University of Kentucky Residency Reviews

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Frogmed

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Has anyone heard anything about this program? I'm heading there for an interview next week. I'm wondering about shifts, pay, benefits, personalities.

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Has anyone heard anything about this program? I'm heading there for an interview next week. I'm wondering about shifts, pay, benefits, personalities.

I interviewed there, and was really impressed. 8 hour shifts with hard handoffs at the end of the shift. A great & friendly group of residents/attendings as well as an outstanding PD.

The lexington area is beautiful - rivaling only the PNW in terms of geographic beauty - in the places I've been.

Just got a really good vibe from the place and its one of my top choices

Hope that helps - good luck next week.
 
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Hey guys, the above reviews are quite outdated. If a current resident/applicant who interviewed this season could shed some light on the program & their experience/thoughts, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks:)
 
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I wanted to write a review of this program because I used SDN a lot during interview season and I think UK's EM program is a place that should be on everyone's radar. I matched here this year and I could not be more thrilled to be here. There are a few things that I think make this program unique and I hope I've highlighted them below, but feel free to PM me with any questions.

Residents: 10 per class. Word is that we will be increasing to 12 due to rapidly increasing # ED visits (not sure if/when this will take place). Residents are an awesome, cohesive group of people. As with most EM folk everyone is laid back and enjoys having fun. We all take advantage of what Lexington has to offer together. There is a good mix of married and single. Everyone is very social outside of work but inside the ED we work hard. In my experience the upper level residents have been very helpful and supportive of the new interns. Overall it’s a very warm environment and the residents here become family fast.

Faculty: The faculty here are top notch and much of the reason why I wanted to come here. Our program director is Dr. Doty. He was previously the PD at Suny Downstate and was an integral part in creating their EM/IM program there. Dr. Doty believes in constant improvement and innovation within our program. On interview day he will give you his spiel – I was buying what he was selling! He’s got a great vision for the program and cares deeply about resident well being and education. He fosters a community that is supportive while always pushing each resident to be better. I can’t speak highly enough of him as our PD. The chair of the department, Dr. Humphries, is awesome as well. He will always go to bat for the program and the residents and is a super nice guy. Other notable faculty include ultrasound guru Matt Dawson and and med-ed powerhouse Rob Rogers. Though big names are always great for a program, what makes the faculty here so great is that every single one of them is passionate about our education and teaching. On top of that they’re a great bunch of people that are easy to talk to and work with. There is definitely a sense that we are all colleagues rather than a teacher/student type feel.

Facilities: Our home is University of Kentucky’s Chandler ER. The tower that the ED is in was finished in July 2010, so it’s all super new. All the rooms have everything you could need, there’s more than enough room / supplies / resources etc. The nurses are awesome, they’re smart and efficient and we end up hanging out with a lot of them outside of work. Not sure how many rooms exactly, room numbers go up to 75 but with the hall beds and new ED OBS unit that is mostly used for just more ED rooms you’re looking at 100+ almost always full beds. The Pediatric ER is connected to the main ED and is about 20 beds I believe. One of the few things I knew I wanted in a program was great pediatric exposure and you will get that here.

Curriculum: As far as rotations our program is very EM rotation heavy compared to many I interviewed at. Intern year we spend 6 months rotating on EM, as well as a month of Ortho and a month of Ultrasound which are also in the ED. Other rotations include your standard ICU, Trauma, OB/GYN. Full curriculum can be found here. On EM, we do 8-10 hour shifts with hard handoffs. Interns work 22 shifts/month, PGY2 work 20, PGY3 18. As far as didactics we have a very robust conference schedule. As I’ve mentioned our faculty is passionate about resident education and are always looking for new and exciting ways to teach. Our conference isn’t just 5 hours straight of powerpoint lectures – it’s full of active learning through conversation, simulations, procedures labs, and other hands on activities. My attention span is almost nonexistent and I can honestly say that I’ve really enjoyed our conferences – it’s hard not to be enthusiastic about learning EM when you’re surrounded by people who are so passionate about it.

Patient population: Here at UK we get all the standard ER patients but we are unique in part of our patient population. We have a huge catchment area that includes all of Eastern Kentucky. Think: rural Appalachia. Most of these people don’t live within a few hours of a hospital so when they come in they are SICK. We are the only adult and pediatric level 1 trauma center on this side of the state. Because of this we are never lacking in sick patients, trauma, procedures, etc. You will work- HARD! I think when I interviewed the ED had about 67,000 visits per year. I have heard that this year we are projected to hit around 80k and maybe up to 90. This is a ridiculously steep increase in numbers for just 1 ED.

City: Lexington is awesome. It’s a great combination of all the conveniences of a city without all the hassle. There is a young and vibrant population of people mixed in with a lot of “old money”. It’s a great place to live if you’re single or married. There are things going on all the time and the residents in our program love to take advantage of them. There’s the horse parks, the bourbon, tons of microbreweries, great food, live music and festivals, etc. If you’re into outdoor stuff the Red River George is less than an hour away, and Lexington has a ton of great biking and parks. And of course if you’re into college basketball, apparently that’s a thing here.

Overall: This is a great program that will make you into a well rounded EM physician with the ability to work in any environment. The sentiment on the interview trail last year is that this program is going places fast and now that I’m here I can see that that is an understatement. If you’re looking for a place with high volume and acuity of a community hospital combined with a faculty that is passionate about academics and resident well-being then look no further.
 
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Long time lurker, posting on alternate account in order to remain anonymous. These threads greatly helped me and as such I am paying it forward. Good luck for future medical students. I won't go into the curriculum details or specifics since those are mostly readily available on their websites, but rather I made a long pro/con detail list along my interview trail and I will highlight my thoughts from that list.

Pro: beautiful hospital, relaxed interview, cheap city, fun city to live in surprisingly, family friendly, good benefits, fun residents, supportive staff, felt like brand new facilities, comfortable living, nice pediatric section,

Con: strictly location, only 1-2 hospitals, felt isolated geographically, hard for spouse to get job in city

Overall impressions
Gut feeling:6/10
Facilities/resources: 8/10
Location: 5/10
Didactics: can't comment
Prestige: 5/10
Research: 5/10
Shift/hours/wellness: 9/10
 
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