Westchester Medical Center (Maria Fareri Children's Hosp)

[StringBean]

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Just wondering what you guys have heard about this program... all the good & bad. Also, if you interviewed there, what did you think?

Anything would be helpful. It's always good to hear others inpressions of certain programs.

Thanks! & good luck!

Bean

 

[drv]

Hi
I interviewed there.
I liked:
facility( hospital is amazing)
faculty(picu and nicu ppl)
residents as a group
benefits and perks

I was not impressed:
PD
morning report
cost of living
financial trouble

you can pm me if you want

good luck

 

[scrubs06]

hey, im a 3rd year currently doing my peds clerkship at mfch, so i can answer a little bit about the hospital, but not much about the residency, specifically.

as far as i can tell, the residents really love the program. compared to other clerkships that ive done, the residents seem really happy and well-adjusted, if you know what i mean. the hospital is gorgeous and theres a lot of room just for residents (huge on-call rooms, resident lounge, several large conference rooms). the faculty is very knowledgable and approachable, and i havent seen any examples of residents being talked down to or belittled. morning report does leave some room for improvement, ive heard, but students arent invited, so no first-hand experience there.

as for money, the residency is relatively high paying, but like drv mentioned the cost of living in westchester is higher than in other areas, though of course not as high as in the city. westchester medical center has had some financial difficulties recently, but the hospital just received a large amount of money from the state, and things seem to be getting back on track, for now anyway. also, the childrens hospital is so well privately funded that while wmcs financial problems would affect ancillary care, clinics, etc, i dont think they would make a huge impact on the pediatric residency as a whole.

what else are you looking for? if i dont know, ill ask one of my residents...

 

[rollin4thyear]

Thanks for the feedback, scrubs. I also had concerns about the "financial troubles". Besides on these forums, physicians at other programs have told me a little about those problems with WEstchester and I wondered how serious they are? Or, are these physicians just hyping up the problems so I consider thier program highly? Once I went back for second looks at my top 4 programs, I felt that some of the programs were trying to tell me weaknesses about the other programs I was considering, so I would go to thier program.

I just got the best "gut feeling" about WEstchester when I went, so I'm leaning toward that one for number one. Can you comment on the clinics if you worked in them as a medical student? Are they spacious? Do they have interpreter phones in each room? Charts..are they paper or electronic? Also, overall, did you feel the variety of patients (both diagnosis and ethnic background) was diverse enough? How was the volume of patients...the PD made a good comment that the hospital seems empty and quiet because it is well designed and spacious? I tended to agree and couldn't really get a good feel about the number of patients residents were taking care of.

any response would be appreciated!

 

[drenthu]

hey rollin4thyear
during my interview i too got the same empty feel and was worried about the no of patients. wud definitely appreciate anybody else's response.

meanwhile did u interview at schneiders ... i got a very good feel although a large program but the residents are exposed to a lot of pathology.
wut do u say about it and other new york programs that u have interviewed.
thanks

 

[M007]

I am a 4th year at NYMC applying to peds and did my 3rd and 4th yr peds rotations at MFCH so i'll try to give some answers.

About the clinic- It isn't nice and pretty like the hospital, that's probably why it isn't on the tour, and you have to walk outside to get there. It isn't bad, the charts are all paper though and there are a lot of residents there at a time with usually 1 or 2 attendings. The patient population is diverse and there are lots of Spanish-only speakers. I never saw anyone use one of the translator phones but there's probably one available somewhere. Usually there is someone around that speaks Spanish who translates instead.

About the hospital seaming empty- I think the PD is right about this being a reflection of the nice layout of the hospital. It was designed with lots of open space and the rooms are all private and lots of families keep the doors to their rooms closed so maybe it just seemed like there weren't a lot of kids around. but trust me there are. there is no lack of patients, we were always busy and a room usually doesn't remain empty for long after a kid is discharged. ED is also consistently busy.

Cost of living- it isn't the cheapest place to live but the location is great being so close to the city, and i really don't think it's that bad, but maybe i just got used to it.

One other thing people haven't mentioned and I think is kinda glossed over during the interview day there, they do send you to Our Lady of Mercy in the Bronx, i think for a couple months each year but i'm not sure exactly. There is an option to go there as students too. That is def a slow service for inpatient peds and most of the exposure there is through the ED. But you don't spend a whole lot of time there. I think some residents like it too as a sort of break from Westchester.

Overall, I think it's a great program and the residents are very happy there.

Hope that helps.

 

[Stitch]

I graduated from NYMC in 05 and am now in pediatrics elsewhere mainly because I wanted to move to Virginia.

The other two NYMC students pretty much sum up my feelings on the program. The faculty and facilities are great, the clinic is less nice. As for volume, Westchester really does get a great volume as they're the only referral center until you hit Albany. The new hospital (it opened up in the middle of my 4th year) spaces everything out because they built it with the intention of expanding, only to find out that they couldn't add any more actual beds.

Westchester Medical Center was in some financial trouble when I left, mainly due to mismanagement which was being addressed at higher administration levels, but I doubt that the children's hospital will be much affected. Plus, residents are pretty well paid, especially after first year.

In all if you had a very good feeling about the program, I'd recommend it, as you'll receive excellent training.