot of opportunities (both basic and clinical/translational) in areas such as stroke, movement disorders, imaging, ALS, neuro-onc, neuro-immunology, etc. I think the only area that they are currently lacking is Dementia and maybe Headaches.
Other notable perks include: free parking, a starbucks in the hospital (the busiest starbucks west of the mississippi), beautiful facilities, really nice location (right across the Beverly Center), outstanding ancillary services (they are a Magnet nursing hospital, if you are familiar w/ that award), and well respected by the community. Most people usually think of CS as the hospital for the celebs. Per the residency committee however, the residents will only see the patients belonging to the teaching service. These include uninsured, medi-cal, private, etc patients. Now what the relative proportion is, I'm not sure. CS is also one of the busiest ERs and major tertiary referral center. Again perhaps the main weaknesses are no outcomes data (i.e. board pass rate, fellowship placement, etc), no prior residents, and an idea of what the true experience will be like. The program takes 3 a year at the moment, so take into consideration that it might be difficult if someone has to take an extended leave of absence and this may impact the call schedule. Because you are the inaugural class, expect a lot of attention, feedback, and the opportunity to work very closely alongside the attendings. This close attention can be a positive or negative, depending on what floats your boat.
Well hope that helps, as it did for me. I think CS will be a great place to do residency and I'm sure you will not go wrong. Best wishes to you all and hope we all get our choice of residency come March Madness.
