Orlando

[ephedra]

New member here! I am having problems finding information on Orlando's overall reputation nationally. I have the opportunity to train at some pretty well known spots with great national reputations but I liked Orlando Regional alot. Everytime a florida post goes up Quinn starts talking about USF and no one ever gets a clear picture on ORMC. Do practicing physicians in the midwest and the westcoast know about Orando? Is it considered strong? If I wanted to train there and move back to Midwest or Westcoast would I have problems obtaining a great job? Would it be easier for me to train at UCDavis or UNM if I wanted more options when I am done with residency?
After interviewing all over the place including all florida programs I have decided that Orlando shines in every respect FOR ME except that it is not affiliated with an academic University. Can someone help please?

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[GatorDoc77]

Actually, it currently has a light affiliation with the University of Florida. But it recently agreed to become affiliated with the Univ of Central Florida's new medical school that opens in 2009. I am not a resident but I just rotated there in Nov and interviewed. ORMC is a great program and it shines in many aspects as you mentioned. I think the consensus is that it is currently the best program in FL right now and I've asked residents from other FL programs that very question and they agree. I would not hesitate making them your top choice. I loved it there and I really cannot see any weaknesses. The teaching is awesome and the residents are such a great bunch. Its reputation is strong in the southeast and they are becoming more academic from what the residents there told me. Still, the majority of graduates go into community practice. Good luck to you and hey, maybe I will see you there .

 

[dchristismi]

Well, I'm at ORMC, and as far as I can tell, we have a fine reputation...

Yes, it's a community program, and it's best known in the southeast. I am a PGY-3, and had no difficulty finding a great job in Florida (an academic AND community job, at that). As you've probably discovered, reputation is only part of it - EM is a very small world, and if you find a place that fits you well, that means something.

I do know that a classmate of mine wanted to go to the DC area. The hospitals there weren't familiar with ORMC, but she landed a great job anyway.

We're proud of our program (and we have the hottest residents, too! ), we churn out a lot of research, have a dedicated pediatric EM/trauma center at our children's hospital and have some EM fellowships. (More in the works). I've been very happy with my training, and if you have other questions, feel free to ask.

 

[keeping-it-real]

I think you would be fooling yourself if you didn't include Orlando as a well known spot with a great reputaiton.

Amongst the Florida programs, Orlando consistently gets the "better" applicants (A huge disclamer here: I'm not saying it is the best Florida program, simply that the residents are usually more competitive applicants than at other places). I think over 1/3 of their residents are AOA.

As far as out west, I mean, obviously use your brain in terms of regional alliances. A fair amount of doctors end up practicing in relative proximity to where they trained; ergo, if you wanted out west post-residency, you'd probably be better off with a UCDavis or UNM.

Let me again disclaim, though. The fact that Orlando attracts better applicants doesn't necessarily mean they are a better program or that they offer superior training. Factors such as benefits, reputation, city, etc. play a role as well.

 

[Bigbaitbigfish]

Several residents landed fellowships in CA last year, the faculty has some ties to the west coast and has plenty of ties to the NE.

 

[ephedra]

Thanks for the replies. These are the kind of answers I was looking for. I realize that residents usually end up practicing in areas close to where they train but I have no idea where I want to practice. I just want to train at the best place for me and ALSO have the option to look all over the nation for a job including the tough markets with out being asked "where the hell did you train?" Now if the concensus is that I can do that from Orlando then I am a happy applicant.


Anyway I do have another question for drchristi. Can you comment on your off service months please? I know you do a peds floor month and I cant figure out how that would be helpful and also why individuals say that your off service icu moths are weak except for the Jax MICU month?
Oh and I am hot too so that should work out well!

 

[Universe_Explorer]

I'm only an MS4, but I can answer your curriculum question. As per information given to us at the interview, they got rid of the Peds floor month and moved a MICU month into intern year. I never heard anyone say the critical care months were weak. As for reputation, the program is over 20 years old and reports placing graduates in 25 states. Personally, I don't think it's an issue...

 

[dchristismi]

We (the residents) have a lot of say in the program. We negotiated, and got rid of the peds ward month. I'm surprised you missed this, as it seemed like it came up at every pre-interview dinner I did. Anyway... This year, it was in exchange for an extra ED month, as we needed a tad more staffing for our new Peds ED. Next year, as UE mentioned, that month becomes another MICU month where as interns you'd take call with a second year EM res. How cool is that?

SICU is an excellent month - we see some crazy-sick trauma. I loved it. MICU same deal - Orlando = Florida = old people. PICU is PICU. I think you'll find about the same experience anywhere. Jax, well, is the best worst month we do. Period. I really can't comment on anyone else's ICU experience, but am completely satisfied with mine, such that I moonlight in an ICU and feel I can handle anything they hit me with.

I admit I'm biased, but I love it here.

 

[ephedra]

how do you like living in Orlando. Is the Downtown life fun there. I love an active club/bar,. Music scene and the like. Any comparisons to any cities you have lived in? How far to beaches, surfing and stuff like that? What do you do for fun on your off days?

 

[cpthead]

I am currently an MSIII. I am interested in EM, and Orlando is my top choice for where I would like to train. Next year, I want to apply for an audition rotation. Dchristismi, any advice on how to make that happen?
The reason I would like to come to Orlando is because I love the area. My fiance and I go down there at least once a year, and I would like to live there. I am from West Virginia, so I am sick of cold weather and mountains. From the way you have talked about the program, it sounds very nice. I look forward to hopefully checking it out.

 

[dchristismi]

Email our awesome secretaries (Mary, Sandi or Carrie), and they will help you set something up. We have a constant stream of rotating students; Dr. Mueller is the student coordinator. Contact information is on the program website.

 

[cpthead]

i sent an email to Tania Silva (who is listed on the website) about my interest in the clerkship a while back, but i have not heard anything in response. either way, i really hope i get the opportunity to check out the program this coming fall. this is my number one choice for residency. i look forward to meeting you.

 

[dchristismi]

I won't be there this coming fall. At least, I'd better not be.

I don't know Silva. She might be a med student coordinator. Again, email Mary, Sandi or Carrie! Right now is a bit of a crazy time (rank lists and all), but be persistent.

 

[GatorDoc77]

Hey there, I rotated at ORMC this past November and I remember Tania Silva. She is the medical education secretary I believe and did our initial orientation. I'm pretty sure the application is on the website so you technically don't need to hear back from anyone before submitting it. Piece of advice though, send it in at the earliest date allowable because I sent it in about a week later in april and they were already booked for an EM rotation all the way through October, so I had to settle for November.

FYI, as dchristi says, ORMC is a kick *** program and I would love to match there . BTW, anyone aware if they got approval for the extra 2 spots they requested from the RRC?

 

[cpthead]

Hey there, I rotated at ORMC this past November and I remember Tania Silva. She is the medical education secretary I believe and did our initial orientation. I'm pretty sure the application is on the website so you technically don't need to hear back from anyone before submitting it. Piece of advice though, send it in at the earliest date allowable because I sent it in about a week later in april and they were already booked for an EM rotation all the way through October, so I had to settle for November.

FYI, as dchristi says, ORMC is a kick *** program and I would love to match there . BTW, anyone aware if they got approval for the extra 2 spots they requested from the RRC?

thanks for the advice. i will definitely do just that.

 

[SK14CAT]

Regarding the extra two spots according to what dr silvestri told me is that they would only find out after rank lists were due Things may have changed though since i got that info during my interview. I would love to match there as well

 

[cpthead]

how much emphasis do they place on research? i was thinking about doing a research elective next fall to help out my resume. is this a good idea or am i wasting my time? also, if possible, i was wanting to find out if anyone down at ORMC was doing any sort of research projects that i could get involved in. for my research elective i am allowed to go to another institution for a month to work. i was thinking that i could do a month of emergency medicine followed by a month of research. i am going to look into it online, but if anyone has any info on who i should contact, i would appreciate it. thanks.

 

[MDrugger]

Hey I am one of the Interns down at ORMC and first off gotta say I LOVE IT. At least the ED months. Gotta admit aside from procedures on trauma the best part of the off service months is remmember how much i love EM and how thankful i am not doing something else. I swear after this month of Eternal Medicine I feel like i should have a masters in social work...
Our attendings are amazing. all of them are first class teachers. Everyone has different styles some like to talk through differentials. others help you hone your intial workup and make you think about what you are ordering and why. but they always support us one hundred percent. Not only that but our 2nd and 3rd years are great if i need advice in a pinch or help with a procedure.
As far as research goes. Its definitely encouraged and yes it can only help your application. We have tons of ungoing projects from EMS capnography monitoring, Ultrasound, Sepsis, Cardiac and other projects which we LOVE us some med student help with and many of the residents are involved and tons publish and present at confrences. But that said if you're like me and not so interested in teh reasearch thing. Its ok. Its definitely not pushed down our throats and you not considered less of a resident if your biggest goal for the scolarly project is just completing one..
Gotta put a plug out for the med student rotation. its awsome. we have a dedicated teaching resident (3rd year) who works with you guys exclusively. there are tons of procedures to be had. mostly ID, suturing, but I've seen students getting reductions, central lines, LPs and tons of stuff i so got bumped off as a med student.
Gook luck with the match everyone !!! any questions about rotating here or about the program feel free to ask away

 

[ephedra]

Can you comment a little on your patient population?

 

[dchristismi]

Technically it's a community hospital, but we also function as the county hospital/level I, so we get the homeless and indigent, as well as local CEOs and politicians. Little bit of everything. It's more skewed towards the indigent than a typical community hospital so we rotate at another local hospital for a true community feel. We also have a lot of travelers, and internationals as well. A fair amount of Spanish speakers, and about 5% creole speaking. It's Florida, so lots of old, septic people. Also old people who fall off their golf carts. Honestly, most of the tourists go to one of the hospitals closer to the parks - unless they're really sick. We see tons of trauma, more than what you would think for a city that bills itself as a nice place to visit.

The peds ED sees kids, obviously. We also are in the unique position of seeing every Make-A-Wish kid who goes to Disney and gets sick, so we see a lot of peds pathology. There are weird conferences in Orlando too - there was a hemophilia conference here last fall, and I took care of a couple of them. (Yeah, the old joke about the busload of hemophiliac kindergartners? Coulda happened! I ended up calling the kid's hematologist, who was also in town for the conference...) Apparently there was a progeria meeting a couple of years ago, and we had one visit then, too.

Answer your question?

 

[Apollyon]

Little bit of everything.

Just a random question - a guy I work with did 20 years in Florida, and he said that embedded fish hooks were an every day, every single damn day occurrence. Do you get that, too?

(I did 2 fish hooks last year, for comparison here in sunny SC.)

And note that that is my 10000th post on SDN. Joy [/sarcasm].

 

[dchristismi]

Happy 10,000th post!

Um, not in my experience, seeing as I have yet to see one. Perhaps they all go to our FastTrack, or our fishermen are better at the string-trick to pull them out in the field.

 

[GatorDoc77]

Dreaming of ORMC and the Winnie Palmer cafeteria

 

[SK14CAT]

I second that GatorDoc!

 

[EM Kane]

The RRC approved Orlando for 14 residents per class and full accreditation for 5 years. That will make 2 more med students happy on match day.

 

[Universe_Explorer]

The RRC approved Orlando for 14 residents per class and full accreditation for 5 years. That will make 2 more med students happy on match day.

I hope I'm one of those happy med students (GatorDoc too)

 

[SK14CAT]

Hey guys,

are those 2 residents approved to go into the match? Dr. Silvestri told me last week that even though the RRC approves them the NRMP may not approve them to offer them as match spots bc the deadline to add 2 more positions in the match has already passed. He did say he was going to ask the NRMP if he could still add those spots. DOes anyone know about this?
P.S. I hope that I am one of those happy med students as well

 

[SK14CAT]

Sorry guys shouldn't have spoken so soon. Just logged into NRMP and searched for ORMC and they are showing up with 14 spots
Good luck to everyone!
UE, GatorDoc, maybe I will see you there

 

[dchristismi]

Yep, we're matching 14 this year. Good luck guys!

 

[cpthead]

i hope i can be one of the 14 in the 2009 match.