New residency program

[tashka]

There are several new residency programs opening in my state. There are also several that graduated their first residency class and now await accreditation.
What do you guys think about going to the program that just started out? Is it risky?

If you faced a situation: to go to a new program or not to do residency at all, what would be your choice?

These programs look fine on paper. Of course, I understand that I will see and know more if they decide to interview me.

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[Dalteparin]

If they offer you an interview, go check it out. Hopefully with it being a new program, they'll be serious about getting feedback from residents and will want the first resident(s) to actively participate in building the program.

I interviewed at a new program and here are some of the questions I asked them:

1. How do you plan to evaluate residents? (If they don't say "ResiTrak", run for the hills.)
2. Why did the hospital want to start a residency program? (This may give you a clue as to how long they've been planning the residency; hopefully it's been in the works for at least a year.)
3. Do you get APPE/IPPE students? (This will help you gauge how much teaching they already do.)

Hope this helps!

 

[tashka]

Thank you very much. It is very helpful. I will definitely ask these questions.
I was thinking along the same lines. There are certain benefits in joining a new program.

Can you, please, explain ResiTrak? I know that this is evaluation system for the residents. Why does it matter if they use it?

 

[spacecowgirl]

1. How do you plan to evaluate residents? (If they don't say "ResiTrak", run for the hills.)

ResiTrak made me want to run for the hills. I hated having to do all that eval stuff. Ick.

 

[KARM12]

ResiTrak made me want to run for the hills. I hated having to do all that eval stuff. Ick.

I wouldn't call resitrak a desired characteristic for a residency program. My program (large academic medical center) did NOT use resitrak because it was mostly useless and very time consuming. All residency programs are required for accreditation to have a form of evaluation. By the end of residency you will be so sick of them.

 

[Dalteparin]

I wouldn't call resitrak a desired characteristic for a residency program. My program (large academic medical center) did NOT use resitrak because it was mostly useless and very time consuming. All residency programs are required for accreditation to have a form of evaluation. By the end of residency you will be so sick of them.

If you guys have a system other than ResiTrak that works, that's great! I made the "run for the hills" comment because my residency did NOT use ResiTrak while I was there and didn't really have an efficient system for evaluations. I know ResiTrak is a pain in the rear, but I'll take useless and time-consuming over complete disorganization any day. Plus, for a new program it's probably easier to use someone else's system than design their own from scratch.