Residency red flag?

[PodDadBod]

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Hi all,

I rotated at one of the programs in Iowa in the last year (being vague because idk if name dropping is ok) and had a great experience overall with a major caveat. I got along great with one of the residents, the chief was a really weird guy though. PD seemed really nice on the surface but reading between the lines you could tell there was something really off about him. This program is supposed to be one resident per year and I thought it was really weird that there was no second year but nobody said anything so I figured maybe it was a weird situation. Well it turns out there WAS another resident who several outside attendings and nurses asked about where he was and everyone with the residency would get really weird about it. My last week there they finally tell me "oh he left due to a career change." Apparently he was actually terminated and the hospital is in the middle of a lawsuit over it. I really like this program overall but this seems like a massive red flag thing that was hidden from me and I'd like to get some outside perspective. Am I making too big a deal out of that?

 

[Boba Foot]

It's pretty damn hard to get fired in residency when most of your salary is getting paid by the government and you're cheap labor for hospitals and program directors. That's enough of a red flag before you even mention they just hoped you wouldn't notice until the last week, when they're forced into giving a weak excuse for it.

You're usually looking at these programs through rose-colored glasses, so if things seem odd even considering that, then there's probably something really off. The couple of programs I externed at that I had bad feelings about and didn't rank turned out to be completely correct in retrospect.

 

[Adam Smasher]

Meh, nobody goes into podiatry without being, at baseline, a little off. Personality conflicts are the norm, lawsuits are a way of life for us, and in a 1/1/1 program it's particularly hard if everyone can't all get a long.

 

[DogSnoot]

A residency program losing a resident, especially multiple residents, is a major red flag because residents rarely leave. Most people work extremely hard to get into a program and are highly motivated to finish. When multiple residents transfer, resign, or are dismissed, suggest deeper systemic issues within the program.

Poor leadership, toxic culture, lack of support, excessive workload, inadequate surgical or clinical training, burnout, bullying, or failure to address resident concerns.

While occasionally a resident may leave for personal or family reasons, repeated turnover points to problems that future applicants should investigate carefully. Red flags.

 

[UticaProgram]

Hi all,

I rotated at one of the programs in Iowa in the last year (being vague because idk if name dropping is ok) and had a great experience overall with a major caveat. I got along great with one of the residents, the chief was a really weird guy though. PD seemed really nice on the surface but reading between the lines you could tell there was something really off about him. This program is supposed to be one resident per year and I thought it was really weird that there was no second year but nobody said anything so I figured maybe it was a weird situation. Well it turns out there WAS another resident who several outside attendings and nurses asked about where he was and everyone with the residency would get really weird about it. My last week there they finally tell me "oh he left due to a career change." Apparently he was actually terminated and the hospital is in the middle of a lawsuit over it. I really like this program overall but this seems like a massive red flag thing that was hidden from me and I'd like to get some outside perspective. Am I making too big a deal out of that?

The Mohawk valley health system obgyn residency program was super toxic program ever. As a resident at the Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) OB/GYN residency program, I struggled with whether to speak publicly about my experience. Like many residents, I kept telling myself that maybe this was just what residency was supposed to be like. Dr. Biggers know nothing about obgyn, she needs to get retired as well as Dr. Antilus. They have no idea what they talk about, and they belong to 1990s.

I told myself:

"Maybe I'm not resilient enough."

"Maybe everyone else is handling it better."

"Maybe I just need to work harder."

Looking back, I realize that what I was experiencing wasn't normal training stress. It was a toxic environment.

The hardest part wasn't the long hours. Every residency has long hours. The hardest part was constantly feeling anxious, unsupported, bullying, retaliation, and afraid to speak up. It's incredibly difficult to learn medicine when you're operating in toxic environment every day.

Instead of focusing on becoming a better OB/GYN, so much energy went into trying not to attract negative attention. Residents learned quickly that keeping your head down was often safer than asking questions or raising concerns.

What made it even more frustrating was feeling like there was nowhere to turn. Many residents felt unsupported when concerns were brought forward. Rather than feeling heard, there was often a sense that the burden was on residents to simply endure the situation.

A toxic culture is dangerous because it slowly convinces you that you're the problem.

You start questioning yourself.

You start thinking you're weak.

You start believing that if you were a better resident, things wouldn't feel so difficult.

But residency is supposed to challenge you—not break you.

No resident should be afraid to ask questions.

No resident should fear retaliation for speaking up.

No resident should feel humiliated, unsupported, or constantly on edge.

I watched talented, hardworking residents lose confidence and become emotionally exhausted and burned out. People who entered residency excited to learn gradually shifted into survival mode.

When the ACGME ultimately identified significant concerns with the program and shut it down, many of us were not surprised. The issues that were recognized externally reflected concerns that residents had been living with internally for a long time.

I am sharing this because I think medicine needs to stop normalizing toxic training environments. We need to stop telling residents to "just get through it" and "keep your head down." That advice protects institutions, not trainees.

There is more to life than medicine. A residency program should help you become a physician, not make you lose yourself in the process.

To anyone considering a residency program: talk to current and former residents, ask difficult questions, and trust your instincts. If something feels wrong, don't automatically assume the problem is you.

#Mohawkvalleyhealthsystem #obgynresidencyprogram #MVHS

 

[LuckyDucky513]

The Mohawk valley health system obgyn residency program was super toxic program ever. As a resident at the Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) OB/GYN residency program, I struggled with whether to speak publicly about my experience. Like many residents, I kept telling myself that maybe this was just what residency was supposed to be like. Dr. Biggers know nothing about obgyn, she needs to get retired as well as Dr. Antilus. They have no idea what they talk about, and they belong to 1990s.

I told myself:

"Maybe I'm not resilient enough."

"Maybe everyone else is handling it better."

"Maybe I just need to work harder."

Looking back, I realize that what I was experiencing wasn't normal training stress. It was a toxic environment.

The hardest part wasn't the long hours. Every residency has long hours. The hardest part was constantly feeling anxious, unsupported, bullying, retaliation, and afraid to speak up. It's incredibly difficult to learn medicine when you're operating in toxic environment every day.

Instead of focusing on becoming a better OB/GYN, so much energy went into trying not to attract negative attention. Residents learned quickly that keeping your head down was often safer than asking questions or raising concerns.

What made it even more frustrating was feeling like there was nowhere to turn. Many residents felt unsupported when concerns were brought forward. Rather than feeling heard, there was often a sense that the burden was on residents to simply endure the situation.

A toxic culture is dangerous because it slowly convinces you that you're the problem.

You start questioning yourself.

You start thinking you're weak.

You start believing that if you were a better resident, things wouldn't feel so difficult.

But residency is supposed to challenge you—not break you.

No resident should be afraid to ask questions.

No resident should fear retaliation for speaking up.

No resident should feel humiliated, unsupported, or constantly on edge.

I watched talented, hardworking residents lose confidence and become emotionally exhausted and burned out. People who entered residency excited to learn gradually shifted into survival mode.

When the ACGME ultimately identified significant concerns with the program and shut it down, many of us were not surprised. The issues that were recognized externally reflected concerns that residents had been living with internally for a long time.

I am sharing this because I think medicine needs to stop normalizing toxic training environments. We need to stop telling residents to "just get through it" and "keep your head down." That advice protects institutions, not trainees.

There is more to life than medicine. A residency program should help you become a physician, not make you lose yourself in the process.

To anyone considering a residency program: talk to current and former residents, ask difficult questions, and trust your instincts. If something feels wrong, don't automatically assume the problem is you.

#Mohawkvalleyhealthsystem #obgynresidencyprogram #MVHS

Can't argue with most of the things you said. It's hard to deal with the bullying, especially when it comes from the top. When the bullying comes from attending (including the PD), the residents are in a crap situation. Who do the residents turn to? Who can they trust?

A program in NY lost four residents in a 12 month span because of an insanely disgusting and toxic situation that stemmed from the leadership. CPME did their audit a year or so after the mass exodus and they didn't find anything wrong with the program. Our profession can onky hope that places like that get shut down and burned to the ground.