UTSW Family Medicine

[balletdoc1]

Why you should seriously consider UT Southwestern Family Medicine:
Yes, I’m a little biased…I’m one of the chief residents this year! But I have to say, I really love this program. If I could turn back time and do it all over again, I would still come here. The residency clinic is joined with Parkland Hospital, the region’s enormous county hospital which serves a largely uninsured and immigrant population. Learning also takes place at UTSW’s two academic hospitals as well as numerous community/private clinics and hospitals (not to mention a half-dozen community partners like homeless and DV shelters). This variety provides the quintessential learning environment for trainees: truly sick patients with very diverse backgrounds and rare pathology, along with plenty of nuts-and-bolts inpatient and clinic cases. You see how access-to-care and insurance affects morbidity. You can try out different practice settings, each with its pros and cons, before applying for your first job. To ice the cake, we just added a new inpatient service, so we do inpatient at Parkland and UTSW St. Paul Hospital…and both are building brand new hospitals as we speak!
Our faculty knows how wide the scope of family medicine is, so they encourage each of us to find our clinical focus and use our research projects and (4+) months of elective time to hone the skills WE need to become the physicians WE want to be. Since I’ve been here, residents have gone on to sports medicine fellowships, geriatric fellowships, hospitalist positions, faculty positions, urgent care, locums positions, community group practices… some even started their own outpatient practices from scratch. We are highly sought after in the Texas job market, and beyond. I am signed off on almost all my inpatient procedures (paras, LPs, arthrocenteses, central lines) and outpatient procedures (biopsies, IUDs, EMBs, cryotherapy, lacs, joint injections). Still need a few more thoras though. Opportunity and supervision is definitely not a problem!
Yes, we are expected to see up to 10 patients a half-day in clinic as 3rd years, but that’s the real world we have to practice in. On my job hunt, most places expect physicians to see 20-25 patients a day. Our graduates say they are very comfortable with time management. Additionally, ACGME requires residents have 1650 clinic visits to graduate, but that is rarely a problem for our graduates. And plenty of pediatrics/newborns too (inpatient, outpatient, ped ER, and nursery). If you are thinking about urgent care or EM, Parkland is one of the busiest ERs in the country with a prestigious EM program and outstanding EM faculty. You can do the minimum 2 months, but they are more than happy when our residents choose ER electives (one current resident is doing 6 total months of ER).
We are represented at several national FM conferences each year with resident posters and oral presentations (STFM, TAFP, NAPCRG). We have robust clinical research support both within the residency and other programs (Sports Medicine, geriatrics, endocrinology to name a few). Most residents do more than the bare minimum to meet the research requirement- the program actually makes research accessible, efficient, and even fun!
I will admit to some weaknesses…the OB program needs work, but it is NOT because of lack of deliveries! What has worked well for years is that we work with midwifes doing low-risk deliveries, so we don’t have to deal with the often-malignant and very over-worked OB residency. The midwives love to teach and you are never shadowing! We just hired 2 new OB faculty to make prenatal visits and fam med OB a routine part of our residency, not just a required rotation.
Our feeder medical school, UTSW, is notorious for breeding specialists, but more and more each year are choosing primary care and our program in particular. We have started creating strong ties with the Family Medicine Interest Group on campus to spread the good word of family medicine.
I am very satisfied with my training, and am glad I chose a program that allowed me to also balance work with family life, so I’m not burned out before I even start my first real job.

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[Psai]

cool story bro i'm not going into family though

 

[DermViser]

Why you should seriously consider UT Southwestern Family Medicine:
Yes, I’m a little biased…I’m one of the chief residents this year! But I have to say, I really love this program. If I could turn back time and do it all over again, I would still come here. The residency clinic is joined with Parkland Hospital, the region’s enormous county hospital which serves a largely uninsured and immigrant population. Learning also takes place at UTSW’s two academic hospitals as well as numerous community/private clinics and hospitals (not to mention a half-dozen community partners like homeless and DV shelters). This variety provides the quintessential learning environment for trainees: truly sick patients with very diverse backgrounds and rare pathology, along with plenty of nuts-and-bolts inpatient and clinic cases. You see how access-to-care and insurance affects morbidity. You can try out different practice settings, each with its pros and cons, before applying for your first job. To ice the cake, we just added a new inpatient service, so we do inpatient at Parkland and UTSW St. Paul Hospital…and both are building brand new hospitals as we speak!
Our faculty knows how wide the scope of family medicine is, so they encourage each of us to find our clinical focus and use our research projects and (4+) months of elective time to hone the skills WE need to become the physicians WE want to be. Since I’ve been here, residents have gone on to sports medicine fellowships, geriatric fellowships, hospitalist positions, faculty positions, urgent care, locums positions, community group practices… some even started their own outpatient practices from scratch. We are highly sought after in the Texas job market, and beyond. I am signed off on almost all my inpatient procedures (paras, LPs, arthrocenteses, central lines) and outpatient procedures (biopsies, IUDs, EMBs, cryotherapy, lacs, joint injections). Still need a few more thoras though. Opportunity and supervision is definitely not a problem!
Yes, we are expected to see up to 10 patients a half-day in clinic as 3rd years, but that’s the real world we have to practice in. On my job hunt, most places expect physicians to see 20-25 patients a day. Our graduates say they are very comfortable with time management. Additionally, ACGME requires residents have 1650 clinic visits to graduate, but that is rarely a problem for our graduates. And plenty of pediatrics/newborns too (inpatient, outpatient, ped ER, and nursery). If you are thinking about urgent care or EM, Parkland is one of the busiest ERs in the country with a prestigious EM program and outstanding EM faculty. You can do the minimum 2 months, but they are more than happy when our residents choose ER electives (one current resident is doing 6 total months of ER).
We are represented at several national FM conferences each year with resident posters and oral presentations (STFM, TAFP, NAPCRG). We have robust clinical research support both within the residency and other programs (Sports Medicine, geriatrics, endocrinology to name a few). Most residents do more than the bare minimum to meet the research requirement- the program actually makes research accessible, efficient, and even fun!
I will admit to some weaknesses…the OB program needs work, but it is NOT because of lack of deliveries! What has worked well for years is that we work with midwifes doing low-risk deliveries, so we don’t have to deal with the often-malignant and very over-worked OB residency. The midwives love to teach and you are never shadowing! We just hired 2 new OB faculty to make prenatal visits and fam med OB a routine part of our residency, not just a required rotation.
Our feeder medical school, UTSW, is notorious for breeding specialists, but more and more each year are choosing primary care and our program in particular. We have started creating strong ties with the Family Medicine Interest Group on campus to spread the good word of family medicine.
I am very satisfied with my training, and am glad I chose a program that allowed me to also balance work with family life, so I’m not burned out before I even start my first real job.

It's funny that you should say more and more of UTSW's students are choosing your FM program, yet if you look at past years' match list:

• http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/newsroom/center-times/year-2014/march/match-day-specialty.html, out of 16 people who matched into Family Medicine, only 1 matched into FM at UTSW.
• http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/newsroom/center-times/year-2013/march/match-day-specialty.html (1 out of 7 matched into FM at UTSW)
• http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/newsroom/center-times/year-2012/may/match-day-discipline.html (1 out of 12 matched into FM at UTSW)

So it's definitely not due to a lack of your medical school "breeding specialists" as there are many graduates going into Family Med. In fact, most of your residents in your program are D.O.s, IMG/Carribean medical school graduates: http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/educa...ucation-training/residency-program/index.html, so it doesn't even seem to be popular even with students at your home institution.

Also you might want to check this out: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/texas-programs.1065410/ as people in the Family Medicine thread are telling people NOT to go to UTSW's Family Med program with such compliments like "Do yourself a favor and stay away from UTSouthwestern Family Medicine", " They have a reputation of picking a resident from each class and trying to fire them or get them to quit. To my understanding, they have been known to put interns on probation", malignant attendings, and residents being used as workhorses. Any rebuttal?

I get it though. You're a chief resident of the Family Med program at UTSW this year, and thus have to sell your program to AMG applicants (what better way than the Allopathic thread of SDN, right?), most likely at the bidding of your Program Director. Well done.

 

[balletdoc1]

Of course I saw that thread out there, which is one reason I wanted to give a fresh perspective, especially since the people making those comments admitted to not being actual program residents, but just knew someone with a bad experience. Of course I can not comment about years before I entered the program, and I am not privy to all the correctional actions taken on residents, but malignant is definitely not a word I would use to describe any of our attendings. Some have high expectations, as they should, and encourage you push yourself and improve. And that's exactly what they are supposed to do. If a resident has a track record of being late, making poor medical decisions, or not making appropriate benchmarks, then they will get a little unwanted extra attention to make sure they graduate as a professional, prepared physician. Its easy to feel like you are being singled out unfairly when you are that person on probation. I highly doubt the faculty get together and say, "now which intern are we going to pick on and make an example of this year?" Again, I don't know details from years passed, so can not comment further.

Residents as workhorses? Well, that's kinda the point. Who else should be doing the work? That person may have been commenting on how many patients we are expected to see (up to 10 in a half day), when the attendings don't see that many in their private clinics. Sometimes all 10 show up, but more often than not there are no-shows , and we have to get our numbers to graduate. What's so bad about working hard in clinic? It's like we do 12 months of inpatient.

Of course I want to sell my program... I am proud to be training here and want everyone to know how awesome I think it is. I know malignant programs exist, surprisingly even in family medicine, but right now we are far from that as you can get.

 

[DermViser]

Of course I saw that thread out there, which is one reason I wanted to give a fresh perspective, especially since the people making those comments admitted to not being actual program residents, but just knew someone with a bad experience. Of course I can not comment about years before I entered the program, and I am not privy to all the correctional actions taken on residents, but malignant is definitely not a word I would use to describe any of our attendings. Some have high expectations, as they should, and encourage you push yourself and improve. And that's exactly what they are supposed to do. If a resident has a track record of being late, making poor medical decisions, or not making appropriate benchmarks, then they will get a little unwanted extra attention to make sure they graduate as a professional, prepared physician. Its easy to feel like you are being singled out unfairly when you are that person on probation. I highly doubt the faculty get together and say, "now which intern are we going to pick on and make an example of this year?" Again, I don't know details from years passed, so can not comment further.

Residents as workhorses? Well, that's kinda the point. Who else should be doing the work? That person may have been commenting on how many patients we are expected to see (up to 10 in a half day), when the attendings don't see that many in their private clinics. Sometimes all 10 show up, but more often than not there are no-shows , and we have to get our numbers to graduate. What's so bad about working hard in clinic? It's like we do 12 months of inpatient.

Of course I want to sell my program... I am proud to be training here and want everyone to know how awesome I think it is. I know malignant programs exist, surprisingly even in family medicine, but right now we are far from that as you can get.

I'm sure you'll have no problem recruiting based on your statements above (bolded). Apparently, though, things are worse than you portray it to be. From the thread (see below)

Legitimate question -- Yes, UTSW is VERY academic .... and that's part of the problem --- it is also sounds very malignant and cliquish -- if one of the attendings decides they don't like you, no matter what you do, you cannot redeem yourself. They have a reputation of picking a resident from each class and trying to fire them or get them to quit. To my understanding, they have been known to put interns on probation (reportable to the state medical board, thus affecting your license) for lacking clinical judgement -- hello, earth to UTSW -- interns by definition lack clinical judgement and that's what they're here to learn.

They've only recently hired 1 attending qualified to do inpatient procedures -- prior to that, they either watched NEJM videos and muddled their way through them or asked the IM residency to have their people come do the inpatient procedures. They put their residents with the midwives, med students, EMT students on the OB delivery deck where the FM residents are regularly treated with less respect than the UTSW med students in terms of getting deliveries. The other programs that need deliveries (EM, etc.) are over with the OB/Gyn residents/attendings getting their deliveries. The ICU experience is done in PGY2 and the residents are treated as PGY1's during that experience.

The major problem to my understanding is that the attendings seem to always look for the negative in a resident and rarely, if ever, are encouraging...supposedly there are a few that are nicer to work with but in general a residents shortcoming are magnified out of proportion...the PGY3 residents are asked to see 10 patients per half day at a county hospital (i.e. high acuity/complexity) and comments are made in the evals of whether or not they could keep up with their schedule....but yet supposedly the attendings are only required to see 4 - 5 (7 was the most) and regularly comment on how busy they are in clinic.

Asking for help/asking questions regarding patient care is really not a good idea --- rather than be used as an opportunity for education, it is used as a negative on reviews in terms of lacking clinical knowledge.

Hope that answers your question....again, this is second hand info from a colleague who is going through it right now....

Since that post was written in May 2014, I doubt it's become that much dated in 3 months.

 

[balletdoc1]

Of course, I appreciate your input DermViser. And thanks for posting the match lists.

I am an optimist and choose to interpret those results a little differently. In 2014, more UTSW med school graduates went into Fam Med in 2014 (16 compared to 7 and 12 the years before) and 2 (not one) matched into UTSW Fam Med, which is more than the past 2 years.

And our website is currently being updated to include our new intern class. Check it out soon 🙂

And I'll take your advice and post on the non-allopathic forums as well. We have some stellar DOs and FMG/Caribbean students that I am proud to have in our program!

 

[PL198]

I mean I doubt anyone is ever going to directly identify as a resident there while talking about it's faults. That's why you're only going to hear the "my friend is in the program" type stuff. Certainly sounds awful to me.

 

[DermViser]

I am an optimist and choose to interpret those results a little differently. In 2014, more UTSW med school graduates went into Fam Med in 2014 (16 compared to 7 and 12 the years before) and 2 (not one) matched into UTSW Fam Med, which is more than the past 2 years.

Except the problem in that logic is that UTSW, which I believe is an public med school, thus most of their students are in-state residents and likely wish to stay in-state, and even then, they choose not to stay at their home institution for Family Medicine, when they could have easily matched there. If it's so great for training why don't they stay?

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

Bottom line: when someone with no posting history comes on to brag about the wonders of their program, it never goes well.

 

[balletdoc1]

Wow, this place is brutal. A lot of unhappy folks out there with plenty of time to complain. I'll just continue to be satisfied with my education and training and wish everyone the same. 🙂

 

[PL198]

Wow, this place is brutal. A lot of unhappy folks out there with plenty of time to complain. I'll just continue to be satisfied with my education and training and wish everyone the same. 🙂

lol i mean by nature, you joined a website just to promote your residency. so obviously we're going to take everything you say with a grain of salt. it would be different if you were an established figure that had just decided to comment on it because you thought there were some misconceptions or whatever. not to mention if you're a chief resident and trying to promote your program, I'm not sure why wouldn't identify yourself as that would give you much more credibility and probably make people more likely to listen to what you have to say, but that's just my opinion.

 

[balletdoc1]

That's for the explanation PL. I was trying to be transparent about my intentions, I have nothing to hide. I dont expect everyone to share my opinions...which is why these forums exist.

 

[ketosisevangelist]

UTSW invented medicine. Am I right?

Why did they lose Vinay Kumar to UChicago?

 

[KnuxNole]

To be fair, the workhorse comments can be concerning to prospective 4th years, since nobody wants to be in a program where the residents are driven to the ground without adequate learning, or being treated as warm bodies instead of resident physicians with decent benefits. There's a big difference between working hard and being a slave. Whether those fears are true or not is a whole different story, but if I read stuff about how residents are "working to death!", I'd be saddened.

 

[Danbo1957]

Good grief, it's FM at Southwestern, not slavery. Every residency at UTSW is tough...

 

[Wilf]

Stay away from residencies with large percentage IMG/DO.

 

[Wilf]

Residents as workhorses? Well, that's kinda the point. Who else should be doing the work?

Wow that's a ******ed statement even for studentdoctor! The point of residency is to learn and not to be cheap labor.

 

[DermViser]

Good grief, it's FM at Southwestern, not slavery. Every residency at UTSW is tough...

So then why do FM, if they will work you like a mule like an IM residency, when you could just do IM there? At least there are better FM residencies out there and UTSW students are doing so.

 

[DermViser]

UTSW invented medicine. Am I right?

Why did they lose Vinay Kumar to UChicago?

Bc he was tired of gunner UTSW students quibbling about letter grades to him so he went to a "true" P/F school.

 

[Danbo1957]

So then why do FM, if they will work you like a mule like an IM residency, when you could just do IM there? At least there are better FM residencies out there and UTSW students are doing so.

First, IM residency at Southwestern is massive, world class, super competitive, and around half instate acceptance. Secondly, I don't care about FM residencies anywhere. I just laugh at the whining at how hard any residency could possibly be nowadays: "work you like a mule"... "Swing low sweet chariot, Coming for to carry me home..." PUUULEASE! Cojone-up Derm.

By the way, there's a new chair coming to UTSW Family Medicine, maybe the program will benefit from the change in leadership.

 

[DermViser]

First, IM residency at Southwestern is massive, world class, super competitive, and around half instate acceptance (you can keep your D.O.s and Caribe's). Secondly, I don't care about FM residencies anywhere. I just laugh at the whining at how hard any residency could possibly be nowadays: "work you like a mule"... "Swing low sweet chariot, Coming for to carry me home..." PUUULEASE! Cojone-up Derm.

By the way, there's a new chair coming to UTSW Family Medicine, maybe the program will benefit from the change in leadership.

🙄

 

[Danbo1957]

Derm, I was an IM-PD for ten years. Son, come on.

 

[DermViser]

Derm, I was an IM-PD for ten years. Son, come on.

I'm pretty sure Baylor College of Medicine attracts the same tier of candidates to its IM program.

 

[ketosisevangelist]

Apply at Presbyterian long before you apply to UTSW.

 

[Danbo1957]

I'm pretty sure Baylor College of Medicine attracts the same tier of candidates to its IM program.

Yep, but different in that UTSW internal medicine is not as "Gentlemanly" as it is at Baylor College of Medicine (Ole' School versus Old Money). 🙂

 

[DermViser]

Yep, but different in that UTSW internal medicine is not as "Gentlemanly" as it is at Baylor College of Medicine (Ole' School versus Old Money). 🙂

So why would someone go to a place that's malignant and you're worked as mule vs. a place that is "Gentlemanly" where you get about the same fellowship options give or take.

 

[ketosisevangelist]

So why would someone go to a place that's malignant and you're worked as mule vs. a place that is "Gentlemanly" where you get about the same fellowship options give or take.

Because UTSW needs residents to teach their medical students. The distinguished professors just sit in rooms and beg the NIH FOR GRANTS ALLLL DAY.

 

[Danbo1957]

Truthfully, I don't think that UTSW cares all that much about Family Medicine, as many of the big medical schools don't-- not big on rural medicine either. If you look at the FM residency rosters, the medical schools don't impress, but most of them are Texas natives. Both Baylor College of Medicine and Baylor-Dallas have longer-established FM programs than UTSW. (I've visited the free-standing Baylor College of Medicine FM clinic, which specifically serves a large indigent population.)

Like the choice of any residency, there's a fit for some and not for others. Also, the fact that both Baylor-Dallas and Baylor College of Medicine are private and Southwestern is public seems to attract certain types of leadership, physicians, and researchers which leads to a differing of work cultures between them. I really expect a new era at UTSW when their new University Hospital and the new Parkland Hospital open next year-- a big part of why residents have to work so hard there now is because of brutally antiquated facilities. (Also, Baylor College of Medicine will finally get their own hospital in three years, which will solidify their financial future.)

 

[DermViser]

Truthfully, I don't think that UTSW cares all that much about Family Medicine, as many of the big medical schools don't-- not big on rural medicine either. If you look at the FM residency rosters, the medical schools don't impress, but most of them are Texas natives. Both Baylor College of Medicine and Baylor-Dallas have longer-established FM programs than UTSW. (I've visited the free-standing Baylor College of Medicine FM clinic, which specifically serves a large indigent population.)

Like the choice of any residency, there's a fit for some and not for others. Also, the fact that both Baylor-Dallas and Baylor College of Medicine are private and Southwestern is public seems to attract certain types of leadership, physicians, and researchers which leads to a differing of work cultures between them. I really expect a new era at UTSW when their new University Hospital and the new Parkland Hospital open next year-- a big part of why residents have to work so hard there now is because of brutally antiquated facilities. (Also, Baylor College of Medicine will finally get their own hospital in three years, which will solidify their financial future.)

So UTSW's "brutally antiquated facilities" are why their IM residents work so hard? I didn't know architecture of the building had something to do with an H&P.

 

[Danbo1957]

They are they spending $2.2 billion on two new hospitals. Half of the "brutality" is in those old buildings, especially for surgery-- I've worked there, down right medieval. Anyway, as we've noted there have been recent changes at three of the top six major clinical departments at UTSW, both in the chairs and the directors of the residency programs: IM, Surgery, and FM. Croft, (your "muleskinner") is gone as IM-PD; finally got married too. Rege and Valentine are gone from surgery, Halle-freakin-lujah! New chair of surgery at Baylor-Dallas and a new young chair of surgery at Baylor-Houston. Now, if can just get that twenty years-in-the-chair of surgery at UT-Houston to go...

 

[DermViser]

They are they spending $2.2 billion on two new hospitals. Half of the "brutality" is in those old buildings, especially for surgery-- I've worked there, down right medieval. Anyway, as we've noted there have been recent changes at three of the top six major clinical departments at UTSW, both in the chairs and the directors of the residency programs: IM, Surgery, and FM. Croft, (your "muleskinner") is gone as IM-PD; finally got married too. Rege and Valentine are gone from surgery, Halle-freakin-lujah! New chair of surgery at Baylor-Dallas and a new young chair of surgery at Baylor-Houston. Now, if can just get that twenty years-in-the-chair of surgery at UT-Houston to go...

She's still there apparently - just not as a Program Director. I wonder why. Also a PD can't control faculty. 2 new hospitals, or renovating the old ones?

 

[sliceofbread136]

As a medical student who rotated through this residency, I just would like to advise people to stay away. The malignancy is very real

 

[cyanide12345678]

Malignancy in family medicine? Give me a break lol. IM isn't malignant either. But the residents do work a fair amount and the IM attendings are probably some of the nicest out there. Surgery ofcourse is another story at UTSW 🙂 Definitely malignant lol.

 

[sliceofbread136]

Malignancy in family medicine? Give me a break lol. IM isn't malignant either. But the residents do work a fair amount and the IM attendings are probably some of the nicest out there. Surgery ofcourse is another story at UTSW 🙂 Definitely malignant lol.

Have you been through UTSW family med specifically? They have even Ob/gyn and surgery beat. It seems everyone was constantly bad mouthing each other. We had TWO med students just up and leave the clinic because the resident was being that rude. I have never seen this on any rotation before. There is a reason none of our students end up going to this program.

IM was amazing by the way. One of my favorite rotations.

 

[psychMDhopefully]

lol maybe thats why they pay residents so well in a low COL area.

 

[Danbo1957]

Some of y'all seem to throw out the word malignant so often, without specifics as to "why", that it loses its definition to those of us know what a real malignant program is. UTSW IM and GS residencies are what Johns Hopkins IM and GS residencies use to be: hard, difficult, and great. If you can't hang, there's the door. FM has never been a priority at UTSW-- hopefully that will change, as many of today's medical students see the specialty as easier and more lifestyle friendly than others. 🙄

 

[TheLesPaul]

Some of y'all seem to throw out the word malignant so often, without specifics as to "why", that it loses its definition to those of us know what a real malignant program is. UTSW IM and GS residencies are what Johns Hopkins IM and GS residencies use to be: hard, difficult, and great. If you can't hang, there's the door. FM has never been a priority at UTSW-- hopefully that will change, as many of today's medical students see the specialty as easier and more lifestyle friendly than others. 🙄

Seriously. Malignant should mean an environment where negative reinforcement is the norm, expectations are unclear or are constantly changing, there is no camaraderie, or there is a poor support system (from ancillary staff, etc.). Malignant does not mean anything re: working a lot of hours or being expected to take care of a lot of patients by yourself.

 

[sliceofbread136]

Some of y'all seem to throw out the word malignant so often, without specifics as to "why", that it loses its definition to those of us know what a real malignant program is. UTSW IM and GS residencies are what Johns Hopkins IM and GS residencies use to be: hard, difficult, and great. If you can't hang, there's the door. FM has never been a priority at UTSW-- hopefully that will change, as many of today's medical students see the specialty as easier and more lifestyle friendly than others. 🙄

Don't think you actually read my post. The hours actually aren't bad (8-5 with a lunch break=easy mode), it is an incredibly negative environment with some very rude people (not everyone, but quite a few). I did not mention IM or GS being malignant, I actually enjoyed them.

Even if FM is not a priority I think our program is a disgrace, especially being connected to such a large and well known institution.

 

[Danbo1957]

Even if FM is not a priority I think our program is a disgrace, especially being connected to such a large and well known institution.

I agree.

There have been talks at the highest administrative levels (UT System) over the last two years or so concerning the Family and Community Medicine program at UTSW. Overcoming the status quo, or stagnation, of any residency program takes some time-- but all programs have to have a clear objective of what the program should offer and have the talent and resources to implement such. There seems to be an initiative to better the program given the realization that FM doctors, specifically trained, are needed in the state.

Hopefully, there will be a greater emphasis on attracting Texas graduated MDs who can excel in the academically charged environment that is UTSW, so that the program is promoted from within, and is valued by other departments. In my opinion, a "next first step", is to get a Texas trained physician from within UTSW as the next Chair (Tamara McGregor, maybe?) Pakistani trained Shakil has been Interim Chair for four years.

For those of you in the program: make your voice known, and loud, in your department meetings concerning what you want for the future.

 

[sliceofbread136]

I agree.

There have been talks at the highest administrative levels (UT System) over the last two years or so concerning the Family and Community Medicine program at UTSW. Overcoming the status quo, or stagnation, of any residency program takes some time-- but all programs have to have a clear objective of what the program should offer and have the talent and resources to implement such. There seems to be an initiative to better the program given the realization that FM doctors, specifically trained, are needed in the state.

Hopefully, there will be a greater emphasis on attracting Texas graduated MDs who can excel in the academically charged environment that is UTSW, so that the program is promoted from within, and is valued by other departments. In my opinion, a "next first step", is to get a Texas trained physician from within UTSW as the next Chair (Tamara McGregor, maybe?) Pakistani trained Shakil has been Interim Chair for four years.

For those of you in the program: make your voice known, and loud, in your department meetings concerning what you want for the future.

Mcgregor is really great, I think that would be a good start!

 

[cyanide12345678]

lol maybe thats why they pay residents so well in a low COL area.

That's a general UTSW thing. The EM resident salary during my interview tour was one of the highest at UTSW compared to any other program. The EM program is anything but malignant there. The residents are some of the coolest with some of the best faculty. Lots of UTSW students stay in EM, and the 58k compares well with the 54k of Houston and Baylor, and 51k of San antonio.