The Brigham??

[PFCortex]

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Has anyone interviewed here yet?? I'd love to hear about your experience there and your thoughts on the program...

 

[b&ierstiefel]

I haven't been there yet. My interview there is in January. I too am curious to hear about this program if anyone's been there already.

 

[Gross/Micro]

As a Brigham resident, I can answer some questions, but obviously you will have to take my answers with a grain of salt until you come and see the place for yourself.

The interview day is fairly full. You spend alot of time meeting with attendings. Some of the attendings are part of the selection comittee. The others typically selected to match your interests (Gyn, molecular, heme, etc). The one weak spot of the interview process is the lack of time with residents. The residents here are great, but you typically only go to lunch with one or two of us. I try to meet up with interviewees at the end of their day and introduce them to some other team members, but it does not always work out. Overall, I think you get a good sense of the departments personality during the interview process, but you don't hear as much about the details of the day to day schedule.

Hopefully, this helps. If you have more specific questions I will happily answer them - honestly. It is better that you understand the realities of a program than match some place and be disappointed.

later.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

The interview day is fairly full. You spend alot of time meeting with attendings. Some of the attendings are part of the selection comittee. The others typically selected to match your interests (Gyn, molecular, heme, etc). The one weak spot of the interview process is the lack of time with residents. The residents here are great, but you typically only go to lunch with one or two of us. I try to meet up with interviewees at the end of their day and introduce them to some other team members, but it does not always work out. Overall, I think you get a good sense of the departments personality during the interview process, but you don't hear as much about the details of the day to day schedule.

Hopefully, this helps. If you have more specific questions I will happily answer them - honestly. It is better that you understand the realities of a program than match some place and be disappointed.

later.

Thanks for the info. Regarding the lunch comment, I have yet to encounter an interview where I have lunch with more than 2 people. So I don't think this is a bad thing. I realize it's hard to coordinate schedules such that residents even have time to go to lunch.

I'll probably shoot you a PM or two (like some of the other Brigham applicants here on SDN) when my interview time comes near. Hopefully you'll swing by SDN often enough to get it in time. 😀

 

[PFCortex]

i'm a little confused on the 2-day schedule for surg path....and i haven't heard anything about the call schedule....

Thanks for the info. Regarding the lunch comment, I have yet to encounter an interview where I have lunch with more than 2 people. So I don't think this is a bad thing. I realize it's hard to coordinate schedules such that residents even have time to go to lunch.

I'll probably shoot you a PM or two (like some of the other Brigham applicants here on SDN) when my interview time comes near. Hopefully you'll swing by SDN often enough to get it in time. 😀

 

[Gross/Micro]

i'm a little confused on the 2-day schedule for surg path....and i haven't heard anything about the call schedule....

I am not certain what you mean by 2-day schedule for SP. Our schedule varies by service, but no matter what you have time to preview all of your cases before you sit with the attending for sign out. On surg path, our service are divided up as follows:

General Service:

Bigs (prior dx of CA, anything that Decals, large specimens)
Day 1: Recieve the specimen, photograph, "tuck" the specimen in
formalin to fix.
Day 2: Cut in the specimen.
Day 3: Preview slides
Day 4: Sign out cases with staff and recieve specimens again.

Quicks (No prior Dx of cancer, bx, small specimens):
Day 1: Recieve specimens, Cut in specimens.
Day 2: (PAs cut in GI bx for you), Preview slides, recieve consult slides.
Day 3: Sign out cases and consults, recieve and cut specimens,
preview GI bx

Derm (all skin bx and some skin resections):
Everyday: Signout the cases you previewed the day before, preview
cases cut in the day before (PAs cut everyday).
Tuesday/Thursday: you cut in the excisions specimens.

Gyn service:
Bigs (all resection specimens):
Everyday: recieve, tuck, cut, preview and signout (one of
the busyest services)

Quicks (all biopsies):
PAs cut everything.
Everyday: signout and preview, cover Gyn frozens in the afternoon.

P&P (all non-autopsy fetopsies, all placentas)
Everyday: signout, cut, preview


Autopsy (3 people on service):
One to two days a week: Cover frozen sections during the day
Two of the three people on service cover the weekend posts.

Frozen call:
During your first two years, you have about 30 to 35 nights of home call where you cover frozens. You start covering around 5pm and may have to stay later to finish covering the ongoing cases. Very rarely do you actually get called back into the hospital.
Weekend call is covered by the GENERAL BIGS resident who is on for the weekend. Most residents cover 5 weekends over the first two years.


This is likely much more detail than you actually wanted. Please understand that the system is actually more complex (ie when the PAs cut BIG cases for you), but I think this give you a general idea of what goes on.

The point to emphasize in all of this is that we generally get our slides by 2pm the day before we sign them out. This gives us lots of time (it never seems like enough) to preview the cases and write them up for signout.

Let me know if I have not addressed your question exactly.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Thanks for the info. I had one very simple (or maybe not that simple) question for you. If you were to do the Match all over again, would you go to Brigham the second time around?

 

[vetiver]

is the brigham at all friendly towards private practice types? by this, i mean--do they take residents who say they're interested in private practice but would like to do research in residency (me), and if they do, are these residents supported in non-academic career choices?

 

[yaah]

I have talked to one previous graduate who believes the Brigham does a poor job of preparing people for private practice. Of course, his impressions are based more on several years ago. I am not sure if things are better now. I can't really figure out why this is, because no doubt they provide you with the skills to diagnose and run labs. I just think it is perhaps de-emphasized due to the research focus and perhaps the residents may not be as prepared if they do not make the specific effort to be so.

You can do research at almost any program, it's all about making time for it and finding someone to support you.

 

[Gross/Micro]

Thanks for the info. I had one very simple (or maybe not that simple) question for you. If you were to do the Match all over again, would you go to Brigham the second time around?

If I was forced to endure the match process again, I would still want to end up at BWH. It is certainly not the Garden of Eden, but its faults are overpowered by the fantastic people.

There are plenty of programs with famous and brilliant attendings, tons of specimens, and cheaper cost of living, but I never felt the same sense of camaraderie anywhere else I visited. The attendings here are genuinely interested in us. They really want to teach pathology, but they also want to get to know you as a person. While we certainly are not coddled, the department really looks out for its residents. This attitude starts at the top and is felt throughout the department.

Of course, what would residency be without great people with whom to suffer. I adore my fellow residents.

If I really step back from it all, the people are what makes this place great. As far as I can tell, no one is leaving anytime soon.

 

[Gross/Micro]

is the brigham at all friendly towards private practice types? by this, i mean--do they take residents who say they're interested in private practice but would like to do research in residency (me), and if they do, are these residents supported in non-academic career choices?

It is my opinion that BWH is just looking for great people no matter what there long term interests. No one openly appears to be treated differently if they are pursuing academics or private practice. In fact a couple of next year's chief residents are openly pursuing private practice. (While being chief can certainly be a curse, I can't say that it would be considered discrimination.) When it comes to getting a job, the department is going to actively help you find a private practice job in central Kentucky or an academic position in Florida. You just have to decide where you want to be.

In terms of research, there are obviously plenty of opportunities that cater to all interests. This year more than half of the second year class had abstracts accepted for presentation the USCAP meeting. This includes residents who are crazy into basic science and people who are interesting in diagnositics.

 

[Gross/Micro]

I have talked to one previous graduate who believes the Brigham does a poor job of preparing people for private practice. Of course, his impressions are based more on several years ago. I am not sure if things are better now. I can't really figure out why this is, because no doubt they provide you with the skills to diagnose and run labs. I just think it is perhaps de-emphasized due to the research focus and perhaps the residents may not be as prepared if they do not make the specific effort to be so.

You can do research at almost any program, it's all about making time for it and finding someone to support you.

I think the "Brigham only trains researchers" is a commonly expressed concern. Traditionally, the bulk of BWH residents were interested in getting through residency as quickly as possible and heading back to the lab. This is likely the origin of the "poor preparation for private practice" legend. These days more and more of the residents are interested in diagnostics and do not go on to do post-docs.

You can certainly come out of BWH as a bad ass diagnostician, but as with most things in life, you have to work to get there. As much as I am emphasizing the diagnostic portion of our training, I cannot ignore the consistent exposure we have to research. While we have traditional unknown slide conferences, a number of other conferences (including ones that resident's present at) emphasize research topics. If you don't know how to read journal articles before you start here, you will certainly learn how during your residency.

You could certainly squeak by without learning to be a strong diagnostic pathologist, but all of the resources you need to become a stellar pathologist are here. It just requires that you take advantage of the resources (ie attend Fletcher's signout when you have the time.).

 

[ziadp]

I attended a rotation at the Brigham and interviewed there in November. My opinion is simple: amazing program. I was exceedingly impressed by the faculty and the residents. Everyone I spent time with was wonderful. The cases were exceedingly interesting. The work environment emphasized learning, in an enjoyable fashion. The residents, though they worked hard, seemed to enjoy everything around them. The amount of camaraderie between residents was refreshing. Furthermore, their relationships epitomized the concepts professionalism. The facilities are phenomenal. As you can tell, I am a huge fan of the program. I believe it offers a lot for any resident. Its strongest feature, IMHO, is career development. From what I saw, I believe it is one of the best places for fellowship placement.

 

[PathOne]

You could certainly squeak by without learning to be a strong diagnostic pathologist, but all of the resources you need to become a stellar pathologist are here. It just requires that you take advantage of the resources (ie attend Fletcher's signout when you have the time.).

Yes, learning from Fletcher could be reason enough to train at BWH, once you get to appreciate his British humor. He's actually one of the few FMG's I've ever heard about who has risen to the top without even being board certified in path. (at least not in the US). But I guess that it'll also be pretty hard to claim that he isn't qualified.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Fletcher is a cool guy.

 

[PathOne]

AMEN to that....

 

[LADoc00]

Fletcher is a cool guy.

He is prone to wierd moments of ambigiously gay body language and speech that makes me uncomfortable. Ive seen him to do some wierd things. Compare him with Epstein at JHU. Exact opposites.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

He is prone to wierd moments of ambigiously gay body language and speech that makes me uncomfortable. Ive seen him to do some wierd things. Compare him with Epstein at JHU. Exact opposites.

Although I didn't encounter any weird moments during my 30 minute conversation with him, I will still say that him and Epstein are very different people. They're REALLY good at what they do though...but who didn't know that right?

 

[PathOne]

Yes, equally brilliant, but doing very different things in a very different way. Personally, I much prefer Chris Fletscher - ambiguity and all (But then again, I really like that Britishness...) ;-)