Palmetto/USC

[Uncle Rico]

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While on the trail, I continually heard other applicants rave about this program. While I enjoyed my interview, and found Columbia to be a pleasant town, I haven't seen it dicscussed much on this forum. Any insight would be appreciated. For comparison, I am also very interested in Indiana, a program that has appeared numerous times in threads here....thanks.

 

[kungfufishing]

While on the trail, I continually heard other applicants rave about this program. While I enjoyed my interview, and found Columbia to be a pleasant town, I haven't seen it dicscussed much on this forum. Any insight would be appreciated. For comparison, I am also very interested in Indiana, a program that has appeared numerous times in threads here....thanks.

I thought palmetto was fresh and Dr. Cook is a great guy. I ranked it above where I matched and didnt match there, but I liked them enough that I didnt have hard feelings. So a vote of confidence here.

 

[Dr. Cowboy]

😍
PM me with any questions. I have been very happy with my year thus far and can tell you that the impression/feeling that I received on interview day is true every day. Dr. Cook is great and is very much a resident advocate.
😀

 

[Eme-RG-ency]

I worked at PRMH as an ER tech while at USC. All of the docs at Richland are great people.... the whole crew... Drs. Cook, Stewart, Lloyd, Shelton, Fuerst, Ford, Wade, Hals, etc.....very down to earth and eager to teach. Bartlett (the hyperbarics doc) may be the only one that people have a problem with, but he's not a bad guy once you get to know him. These guys have been there many years and are not going anywhere which makes for a stable program. Big focus on U/S when I was a there. I can remember the residents competing for most U/S done in a month. Cook used to give away awards for whoever had the most. PRMH is one of only 4 trauma centers in SC... many traumas are flown in. Two trauma bays.... (smile, you're on camera). I can not remember the residents being assigned to a flight month, but the flight crew was right in the ER and anyone could sign up to ride along. I actually flew with the crew once myself. I do not know if the nursing staff are still the same, but when I was there, they worked hard and were hilarious. Terry P is a work of art. Is that guy still there Cowboy? Most of the staff that work ER love there job and take a lot of pride in being at Richland.

I was inspired by the residents and faculty and fell in love with medicine at PRMH's ED, I can't imagine anyone would be too unhappy at Richland Memorial. If someone wants to know more about the city, I can add more. Hope this helps.

 

[Jeff698]

I interviewed there and thought it was a great program. I liked Columbia; it seems very livable and it's dirt cheap. Nice hospital and the people were wonderful. The things that really impressed me were the US ed program (they go around the country teaching it...I just got one of their flyers in the mail) and the imphasis on preparing you for both the medical and business aspects of EM.

Take care,
Jeff

 

[Uncle Rico]

You guys have been great, as usual. I know this is 100% SUBJECTIVE, but give me your honest impressions of the program's "strength" when compared to the rest of the southern programs.

 

[Dr. Cowboy]

I interviewed at several SE programs and rotated at 2 of them. These are the points about Palmetto I considered and have reflected on (some positive and some negative).

The Hospital - Richland is a private hospital now that was previously the county hospital. It still serves many of the functions of a county hospital with the funding of a private hospital. Absolutely no scut is expected of residents. Many of consult services are private docs. Population equally divide between black and white, limited amount of any other minorities (Hispanic increasing recently).

GME - Basic specialties have residents here. Not lots of fellowships. EM is one of the larger residencies here. Salary/Cost of living ratio is great (good pay/benefits with dirt-cheap cost of living). VP of Education is an EM doc.

Program - Faculty are part of a private group that cover 3 hospital so many of the faculty work at non-residency hospital part of the time. Very conscious of teaching EM as a business and a specialty. Each faculty have their own way of teaching (some very involved in each pt. and some give you "plenty of rope to hang yourself") all work at Richland because they want to interact with residents (they could avoid us by working at other 2 hospitals). No turnover of faculty in past many years makes for very stable program. As alluded to earlier by EmeRGency, Dr. Cook and many others are great to work with. Our class has 10 residents. This year matching 9, our year had provisional additional spot. Have not heard/seen anyone not having their pick of jobs after graduating from here.

Off Service Rotations - OB and Ortho are relatively weak but painless. Trauma is intense but great learning. Peds has some of best teaching I have had. Medicine is typical medicine but do have night float so only overnight call is weekends. MICU is at VA and has many procedure opportunities but frustrations typical of VA. EMS ride-alongs can include flying. PICU rotation is favorite of many 2nd years. Renal in second year is reportedly of questionable value in learning. 3rd year elective in Hawaii for Tourism Medicine. Hyperbarics elective in 3rd year is supposedly great (will find out more in next 2 years?)

Emergency Dept. - Pod system which compartmentalizes pt. complaints/acuity. Rotate through different pods during month. Get to manage your own mini-ED. One-to-One interaction with attending. Limited interaction/contact with fellow residents. Great facilities and ancillary staff. Will start covering Chest Pain Unit next year.

City - Not a cultural mecca. Has university and state capital. Limited young, professional singles scene. Cheap cost of living. Easy traffic. Decent restaurants but no 4 star quality. Great lake access. 2-3 hours from beach or mountains. Nightlife limited to 5 Points (college area) and The Vista (revitalized warehouse/downtown area). Great quality/number of activities for families/couples but probably average/below average for singles. Very active, outdoorsy feel to city. Weather has been great (has all 4 seasons without any being too extreme)

PM me for any specific questions. Sorry for length of reply.

 

[Uncle Rico]

Cowboy-
Thanks for the GREAT reply. You covered much of what I was looking for. I appreciate your willingness to help out a confused 4th year. Anybody else have views from this year's trail?

 

[EPA7X1]

I am a 4th year medical student who did an away at Palmetto, and found the program, as well as the city, to be very attractive. I agree with the other posters, and will add a few things.

I felt that this program would prepare me well for the type of practice I want to do. It is a community-hospital based program, and probably not for anyone who is bigtime into academics. The facilities are quite nice and the place seemed to have a good mix of pathology. The residents dictate notes and there is computerized tracking and other records, and filmless rads. I found the attendings and residents to be great, and most seemed very happy to be there. The program is well established, having been around for 20+ years.

There is ongoing peds exposure, which was important to me in choosing a residency. There is an ultrasound focus and the ED has some very nice machines. The ancillary staff seemed to be hardworking and were easy to get along with. There is also a committment to resident wellbeing/life post-residency with dedicated lectures and a weekend retreat. A wilderness medicine elective is available; it included some good lectures (I was only able to attend a couple) and a camping trip. Conferences were felt to be relevant and some were quite good.

Columbia is smaller than the city I live in now, but it has anything that I would need. Also, the weather is great and Lake Murray is beautiful and close. Columbia is close to Charleston and weekend-trip distance to Myrtle and other nice beaches. There are a lot of new houses being built, and I think that most of the residents have very low house payments. As with much of the South, people are realizing the benefits and the populations of cities like this are growing.

I would say that the strength of the program does not lie in one area, but in its well-roundedness. Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions you would like answered from a student's standpoint.
😎