Posting on behalf of a friend going into Pediatrics. She is wondering about the relative strengths / weaknesses of UNC and Duke. Maybe current residents and students who rotated / interviewed at these places can comment? Thanks!
UNC vs Duke?
- Thread starter EM2013
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These are my impressions based on my interview day.
UNC
Program: Medium sized (20 I think?) program, good mix and males and females, fairly diverse class. PD is a general peds doc, she seemed very supportive and nice. To meet new ACGME requirements, they've created tracks and 3 core required electives and then 3 other options. About 60ish% of time is spent at UNC main hospital, and the rest of the time is split at 2 other hospitals about 45 minutes away. The one unique thing this program has is a "residency helper", an NP or PA that helps with the scut work on the inpatient teams. It sounded like a great idea and a nice perk. More than 1/2 of the residents go into primary care/general outpt peds.
Facilities: A few floors spread out within the main hospital, the ED seemed particularly small to me (9 beds), and they don't have a level I trauma center in the peds ED. Can't comment on the other 2 sites because we didn't go.
Residents: Pretty standard- seemed friendly, but I didn't get a great sense on how much time out side of work they spent together
Schedule: Also pretty standard (outside the large travel time to go to the 2 associated hospitals), Q 4 during some 2nd and 3rd year rotations.
Location: Chapel Hill/ Durham are is extremely affordable, many residents own homes. However, it's very close to Duke.
Overall: I think this program offers a good general peds training. While the residents claimed they loved the 45 minute drive, and found it peaceful, etc, this was a huge turn off to me. During the rounds that I saw, it seemed that the second year resident sat quietly while the attending actually ran rounds. There wasn't the leadership and teaching that I've seen at many other places. The set up in the hospital is also strange with floors being all over the main hospital, I didn't feel like I was in a children's hospital. While UNC is stronger is some aspects (like lung transplant) they're significantly weaker in others (like heme/onc). Both of my interviews were strange, and I also thought the group interview with the PD and PC taking notes was strange. The resident who gave us the tour seemed a little unhappy/annoyed by little things in the program. For instance, she talked about the fact they have to learn 5 EMRs (one main one for each hospital, ED at UNC and radiology at UNC). In general, I left with very mixed feelings about this program.
Duke
Program: Medium sized (16?), not as diverse as UNC, PD is general peds trained and also seemed very supportive. About 50% go into general peds. Most of the peds teams are located on one floor, and residents only spend time at Duke.
Facilities Peds teams are grouped closer together (mostly on one floor). There's a brand new outpatient building for subspec and gen peds clinics.
Residents: Very nice and friendly, really got the sense that they hung out with each other outside of work and liked each other. Based on the morning report and rounds that I saw, they were very informal and supportive, but also very strong.
Schedule: Different night team system, 2 wks of 16 hr shifts every other night, otherwise pretty standard
Location:Same as above
Overall: I think Duke has good training opportunities for general peds, and lots of subspecialty exposure. I got the impression this program was more academic and perhaps more intense at times. While I was more impressed with rounds here than at UNC, I still didn't see the leadership and teaching from senior residents that I've seen at other places.
In general, while these programs are in the same location, both medium sized and both floors within larger adult hospitals, they have very different feels. I think Duke has a reputation for being malignant with unhappy residents. During my time there, I didn't get this impression. In fact, I thought they seemed happier there than at UNC. However, I was really only there for a day, so it's hard to say. From a career and training standpoint, I don't think you could go wrong with either program. It just depends on your preference and fit at the programs.
UNC
Program: Medium sized (20 I think?) program, good mix and males and females, fairly diverse class. PD is a general peds doc, she seemed very supportive and nice. To meet new ACGME requirements, they've created tracks and 3 core required electives and then 3 other options. About 60ish% of time is spent at UNC main hospital, and the rest of the time is split at 2 other hospitals about 45 minutes away. The one unique thing this program has is a "residency helper", an NP or PA that helps with the scut work on the inpatient teams. It sounded like a great idea and a nice perk. More than 1/2 of the residents go into primary care/general outpt peds.
Facilities: A few floors spread out within the main hospital, the ED seemed particularly small to me (9 beds), and they don't have a level I trauma center in the peds ED. Can't comment on the other 2 sites because we didn't go.
Residents: Pretty standard- seemed friendly, but I didn't get a great sense on how much time out side of work they spent together
Schedule: Also pretty standard (outside the large travel time to go to the 2 associated hospitals), Q 4 during some 2nd and 3rd year rotations.
Location: Chapel Hill/ Durham are is extremely affordable, many residents own homes. However, it's very close to Duke.
Overall: I think this program offers a good general peds training. While the residents claimed they loved the 45 minute drive, and found it peaceful, etc, this was a huge turn off to me. During the rounds that I saw, it seemed that the second year resident sat quietly while the attending actually ran rounds. There wasn't the leadership and teaching that I've seen at many other places. The set up in the hospital is also strange with floors being all over the main hospital, I didn't feel like I was in a children's hospital. While UNC is stronger is some aspects (like lung transplant) they're significantly weaker in others (like heme/onc). Both of my interviews were strange, and I also thought the group interview with the PD and PC taking notes was strange. The resident who gave us the tour seemed a little unhappy/annoyed by little things in the program. For instance, she talked about the fact they have to learn 5 EMRs (one main one for each hospital, ED at UNC and radiology at UNC). In general, I left with very mixed feelings about this program.
Duke
Program: Medium sized (16?), not as diverse as UNC, PD is general peds trained and also seemed very supportive. About 50% go into general peds. Most of the peds teams are located on one floor, and residents only spend time at Duke.
Facilities Peds teams are grouped closer together (mostly on one floor). There's a brand new outpatient building for subspec and gen peds clinics.
Residents: Very nice and friendly, really got the sense that they hung out with each other outside of work and liked each other. Based on the morning report and rounds that I saw, they were very informal and supportive, but also very strong.
Schedule: Different night team system, 2 wks of 16 hr shifts every other night, otherwise pretty standard
Location:Same as above
Overall: I think Duke has good training opportunities for general peds, and lots of subspecialty exposure. I got the impression this program was more academic and perhaps more intense at times. While I was more impressed with rounds here than at UNC, I still didn't see the leadership and teaching from senior residents that I've seen at other places.
In general, while these programs are in the same location, both medium sized and both floors within larger adult hospitals, they have very different feels. I think Duke has a reputation for being malignant with unhappy residents. During my time there, I didn't get this impression. In fact, I thought they seemed happier there than at UNC. However, I was really only there for a day, so it's hard to say. From a career and training standpoint, I don't think you could go wrong with either program. It just depends on your preference and fit at the programs.
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This is no longer true--the Duke and UNC residents both rotate through a community hospital 1-2 times during residency. I can't remember the name of the hospital and gave away all my interview information.
I didn't interview at UNC, but I really liked Duke while I was there. Most of my classmates liked one or the other, but generally not both (with the exception of one person, whose SO had matched at UNC and thus she had a very strong desire to be in that area).
Otherwise, I agree with everything Pedsdoc13 said about Duke.
I'm confused about the night shifts thing at Duke-- does that mean that for two weeks intern year you are on nights only, which is 16hr shift every other night, and then you do not have night call the rest of the year?
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I think it's more that you're on 2 weeks of nights when you're on wards or PICU. Maybe not every time. But certainly not just once.
