UC Davis Internal Medicine--comments about program?

[smilies]

Can anyone comment more about this program?
It seems like there were several threads sent out regarding this topic, but with little feedback. I matched there and am pretty excited about the program, but I feel like I only got a limited view of the day-to-day residency life from my interview day. ( I also interviewed fairly late and I think ppl just stopped caring on both ends by that point)
I don't know anyone there currently, and sure, I can email any one of the current residents on the list, but it's good to get some anonymous, honest feedback from ppl for an unbiased perspective.
Is it really busy? competetive atmosphere? (though the reputation seems not to be...), residents generally happy? faculty? yeah, yeah, the typical q's...

thanks!

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[hagart33]

i have friends in the IM program and they seem pretty happy there. that's all i know.

 

[mediocre]

besides being in Sacramento, I have heard nothing but good things about this program.

 

[labrynth79]

hey smilies!

I'll be your co-intern next year. 🙂 I'm pretty excited about the program myself, and I've heard excellent things about it. I was there for a Heme/Onc consult rotation, but had little interaction with any residents (the rotation was with 2 fellows and an attending). However, I did speak with a few friends that were there for residency, and I also went to the residency dinner before my interview. Here's the general consensus....

1. Overall: very happy with the program.

2. Location: Sacramento is not always the best place for a "singles" life but excellent if you are already involved in a relationship. However, it's not impossible to meet someone! You are close to Napa, San Francisco/bay area, Tahoe, etc and can easily head out for day trips. [Side note: I grew up in Sacramento but haven't really lived here since high school - almost 10 years ago! However, I just spent today in S.F./Sausalito and 2 days ago I spent it touring the vineyards in Napa Valley. So, these "day trips" are easily do-able.]

3. Work-load: You will work hard (just like every residency). I think that the patient load is usually lower - maybe 8 patients on average - compared to other programs (ie, UCSD or UCSF). You take call q5 on ward months. There are days where you hit close to 80hr or close to exceeding it, but those are rare. Clinics can be hit/miss with how many patients actually show up for the appointments.

4. Ancillary services: I don't have any info on this. sorry!

5. Residents/Faculty: The comaraderie was really great, and people seem to work well together. The faculty that I worked with on the Heme/Onc consult service were excellent and incredibly nice! Overall, I think that this is a great "people" place. There were a few attendings that I overheard speaking in the hallway and they seemed egotistical, but they weren't on the IM service.

6. Other tidbits: I was told by one person that UC Davis is a great place, but you have to take a lot of initiative to read up on disease states, etc. At my medical school, it was the unspoken rule that everyone always read about their patient's diseases, and shared information from articles, etc with the other team members. However, I think that at UC Davis, this type of "information gathering" is not really practiced. This was my primary concern in the program when I created my ranking list because I didn't know how well this aspect of training would affect the knowledge/competency of the residents. I was not that impressed with the morning/intern report, but hopefully it was just an "off" day rather than the intern's knowledge base.

And that's all I have for now! If you want more info, try searching scutwork.com or e-mailing the residents. Honestly, all the info we relay to each other IS from the residents, so it makes sense to contact them.

Can't wait to meet you. 🙂 In the meantime, have an excellent last few months and fun during your graduation!