University Hospital/University of Cincinnati (Cinci) Residency Reviews

[Dr. Will]

Solidgold...I borrowed your format. Hope you don't mind.

Residents: 12 per class. All the residents seemed extremely happy. The only negative that came up was that their ultrasound program was behind the curve a few years back. That has already been addressed. About 60% are married, engaged, etc, while the rest are single. All the residents I spoke with said there was great camaraderie between them all. The night before the interview was a great time as they were all really friendly.

Faculty: The PD, Dr. Blomkalns is awesome. She was cracking jokes throughout the day and really goes to bat for the residents. She wants to train leaders and believes that the program will bring out the best in it's residents. There are 3 associate PD's, each responsible for a year in the program. The residents were extremely happy with the faculty, overall.

Facilities: UC hospital ED is seperated into pods 3 pods and the SRU. I can't remember how many beds total there were, but there were quite a few. I believe the ED was last upgraded in '95 and it shows. I've seen nicer ED's, but this is such a minor complaint. As an intern, you work in C pod with the
4th years and off service residents. As a PGY-2 you see your own patients in B pod with an attending. As a 3rd year, you cover both the Apod (the sickest of the sick) and the SRU.

Curriculum: This is the strongest aspect of Cincy. I was really impressed with what they have to offer. As with most places, there is increasing responsibility each year. They highly value independence and autonomy. There is no calling of consults until they are absolutely needed, meaning you get to do many procedures down in the ED (and these specifically go to the PGY-2, especially airways). Everyone knows about aircare at Cincy. Starting your PGY-2 year, you fly. There are dedicated flying shifts, which may be full of flying or not. If you are covering the Bpod, and a second flight is needed (since there are 2 helis), you will hop onto that flight. The attending covers until you return. You really learn to be efficient your second year as you are juggling patients, flights, and being called away for procedures at any time. As a PGY-3, you run A-pod and SRU directing resusitations. PGY-4s help out with running C-pod. The 1st and 4th years develop quite a bond over the year because of how close together they work.

Another strength is the fact that there are 6.5 elective months were you are able to do anything under the sun in EM. You will find your niche! Also, UC is associated with Cincinnati Children's hospital, a top 10 chlidren's hospital. You have integrated shifts when you do an ED month, working 20-25% at childrens. The facilities there are awesome as well. There is honestly so much more about the curriculum that is great, but I don't want to make this too long.

Patient Pop: The ED sees "county type" patients. It is also is a large tertiary care center (the same goes for the children's hospital), so you get a wide variety of pathology. There is more than enough trauma, according to the residents.

City: Cincinnati...doesn't really appeal much, especially living in SF and Chicago. But, the city is so dirt cheap, it's hard not to be drawn to it. Most of the residents own decent sized houses, and their mortgage is what I pay for a studio in Chicago. Traffic is never a hassle and there is plenty to do in the city. The city will be the biggest drawback for many.

Overall: I loved this program and will be visiting it again and likely ranking it very highly. The PD is awesome and would be a pleasure to work with, the residents are great, the curriculum rocks and the flight experience is spectacular. I don't mind the city so much because I'm excited of being able to buy a house and maybe even a new car.

There is so much more about this program I wish I could say. If you have any questions, PM me.

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[SolidGold]

University of Cincinnati. Dr. Will's review is right on target!

Overall: There is no doubt in my mind that this is a top place to train in emergency medicine. First off, this was a great interview experience. They put you up in a great hotel for free and the little gift package was a nice touch. The chair was great and really spent a lot of time with us, and the PD was great too. Having worked with a lot of the faculty, I can say they are great to work with. I'm very familiar with it having done an away there, and I have gone on the interview trail comparing programs to this one. The aeromedical experience can't be beat and any program that has a flight program can't say they respond to as many scene calls as Cinci (40% scene, 60% hospital transfer). Is a flight program that important? No, but the experience only makes you better and I don't want to finish a program thinking that I'm average or just competent. Having an experience like that over the last 3 years (when residents fly) at this program would make me one of the best in my opinion. I've worked with the R-4's and they really are very confident and knowledgeable compared to most third years I've worked at 3 year programs, which in my opinion is a real testament to the advantages of a 4 year program. The 6.5 months of elective time is awesome. The residents are all great. They love to hang out and have fun, and have fun during their shifts when possible. The patient population and the amount of trauma they get (and their substantial involvement in traumas) will get anyone a great experience during residency. The only negative is probably the location, but having lived there a month I can say that there are plenty of things to do there. It's also inexpensive so owning a decent house is possible on a resident's salary. This will likely be one of my top choices.

 

[MightyShorty]

Dr. Will and SolidGold did a great job so I'll just add brief comments that differ from their opinion or things that haven't been mentioned before. Like Crewmaster's disclaimer, this is my opinion so take it with a grain of salt. If anything I say is wrong, please correct me.

Minor details not listed before:
1. Cinci also emphasize public speaking skills so they expose their residents to a lot of public speaking experience. Starting PGY1, residents present at grand rounds in front of the whole department as well as joint conferences with other. This helps a lot with their presentation at national conferences or during job search as PGY4
2. Protected time everyday from 7:30-8am for teaching. This daily session is only for those having AM shift or coming off PM shift. Those away from ED or off duty don't need to come in. Only attendings cover the ED during that time. This is in addition to protected time for weekly conferences
3. Despite being known for churning out residents going into academics, the split is still 55% community, 45% academic, which was a surprise to me
4. PGY2 is required to fly but PGY3/4 can give away the choper shift
5. To illustrate how strong the training is on airway: Anesthesia asked EM to help them out on difficult airways during a code anywhere in the hospital. If anesthesia can't get the airway, they page the EM PGY4 carrying the "rescue airway" pager.
6. ED hired an ultrasonographer dedicated to teach residents u/s

My overall impression of the city - looking at previous reviews as well as discussion on other threads, Cinci seems to have a rep of not being a great city to live in. I personally liked it a lot. Downtown has the usual, plus major sport teams, and an outdoor ice skating rink. The residential area is organized into neighborhoods and everything you need in your daily life is in each neighborhood so you don't ever have to go far. Newport on the Levee is just across the river on the Kentucky side and it's a great outdoor shopping mall. Housing is dirt cheap whether you live on the Ohio side or Kentucky side (about 1/4-1/3 of residents live across the river)

Overall impresison of the program: great curriculum with great faculty. The residents are all very happy and easy to get along with. Lots of opportunity and resources to try different things with 6.5 months of elective. They also care a lot about personal wellness.

Cons (IMO - I really can't think of any major ones so this is what I can come up with)
1. For some people, 4-year program is a con.
2. Required flight as PGY2 - I personally like the idea of making it optional. I heard from Indy that 2 of their residents don't fly because they get really nauseated on the choper. Now in retrospect, I should have asked Cinci what if a PGY2 resident get sick with flights. Do they make an exception? I guess I'll ask later via e-mail.

 

[crewmaster1]

Oh, you wanted a serious answer.....
CINCINNATI
Just to warn you, I'm on MICU now and if the code pager goes off and this gets posted with like 2 comments, there is more than 2 things I like about my residency in Cincinnati.....
While to start with I don't really like doing something in 4 years that I could do in 3 (that is not very consistent with a Type-A personality). However, I decided I would do 4 years if I got everything I wanted in a 4 year program. Cincinnati has just that....
The things I like:
-Smart people (In my short 3 months here I have realized how great it is get get morning report lectures and grand rounds from amazing people like Dr. Gibler, Dr. Pancioli, Dr. Blomkalns, etc)
-But, at the same time very cool people. I have also drank beer with those people named above. Overall, a very social group here that can party and have a good time. I don't mean just sit around and sip red wine, I mean throw down some beers. FYI--on the interview trail I partied here more than anywhere else (MCW #2).
-Useful off service rotations: no floor surg or medicine stuff, all ICU. I'm MICU intern now, covering the unit alone with my fellow on pager and a new R2 downstairs covering floor if things really hit the fan. Ortho, not floor ortho (useless), one month of all night shift only doing consults in the ED. 3 weeks of ED ultrasound, one week peds anesthesia (not in some slow boring OR with like 3 5-hour cases, in the ENT room with 20 cases per day!).
-Flying. And not 98% interfacility crap either. 40% field response. You are a flight doc every ED shift you work as an R2, but still get integrated dedicated flight shifts as 3s and 4s.
-Good schedules--ok a bit busy intern year, but variety....We may do 20 -21 shifts a month during an ED month...but 1 or 2 are in the minor care, 1 or 2 are in the observation area, 1 will be with field EMS (engine, medic, ladder, we get it all), after everyone does their 2 week peds intro then we will also get 2-4 per month of peds stuff. I like the variety, that is why I'm in EM.
-7 months of elective time (starting in second year). Why do 4 years just to work more EM! (we all have the rest of our lives to work EM, you're still going to feel uncomfortable to some degree for your first 10 years out). You won't have multiple months off in your first 5 years as an attending to do electives in yellowstone or internationally (while still getting paid).
-Ghetto city...that means people hurt each other, makes for cool patients. Actually the city isn't so bad, tons of trees, water running through downtown, some areas are actually cool to live in and visit, major sports teams, more hills that anywhere in the midwest (very refreshing to not see forever), cheap to live.
-Cool additional opportunities such as SWAT, USAR, DMAT, research, hyperbarics, etc. Obviously you cant do it all and some are time intensive, but having choices is good.
-Graduated responsibility without sheltering interns--we just see more than just trolls in B pod as interns. I have admitted patients to the ICU as an intern and many interns have done procedures included chest tubes, central lines, intubations, etc. But, each year you get more responsibility. As an R4 you get to supervise the interns in B pos (one R4: 2-3 interns); great opportunity to teach to see if you like academic type role and to make friends. We really have a great time hanging out.
-I wasn't sure about academics vs community. Here we get both academic and county type patients at our university hospital (definitely county>>academic type patients), but we also get 4 months of pure community experience. The nice thing is there is a group of attendings (Vanguard medical) that all of our EM attendings are part of....so they also rotate through UC even if they are a community attending. So, when you go to community you likely already have met your attending making the experience all that much better.

Enough already, (I'm obviously not that busy today). Feel free to ask any questions if you have them. If I had to sum it up: smart people, that aren't full of themselves, that are fun, laid back and know how to have a good time!

 

[hurricanemd]

Residents: 12 residents per class. All seemed very laid back and into socializing during their time off. Include their spouses in all the activities, including journal club. Each class is very close-knit thanks to the one month orientation period filled with get togethers and team building. Seemed like a very fun, easy going bunch. Everyone I talked to said it was their first choice except one intern who said it was second (he was very glad to have ended up at Cincy though).

Faculty: The residents told us the faculty is very into teaching and also laid back. Most are on a first name basis. A lot of the faculty go out with the residents for the social events. All of the residents talked up the quality of the faculty.

Interviews: 5 interviews, which included the program director, assistant directors, chairman, and one of the chief residents. Very laid back and conversational. No one had a list of questions. All were very friendly and did a great job putting their program out there and answering questions.

Hospitals: The main site is University Hospital, which sees lots of trauma and has a county feel to it. Other hospitals include Cincy Children's Hospital, Christ Hospital and Jewish Hospital. The time spent at Christ and Jewish exposes you to a smaller, community type setting where it is just you and the attending. We only toured the UH, but the facilities there were nice and the layout was great. They have each area laid out circular with the "fish bowl" in the middle, so you can see all of your patients at any given time.

Ancillary: The staff is great and you do not have to start any IVs or do blood draws unless you want to. You will not need to wheel any patients to radiology either. We were told there are tons of nurses who have been there for years as well as some new fresh faces too.

Curriculum: 4 yrs. 6 months of electives. No floor months!!! Every off service rotation is high yeild. They are constantly changing and updating the curriculum according to resident input and the changing EM field needs. Plenty of critical care months: PICU, CCU, MICU, NSICU, SICU. Plenty of peds with a two weeks of peds EM as a PGY-1 and then integrated shifts during EM months thereafter. The program is run on the graduated responsibility belief. PGY-1s are supervised by the PGY-4s. PGY-2s work one on one with an attending in their own area. They are in charge or all airways an procedures, as well as the Aircare. PGY-3s are in charge of the trauma area and see the sickest patients, from sepsis to gunshot wounds to MIs. PGY-4s are in charge of supervising the interns and teaching the med students. They also give many lecutres during grand rounds.

Didactics: Grand rounds every Wed from 8am-1pm, which is protected time even on every off service rotation. Also, morning report daily from 7:30-8am. Seems like a good mix of evidence based lectures, case reports, clinical cases, oral and written board prep, and M&M. Given by residents, faculty, and visiting lecturers.

City: Small city in the midwest. Weather is typical of midwest, with the four seasons. Lots of affordable housing in different areas of the city. Fun, safe downtown with many different sporting events, museums, festivals, etc. Decent airport, although the tickets are more expensive according to the residents.

Negatives: I honestly can't think of any, other than the extra year. Even that they had me convinced is a plus. The PGY-4s work only 14-15 shifts a month and get to moonlight a ton, so they make up for some of the lost income. It seems like they are really junior attendings with all their intern and med student teaching responsibilities.

Overall: This is obviously where EM started. The program is established, yet willing to change with the times. All of the residents are happy with their training and the city (even the ones not from the midwest originally). The opportunity to participate in Aircare is awesome. Lots of moonlighting. Lots of procedures. The people were great. Lots of elective time to explore interests. I am planning on ranking this program very highly.

 

[crewmaster1]

Got this PVT email, thought some of you other applicants would like to hear my response as well. Anytime I post on here I leave a disclaimer...this is my opinion and what I think is supposed to be going on at this program...people can disagree, things can change, and my info could be wrong. Hope you enjoy it.

Hi crewmaster,

I had a great experience at my Cinci interview. I saw you matched there last year and had also considered some of the same programs as I currently am. What put Cinci over the top?

Thanks for the email. I know it is hard to make these big decisions. Hope I can help. Cincinnati was actually way out in the lead for me after my interview. My application was largely dictated by EMS (specifically helicopter EMS). I have worked as an EMT, love prehospital care and think residency is a really great opportunity to fly as a doc on a heli (something you won't really get to do ever again). So, I pretty much only interviewed at programs with a good flight experience. In addition, I'm from a city with no EM program, so I had no chance of staying there, so location played a very small role. IContrary to what many people say, I feel residency is a time to train for the rest of your life, not a time to live somewhere that has to be the coolest city ever....that's for when you are an attending working 1/2 as much, making 5 times as much money! Anyways Cincinnati is much better than I expected. As long as you have bars, restraunts, sports, arts, friends, etc, unless you are lame you can have a good time for a few years.

Anyways, enough about me...there are many great reasons why Cinci stuck way out in the front for me. Too many to list or fully discuss, but here are some major reasons (no special order):
1. Air care--awesome experience, get lots of procedures, almost 50% scene response (not a ton of interfacility like many programs).
2. Opportunity to be an associate EMS medical director staring in Jan of intern year. Working in EMS is really fun, I'm not sure what it is like to be a medical director in the more administrative position. This will help me decide if I want to continue a career focused on EMS or if it just like playing in the field.
3. Integrated peds experience at one of the top peds programs in the country. By the time I was interviewing in my fourth year, I could hardly remember any peds stuff from a year before. I know if I only saw peds patients every 6 or 12 months, I would never be proficient. So, starting in Jan of 1st year we see them 4 or 5 shifts every month we're working in the ED. About 25% of all shifts over the 4 years!
4. Good rotations. Not a bunch of floor crap. Come on, what do you learn on floor surgery besides how to pack a wound, change dressings, run like a crazy person, and that social workers are your best friends when it comes to dispo. Lame. We do lots of ICU and our other off service is useful. For example, ORTHO. We don't do daytime ortho (that's just like surgery...social work...interns don't see the OR). We do night float, all nights, 12 hrs shifts, covering the ortho consult pager (basically seeing all the patients in the ED that require an ortho consult (and hand/spine too). That means learning what you need to consult for, making ortho friends, suturing complex hand lacs, splinting.....not worrying about daytime dispo, preop, consenting crap.
5. Cool people. This is obviously a matter of opinion. This was major for me because I am very social. Not a book worm at all. I'm young at heart and I like to go out and party/have fun. There are plenty of people that are always going out and having fun. Also some married with kids types too. Bigger program means more variety.
6. Old program/good reputation. I'm not going to rank the best programs in the country or anything like that. But, take a look at where the current residents come from in the programs you're interested in and take a look at where their alumni go. If people are willing to leave awesome cities and great universities to come to the midwest, I think to some degree that represents how good the program is. I'm from the west coast and I plan on heading back. If all the residents at UCinci were from Ohio, there's good chance that is where most will end up staying which doesn't leave me a strong list of connections. Let me tell you the best jobs aren't the ones in the back of the ACEP magazine, it's who you (or your chairman knows)! For example, something like 25% of EM PDs across the country are from UCinci....that's a nice list of friends you have when you get out of here and want a job. I can tell you our current 4th years have landed some impressive jobs.
7. Lots of other cool opportunities...SWAT team doc, USAR (disaster search and rescue), hyperbarics.
8. Both community, academic, and county experiences. A total of 4 months community, one each year (you can do more on elective if you want). Major plus--same attendings who work at university work in our community hospitals, so there is no need to waste the whole month getting to know people and building up confidence before you get to do stuff. We are both an academic hospital in a county setting. You see ghetto peeps and you see transplant people, all in the same day. Pretty cool. Plenty of trauma (blunt and penetrating) and there aren't 5 other level 1 centers in the same city, so you see it all. Nearly 200,00 patients come through the two EDs on our campus (university and childrens). Plenty of volume. Yes it is probably the same resident to patient ratio as the rest of the programs (the argument that volume doesn't really matter that much). However, the more patients in the department, the more crazy, weird, cool stuff that comes through and even if I'm not the doc seeing it, I still get pulled aside to look, or see the films, or hear the discussions about whatever it is. Less volume, less chance of seeing or hearing about cool stuff.


One thing that stood out for me in a more negative light was a 4 year program. Who wants to be slogging away during their 4th year while their other friends are racking in 6 figure incomes. Not me. Well, not at first. But when in came down to rank list time I decided it wasn't that bad, and now after learning more about it I'm think it is very valuable.
First off, we get a ton of elective time. I'm not putting in 4 years to spend more time in the ED, I've got the rest of my life for that. I want to do international rotations, explore my interests, spend extra time doing stuff I like or want to learn more about. Second, our 4th years moonlight and make way more money than I expected to be making in residency, so the whole "$250,000 mistake" thing is BS. Most important is that we do something different, unique, and with more responsibility in each year of the program. That doesn't mean we are sheltered interns that act like 4th year med students just so they can add a little something onto the next 3 years either. Aside from critically ill or injured patients who go to the resus area, everyone sees equally sick people. Briefly...first year, doing just that--seeing patients in the ED getting the basics down; second year you start flying and doing all the procedures in the resus bays (as an intern you get all your own procedures in your patients because they aren't in the resus bay); third year--you run the resus bay; fourth year you are back in B pod in a supervising attending-like position getting to see if teaching is for you.

Crazy long email, hope this helps. It's 9pm, I'm on ultrasound so I have all the weekends off and I'm heading out! Feel free to email if you have any more questions.

UCinci resident

 

[FleurTheAnon]

In No particular Order

1. Scott and White - Excellent overall, best fit if you're married, wonderful people. Well-established program in a small town with a huge catchment area. Hospital is a "Texas Mayo Clinic" and very well respected both in the community and the state. The ED is new (finished <2 years ago IIRC) with all private rooms, excellent nursing staff, and lots of space. You don't feel crowded like many EDs that I've seen. The place sees a lot of different things on each shift (peds/adult/trauma, etc). Don't send a ton of people to fellowship though there is talk that this is changing - one recent grad is going to Peds-EM. Faculty are pretty well published, which surprised me, especially in sepsis. My vote for best overall program in the state.

2. Duke - Newish program (I would be in their sixth intern class) but it seems to have most of the kinks worked out. LOVED the PD Sarah Stahmer. Top-notch facilities, smart and personable faculty, and residents that I would most definitely enjoy being friends with. Very livable city. Curriculum suits me: they try and launch their grads into the world with awesome CVs. In short, I *heart* Duke. Currently my personal #1 but will have to convince the wife that it's okay to move there.

3. U Cincinnati - My other EM crush. Take what Duke has in terms of academics and square it. Highest quality EM program, possibly the funniest PD in the business (imagine Kevin Spacey doing standup), and the fact that I know the folks more than from an interview and they rock. However, Cincinnati is, well, Cincinnati. Which means that it isn't a bad school, per se, but it's in the middle of the Midwest. There's no family in the area, it's a four year program (not necessarily a deal breaker for me), and it would be hard for the wife to find a job there as Ohio is pretty much shedding jobs left and right. Would be a hard sell.

4. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH - solid, friendly, and comfortable PGY1-3 program. Has just about anything that you'd want in a program but lacks a bit in the academic grooming department that other programs put front and center on interview day. Faculty were nice as were the residents. ED is good looking if not flashy (contrast to UCSF's Moffett-Long which was one of the prettiest out there). Program is on/near the campus of the undergrad campus and there is a lot to be said for having a University's resources available. Columbus seems like a really neat city to live in and the people that I met out and about were really nice. The airport is one of the more convenient, easy to maneuver, and nicest airports that I've ever experienced (free wi-fi too). The town is growing and adding jobs which is no mean feat in Ohio these days. Encouraged moonlighting, and you can do it in one of several OSU-affiliated hospitals (you won't have to get your OH license). Would be a tough sell for the wife but vastly easier than Cincinnati would be.

2. Eastern Carolina University, Greenville, NC - man, where to start about this program? I had a bad vibe from the beginning: the coordinator didn't provide the physical address of the hospital so it was hard to find the place as I'd never been to G'Vegas before and was driving in the morning of the interview. It was a painful, awkward day.

It was a foggy day outside and the grayness seemed to be unrelieved by the program offices (in stark contrast to Duke, which was all light, smiles, and holiday cheer). The presentation from the PD seemed a bit half-hearted compared to others that I've seen (for example, Cincinnati put some effort into spicing up the program overview, doing a "morning report" bit that was far more instructive in obvious and subtle ways than anything else). The faculty didn't really seem to do more than ask a few pro-forma questions and then ask if we had any questions. Now, I'm not saying that everyone has to ask me things, certainly not. But I've had really thoughtful questions and discussions at other places that made it clear that the interviewer had thoroughly reviewed my application....or at least followed up on things I had mentioned which indicated that they were interested. Maybe it was just me....

So anyway, the resident's didn't really impress me all that much. The pgy3 was aggressive in a weird way, and the two interns were a disaster. One was saying how happy she was that no one cared if they asked stupid questions and then told us what the dumb question was....The old saying "Better to to be suspected of stupidity than to open your mouth and remove all doubt" was definitely applicable. The other intern barely spoke and appeared catatonic, and when asked why he chose ECU, gave me the weirdest look that I've ever seen. And didn't answer the question. To be fair, we ran across another intern from CA who was working in the ED who seemed really excited and enthused about the program. Perhaps he should have been the one to come to lunch, eh?

Anyway, the ED is gorgeous, no doubt, and they have possibly one of the best designed layouts that I've yet seen. Very nice. The rescucitation bays are the best yet. I think that they are a solid clinical program that for some reason didn't put their best foot forward that day. It was kind of sad.

 

[hornsfan]

Cinci

Residents: 12 residents/yr. Great residents who get along well together. All seem pretty intelligent and relaxed. Off-service residents are reportedly good across the board and relations with other services are great. A few residents have left in the pass 4 years with 1 moving to Texas to try and save his marriage, 1 switching to psych, 1 being fired, and 1 switching to anesthesia. Residents get informal feedback in addition to formal cards, but it seems as if this is more because they have to fill out cards with more emphasis placed on verbal feedback. Graduates are all over the US (there is a cool map on the website) and due to the age/stature of the program there are tons of contacts. PD and Chair really work hard to get you to the place where you want to be, and apparently have gotten graduates hired by places that weren’t even hiring.

Faculty: Faculty are excellent and great teachers. The PD is super nice and gave us a short morning report style lecture in the morning which was great. He apparently allows himself to be the test dummy on all kinds of thing from digital blocks to pacer pad placement, etc. He also apparently works almost as much as the regular clinical staff do and sometimes will pick up a resident shift just to show he can still do it. The Chair works ~4-5 shifts/mo. As said before, both will go to bat for you when it comes to getting a job and both have lots of contacts. Only faculty who have recently left are people taking better jobs elsewhere. My only worry about the faculty is that many of them are graduates of Cincinnati, and therefore there is less diversity amongst the teaching staff. I have heard that some things are done here because it’s “the Cincinnati way” rather than any other good reason, which could be attributed to this. Most faculty are on first name basis, but some are not which are usually the ones who refer to you by your last name.

Ancillary Staff: Nursing staff is excellent and will save your butt often.

Curriculum: Four year program with all the standards. Lots of unit and elective time with no medicine floor months. Huge EMS/aeromedicine program with a resident being on every single flight (mandatory). Helicopter crew is obsessed with safety and has an outstanding flight record. Most of the pilots are ex-military and have flown a million hours in difficult conditions without problems. If any crew member feels uncomfortable with the flight, it doesn’t go. The residents all rave about this and talk about the autonomy while out in the helicopter. There is 40/60 ratio of scene to transfer calls. The flight nurses are great as well and back you up (and vice versa) during calls. Residents say that you also have to learn how to do the nurse’s job of working monitors, pulling drugs, managing vents, etc that you normally wouldn’t learn in the ED because other people are around to do it for you. They say this is really beneficial in the long run. They also note that this flight experience gives them great exposure to sick kids and problematic airways (some have done cric’s) whereas when you are in the ED there are always more resources or, in the case of peds, a peds fellow/attending ahead of you that wants to take care of the pt. There are two helicopters running with one being stationed at hospital and other being up north a little ways – both being manned by residents. The northern helicopter’s night shift is voluntary, but is paid (called a “paid elective” not “moonlighting” for legal reasons). This shift can be picked up by any R2-R4. Real moonlighting can be done as an R4. Active tox and ultrasound program, with every US being recorded and QA’d by US faculty. Twice a week an awesome ultrasound tech also comes in and teaches people how to scan people. Plenty of trauma with one resident saying they get mostly blunt trauma and another one talking about the tons of penetrating they get. All procedures/airways are done by R2 with exception of thoracotomies which are done by trauma surg. Chest tubes are alternated between trauma and ED, but oftentimes winds up going to ED resident on trauma. 46/54 do academics vs community with good share of people doing fellowship vs straight into academics. Some residents do international trips, but have to fund yourself. No restrictions on electives. Hyperbarics rotation possible at hospital. Simulations center is being built currently with new purchase of high-fidelity manikin, but appears to currently only be used q1-3mo. The way years break down is several R1’s (including off-service) are paired up with one R4 who basically runs B pod. The R4 supervises and teaches, then gets everything signed off by attending. The R1’s see the patients. R2’s run their own little 8 pt pod (C pod), are designated procedure/airway person, and are designated flight MD every shift. Get to do rarer procedures here (e.g. swan, pericardiocentesis, pacers, bronchs, paracentesis, etc). If a flight call comes through, you have 7 minutes to check out your pod to attending and get up to helipad. This helps teach you time management and how to stay on top of charting as well. If R2 is on flight, R1 usually does procedures. R3 runs half of A pod and Shock and Resusc Unit (SRU). They also carry the telemetry phone and the medical command phone for the ambulances. This is a taxing year where you can be taking care of 17 patients at one time. Other half of A pod is combined with Obs area and is run by a PA or a resident rotating through. R3-4 also do flight shifts, but I assume they are more up at the north station. R4 does difficult airways (tries after R1-2 misses). Residents also sporadically rotate through Fast Track. Patients are triaged to first available bed and so there is no patient difference between pods. R1’s work 21-22x11’s, R2’s and R3’s get to decide what they want to work which has recently been 22-24x8’s with 12’s on w/e’s, and R4’s work 18x12’s. Everything goes by true months (~30-31 days). Admin elective possible. 26 weeks of elective time!

Peds: Separate Peds ED across the street at children’s hospital with residents doing a block R1 yr and then doing ~4 shifts/mo for rest of years. PICU rotation also present, but is being moved to R1 year. Apparently peds fellow/attending likes to do a lot.

Didactics: 5 hours weekly; protected. Didatics are great here with faculty being excellent teachers. Not sure what text or curriculum is. They don’t teach for the test, you are just expected to pass having come out of this program. Oral board style morning report qam.

Research: Scholarly project required with research available if interested.

Facilities: Three pods as described before, one of which only has 8 beds. Beds are in a circle surrounding the central nursing station. Each bed divided by hard walls with curtain as front wall. CT scanner in the ED. Separate fast track and psych area. Helipad on roof.

Charting: Paper orders, computer results, dictate all records which get put into computer.

Location: Cincinnati, OH. This is a much prettier place than I had imagined. Near the corner of OH, IN, and KY there is a beautiful river that runs through it with rolling hills on either side. Nice looking downtown. It appears to be your standard moderate sized city – nothing to write home about but not bad. I think this could be a nice place to live for four years. Two major sporting teams, a few college teams, a good sampling of culture/arts, and your standard nightlife are all present. Half of residents rent with other half owning. Very affordable and some residents live out in suburban areas for better schools. Decent food scene. Chicago is 4 hrs away. Not sure what the crime rate is like. Apparently the winter is relatively mild here with it only snowing a couple of times per year and the city freaking out when it does closing schools and such. Since there would be a lack of snow sports here, I hear people just do their normal thing even when it’s cold. GE and Proctor & Gamble are big employers here. “Chili” is popular here, but apparently they don’t know what chili actually is considering what they call “Chili” I call spaghetti and meat sauce with grated cheese on top. Nice ice-skating rink downtown during winter. Lots of parks around. Indoor conservatory is popular during Feb/Mar when it is really grey outside.

Extras: First EM residency. 24hr social work in the ED who will gather families, make calls, etc to help you out and let you see patients as much as possible. Vacation taken in 2, 2-week blocks 6 months apart. You put in your request for when you want vacation before the year starts and the chiefs make the schedule. Accreditation status is fine. Active DMAT team, can be on SWAT team as a medic, can volunteer to help out when dignitaries come into town by being personal physician. Nice break room for when you’re on those long call rotations where you don’t do much. Most residents don’t wear scrubs, with most wearing cargo pants with polo shirt or scrub top. R2 wears flight suit. Residents do 2-3 grand rounds/yr (?). Opportunity to be assistant medical director for one of local EMS’s. EMS and Tox fellowships. Heavy emphasis placed on education.

Interview: Hour long morning report by PD, breakfast, 5 30-minute interviews, presentation on Cinci the city, tour, lunch, presentation of program by Chief Resident, montage (gotta have a montage…montage!).

 

[EvoDevo]

I originally posted this in the Unofficial 2009 ROL thread but I'm posting here so that folks down the line can get more hits when they search for various programs.

1. Texas A&M-Scott & White - Loved the facilities, great reputation in Texas and surrounding regions, LOVED the residents and faculty. Feels like home. Brought my wife back for a second look and it was a giant love-fest. Training is extremely good, great location, and extremely family friendly.

2. Duke Univ Med Ctr-NC - I loved the PD (Sarah Stahmer), the faculty, and the residents. I definitely felt as if I could spend three years with these guys. The feel-goodness started at the resident social and continued on. I was also impressed by the group of applicants who were there with me (one of my hidden indicators). Excellent training, though a bit too university hospital biased. Duke name and reputation, facilities, and Raleigh-Durham is gorgeous. Family in the area. Would be excited to end up here.

3. UC San Francisco-CA - One of those programs with that "X-factor" that's hard to describe; yet you know it when you see it. Really liked the PD and Assistant PD. Fantastic facilities, really top-notch faculty, residents were nice and very welcoming. New program and that brings with it problems; however, I've made something of a habit of helping to establish new organizations and I love a challenge. Though SF is hideously expensive, we think that we can make it happen. Plus it's SF! Gorgeous city and TONS to do when we're not working. Family (a well-traveled bunch) would be thrilled too and have already promised to visit all the time if we end up there.

4. University Hosp-Cincinnati-OH - My favorite program by far when considered in and of itself. However, when those "other factors" get thrown in, it was hard to rank them higher. Spent a month there, absolutely LOVED the program. Seriously. This is truly one of those X-factor places and watching their fourth years was insanely impressive. Wish that I could have ranked them higher. But if by some ridiculous longshot we end up there, then I will probably be their most enthusiastic resident EVER.

5. U Texas Med Sch-Houston - solid program in a city that I love, close to family and friends, good research available, extremely familiar with the medical center and area.

6. University of Virginia - Very good program that a friend rotated with, so I know it's dirt to a degree. Gorgeous town, decently close to family. Kind of isolated and would be harder for my wife to find a job since it's primarily a college town.

7. Ohio State Univ Med Ctr-OH - Heard great things about the program, really enjoyed my interview, residents at my med school rave about the city. Would be very happy to end up there.

8. Christiana Care-DE - One of those programs that I wish that I'd been able to rotate with because I hear so many great things. Really clicked with the faculty, kind so-so with the residents. Newark didn't really impress me much as it reminded me of the concrete suburbia that I wouldn't mind leaving behind. Nonetheless, would be happy to match there.

9. U Michigan Hosps-Ann Arbor - Fantastic program, not really thrilled about the amount of snow/winter/winter schmutz we'd have to deal with. Not looking forward to buying a light box and possibly dealing with SAD.

10. U Arkansas-Little Rock - One of the most relaxed and enjoyable interview days I had on the trail. Brand-spanking new ED which is gorgeous and well thought out. A little concerned about the volume and pathology that they see there. Good faculty and the residents seem like people I'd want to be friends with outside of work. Little Rock seems like a very pleasant place to live, and quite affordable.

11. Christus Spohn Mem Hosp-TX - I think that this program is going to be really outstanding in a couple of years. I had a great interview and with the relative lack of other residencies, you get treated like royalty by the hospital - Close, free parking, free food in the Dr.'s Lounge, relatively few low-yield rotations. However, the wife and I weren't too thrilled at the prospect of living in Corpus for three years, and their are still some rough edges to the program. Nonetheless, I believe that you'd come out of this program a very well trained EP.

12. Pitt County Mem Hosp/Brody SOM-NC - Solid program, had a so-so interview day. Location was a bit of a negative for me as Greenville is so small. On the other hand, it is only about forty minutes from family and it's insanely cheap to live in. I've known some folks from the school and they had very good things to say about the program. Would be okay with matching here.

Bottom line is that I didn't interview at a single place that I wouldn't mind training at. I do think that there is a nearly intangible but real difference (for me) between the top-tier and other programs. Having said that though, the one thing that I've learned from this interview season is that the saying "You get a solid education at any of these places because of the RRC," is probably pretty close to the mark.

 

[EvoDevo]

I originally posted this in the Unofficial 2009 ROL thread but I'm posting here so that folks down the line can get more hits when they search for various programs.

1. Texas A&M-Scott & White - Loved the facilities, great reputation in Texas and surrounding regions, LOVED the residents and faculty. Feels like home. Brought my wife back for a second look and it was a giant love-fest. Training is extremely good, great location, and extremely family friendly.

2. Duke Univ Med Ctr-NC - I loved the PD (Sarah Stahmer), the faculty, and the residents. I definitely felt as if I could spend three years with these guys. The feel-goodness started at the resident social and continued on. I was also impressed by the group of applicants who were there with me (one of my hidden indicators). Excellent training, though a bit too university hospital biased. Duke name and reputation, facilities, and Raleigh-Durham is gorgeous. Family in the area. Would be excited to end up here.

3. UC San Francisco-CA - One of those programs with that "X-factor" that's hard to describe; yet you know it when you see it. Really liked the PD and Assistant PD. Fantastic facilities, really top-notch faculty, residents were nice and very welcoming. New program and that brings with it problems; however, I've made something of a habit of helping to establish new organizations and I love a challenge. Though SF is hideously expensive, we think that we can make it happen. Plus it's SF! Gorgeous city and TONS to do when we're not working. Family (a well-traveled bunch) would be thrilled too and have already promised to visit all the time if we end up there.

4. University Hosp-Cincinnati-OH - My favorite program by far when considered in and of itself. However, when those "other factors" get thrown in, it was hard to rank them higher. Spent a month there, absolutely LOVED the program. Seriously. This is truly one of those X-factor places and watching their fourth years was insanely impressive. Wish that I could have ranked them higher. But if by some ridiculous longshot we end up there, then I will probably be their most enthusiastic resident EVER.

5. U Texas Med Sch-Houston - solid program in a city that I love, close to family and friends, good research available, extremely familiar with the medical center and area.

6. University of Virginia - Very good program that a friend rotated with, so I know it's dirt to a degree. Gorgeous town, decently close to family. Kind of isolated and would be harder for my wife to find a job since it's primarily a college town.

7. Ohio State Univ Med Ctr-OH - Heard great things about the program, really enjoyed my interview, residents at my med school rave about the city. Would be very happy to end up there.

8. Christiana Care-DE - One of those programs that I wish that I'd been able to rotate with because I hear so many great things. Really clicked with the faculty, kind so-so with the residents. Newark didn't really impress me much as it reminded me of the concrete suburbia that I wouldn't mind leaving behind. Nonetheless, would be happy to match there.

9. U Michigan Hosps-Ann Arbor - Fantastic program, not really thrilled about the amount of snow/winter/winter schmutz we'd have to deal with. Not looking forward to buying a light box and possibly dealing with SAD.

10. U Arkansas-Little Rock - One of the most relaxed and enjoyable interview days I had on the trail. Brand-spanking new ED which is gorgeous and well thought out. A little concerned about the volume and pathology that they see there. Good faculty and the residents seem like people I'd want to be friends with outside of work. Little Rock seems like a very pleasant place to live, and quite affordable.

11. Christus Spohn Mem Hosp-TX - I think that this program is going to be really outstanding in a couple of years. I had a great interview and with the relative lack of other residencies, you get treated like royalty by the hospital - Close, free parking, free food in the Dr.'s Lounge, relatively few low-yield rotations. However, the wife and I weren't too thrilled at the prospect of living in Corpus for three years, and their are still some rough edges to the program. Nonetheless, I believe that you'd come out of this program a very well trained EP.

12. Pitt County Mem Hosp/Brody SOM-NC - Solid program, had a so-so interview day. Location was a bit of a negative for me as Greenville is so small. On the other hand, it is only about forty minutes from family and it's insanely cheap to live in. I've known some folks from the school and they had very good things to say about the program. Would be okay with matching here.

Bottom line is that I didn't interview at a single place that I wouldn't mind training at. I do think that there is a nearly intangible but real difference (for me) between the top-tier and other programs. Having said that though, the one thing that I've learned from this interview season is that the saying "You get a solid education at any of these places because of the RRC," is probably pretty close to the mark.

 

[EMRocksmyworld]

Would be thrilled at any of my top 5, especially top 3. Kind of wondering if I should have ranked Vanderbilt higher in retrospect. I was extremely impressed by that place (they pretty much have it all!) but just didn't feel like I could legitimately pick Nashville over LA or Boston...oh well, too late now! And I really do love LA, not so sure about the south. Why can't Vanderbilt be in a bigger city?!? Anyway, we will see what happens on Match Day.

1- LAC/USC: +top-notch clinical experience, +tons of procedures, +very hands-on, +autonomy, +work in jail ED, +residents a lot of fun, +EM is top program in hospital, +brand new enormous ED, +/-tons of Spanish speaking patients, +intern year months alternate ED and offservice, -pods isolated (i.e. in one shift, only work in resuscitation area), +ED residents get all ED procedures except thoracotomies, -all 12 hour shifts all 4 years, -attendings are reportedly hit or miss in terms of availability, +love LA (and family in area), -not that many opportunities for research

2- BWH/MGH: +tons of amazing, cutting-edge research (affiliation w/ MIT, so tons of biomedical technology), +supportive environment, +big names in EM, +/-two pretty diverse clinical sites (trauma, more county-style at MGH and lots of cancer/gyn/superspecialized stuff at BWH), +great didactics, +strong reputation, +other top residency programs at the hospitals, -floor months, -Boston is a little oversaturated in terms of hospitals so not your "typical" EM experience, +Boston, -tons of PAs in the EDs, -not nearly as much trauma as my #1 and #3, +spouse prefers Boston

3- Vanderbilt: -NOT a county program but +they get all the trauma in Nashville (lots of penetrating), +outstanding program leadership, +incredible didactics, +residents exceptionally happy, +great reputation, +really really sick patients in busy ED, +no floor months and lots of ICU experience, +/- nearly all at one site (exception- community EM months), +get tons of procedures, +trauma time is ICU only, +/- Nashville (seems like very nice city, good COL and weather, but not as exciting as LA or Boston), +strong and integrated peds EM experience, strong EMS

4- UCLA/Harbor: +getting a nice new ED in 2013ish, +residents live by the beach, +plenty of autonomy but attendings are available and involved, +county experience but big name, +great reputation, +very appreciative patients, -transitioning from 3 to 4 years, +trauma, +LA (lived there before- love it), +changing/improving didactics, -not as intense a clinical experience as USC.

5- Cincinnati: +Love the flight program, +/-pretty intense residency, +great reputation, +faculty are great, +1st/4th year mentorship, -not ideal place to live, +/- nearly all at one site (exception- community EM months), -might kind of suck to get pulled out of your shifts to fly

6- Maryland: +Shock Trauma is incredible (but -separate trauma months), great program leadership, residents happy and friendly, +no floor months, -Baltimore, -Hopkins interaction seems a little odd

7- Indiana: +great county and academic experience, +Methodist and Wishard very close together, +friendly residents, +well-known program, +huge patient volumes at the two hospitals combined, -Indianapolis is kind of blah, -ready to get out of Midwest, -liked Cinci a bit better when comparing Midwestern programs

8- Maricopa: +location (family in area), +autonomy, +residents very nice, +program leadership impressive, -facilities, - offservice rotations, -other residencies in the hospital

9- Carolinas: +great atmosphere, +great reputation, -floor months (medicine and peds, I think), -not as much trauma and medically sick patients as my top choices, -honestly thought Vanderbilt was a stronger program when comparing Southern programs

10- Bellevue: +autonomy, +great reputation, +lots of ICU time, -peds experience, -trauma experience, -cost of living (decided NYC is not for me)


Plus a few others...

 

[Pure Anergy]

Posted anonymously on behalf of a student who interviewed there.

UH-Cincinnati Review

Pre-Interview Social: The pre-interview dinner was at the Rock Bottom Brewery. A ton of residents showed up, and they were all very enthusiastic about the program and fun to hang out with, as were the other applicants. One of the more enjoyable pre-interview dinners I attended.

Interview Day: Cinci pays for interviewees to stay in the Hilton Netherland Plaza (which is downtown) for up to two nights, and they send a shuttle to get you at 6:40 AM, all of which was very nice except for the 6:40 AM part! Once we got to the campus, we walked up to the office together, and there was breakfast and an orientation session with the PD starting at 7:30 AM, followed by presentations about the city and the Air Care program. Then we had interviews, a tour, and lunch with the residents. The PD's presentation was certainly the most unusual and memorable I experienced, and "experienced" is the right word rather than "sat through." Dr. Stettler asked for volunteers to do a nasopharyngeal scope on him, so I volunteered and a few other people did too. He let all three of us try. It was pretty cool, not only because the PD let a bunch of people scope him, but while he was talking, I could see his vocal cords moving!

There were five interviews. Mine were with the PD, assistant PD, a resident, and two other faculty. The interviews were 30 minutes each. All of the faculty interviews were pretty relaxed, but the resident interview was a little intense. Not unfriendly, but just more probing than the usual. I was asked why EM, do I consider myself to be a lifelong learner, what on my app have I not discussed with anyone else yet, similarities and differences between my two EM rotations. Everyone also asked me what questions I had, so make sure you're prepared to ask questions!

Curriculum: Cinci is a four year program. The hospitals are University Hospital (tertiary care referral center as well as the county hospital), Cincinnati Children's, and Jewish (community hospital). They try to schedule shifts in a circadian block, but this can vary depending on resident requests for time off. The number of shifts per month depends on the length. Interns work 11s, which ends up around 21 shifts per calendar month. PGY2s and PGY3s vote to decide whether to work 8s, 12s, or some combination. Most classes choose a combination. There is a dedicated peds EM month during PGY1, and then there are longitudinal peds shifts integrated into the EM months starting midway through intern year. Total EM time is 28 months, including peds EM. There are five ICU months.

The first block is an orientation block for all of the interns that includes ACLS/PALS. There is another orientation day at the end of PGY1 with simulations. The off-service rotations are the usual. Ortho is in the ED with no floor or OR time. OB is done as a PGY2. There is one week of anesthesia and three weeks of US during PGY1. Cinci requires flying on AirCare. They start a buddy flying program in January of PGY1. Residents get a checklist of things they have to learn, and they can do a few extra flights on slow shifts. Usually people do about 6-12 buddy flights. There are two helicopter bases (one at UH and one in Butler county about 40 minutes away). The residents fly from both bases. They have some cool toys like night vision goggles, and the helicopters carry blood in case they need to transfuse someone on scene. By graduation, most people have around 100 flights. There are 6.5 months of electives. One popular choice is to do a paid "elective" consisting of extra flights from the Butler county base during PGY2. (They don't call it moonlighting because PGY2s aren't allowed to moonlight!)

Most of the major EM subspecialties have blocks of their own except tox. I already mentioned peds. There is a three week U/S block during PGY1. There is one month of trauma in PGY2. The PGY2 is the procedure person on trauma and in general. There isn't an actual block for PGY3s and PGY4s, but PGY3s manage the shock and resuscitation unit. EMS is obviously very strong. There are integrated ground shifts as well as flying shifts during the ED months.

Didactics: They have your standard five hours per week of didactics on Wednesday mornings, which include grand rounds, journal club, simulations, and oral boards practice. They are getting new mannequins and intubation towers (one in the ED, one for practice in the sim center). Residents at Cinci have more teaching responsibilities than the norm. Every resident is responsible for several conferences each year. Even PGY1s give a few lectures.

Benefits: Cinci's benefits are pretty good. They have four weeks of vacation scheduled in two week blocks, and they get money for academic purchases as well as free books. There isn't a schedule of assigned readings or weekly quizzes; they let you study on your own. The program funds every resident to go to a national conference twice during residency (once during PGY2 and the other time during either PGY3 or PGY4). If you are presenting, they will fund you for additional conferences.

Administration: The PD makes resident wellness and happiness a major priority. Residents choose faculty mentors, and several of them said they had gone to their mentor's house or otherwise gotten together with them outside of the hospital. There is a resident computer lab. Besides letting several of us try scoping him, the PD has been known to let residents practice procedures on him. The system is also set up so that junior residents are mentored a lot by the senior residents. In particular, PGY1s work very closely with PGY4s in the same pod.

Cincinnati: Basically, it's a smaller Midwestern city. The downtown is surprisingly nice, with a lot of cool little restaurants and shops to visit, and even an outdoor ice skating rink. There are your usual outdoor activities and sports teams available. COL is cheap. As long as you don't mind the cold winters or expect it to be hopping like NYC, it seems like you could find plenty of fun things to do for four years. I wouldn't mind living here at all.

Summary: Cinci's program is the kind of amazing that leaves you speechless. They are strong in most of the major areas of EM, including PEM, US, EMS, trauma. There is also an incredible neurovascular EM program. They have a ton of elective time to develop interests or do mini fellowships. Being able to earn some extra money as a PGY2 by doing additional flying shifts is a pretty nice perk too. It's an academic program with tons of research opportunities and even resident research grants, but you would also leave being well-prepared for community practice. The graduated responsibility setup allows for junior residents to be mentored and senior residents to get experience with managing the ED and teaching/mentoring junior residents. The city is surprisingly nice. Then there's the intangible aura of the place. Sure, they have the history and the resources to throw at you, but the biggest thing they have going for them is how nice and happy everyone is there, from the PD to the PC to the faculty to the residents (even the one who was a little intense at the interview!). You might think a program like this would attract elitists, but I didn't meet anyone like that. I also got a sense that this is a program that really cares about resident welfare and supports residents, and I have already described how cool the PD is. They treat you like an adult in the sense of letting you be responsible for your own learning, but there is still tons of mentoring. It seems like the residents work pretty hard, but there isn't any kind of scut like intern floor months.

As far as the program itself goes, I don't think there are any major negatives or weaknesses. They don't have a required tox rotation, but you can do it as an elective, and they have several grads doing tox fellowships. It seems like everyone who visits Cinci falls in love with it, and the major reasons why people don't rank it #1 are because of its location or because it's four years. I guess it's arguable that since there is so much elective time, the fourth year might not be necessary. Flying is required, so Cinci also won't be a good fit if you don't want to fly.

Overall, this program is one of my favorites and will definitely be high on my list.

 

[lucid_leprechaun]

Rotated here, honestly somewhat biased because I kept being more impressed with the program.
+Great reputation, Designated levels of responsibility (1st years do off service and see patients in BPod, second years manage CPod and take flights/procedures in SRU, 3rds years manage A pod and SRU, 4th years serve as pit boss for B-pod, taking check-out from interns and students), great curriculum, didactics are fantastic (residents and attendings talk intelligently about the literature and cases), flying is a great experience (get to manage pre-hospital patients, do lots of difficult airways/procedures in the field, transfers from other hospitals in the area, no crashes in the program's history, ability to down flights if you feel uncomfortable,) program is expanding the scope of EM (difficult nerve blocks in the neck.) Cincinnati is a great place to live w/ low COL, great breweries, lots of parks to explore, and lots of great neighborhoods. 2nd largest Octoberfest in the world (2nd to Munich.) Longitudinal peds experience.
-The city is not for everyone.

 

[Epinephreus]

Rotated here, honestly somewhat biased because I kept being more impressed with the program.
+Great reputation, Designated levels of responsibility (1st years do off service and see patients in BPod, second years manage CPod and take flights/procedures in SRU, 3rds years manage A pod and SRU, 4th years serve as pit boss for B-pod, taking check-out from interns and students), great curriculum, didactics are fantastic (residents and attendings talk intelligently about the literature and cases), flying is a great experience (get to manage pre-hospital patients, do lots of difficult airways/procedures in the field, transfers from other hospitals in the area, no crashes in the program's history, ability to down flights if you feel uncomfortable,) program is expanding the scope of EM (difficult nerve blocks in the neck.) Cincinnati is a great place to live w/ low COL, great breweries, lost of parks to explore, and lots of happening neighborhoods. 2nd largest Octoberfest in the world (2nd to Munich.)
-No longitudinal Pediatric experience, the city is not for everyone.

I recently interviewed here. They definitely have longitudinal Pediatric experience. 1 month in first year and then every 3-4 shifts on EM blocks years 2-4.

 

[lucid_leprechaun]

I recently interviewed here. They definitely have longitudinal Pediatric experience. 1 month in first year and then every 3-4 shifts on EM blocks years 2-4.

Thanks! Now that you say that I remember, must have been thinking of somewhere else. Edited to fix.

 

[Dr. Will]

Good to see these reviews threads are still in the rotation. Been a while since I've been here. Here's some continuity of care...it's been 5.5 years since I finished residency at UC and I still stick by my choice and love for the place. Good luck to everyone in the match. It's so much better on the other side!

 

[eatsleeprun8096]

Can someone please update this thread focusing on shift hours and # intern year and so forth. Can anyone also comment on ICU rotations as EM resident? Are you a work horse or respected and run ICU along with attending?

 

[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

Legendary program which has produced some of the best docs I’ve had the privilege to work alongside. They work hard and long there however: always have, always will.

Can someone please update this thread focusing on shift hours and # intern year and so forth. Can anyone also comment on ICU rotations as EM resident? Are you a work horse or respected and run ICU along with attending?

 

[Arcan57]

Can someone please update this thread focusing on shift hours and # intern year and so forth. Can anyone also comment on ICU rotations as EM resident? Are you a work horse or respected and run ICU along with attending?

Just to clarify a point, as a resident you should be a work horse in the ICU (exacting attention to detail and laborious plans of care are the water in which the ICU swims) and you shouldn’t be “running” an ICU as a resident. In my opinion, a better question is who does the procedures in the ICU and is your ICU team the primary decision maker on most of the patients or is the ICU team a glorified secretary/babysitter for services that you don’t round with and thus don’t have access to their decision making process?

 

[eatsleeprun8096]

Just to clarify a point, as a resident you should be a work horse in the ICU (exacting attention to detail and laborious plans of care are the water in which the ICU swims) and you shouldn’t be “running” an ICU as a resident. In my opinion, a better question is who does the procedures in the ICU and is your ICU team the primary decision maker on most of the patients or is the ICU team a glorified secretary/babysitter for services that you don’t round with and thus don’t have access to their decision making process?

Great.

Well based on your profile, it looks like you did your residency at Cincinnati. Can you comment on your above questions?

 

[Arcan57]

Great.

Well based on your profile, it looks like you did your residency at Cincinnati. Can you comment on your above questions?

It may have changed in the 10+ yrs since I’ve been out. I hope you find the residency experience you’re looking for.

 

[BenignBeignet]

Recently interviewed here, here's what I thought/found:

Cincinnati: I also loved this program if it wasn’t for the location. 4-year program with shift reduction. First 6 months cannot do any extracurriculars because you’re supposed to get used to being a resident; also Peds becomes integrated at this time. On paper is low volume but residents say it feels like high volume, high acuity. Academic program serving as a county program, so great mix of both county and academic feel. Emphasis on leadership and professional development with a whopping 24 weeks of elective. Lots of autonomy. Daily oral boards style morning report and case by attending physician. Leadership development curriculum (Education versus operations leadership academy) if desired. Scholarly tracks in CCM, Sports med, Social EM, etc. The most robust Air Care program where you are the first responder and do all management for patient with help of flight medic/flight nurses, starting PGY2. Lots of teaching and leadership opportunities. Ortho rotation do most reductions, don’t get as many reductions on normal ED shifts but can advocate for more ortho reductions. Trauma, EM gets all airways, splits running the trauma and procedures with trauma surgery. Decent growing ultrasound division, starting TEE program this year. Reputation and experience can get you into any fellowship and any job. I forget when moonlighting can start but I think it was PGY2 or PGY3.