I am a current resident at this program, and I'd like to share a few things with current med students who may consider this program as a place to train in the future.
I am currently in my second year (CA2) and am still unhappy. I started here thinking it would be a great place to practice, given the prestigious name but what I've learned is far different from what was expected. The attendings are smart, without a doubt, but are very distant and basically require us to call them Dr. X, Y and Z -- even if they just graduated 1-2 years ago. The newer attendings, from my experience, lack confidence and are terrible at making decisions on their own. I've come to learn that they chose academics, some of them, as they were too afraid to go into the private world due to their inability to be independent.
Our coordinators, except for one, are terrible. One actually picks CRNAs over us. He despises working with residents and has a huge personality disorder.
The liason for our class is great. He's a cardiac anesthesiologist who's smart and good to work with. For the class below us, it's a different story. Some attendings are hot-tempered, give us little respect, and treat the nurses more appropriately than they do us.
The rules set by the dept are so outrageously ridiculous that, when I share them with friends at other programs, they laugh! We can't wear undershirts, necklaces, etc. We get yelled at for our earrings regularly. You make one small mistake in the OR, everyone hears about it. Rumors spread like H1N1 at this institution. Morale is low, teaching is poor. Attendings are super, super lazy. Some of them, we as residents believe, are "out to get us and untrustworthy." For instance, over years past, multiple residents have had six months-1 year added for dumb reasons. The current chiefs are lazy and are tough to get a hold of. One was gone for a month this year!
The higher ups are actually reasonable except the pd, who's too young to be in the position he's in. He is too conservative with some of us, and too liberal with others, he clearly has favorites and he's got some thing for blondes, as a lot of us have realized. This place is terrible.
We do preops for the nurses. It's not uncommon to have to come in post call or on a weekend day or your last day of vacation to preop for someone.
I would not recommend this place for anyone. I don't think it's a good hospital either; it's old and poorly maintained. I seriously thought things would have gotten better by now, and the only reason I will finish is that I only have one year to go. If I could rewind time, I would have chosen a different program with fewer egos, fewer people who yell at us and belittle us. Don't get me started on the surgical programs. They are clearly seen as superior compared with the gas docs...nurses will do almost anything for them, but very little for us. I had one nurse in the OR tell me she wasn't there for gas, when I asked for some extra meds from pharm. Silly, I know..
Again, I am venting here clearly. However, I am saying these things as I wish someone would've warned me when I was checking this site 4-5 years ago. I just don't want others to make the same mistake I made. Don't be fooled by the name. Be smart and do an away rotation. See things for yourself.
Good luck.
I am currently in my second year (CA2) and am still unhappy. I started here thinking it would be a great place to practice, given the prestigious name but what I've learned is far different from what was expected. The attendings are smart, without a doubt, but are very distant and basically require us to call them Dr. X, Y and Z -- even if they just graduated 1-2 years ago. The newer attendings, from my experience, lack confidence and are terrible at making decisions on their own. I've come to learn that they chose academics, some of them, as they were too afraid to go into the private world due to their inability to be independent.
Our coordinators, except for one, are terrible. One actually picks CRNAs over us. He despises working with residents and has a huge personality disorder.
The liason for our class is great. He's a cardiac anesthesiologist who's smart and good to work with. For the class below us, it's a different story. Some attendings are hot-tempered, give us little respect, and treat the nurses more appropriately than they do us.
The rules set by the dept are so outrageously ridiculous that, when I share them with friends at other programs, they laugh! We can't wear undershirts, necklaces, etc. We get yelled at for our earrings regularly. You make one small mistake in the OR, everyone hears about it. Rumors spread like H1N1 at this institution. Morale is low, teaching is poor. Attendings are super, super lazy. Some of them, we as residents believe, are "out to get us and untrustworthy." For instance, over years past, multiple residents have had six months-1 year added for dumb reasons. The current chiefs are lazy and are tough to get a hold of. One was gone for a month this year!
The higher ups are actually reasonable except the pd, who's too young to be in the position he's in. He is too conservative with some of us, and too liberal with others, he clearly has favorites and he's got some thing for blondes, as a lot of us have realized. This place is terrible.
We do preops for the nurses. It's not uncommon to have to come in post call or on a weekend day or your last day of vacation to preop for someone.
I would not recommend this place for anyone. I don't think it's a good hospital either; it's old and poorly maintained. I seriously thought things would have gotten better by now, and the only reason I will finish is that I only have one year to go. If I could rewind time, I would have chosen a different program with fewer egos, fewer people who yell at us and belittle us. Don't get me started on the surgical programs. They are clearly seen as superior compared with the gas docs...nurses will do almost anything for them, but very little for us. I had one nurse in the OR tell me she wasn't there for gas, when I asked for some extra meds from pharm. Silly, I know..
Again, I am venting here clearly. However, I am saying these things as I wish someone would've warned me when I was checking this site 4-5 years ago. I just don't want others to make the same mistake I made. Don't be fooled by the name. Be smart and do an away rotation. See things for yourself.
Good luck.
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