Tulane and LSU programs post-Katrina

[tennreb]

Does anyone know how Tulane and LSU's programs have recovered since the hurricane. I know Tulane laid off much of its psych department immediately after the storm. Has it recovered? I love New Orleans and wouldn't mind living there for a few years during residency.

 

[goldengate]

Does anyone know how Tulane and LSU's programs have recovered since the hurricane. I know Tulane laid off much of its psych department immediately after the storm. Has it recovered? I love New Orleans and wouldn't mind living there for a few years during residency.

I recently interviewed at LSU-Ochsner in New Orleans and based on what residents told me, it is still in the process of recovery. One of the biggest losses was Charity Hospital, which was like home base for them...b/c that was closed, they had to open up an adult unit in the child/adolescent hospital (NOAH). Their rotations are a bit more scattered now, and inpatient beds are in short supply. They are, however, planning to open up a new adult unit in another city hospital (DePaul) in the near future. See this link - http://www.wdsu.com/news/11011012/detail.html?rss=no&psp=news

Some faculty are on furlough, and one disappointment for me was the head geriatrics guy had left for good... therefore no more geriatrics fellowship...same thing happened with forensics I think. The remaining faculty are trying to deal with life just like everyone else in the city. The bottom line is, things are still a bit crazy there, but things should be improving soon...I hope!

 

[heimlichboy]

well I know LSU is in better shape than Tulane because it merged with ocshner. So the psych residents rotate at ocshner as well as the lsu medical center. Tulane sustained more damage than LSU. The biggest hit to tulane was they lost their main inpatient psych unit. So the residents have to drive a hour and a half to southeast hospital for inpt training. Tulane has also been running into problems with acgme because of the loss of their inpt unit. Their inpt unit is not slated to reopen because of the damage that was not repairable. Most of the faculty that made tulane such a good program have left. Tulane suffered 200 million dollars in damage that was not covered by insurance. So the more stable program right now is LSU. It helps to have the gov't funding your institution. Also tulane is going to have to move their outpatient facilities because the land that the facilities are on are for sale.