Residency Review Discussions

[coldcoldworld]

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[Hard24Get]

oh, boy, even though I am not applying this year I was nervous seeing all those interviews untile I noticed the date! Why not put this thread in at least FAQs or former stickies?

 

[matt_mt19]

B

 

[StudentDoc327]

Residents: young, single, partiers. All VERY very happy. Lots of then seem to live in the same place called the Grant; it sort of reminded me of college the way they all live together and party together. Not sure how great of a program it would be for people with families.

Nice... any other places like this ?

Training is the #1 priority of course... but i think of my late 20's as a 'last stand' type of situation, would be nice to go out with a bang.

 

[tkim]

I merged last year's thread with the current one. Now off to bed. Stupid US Airways.

 

[EctopicFetus]

I'm in love. What a cool program. I actually experienced that feeling of "wow, I would love to be here and would call interviews quits if they just offered me a spot". I'm too busy to go into all the details, but wow. Great facility, getting an even better new hospital with childrens ed in a couple of years. Super cool/fun/outdoor type residents. They seemed to get a long and really have fun. Great orientation month with limited shifts and week in cabins with interns and beer! Awesome PD that is totally about the residents and helping you develop into what you want to be. Per the PD this program has grads all over the W. coast that are in awesome groups. The academics are top notch as is the faculty. Tons of research opportunities with lots of money/NIH grants, but if you don't dig reserach they have a structured single project you can do that will be very painless. Only work 9 hour shifts, and don't pick up new patients after 7.5 hours. Weather is awesome, a bit cooler than phoenix and the area actually has mountains (8,000 ft peaks) around the city. Great areas to live in. Affordable. Gym in the hospital (a really nice one) for like $17/month. Plus they only interview like 60 people, so you know you have a chance and even if they don't like you at the end of the day you still get a T-shirt!

The biggest down side......the don't have Up to Date because it is "too expensive". That's crazy talk for an institution that big. Crazy talk!

We do have emedicine and a customized EBM search engine that we do searches on. Im glad you liked it crewmaster.. We do like it a lot..

 

[pickles]

hey,
just wondering if anyone interviewed anywhere that had amazing social residents. I'm looking for a program where I could see myself hanging out with cool residents who like to go out and are adventurous I just don't want to go somewhere i'm stuck all alone in a strange city staring at 4 white walls. Does anyone know of some kick-ass fun residents? thanks!

p.s. i do have to say i've been to orlando and they have awesome partying residents who advertise 80% of them are single and enjoy their fair share of night life

 

[Dr. Will]

Will try to write up a review of Cincinnati, which right now is my number 1....but with many interviews left to go, in the next few days. All I can say is WOW.

 

[SoCuteMD]

The basics, located in worcester, MA (pronounced wooster) for those of you not from the east coast.

Actually, Wooster would be the pronounciation for the city in Ohio. Us Massholes prefer that it sound something like "Wuster" the "u" should sound like something between a "u" and an "o" (short vowel sounds for both).

 

[SolidGold]

Will try to write up a review of Cincinnati, which right now is my number 1....but with many interviews left to go, in the next few days. All I can say is WOW.

did an away there, and I still feel the same way about cincy even after 9 interviews....sigh, but i'll never get the girlfriend to go there....

I'm working on reviews and i'll post before i leave for more interviews on weds.

 

[Dr. Will]

did an away there, and I still feel the same way about cincy even after 9 interviews....sigh, but i'll never get the girlfriend to go there....

I'm working on reviews and i'll post before i leave for more interviews on weds.

I love the program...even more so a few days out. I will still write a review in the next couple days of cincy and Upenn (which I just came from)...I'm just trying to collect my thoughts and get stuff together before the next tour begins.

 

[spyderdoc]

Off service: sounds like most services are full of DOs and FMGs. Some call this a positive because you as the EM intern, often run the show, but I would like actually learn something in my intern off service, not work on my autonomy.

Wow. Pretty harsh statement there bub.

 

[mikecwru]

Wow. Pretty harsh statement there bub.

Don't worry, eventually some will hopefully grow out of being obnoxious.

mike

 

[G.Love]

About UMass you wrote...

I don't know how "strong" of a program reputation they have, but from what i've heard I think they are in the 50th-80th percentile or goodness.

Just curious from where you got this "ranking." Can we find it for other programs. And what determines it and how important is it or isn't it?

G

 

[AnonEMous]

Don't worry, eventually some will hopefully grow out of being obnoxious.

mike

While I agree that the comment about DO's and FMG's was not tactfully worded, it was but one small comment in a nice long review... just wanted to say that I appreciate crewmaster's interview reviews, and I hope he doesn't stop posting them.

 

[wadoc]

just wanted to say that I appreciate crewmaster's interview reviews, and I hope he doesn't stop posting them.

agreed.

 

[mikecwru]

While I agree that the comment about DO's and FMG's was not tactfully worded, it was but one small comment in a nice long review... just wanted to say that I appreciate crewmaster's interview reviews, and I hope he doesn't stop posting them.

I wouldn't call it "not tactfully worded" so much as ignorant, but whatever you want.

mike

 

[SolidGold]

Ok, I've posted a few but I have many more and I don't want to post anymore until I see a better contribution to this thread.

 

[Dr. Will]

Haha...I promise I will be working on Cincy and UPenn over the next two days, followed by USC/LA County over the weekend. I like the format you've established.

 

[SolidGold]

I still have a few more left to finish and share, but I noticed just now how often i've said that I would rank a place highly. To be honest, there are a bunch of places that are tied at the top and I will have a really hard time differentiating between them to come up with a rank list. I guess this is a good problem to have because I was impressed by so many places, but i'll be losing sleep over this come Feb. when I'll probably be changing my rank order list every hour until the deadline!

Also, for the lurkers out there, how are you using these reviews? Are you comparing them to your own opinion of the place or seeing whether you will cancel an interview there based on what is written? Just curious...

Thanks to all others who took the time to write a review. I think it makes it easier to remember all these places when it's time to sit down and rank them all so I would suggest you guys do it, even if you don't want to share. That said, I would like to have MORE REVIEWS PLEASE!

 

[JBlue]

Also, for the lurkers out there, how are you using these reviews? Are you comparing them to your own opinion of the place or seeing whether you will cancel an interview there based on what is written? Just curious...

As a 3rd yr. lurker, I am loving these reviews. It is great to hear what the different programs are like and I really appreciate everyone taking the time to write these. It will help me next year when I start applying and right now is just giving me a feel for all of the different options that are out there. Thanks!

 

[SolidGold]

Solidgold...I borrowed your format. Hope you don't mind.

I don't mind, in fact you made it easier for me to just do a synopsis after I interview there tomorrow. Knowing the program well already, I have to agree with everything you said in your review. If I could convince my girlfriend to come with me to Cincinnati, I would rank it towards the top in a heartbeat! We shall see...

 

[SolidGold]

Hmm... I was specifically told that EM was not called at all for the traumas (thus not responsible for airway?). So conflicting information here. If SolidGold is right, I would be thrilled, this a a fantastic new program and I'd hate to have to rank it a little lower due to this trauma issue. Perhaps somebody else has visited Georgetown and can act as a tiebreaker?

Well, I hope that's not the case, otherwise it might get a lower ranking for me. We need a tiebreaker! I'll probably try to email one of the residents too.

 

[SolidGold]

Ahhh, yes! Thanks Dr. Quinn for reminding me of that. I knew there was a reason why I still felt comfortable with the setup.

 

[crewmaster1]

While I agree that the comment about DO's and FMG's was not tactfully worded, it was but one small comment in a nice long review... just wanted to say that I appreciate crewmaster's interview reviews, and I hope he doesn't stop posting them.

Thanks for the defense. I admit it sounded harsh. Maybe I should have put it in quotes because it wasn't something I came up with, but what I was told! I don't really want to start a forum hashing out the MD/DO/FMG thing because that wasn't where I was going.

 

[crewmaster1]

I wouldn't call it "not tactfully worded" so much as ignorant, but whatever you want.

mike

I disagree with you. I'm not ignorant. Remember, I did the interview! This was what I was told by the residents word for word during our Q and A session. They said that "you will go on your medicine service as an R1 and run the service because the R2 will be an FMG and not know what the hell is going on". EVERYONE PLEASE NOTE I QUOTED IT THIS TIME.

 

[crewmaster1]

Ok, I've posted a few but I have many more and I don't want to post anymore until I see a better contribution to this thread.

I tried and look where it got me! (really, I've just been to busy)
I've now also seen: MGH/BWH, BIDMC, MCW, UC, UIC, Christ....feel free to pm if you want some details.

 

[deleted109597]

I don't want to post until I'm sure it can't hurt me. I am not as anonymous as I would like, so I will post things that are helpful for the M3s, but not the M4s.
I will say that I have interviewed at 8 programs, and so far, have found maybe 4 that I feel I would love to go to, and the other 4 I would take over scrambling only.

 

[SolidGold]

Yeah, I've been a little vague about where I would rank places for a reason, saying just that I would consider most of them highly. I don't think my reviews say much more than what most people would feel coming out of the interview at that program and other people will have different reasons why they would choose a place over another. There are other unstated factors that i'm considering too that will probably drastically change how I rank a program. Besides, anyone who would base their opinion on my reviews needs to get a mind of their own.

Not everyone will like places just because I do (which has already been stated in this thread), so don't base what I say on whether you will cancel an interview there!

If you do, I feel sorry for you!!!!!!!!

 

[pinbor1]

Trauma: Get airway on all traumas (yeah, we assume this is a given, but I've been to at least one program where this isn't the norm--UIC). Two months of trauma team. I can't remember if you get senior trauma leader stuff. They all seem happy.

I don't know where you got your information about UIC, we handle all our airways on trauma. As a recent graduate, I never forfeited my airways trauma or medical to anyone. As an intern you generally were not allowed to intubate a trauma patient unless the trauma attending and ED attending let you. All medical intubations were free game, In fact as a senior I gave many of my intubations to junior residents.

While on our trauma rotation at Christ, the trauma team did they're own intubations. In general this was either the Christ or UIC EM resident that handled the airway.

 

[Daiphon]

hey pinbor... was about to respond when noticed you'd beat me to it.

crew, i'm unclear where you got your info. i'm 1/2 way done with 2nd year, and pretty much any ED/service we staff, we're first line for intubations. granted, the more difficult airways (either proven or assumed) are less likely to go to interns and more likely to go to seniors, the fact remains that at our 2 level 1 trauma centers where we rotate, the ED resident is airway-guy at one; and at the other (where we rotate as part of the trauma team), traumas are fully trauma-team run.

in other words, the only tubes you don't get are the ones that are potentially disastrous; that said, after you prove competence to the attendings - which is the same for any procedure in the ED - they're a lot more likely to let you have the tough ones, and less likely to hover... but never too far away if you get in over your head.

among my unit months, ed months, and intern trauma, i punched out minimum RRC well before the end of my intern year. now i take the difficult airways, the airways when i'm the only resident in the dept, or ones my interns/off services have difficulty with.

-t

ps - anyone with any questions/concerns about UIC-EM feel free to PM me; i'd be more than happy to chat. d=)

 

[crewmaster1]

SORRY EVERYONE. It was a typo....I meant CHRIST doesn't get all of their trauma intubations. I slipped and typed UIC, because it is UIC residents (and other residents, yeah gen. surg residents they even said) that do the intubations as members of the trauma team!

I will try and edit the post ASAP! Thanks for keeping me honest. Good thing I had the disclaimer at the beginning that I'm likely to screw up.

 

[WilcoWorld]

Crewmaster, your reviews are very thorough & I'm sure they're appreciated by many applicants, but they are also somewhat misleading.

As Pinbor already pointed out, at Christ the EM residents get first crack at the airways on Traumas whenever they are present at a trauma code. Perhaps this requires a bit of explanation to clear up confusion.

At Christ traumas are run by the trauma team. As an EM 2 we do 2 months of trauma. When we are on trauma we get first crack at the airway. The only time I didn't get first crack at a truma airway was when it was the other EM 2's turn (we like to share). UIC EM residents rotate here & it works the same way for them. So, on the trauma team, EM residents do pretty much all the intubations. This isn't a hard & fast rule, but it is the general practice.

What may cause some confusion, is that all traumas are run by the "trauma team" & not those working the ED. However, when we are on trauma we are part of that "trauma team" and, in fact, we get pretty much all the procedures we want.

I hope this helps clarify things. Feel free to PM me with specific questions.

 

[crewmaster1]

OK, my intention was not to be misleading, I guess I should have explained it in more detail. From my understanding, based on my interview experience, the EM residents get crack on trauma airways when they are ON trauma rotations. Yes, for the 2 months on trauma you will get all the trauma airways you want. But outside of that, it's not your gig if the trauma team is there. This is radically different from most programs I visited, that is why I mentioned it. Thanks for the clarification.

I think I'm done doing reviews and I see why not many other people post them here either. I understand the need to present accurate information and not mislead people. Maybe they should just read the residency websites and post specific questions. That way we don't waste our time rehashing all the details of each program.

 

[Dr. Will]

Crewmaster, I want to thank you for being one of the few others writing up reviews. I find them to be helpful and actually fun to read. Please don't stop writing them. To everyone who keeps pointing out mistakes...thanks for pointing them out but remember that there will be portions of the interviews that come from memory. I know mine may not be perfect. Just remember that it does none of us any good if people essentially scare away people from writing reviews. Besides, I'm hoping no one is dense enough to make any decisions based on someone else's perspective. Just chill everyone, and keep writing reviews. Let's see more!

 

[Daiphon]

Hey Dr. Will - i agree with you, crewmaster's been doing a wonderful job; i just pointed out the typo because since he's one of the few who are actually doing this, there's a greater propensity for small errors to be widely distributed.

not a knock on crew; not at all... was just trying to clear up some issues about my program. d=)

-t

 

[SolidGold]

I've decided to hold off on writing a review on Carolinas because i've been disappointed about how few of us there are who are doing them. If you have any questions about Carolinas, let me know. It's a fairly decent program.

I'll also be going to George Washington, Jacksonville, and Maryland in January so you can ask me about those later. If there is enough demand (which I doubt because 90% you can get from their website) I might consider doing them. Good luck to everyone!

 

[TysonCook]

Myself and Radiohead are lurking as well, so if there are questons on Carolinas, search up the old thread and ask. Things are great here, 75f and wakeboarding the other day....and the ED program is pretty good too

 

[SolidGold]

....and the ED program is pretty good too

But who would want to go to Carolinas for the ED program?

 

[Radiohead]

I would say that Carolinas is fairly decent at best.

 

[Dr. Will]

I've decided to hold off on writing a review on Carolinas because i've been disappointed about how few of us there are who are doing them. If you have any questions about Carolinas, let me know. It's a fairly decent program.

I'll also be going to George Washington, Jacksonville, and Maryland in January so you can ask me about those later. If there is enough demand (which I doubt because 90% you can get from their website) I might consider doing them. Good luck to everyone!

Well dang it...if no one else feels like posting I may as well quit also. It takes a lot of time and effort to compile these. I too, wish there was more participation. I just interviewed at Highland and will be at Harbor/UCLA later this week. These reviews will be put up in the few days or so if we keep getting more participation.

 

[SolidGold]

The chair is also very impressive and wrote an EM text.

I think it's more appropriate to say he is the senior editor of Rosen's instead of writing the whole book. Who would want to work with someone like that though?

 

[SolidGold]

I would say that Carolinas is fairly decent at best.

Glad you agree with my assessment.

I agree with what traveler22 said. The facilities are nice, but not the best i've seen. The volume and acuity is great and the people are good. The packet they give and the website are very detailed and doesn't needed to be mentioned here again.

 

[SolidGold]

I hear ya Dr. Will. It does take a lot of work, and honestly it's only going to help MSIII's. MSIV's need to make their own opinions.

 

[Sweet Tea]

Hey Dr. Will - i agree with you, crewmaster's been doing a wonderful job; i just pointed out the typo because since he's one of the few who are actually doing this, there's a greater propensity for small errors to be widely distributed.

not a knock on crew; not at all... was just trying to clear up some issues about my program. d=)

-t

I will be contributing more after Match Day. It's just a way to protect my identity a wee little bit. It's not hard to figure out who I am (yes, Jeff, I know you figured me out. You're very smart. ), so I'm going to protect my identity as much as I can until after Match Day rolls around. But I've been writing my own reviews of programs as I go so I should have stuff to contribute. And someone else said, this is mostly for the MS-3s anyway. MS-4s should go with their own opinions.

 

[DrQuinn]

I will be contributing more after Match Day. It's just a way to protect my identity a wee little bit. It's not hard to figure out who I am (yes, Jeff, I know you figured me out. You're very smart. ), so I'm going to protect my identity as much as I can until after Match Day rolls around. But I've been writing my own reviews of programs as I go so I should have stuff to contribute. And someone else said, this is mostly for the MS-3s anyway. MS-4s should go with their own opinions.

You COULD do it after your rank lists and the program rank lists are due, to protect your identity.... no one could do anything about you then....

just a thought.

Q

 

[EctopicFetus]

Ok, I'll put at least one up.

MUSC-Charleston

Residents: None so far. But they will have 6 at or around March 15th.

Shifts: Wouldn't know, they couldn't tell me. Attendings work 8 hour shifts. I can't imagine that it would be that much different from too many other places, as everywhere works 60 hours per week, and most places are going away from 12 hour shifts due to the 13 hour rule.

Facilities: Honestly, I've seen much better. It is a very old ED that sees around 37K per year, and you spend time at a county place that sees around 15K more. There are plans for a new ED that will be done in the next 3-4 years, but it hasn't been started, so I don't know how much stock I give that estimate. Plus, working in a construction zone isn't very fun.

Peds: They are hiring some new faculty, and the peds ED is one of the brighter aspects. Still not the highest volume, and I got a vibe that the peds residents weren't the happiest folks in the world with their residency either. (Due to no actual EM residents, they had offservice people hang with us on interview day).

Trauma: They didn't have it set, but they plan on the EM guys running them on a MWF type format. And always getting airways.

Faculty: Hiring lots of new faculty, but there are a fair number that aren't residency trained in EM (including the RD). Not the biggest selling point.

Curriculum: 18 months EM, 3 months of elective (!?); medicine and peds wards months during first year. However, we were told that none of this is set in stone, and they may change some of that.

Location: Best part of the residency. Charleston is bar none the best city in the world to live in (for me). However, cost of living is high, and the traffic pretty much sucks. But there are so many things to do in Charleston that it makes up for the traffic and cost of living.

1. Moonlighting: they weren't really for moonlighting when asked (acted offended, said ACEP doesn't like it either, etc), but said that you would have opportunities as a third year.

2. Aeromedical experience: offered, nonmandatory, no pay


Dowsides:
1. Fewer ED months than some places, more ward time than many
2. I still don't know much about this place, because there was so much that hadn't been set in stone yet
3. Too few faculty right now
4. Did I mention that it is brand new, which means all new turf wars, no seniors, etc?
5. Older ED, low volume

Overall: I think the first class will have to be very gung ho about their training. There are too many parts that are just unknown right now, but maybe they will have that changed before February 21. However, there is an exciting aspect of knowing that you have the opportunity to shape your residency, and be the first picture on the wall in the conference room. Plus, you would seriously be good at procedures by the time you finish.
I wouldn't say that they are going to have to scramble, because they are interviewing roughly 25 students per spot, which is above the national average.

Not sure what you meant by this but different programs def work diff hours. There are places that work 22 12's a month as interns and I interviewed at a place that does 20 8s a month as interns. Big difference in hours. At u of A we do 20 9s every 4 weeks.

 

[Sweet Tea]

You COULD do it after your rank lists and the program rank lists are due, to protect your identity.... no one could do anything about you then....

just a thought.

Q

True, but that'll be about 2 weeks before Match Day, right? It's not that much longer to wait.

my many adoring fans just can't wait to hear my opinions.

 

[deleted109597]

Not sure what you meant by this but different programs def work diff hours. There are places that work 22 12's a month as interns and I interviewed at a place that does 20 8s a month as interns. Big difference in hours. At u of A we do 20 9s every 4 weeks.

Yes, but at the same time, most places told me that they are going away from the 12 hour shift due to the RRC rule, and that they were mainly doing it because of off-service people. Apparently the medicine folk can't get out of the ED within 13 hours like a normal person. But yes, there is a huge difference between 20 8's and 22 12's, I will give you that.

 

[SolidGold]

did an away there, and I still feel the same way about cincy even after 9 interviews....sigh, but i'll never get the girlfriend to go there....

So my girlfriend isn't opposed to Cinci anymore. Hmmm.....maybe I nagged her enough to start considering it