USC program and away rotation

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Saradoc

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Any opinions on either this residency program (reputation, work environment/hours) or the visiting student/away rotations there? thanks!
 

obpgy1

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Any opinions on either this residency program (reputation, work environment/hours) or the visiting student/away rotations there? thanks!

Decent program that's reputation is based on its past glory. Used to be one of the busiest hospitals in the Untied States in terms of deliveries but because of how medical/medicaid changed, the deliveries plummeted.

Program is chaired by a GYN Oncologist-Dr. Muderspach. She also serves as the program director. Average to below average gyn oncologist according to people I know.

Program was, maybe still is, on probation and had some accreditation issues. I think the program had some major problems a few years ago and is starting to recover. At the interview, Muderspach was very non specific when addressing the issue and did not go into more detail even when asked point blank. Kind of fishy and didn't instill confidence in applicants.

Decent sized academic program with fellowship options- Onc, MFM, Rei?, and I think Urogyn. ~8 residents per year. They seemed okay in terms of personality. Nothing to out of the norm in terms of being overly miserable.

County hospital that is brand new, maybe a few years old and it does look nice. OB/GYN facilities are generally pretty new/nice. Residents do rotate to at least one other hospital in order to get more deliveries. The main county hospital doesn't have the OB volume necessary so residents have to get these numbers elsewhere which is more inconvenient for residents.

The program is a little behind the ball in terms of technology. They were barely starting to use the Da Vinci in cases. This can be good or bad depending on your outlook. I know in benign GYN cases it is debatable but you'd figure the oncologists would be using it. Regardless, they are probably trying to actively fix that issue.

Overall, a decent academic program. Used to have a much better reputation (think UTSW like). UCLA is definitely the stronger program. And UCI is solid as well, especially ONC with one of the gurus of GYN oncology being there.
 
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SaraMac13

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As a resident at USC I wanted to clarify a few things. We are currently off of probation, and have been for a few years now. It is true that the OB numbers at the main County hospital are down, but we more than make up the numbers at Hollywood Pres, and it also lets us work with and see how different practices are run. As for the overall OB experience, I think that it is definitely quality and not quantity. Sure, you can manage and deliver 7-10 normal deliveries on your call and get the numbers, but there are not many places where you will have to manage/deliver a severe diabetic on an insulin drip, a patient with HIV on AZT, a severe preeclamptic with Hep C, and deliver a baby with anencephaly all in one call (yeah, this was a few days ago for me). PM me with any questions.

PS. It's not very professional/classy to give opinions about the quality of attendings, especially ones you don't even know or have worked with.
 

Saradoc

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thanks to both of you!
 

obpgy1

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As a resident at USC I wanted to clarify a few things. We are currently off of probation, and have been for a few years now. It is true that the OB numbers at the main County hospital are down, but we more than make up the numbers at Hollywood Pres, and it also lets us work with and see how different practices are run. As for the overall OB experience, I think that it is definitely quality and not quantity. Sure, you can manage and deliver 7-10 normal deliveries on your call and get the numbers, but there are not many places where you will have to manage/deliver a severe diabetic on an insulin drip, a patient with HIV on AZT, a severe preeclamptic with Hep C, and deliver a baby with anencephaly all in one call (yeah, this was a few days ago for me). PM me with any questions.

PS. It's not very professional/classy to give opinions about the quality of attendings, especially ones you don't even know or have worked with.

I trust the opinion of the attendings I have worked with. And I have met with the attending in question. Just giving my opinion and what I have heard.

I think a potential applicant should know how their Chairperson/PD is perceived by the academic community. It may not be fair but it's the truth that this may affect their ability to do fellowship etc in the future.
 

daisyduke

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I trust the opinion of the attendings I have worked with. And I have met with the attending in question. Just giving my opinion and what I have heard.

I think a potential applicant should know how their Chairperson/PD is perceived by the academic community. It may not be fair but it's the truth that this may affect their ability to do fellowship etc in the future.

Everyone is allowed to express their opinions; but it is better kept to private conversations with people you know. You may feel anonymous on this forum, but the OBGYN world is a suprisingly small one and sometimes our comments and posts are not as anonymous as we think.

I don't care what your opinion is of anyone, but with the increasing use of social networking sites and online forums these days, be careful what you post and what may or may not come back to haunt you in the future! You never know who else is reading this stuff and who may recognize something about your post to identify you!
 
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