What do you wish you would have asked on residency interviews?

[DOtobe]

I know it's a little early in the season to be asking this question, but I was wondering if there are any questions that you didn't ask during your residency interviews than you wish you would have. The reason I ask is that I remember when I was on medical school interviews, I always had a hard time thinking of things to ask while I was there, but then would think of things later. I think I will prepare a list ahead of time this time. I don't want to forget any important things that I should know.

And if it makes any difference, I'm applying for residency in family practice.

Thanks!

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[Kilgorian]

Ask the residents if the are "happy." Then, ask them why/why not. Dont' lead them.

 

[banner]

Don't forget the more subtle cues...

If everyone looks hagard and has filthy white coats, that's a bad sign. Even if they say they are happy, nonverbal things often reveal the truth.

 

[Kilgorian]

I also think it's helpful to ask the same few questions (in addition to program/situation releveant ones) everywhere you interview so you can compare them later. It may help to rank programs.

 

[Bobblehead]

Some random things..

Work:
Who does blood draws, blood cultures, etc? How many days in a call cycle are you actually admitting a new-to-you patient? When do you have to be in clinic? Is there a resident working with you directly or are they merely available if you run into problems?

Time off:
Do you actually get a day off per week? Golden weekends? How much actual vacation time do you get? For time off when you should be available for coverage do you have any clinical responsibilities or do you just need to available by pager?

Life:
Where do you live? Can you afford to live in this city on a resident's salary without a lot of compromises? Do I need a car? Do you get any benefits for being affiliated with the medical center's university?

Financial:
How about salary and PGY year increases? What kind of medical/dental benefits and how much do you pay? Do you get disability/life insurance and how much is it? Who pays the malpractice and does it have tail coverage? Do you get a 401k/403b and do they match? Do they pay for on-call meals and how much? Parking included? Are you considered a university or hospital employee and does the distinction matter? Is moonlighting allowed and who pays the malpractice insurance for it?

Future:
How do I go about finding a job after residency? Do they provide help trying to sort through the contracts and offers?

 

[fireflyrxn]

Some random things..

Work:
Who does blood draws, blood cultures, etc? How many days in a call cycle are you actually admitting a new-to-you patient? When do you have to be in clinic? Is there a resident working with you directly or are they merely available if you run into problems?

Time off:
Do you actually get a day off per week? Golden weekends? How much actual vacation time do you get? For time off when you should be available for coverage do you have any clinical responsibilities or do you just need to available by pager?

Life:
Where do you live? Can you afford to live in this city on a resident's salary without a lot of compromises? Do I need a car? Do you get any benefits for being affiliated with the medical center's university?

Financial:
How about salary and PGY year increases? What kind of medical/dental benefits and how much do you pay? Do you get disability/life insurance and how much is it? Who pays the malpractice and does it have tail coverage? Do you get a 401k/403b and do they match? Do they pay for on-call meals and how much? Parking included? Are you considered a university or hospital employee and does the distinction matter? Is moonlighting allowed and who pays the malpractice insurance for it?

Future:
How do I go about finding a job after residency? Do they provide help trying to sort through the contracts and offers?

that is an excellent post.
thank you!
i will surely use it

 

[DoctorG]

Bobblehead, thanks for that excellent post!!!

 

[DOtobe]

Thanks guys! You are great!

I'd forgotten that I posted this, but thanks for the help. I have two interviews scheduled for October, so I will be sure to keep these things in mind!

 

[Winged Scapula]

All of the above are great suggestions. You might also wish to inquire about the rotations for FP. Some programs do not include Obstetrics and if you shoudl wish to have training in this field (whether or not you choose to/or are allowed to/can afford to pay the malpractice to deliver babies in your practice), see if your residency includes this rotation.

 

[dry dre]

Something that hasn't been addressed in this thread: ask about the strength of the emergency department.

If the emergency department is staffed by non-EM PGY-1s with little oversight, expect to spend a lot of time evaluating patients in the ED that you really didn't need to be consulted for. This can add up in 4-7 years of residency. Lots of missed sleep.

 

[The White Coat Investor]

The secret to successful interviewing (and by that I mean figuring out where you want to go, not impressing whoever it is that makes the program's rank list) is to carefully figure out what you care about, and come up with a handful of questions that will illustrate to you whether the "program of the day" matches that description or not. For example, I'm in EM and I wanted to go to strong program where the residents work hard and play hard and where I would get a good pediatrics and ultrasound experience. To determine how "strong" the program was, I asked the residents where else they interviewed, what other programs they liked etc. If they mentioned all programs that I wasn't even considering....that was a bad sign. Whereas if their rank list looked something like I thought mine would look like that was a good sign. With regards to ultrasound, I asked things like, "How many ultrasounds did YOU do this month?" and "Is there an endovaginal ultrasound probe in the ED?" You can't ask vague questions like "How's the ultrasound program" and expect specific, useful answers. You want to know about procedures, ask to see someone's procedure log. You want to know about call, ask them to tell you how many calls they had last month, what time they left on average, and how many patients they admitted. Now you can't do this for 10-20 things at every interview, there isn't time and everyone will think you're weird, but you can do it for the 3-5 things you really care about. Don't waste your valuable questions asking stuff you can learn on the website; ask about what you really care about. How many people in the program like to mountain bike etc. How much do you pay in rent? How many people own a home etc?

 

[dr.smurf]

ask alot of different people the same questions and get a feel or a consensus for whats up. different people will tell you different things so take a poll essentially.

 

[KidDr]

This is a good thread to resurrect now, given that the question was just asked again and people are starting to interviews this month.

What has already been said is very good advise. I would echo that the more specific questions you can ask, the better. Asking, "Are people happy here?" may tell you a little, but asking specific questions that get at the things that would make YOU happy in a program is going to be much more helpful.

For starters, you might want to ask a general question like "How many people have left the program in the past couple years before finishing, and why?" because that's a good thing to know. But then I would get more specific. For me, the things I wish I would have asked about include (and each person's list is going to be different):

1. How many hours a week do you ACTUALLY work on specific rotations? What time do you generally leave the hospital at the end of the day (because there's a big difference between 3 and 9...)?
2. How many of your rotations violate the 80 hr work week (or the 30 hr shift length)?
3. Do you make it to noon conference regularly?
4. Does the program make a decent effort to take people's scheduling requests into account when making call schedules (or are people left on their own to find coverage when they're the maid of honor in their best friend's wedding....things like that)?
5. How much time do you spend with patients compared to filling out paperwork, calling consults, making appointments, looking for charts, tracking down results, calling the lab....and so on (this one is big...)
6. (If your program has a regular continuity clinic experience) What is the preceptor:resident ratio in your clinic? Do you feel like there's enough preceptors so residents (and their patients) aren't waiting forever to present their patients?
7. (This one probably applies mostly to IM and peds) How many rotations are spent working mostly with subspeciality patients whose care is dictated by the subspeciality team and then carried out by you (making you little more than a glorified secretary)?
8. (Also mostly applies to IM/Peds/FP) How many of your ambulatory months also have night/weekend cross-coverage responsibilities, and does this extra coverage take away from the ambulatory experience?
9. A related question....How much of your elective time is truly call-free and how much has night/weekend cross-coverage responsibilities?
10. Where do people live, and how do they get to the hospitals? If people want to buy a house/condo are they able to?
11. Give me an example of how the program has responded to resident feedback in the past few months.
12. For those with spouses/partners/children: Does your family feel like you spend enough time with them?
13. The last time you were sick, did you feel like you could get coverage, or were you hesitant to use sick call until you were nearly dead (and if so, why)?
And finally....14. How much does the program provide for the little things? (providing enough $$ for meals on call, providing parking for free or at a reasonable cost, providing scrubs, etc)

Most of these questions are best asked of residents, but you have to find residents who are going to be really honest with you (and preferable more than one, because people are going to give you varying answers). Most program directors are going to present the best pictures possible of their program. Some rare programs will lay out the limitations of their program, too. With a few exceptions, they're not the ones you should be asking the majority of your questions to. You already have access to (and have probably already read) all the information they will give you on interview day. Residents are the ones who have a lot of the info that you really need to make a decision. Trying to do a rotation at your favorite places isn't a bad way to get this info, either.

Your goal on the interview trail shouldn't be to find the perfect program, because there aren't any. Every program has it's limitations. Your goal should be to figure out what those limitations are for each program, and then decide which ones you can live with. Residency is a huge commitment of your time, whether it's for a 3 year FP residency or 7+ years for surgery, and you need to know what you're getting into. Know what's important to you before you get into the interviews.

In the end, a lot of programs will probably start sounding the same, and I'll tell you--apart from location, what's going to set them apart are the little things, and believe me, these things will matter more to you a year than you may realize right now. At least that's how it was for me. Your "gut" feeling about a program should guide you, too. You'll likely be able to pick up on how happy people are at a program without asking them.

Good luck to everyone!