Just posted a review over at scutwork.com, but thought I would post it here as well as this place seems to be more popular.
As it may seem obvious after the review, this was my top pick. Good luck to everyone in matching this year!
The following are my experiences as a medical student who did a 1 month rotation at two of their hospitals, Jefferson & Magee. I tended to ask quite a few questions on my rotation and on the day of my interview as I was very interested in this program.
The schedule for the residents seemed pretty relaxed, typically 7:30am - 4:30pmish for most inpatient rotations and 8-9am to 4pmish for most outpatient rotations (typically in the PGY-3 + 4 years). Nobody worked over 80 hours/week and they all seemed fairly happy with their schedule.
Overall, residents reported they had flexible schedules, though it seems their PGY-2 year was fairly standard with 5 inpatient and 1 outpatient rotations.
Call was about average from what I saw: PGY2 = 5 calls/mo, PGY3 = 3 calls/mo (weekday only) and PGY4 = 1 call/mo (weekday only). They take call at 2 hospitals. 1 resident reported "it's a bad night if you get a page after 11pm" at one of the hospitals (Jefferson). I was told the other hospital (Magee) kept you up a fair portion of the night with call, though they did get some sleep.
When they are on an SCI service at Magee, they have a nurse practitioner who is very nice. She seems to do much of the scutwork for you like follow up appointments, writing the prescriptions for the residents to sign, scheduling issues, writes up the patient signouts, etc.
The residents told me they rotate about 1/3 through Magee, 1/3 through Jefferson and 1/3 through other hospitals. The do rotate with other residents in the city (Temple for a few rotations and University of Penn does their SCI at Magee with the Jeff residents). They easily get 200 EMGs so I was told.
Ive been to 2 other programs (though not for this long), but Jefferson definitely has impressive teaching. They have completely protected time from 7am 1pm every Wednesday morning for lectures (mine always ended around 11:30 for a 1.5 hour lunch!). I had Dr. Formal, the program director. He generally sat down with his resident and student(s) for about 45 mins each morning (except Wed) and went over a different rehab topic. I also rotated with Dr. Fried and he met with the resident 2x/week for 1 hour each time to discuss a topic. Both attendings were very open and straightforward. Dr. Fried (Guy) even prefers to be called his first name by residents and students.
I did 1 week at their other hospital, Jefferson, which was also fairly relaxed. I worked with Dr. Jacobs (excellent teacher, spends more time teaching than rounding, which can cause rounds to go late sometimes). I got to meet Dr. Herbison. He is by far the residents favorite teacher and only does EMGs and lectures with the residents (one resident said he spends 2 hours/patient and sees 4 patients/day to give him time to teach the resident, I was told he is officially retired). He doesnt pay much attention to medical students (i.e. me), but the residents absolutely love him. Dr. Marino does the acute spinal cord service at Jefferson and I worked with him for 3 days. He seems very nice and he is the author of the ASIA spinal cord examination booklet and was extremely knowledgeable about the SCI. He is in charge of a lot of the research the residents do.
Very laid back! All the residents seemed very friendly and cohesive. Everyone seemed smart and intelligent and knew their stuff and you could definitely tell a difference in the knowledge base of the senior residents and the fresh junior ones. Many of the attendings are laid back and from what I saw, my resident on SCI just called Dr. Formal (program director) on his cell phone for everything and didnt bother beeping him. Some attendings were called by their first names. Basically, everyone seemed friendly to each other and the residents were extremely happy during my month rotation as well as interview day. Nobody works more than 80 hours a week with the seniors doing about ~40 hours/wk on their outpatient rotations.
The residents all went out as a group to drinks after work once while I was there.
The vacation seemed pretty nice 1 week off on 5 out of 6 two month long rotations per year (was told that on the interview).
Their board review seems pretty good. Last year two of the residents got #2 and #7 on the rehab national board exam (and the one that got #2 is an attending there at Magee now). One of their residents didnt take the boards, I was told he was running for Congress and didnt have time. Most of the residents seem to do research of some sort, though I was told its not a requirement. One of the 4th year residents wrote his own book on physical examination and got it published. I saw it and its actually pretty good (very rehab oriented). All the other residents (I was told) typically have 1-3 research projects by the time they graduate.
Their fellowship placement seemed incredibly strong. 5/7 residents applied for fellowships and all got their first choice. One went in SCI and 4 went into pain. Two of their residents got 2/3 spots at the anesthesia based Jefferson pain fellowship which seems to be fed by the rehab residency.
Ive been to two other programs rehab programs (each for 2 weeks) and, to me, Jefferson definitely stands out as a top-tier program.
As it may seem obvious after the review, this was my top pick. Good luck to everyone in matching this year!
The following are my experiences as a medical student who did a 1 month rotation at two of their hospitals, Jefferson & Magee. I tended to ask quite a few questions on my rotation and on the day of my interview as I was very interested in this program.
The schedule for the residents seemed pretty relaxed, typically 7:30am - 4:30pmish for most inpatient rotations and 8-9am to 4pmish for most outpatient rotations (typically in the PGY-3 + 4 years). Nobody worked over 80 hours/week and they all seemed fairly happy with their schedule.
Overall, residents reported they had flexible schedules, though it seems their PGY-2 year was fairly standard with 5 inpatient and 1 outpatient rotations.
Call was about average from what I saw: PGY2 = 5 calls/mo, PGY3 = 3 calls/mo (weekday only) and PGY4 = 1 call/mo (weekday only). They take call at 2 hospitals. 1 resident reported "it's a bad night if you get a page after 11pm" at one of the hospitals (Jefferson). I was told the other hospital (Magee) kept you up a fair portion of the night with call, though they did get some sleep.
When they are on an SCI service at Magee, they have a nurse practitioner who is very nice. She seems to do much of the scutwork for you like follow up appointments, writing the prescriptions for the residents to sign, scheduling issues, writes up the patient signouts, etc.
The residents told me they rotate about 1/3 through Magee, 1/3 through Jefferson and 1/3 through other hospitals. The do rotate with other residents in the city (Temple for a few rotations and University of Penn does their SCI at Magee with the Jeff residents). They easily get 200 EMGs so I was told.
Ive been to 2 other programs (though not for this long), but Jefferson definitely has impressive teaching. They have completely protected time from 7am 1pm every Wednesday morning for lectures (mine always ended around 11:30 for a 1.5 hour lunch!). I had Dr. Formal, the program director. He generally sat down with his resident and student(s) for about 45 mins each morning (except Wed) and went over a different rehab topic. I also rotated with Dr. Fried and he met with the resident 2x/week for 1 hour each time to discuss a topic. Both attendings were very open and straightforward. Dr. Fried (Guy) even prefers to be called his first name by residents and students.
I did 1 week at their other hospital, Jefferson, which was also fairly relaxed. I worked with Dr. Jacobs (excellent teacher, spends more time teaching than rounding, which can cause rounds to go late sometimes). I got to meet Dr. Herbison. He is by far the residents favorite teacher and only does EMGs and lectures with the residents (one resident said he spends 2 hours/patient and sees 4 patients/day to give him time to teach the resident, I was told he is officially retired). He doesnt pay much attention to medical students (i.e. me), but the residents absolutely love him. Dr. Marino does the acute spinal cord service at Jefferson and I worked with him for 3 days. He seems very nice and he is the author of the ASIA spinal cord examination booklet and was extremely knowledgeable about the SCI. He is in charge of a lot of the research the residents do.
Very laid back! All the residents seemed very friendly and cohesive. Everyone seemed smart and intelligent and knew their stuff and you could definitely tell a difference in the knowledge base of the senior residents and the fresh junior ones. Many of the attendings are laid back and from what I saw, my resident on SCI just called Dr. Formal (program director) on his cell phone for everything and didnt bother beeping him. Some attendings were called by their first names. Basically, everyone seemed friendly to each other and the residents were extremely happy during my month rotation as well as interview day. Nobody works more than 80 hours a week with the seniors doing about ~40 hours/wk on their outpatient rotations.
The residents all went out as a group to drinks after work once while I was there.
The vacation seemed pretty nice 1 week off on 5 out of 6 two month long rotations per year (was told that on the interview).
Their board review seems pretty good. Last year two of the residents got #2 and #7 on the rehab national board exam (and the one that got #2 is an attending there at Magee now). One of their residents didnt take the boards, I was told he was running for Congress and didnt have time. Most of the residents seem to do research of some sort, though I was told its not a requirement. One of the 4th year residents wrote his own book on physical examination and got it published. I saw it and its actually pretty good (very rehab oriented). All the other residents (I was told) typically have 1-3 research projects by the time they graduate.
Their fellowship placement seemed incredibly strong. 5/7 residents applied for fellowships and all got their first choice. One went in SCI and 4 went into pain. Two of their residents got 2/3 spots at the anesthesia based Jefferson pain fellowship which seems to be fed by the rehab residency.
Ive been to two other programs rehab programs (each for 2 weeks) and, to me, Jefferson definitely stands out as a top-tier program.
