bluegold said:
CNS DOC,
I was wondering if you could comment on the competetiveness of the program. Specifically with regard to taking DO applicants, and whether the USMLE is required, if not what sort of COMLEX scores are you looking for? In addition I was interested in the academics of the program, are there reseach oppertunities available? Finally I was wondering if you could take me through a typical day.
Thanks for making yourself available...
Bluegold,
North Shore-LIJ is a fairly competitive program. The program will interview approximately 150 to 200 candidates for 7 available positions. Dr. Kanner, the program director, accepts both COMLEX and USMLE scores. He has fixed cut off scores for both USMLE and COMLEX for giving out interviews. He recognizes the fact that there are inherent differences between the two exams so he sets the cutoff score for COMLEX at 60th percentile. The cutoff score for the USMLE is 80th percentile.
However, you should realize that the COMLEX and USMLE are not the "be-all and end-all" of getting an interview. If you have done a clerkship in neurology either at North Shore or LIJ and Dr. Kanner wants to recruit you, you will get an interview as long as your scores are reasonable. Additionally if you have worked at one of the big name hospitals and you have an outstanding letter of recommendation from a neurologist, that will also put you closer to getting an interview.
The program is also very DO friendly. We have several DOs in the program in various stages of training, all of whom are NYCOM grads. The current Chief Resident at North Shore is a DO and is a NYCOM grad. The program is also very friendly to foreign grads. As long as you're qualified it does not matter whether you have an MD or DO or whether you got your medical degree in the US or outside. The program director/chairman himself is a foreign grad (University of Madrid), the vice-chairman of neurology at North Shore is a foreign grad (MGM Medical College in India).
A typical day at North Shore, would be something like this.
7:00 to 8:00 - Morning Report
8:30 to 9:30- Grand Rounds (if it's Friday)/Neuroradiology rounds (if it's Monday) or Residents go see their patients
9:30 to 10:30- Residents work on the floor
9:00 to 12:00- Residents with outpatient clinic on Tuesdays report to the clinic. If resident does not have clinic, resident continues to work on floor
10:30 to 11:30- Teaching rounds with floor attending
11:00 to 12:00- Teaching Rounds with Dr. Kanner (on Fridays only)
12:00 to 1:00- Noon Lecture/Professor's Rounds with Dr. Kanner (every other Wednesday)/Journal Club with Dr. Murthy (alternating with Professor's Rounds on Wednesdays). If no lecture, we just go to lunch!
12:00 to 3:00- Residents with outpatient clinic on Thursdays report to the clinic. If resident does not have clinic, then continue with floor work)
1:00 to 2:00- Neuropathology/brain cutting (one wednesday every month)
3:00 to 4:00- Neuromuscular Disease rounds with Dr. Murthy
4:00 to 4:30- Sign out to person on call.
There are usually 3 juniors and 1 senior on the floor every month. During your floor months, you may be asked to do a consult in the ER anytime during the day from 10:30 to 4:00. The consult resident (a second year neuro resident) is responsible for handling all in-house consults (i.e., from patients who are already on the floors somewhere in the hospital and need a neurology consult) as well as ER consults from 7AM to 10:30AM (this is done in order to free up the floor team to round on their patients and to write notes)
If you're on-call, then you get to stay the night! We do not have night float. The good news is that on average the first years have 5 calls per month (i.e. you're pretty much q7
). On-call days can be tough as you are responsible for all consults (ER and floor). We do not have a buddy system for the call, however your senior is only a page away should you need him/her. Additionally, all patients that you do consults on are discussed with the attending. During a typical call at North Shore, you can get an average of 5 to 6 consults per night. However it can be as good as no consults to as bad 15 consults or more. There is no cap on how many consults you do. However, if you feel like you're getting overwhelmed (yes, this can happen) you can always call your senior to come and help you out. When you're post-call, you have to leave the hospital by 10AM. Dr. Kanner is very gung ho about the Bell Commission regulations and he follows them to the letter. So..essentially you have your post-call day off!
During your post call day, the senior on the floor will take care of your patients during the day, however you have to make sure you wrote notes on all your patients before you leave the hospital.
Electives: First years get 2
selectives (neurorads or neuropath). Seniors obviously get more
Vacation: Two 2 week segements, (may be back to back if arranged with chief resident).
Research: Everyone must complete research project in order to finish the residency.
