Questions to the MS4's out there

[AnonymousPD]

All,

Given the year 2020 has been, I hope all of you are doing well. Certainly the challenges of this year have made this a unique experience for all of us.

Just a few questions for the applicants out there. How do you think this year's changes (no away rotations, virtual interviewing, etc) will affect your application behavior? Will you be applying more broadly than ever? Or perhaps focus mainly on programs you are familiar with and are more local? Do you anticipate "going on" fewer or more interviews? Given the inability to visit, what are the things you are looking at to actually give you a "feel" for the place?

As a team, we are neck deep in trying to give this year's applicants the best experience we can. And while our fellowship interviews and own MS4s have been been a good resource, we thought it might be helpful to case a wider net.

Here's hoping for continued good health to you all and sincere condolences to everyone who has experienced loss throughout this year.

Thanks again.

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[PassThePropofol]

I am a 4th year interested in anesthesiology. I am really liking the online zoom sessions because I feel that I can get a sense of the residents and see if I would fit in with them. I can tell by the questions they answer or don’t answer what the strengths of their program are. I can tell by the organization and depth of their presentation how their program operates as a whole. At first I thought the sessions would all be the same but what an eye opener. I quickly was able to have a feel for the whole program and whether I would want to apply.

To answer your question about applying; I think I will apply to about 40 programs using the online open houses to whittle down my choices to those programs that I ‘felt’ the best about in the online sessions. That feeling will come from, did all my questions get answered in an honest way? Were residents and PD in the session? Were didactically, sim, work hours etc addressed?

There should be a top ten question list that every presentation should address like:

1) Describe the hospital system. How many residents, fellows, CRNA’s? Is getting numbers difficult? Relationship between these groups? How many hospitals will I have to travel to?

2) Hospital lifestyle. Typical day, work hours posted vs real life, compensation for overtime, call schedule, quality of teaching in the OR, PD and faculty support, culture among the residents

3) Didactics. What is the schedule, is it protected, quality of protection, exam prep, simulation, research

4) Intern year. Categorical v Advanced spots, schedule, rotations, where the departments like, boot camp, how connected to the anesthesia department are you

5) Outside lifestyle. Cost of living, resident life, things to do, where to live, family friendly, insurance, salary, moonlighting, resident comraderie,

6) Diversity. URM/IMG/DO/MD in your current residents, how are you purposely pursuing diversity, any initiatives in the hospital focused on patients, do you have an office of equity and inclusion

7) Application process. Help us choose you if you are looking for a specific applicant. If you are a black box you will get more applicants than usual. How do you choose, cutoffs, wholistic, etc. How can we reach out, contact info. Maybe a smaller session for those who have reached out.

8) Career. Fellowships represented, what is the ICU, regional, transplant, etc focus, what % go on to fellowship, in what, what guidance is offered.

Edit: 9) How many residents left your program in the last 5 years? Tell us about a time you had an emergency and how you were supported. (Taken from Anesthesia Google doc of Open Houses.

I thought I’d get to 10 but, alas, only 9. If you answer all these questions I think prospects would have a great sense of your program. Hope that helps.

 

[GassYous]

You will soon find out that your questions are mostly the wrong ones. Office of equity and inclusion? Hahahaha. Your life will not be improved by the addition of even more highly paid useless admin.

Case load, laziness of fellow residents and call schedule are all you will care about.

 

[JiPo]

I am a 4th year interested in anesthesiology. I am really liking the online zoom sessions because I feel that I can get a sense of the residents and see if I would fit in with them. I can tell by the questions they answer or don’t answer what the strengths of their program are. I can tell by the organization and depth of their presentation how their program operates as a whole. At first I thought the sessions would all be the same but what an eye opener. I quickly was able to have a feel for the whole program and whether I would want to apply.

To answer your question about applying; I think I will apply to about 40 programs using the online open houses to whittle down my choices to those programs that I ‘felt’ the best about in the online sessions. That feeling will come from, did all my questions get answered in an honest way? Were residents and PD in the session? Were didactically, sim, work hours etc addressed?

There should be a top ten question list that every presentation should address like:

1) Describe the hospital system. How many residents, fellows, CRNA’s? Is getting numbers difficult? Relationship between these groups? How many hospitals will I have to travel to?

2) Hospital lifestyle. Typical day, work hours posted vs real life, compensation for overtime, call schedule, quality of teaching in the OR, PD and faculty support, culture among the residents

3) Didactics. What is the schedule, is it protected, quality of protection, exam prep, simulation, research

4) Intern year. Categorical v Advanced spots, schedule, rotations, where the departments like, boot camp, how connected to the anesthesia department are you

5) Outside lifestyle. Cost of living, resident life, things to do, where to live, family friendly, insurance, salary, moonlighting, resident comraderie,

6) Diversity. URM/IMG/DO/MD in your current residents, how are you purposely pursuing diversity, any initiatives in the hospital focused on patients, do you have an office of equity and inclusion

7) Application process. Help us choose you if you are looking for a specific applicant. If you are a black box you will get more applicants than usual. How do you choose, cutoffs, wholistic, etc. How can we reach out, contact info. Maybe a smaller session for those who have reached out.

8) Career. Fellowships represented, what is the ICU, regional, transplant, etc focus, what % go on to fellowship, in what, what guidance is offered.

I thought I’d get to 10 but, alas, only 8. If you answer all these questions I think prospects would have a great sense of your program. Hope that helps.

it is nice to get a perspective from a current student. Thanks for your input. Not to hijack a thread, but I have a question. Perhaps anonymous PD will find this question useful as well.

You mentioned that zoom Openhouse sessions were very helpful and you will likely refer to the experience for choosing which programs to apply.

What do you think about programs that didnt host zoom openhouses? Would you be less inclined to apply to these programs?

 

[PassThePropofol]

it is nice to get a perspective from a current student. Thanks for your input. Not to hijack a thread, but I have a question. Perhaps anonymous PD will find this question useful as well.

You mentioned that zoom Openhouse sessions were very helpful and you will likely refer to the experience for choosing which programs to apply.

What do you think about programs that didnt host zoom openhouses? Would you be less inclined to apply to these programs?

Yes, I would be less likely to apply if they didn't have open houses. Right or wrong, I think no open house sends a message. I perceive that message to be, "We don't much care, we don't have time, we don't need it, we are not organized enough to have one, etc" Others may perceive that differently but especially now when we can't visit it is a detriment to the program to forego this.

 

[PassThePropofol]

You will soon find out that your questions are mostly the wrong ones. Office of equity and inclusion? Hahahaha. Your life will not be improved by the addition of even more highly paid useless admin.

Case load, laziness of fellow residents and call schedule are all you will care about.

Thanks for your advice but not your sassiness! Ha! Question....how would I gauge the laziness of fellow residents? What questions would I ask? Or is it a hit or miss game?

 

[dannyboy1]

It’s residency. There is nothing magical about it. You will be underpaid and work hard while you gain experience. The most important part of residency is to gain clinical experience. This will happen regardless of how they are “organized” or if they have an open house. Rank where you want to live and be done with it...

 

[PassThePropofol]

It’s residency. There is nothing magical about it. You will be underpaid and work hard while you gain experience. The most important part of residency is to gain clinical experience. This will happen regardless of how they are “organized” or if they have an open house. Rank where you want to live and be done with it...

Thanks for the advice!

 

[abolt18]

Yes, I would be less likely to apply if they didn't have open houses. Right or wrong, I think no open house sends a message. I perceive that message to be, "We don't much care, we don't have time, we don't need it, we are not organized enough to have one, etc" Others may perceive that differently but especially now when we can't visit it is a detriment to the program to forego this.

What if they hosted one but you missed it? Does the very fact that they hosted one automatically check that box? Even though you didn't participate?