University of Utah

[skimed]

I know that this forum is getting filled with silly questions like this, but does any one have any comments good or bad about this program? I personally loved it and will be ranking it highly!! Thanks

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[elperro]

Bump, I would really like to know people's take on this program.

 

[AceRockolla]

Bump, I would really like to know people's take on this program.

I attend medical school here in Utah and think very highly of the pediatrics program at the U. After completing my 3rd year clerkship, a sub-i, a subspecialty rotation and now a month in the PICU, I can easily say I would be very happy to train here as a peds resident.

There are several reasons for this:
-The residents are uniformily friendly and happy. I attended noon conference several weeks ago where there was no speaker, so it ended up being a "catch-up" hour amongst the residents. Everyone was laughing, joking, telling stories and having a good time.

-Residents have a great working relationship with Attendings, both of the inpatient and subspecialty variety. Just today I found myself listening in on a nephro attending and resident run through the causes/workup of ATN one-on-one. There are few fellows (I only know of cards, PICU and ID) to be the go-betweens, and this seems very beneficial to learning

-Dr. Bale, the PD, is a great asset to the program and an excellent advocate. He is someone you can feel very comfortable sitting down and just chatting with. From what residents have told me, he is also very receptive to change and resident feedback.

-Primary Children's Hospital is a great stand-alone pediatrics hospital with dedicated nurses and support staff. And the cafeteria isn't too bad either!

-Salt Lake City is a great place to live if you love the outdoors and beautiful surroundings. Sometimes people worry about the predominant culture in Utah affecting their day-to-day lives, but I have never found it to be a problem. In fact, SLC is fairly liberal compared to the rest of the state and many of the physcians/residents/healthcare providers are not LDS. If you are wondering about the winters, they haven't really been that bad the last several years. It gets a little cold and we have 2-3 big snow storms a year, but nothing like the bone-freezing tundra of other locales.

If you have any questions, just PM me and I will answer them. Hope this helps. -Ace

 

[csmith1]

I cannot answer any questions about the program, but my child's pediatrician is in his first year out in the real world. He was a chief at Utah last year and speaks very very highly of the place. Everytime my kid is visiting him, he puts in a plug for Utah. For what it is worth, he is from Oregon, school in California, and practicies in Houston, so it is not like he is a life long resident of Utah or LDS.

 

[UmphreysMcGee]

Can any current residents speak to the strengths the program? I'm really interested in Utah but haven't heard almost anything. Thanks

 

[Rumalum]

i interviewed here, and I liked it a lot. If you are into health systems and cost reduction policies, Utah is probably one of the more innovative hospitals to learn from. Also, their peds hospital is sort of the big game in town, whereas with most other cities, the adult hospitals take precedence. Residents seem happy and fairly type B as you would expect from a place surrounded by the outdoors. I found it awesome that residents don't have to write notes in the ER (they document on paper chart, which the attending dictates from), and their ER takes in patients from all over the mountainous region. Otherwise, everything seemed pretty similar to other big academic centers, and I'm sure you can get a great training. The smog, diluted beer, and mormons (living in a place dominating by religion sounds suffocating) are the only obvious drawbacks that I found.

 

[Stitch]

I interviewed there for a faculty position (and fellowship before that), and I think it's one of the best hospitals I've been in. The atmosphere is not pretentious but they are very academic. I think they are forward thinking in terms of education and management, so whatever you want to do (sub specialty or general peds), you will be well treated, prepared and connected. The catchment area is huge, and there's no competition in terms of other peds hospitals for a long ways away. The hospital itself is beautiful, and being half an hour from the slopes doesn't hurt either.

People worry about Salt Lake City being isolated if you're not Mormon, but in fact, SLC is very diverse and leans pretty liberal, especially with the university. The beer thing (you can only get less than 4% ABV on draft) is slowly changing, and there are even a couple microbreweries popping up.