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North Carolina Programs - What were your impressions?
Started by clarence
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There's some decent information about Carolinas rehab over in the "interview stories" thread. I'm interviewing there in a few weeks, so I don't know anything first hand on that program. I'm not interviewing at UNC. It's only hearsay, but what information I've gathered has been pretty thumbs-down across the board (from the internet, from residents, from students, from a rather well known name in PM&R, to name a few sources)
I DID, however, interview at East Carolina University PM&R in Greenville. They were really friendly folks, and the residents all seem really happy. Everything in Greenville is growing rapidly, and the Med Center and Rehab unit are included in that. Because it's the only Level I Trauma center east of Interstate 95, they get a pretty large volume of trauma patients that come to them. This, of course, means they'll get a large volume of rehab patients from that also. The program just added 4 or 6 new faculty recently, and they just added a few new residency slots also. They're shifting from an inpatient focused to more outpatient focused program. There is talk, and at this point it's only talk, of a pain fellowship starting up sometime in the not too distant future. Nobody seems certain if or when that will happen. As they mention in they're promotional video, they're in the process of getting a new wound center built that PM&R will head up. Unique, but not necessarily a deciding factor for me personally. Interesting, though. The PM&R department runs the occupational medicine/workers comp stuff for the hospital, including the hospital's employees. These are a few of the things that stuck out as unique in my mind. I don't remember exact numbers on procedures, etc. EMG is somewhere around 200-300 by end of residency. I believe that one of the weak areas that was pointed out to me specifically was stroke, but I'm on the road right now and those notes are about 2000 miles away at the moment.
Greenville itself--not much to speak of. Small, over an hour from the nearest city of any size. Because there's a decent sized university campus there, a lot of the bigger businesses and chain restaurants are represented, for what that's worth. There are several new buildings going up or that have just gone up on the campus, signs of growth as I mentioned.
Truthfully, this probably barely scratches the surface of what one might want to know. It was my first interview, so I definitely didn't ask enough. I'd say it's an energetic, growing program. The chair has some interesting ideas and a lot of enthusiasm. The big downside is it really is kind of in the middle of nowhere. I don't remember getting the impression that it was anything special where MSK or interventional was concerned. I was told residents usually match well into fellowships if that's what they're wanting to pursue.
Hope this helps at least a bit.
I DID, however, interview at East Carolina University PM&R in Greenville. They were really friendly folks, and the residents all seem really happy. Everything in Greenville is growing rapidly, and the Med Center and Rehab unit are included in that. Because it's the only Level I Trauma center east of Interstate 95, they get a pretty large volume of trauma patients that come to them. This, of course, means they'll get a large volume of rehab patients from that also. The program just added 4 or 6 new faculty recently, and they just added a few new residency slots also. They're shifting from an inpatient focused to more outpatient focused program. There is talk, and at this point it's only talk, of a pain fellowship starting up sometime in the not too distant future. Nobody seems certain if or when that will happen. As they mention in they're promotional video, they're in the process of getting a new wound center built that PM&R will head up. Unique, but not necessarily a deciding factor for me personally. Interesting, though. The PM&R department runs the occupational medicine/workers comp stuff for the hospital, including the hospital's employees. These are a few of the things that stuck out as unique in my mind. I don't remember exact numbers on procedures, etc. EMG is somewhere around 200-300 by end of residency. I believe that one of the weak areas that was pointed out to me specifically was stroke, but I'm on the road right now and those notes are about 2000 miles away at the moment.
Greenville itself--not much to speak of. Small, over an hour from the nearest city of any size. Because there's a decent sized university campus there, a lot of the bigger businesses and chain restaurants are represented, for what that's worth. There are several new buildings going up or that have just gone up on the campus, signs of growth as I mentioned.
Truthfully, this probably barely scratches the surface of what one might want to know. It was my first interview, so I definitely didn't ask enough. I'd say it's an energetic, growing program. The chair has some interesting ideas and a lot of enthusiasm. The big downside is it really is kind of in the middle of nowhere. I don't remember getting the impression that it was anything special where MSK or interventional was concerned. I was told residents usually match well into fellowships if that's what they're wanting to pursue.
Hope this helps at least a bit.
Just thought I'd put my two cents in since I interviewed all over the Southeast last year. I agree with the above comment about ECU's program - nice people and laid back atmosphere. It appeared to be slightly more of a cush than academic setting in my opinion. With that said, they were pushing for more research so I'm sure the opportunity is there if you're motivated. The huge con for me was the incredibly remote, small town of Greenville (but I suppose that's all relative depending on where you're from).
UNC has nice facilities and residents but appeared to still be developing as a program (I think they are 5 years old now?). The program director last year had returned to help patch things up and was again looking to head somewhere else. Residents also commented on the great hours there.
Of course, I'll put in my plug for Carolinas medical center (Charlotte Institute of Rehab) since I ranked it number one and matched there. Beautiful city, stand alone rehab hospital, awesome faculty and residents. They did great on their last RRC visit (residency review committee <-make sure to ask about these at interviews), got accredited for 5 years, and did not receive any negative comments or citations. Their residents do awesome on the boards and were very happy with the program. I'm a fan of TBI so their model system was a plus for me.
UNC has nice facilities and residents but appeared to still be developing as a program (I think they are 5 years old now?). The program director last year had returned to help patch things up and was again looking to head somewhere else. Residents also commented on the great hours there.
Of course, I'll put in my plug for Carolinas medical center (Charlotte Institute of Rehab) since I ranked it number one and matched there. Beautiful city, stand alone rehab hospital, awesome faculty and residents. They did great on their last RRC visit (residency review committee <-make sure to ask about these at interviews), got accredited for 5 years, and did not receive any negative comments or citations. Their residents do awesome on the boards and were very happy with the program. I'm a fan of TBI so their model system was a plus for me.
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I agree with what Atlantic has said about Carolinas, at least from what I was able to garner from my interview day. I interviewed there recently, and from what I saw, it's a great program. I won't rehash everything Atlantic said, but if anybody is thinking about still interviewing there in the near future, do so. If you're considering canceling, you may want tough out one last interview. The faculty are great, the residents ridiculously happy, and the city of Charlotte seems pretty great. Cost of living is still good, but with 600,000-700,000 residents in the city (something like 1.5 million in the metropolitan area), a lot of good stuff going on. It's the #2 major banking center in the U.S. (NY is #1, if you weren't entirely certain), which means lots of growth going on and money coming in. Additionally, if you look over the benefits (not a number one priority for many, nor should it be, but useful information nonetheless) offered to residents at Carolinas, they beat a lot of other programs out there.
From what I recall (and anybody can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) MSK and interventional/procedures are not strong suits of this program at this time. They've got a new interventional attending, but the residents are not getting very much (basically zero) hands on experience within the scope of their normal training. Most people will be quick to point out that as of fairly recently you need to be fellowship trained to get boarded in spinal interventional stuff, and more and more hospitals/clinics/lawyers want you to be board certified to stick needles near the oh so precious spinal cord, therefore getting X number of procedures during residency may not mean much if you don't plan to go on to a fellowship. Having said that, a lot of fellowship programs want you to have at least a bit of experience before they'll seriously consider you for one of their positions because they view fellowships as an opportunity to hone skills rather than a chance to completely learn new ones. Just some things to consider. Good luck everybody!
From what I recall (and anybody can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) MSK and interventional/procedures are not strong suits of this program at this time. They've got a new interventional attending, but the residents are not getting very much (basically zero) hands on experience within the scope of their normal training. Most people will be quick to point out that as of fairly recently you need to be fellowship trained to get boarded in spinal interventional stuff, and more and more hospitals/clinics/lawyers want you to be board certified to stick needles near the oh so precious spinal cord, therefore getting X number of procedures during residency may not mean much if you don't plan to go on to a fellowship. Having said that, a lot of fellowship programs want you to have at least a bit of experience before they'll seriously consider you for one of their positions because they view fellowships as an opportunity to hone skills rather than a chance to completely learn new ones. Just some things to consider. Good luck everybody!
Interviewed at ECU a few years back. Echo the earlier sentiments about the program including nice faculty and facilities. Very progressive.
crappy town though. Very affordable.
One of my classmates is now on faculty there and seems to love it. He stayed on after residency.
crappy town though. Very affordable.
One of my classmates is now on faculty there and seems to love it. He stayed on after residency.
