What makes a "quality" residency program?

[DrChandy]

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I'm curious...

 

[southerndoc]

I'm curious...

One that you think fits you best and provides adequate training and ample procedures.

 

[thierryh]

Check out Lee Shockley's take on the DG website...
www.denverem.org
It's under the heading "what to look for". One man's opinion but it may provide you with some of the answers you're looking for.
When it comes down to it though it depends on what kind of environment you thrive in. As much as people say that the RRC makes all programs, to a degree, equal, this is far from the truth. Not that one program is better than another. Rather, different residencies can be quite different environments in which to train. Fast pace, slow pace. Learn by reading, learn by doing. Trauma, medicine. County, private. Supervised, autonomous.

You need to figure out what YOU THINK will work best for you (cuz there's no way to truly know) and talk to people, do some research, try and figure out where you might fit.

 

[Hard24Get]

Awesome read, but it gives you a Denver bias by the end of it 😍

Check out Lee Shockley's take on the DG website...
www.denverem.org
It's under the heading "what to look for". One man's opinion but it may provide you with some of the answers you're looking for.
When it comes down to it though it depends on what kind of environment you thrive in. As much as people say that the RRC makes all programs, to a degree, equal, this is far from the truth. Not that one program is better than another. Rather, different residencies can be quite different environments in which to train. Fast pace, slow pace. Learn by reading, learn by doing. Trauma, medicine. County, private. Supervised, autonomous.

You need to figure out what YOU THINK will work best for you (cuz there's no way to truly know) and talk to people, do some research, try and figure out where you might fit.

 

[JackBauERfan]

I'm curious...

I thought this would be obvious...the one with the most ladies!

 

[EctopicFetus]

Nah the one with me in it!!

 

[Stratus2675]

I thought this would be obvious...the one with the most ladies!

Its about quality....not quantity, so its the one with the HOTTEST ladies!!!

 

[JackBauERfan]

Its about quality....not quantity, so its the one with the HOTTEST ladies!!!

thats true, I mis-worded that haha. The MOST ladies might not be the best...

 

[docflanny]

As others have mentioned, the RRC does a good job at trying to level the playing field for EM residencies; so consider the extras:

1) Location- biggest factor for most
2) Reputation- best answer likely to come from a current program director; I would caution listening to the anyone who's not been through the residency or at least interview process themselves
3) Facility- new/old; well-stocked; adequate patient exam room sizes
4) Volume- very important in my opinion; you don't want to be at a program where you're always waiting for your next chart; better to be over challenged than under challenged
5) Patient diversity- inner city; socioeconomic; racial; ethnic; any other languages used commonly
6) Extras- for some this is a huge selling point; an ability to do international electives; amount of vacation time; 8-12 hour shifts (personally, couldn't imagine enjoying working more than a 10 hour shift (we do 8s that usually end up 9 hours); Ultrasound- adequate didactics, sufficient machines? Flight Med Program- a small group of residency programs offer this, but can be quite fun some that come to mind in the midwest (Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, University of MI, Indiana, Peoria, St. Vincent's in OH, Cincinatti) (Medical College of Georgia)
7) Responsiveness- when problems arise how quickly does the residency work to bring about change


Hope some of these ideas help you in making your decisions.

 

[8744]

Free food.

That's it.

 

[Apollyon]

Free food.

That's it.

You set the bar pretty low. We pushed for better free food (and got it).

 

[8744]

You set the bar pretty low. We pushed for better free food (and got it).

You mean you get more than the $6.60 per day on-call meal allowance? We get $2000 per year on our card which we can use at any time and since this only has to hold us for roughly half the year (as food is free at our other site) you can eat pretty well if you want to.

And we don't have to wait until 5:30 PM like we had to do at Duke.

Like I said, it's a trivial thing but it is nice not having to pay for food. A couple of diet cherry cokes here, a bagel there, some sushi on the side and you can end up dropping a lot of money at Duke.

It beats brown-bagging it.

 

[Apollyon]

You mean you get more than the $6.60 per day on-call meal allowance? We get $2000 per year on our card which we can use at any time and since this only has to hold us for roughly half the year (as food is free at our other site) you can eat pretty well if you want to.

And we don't have to wait until 5:30 PM like we had to do at Duke.

Like I said, it's a trivial thing but it is nice not having to pay for food. A couple of diet cherry cokes here, a bagel there, some sushi on the side and you can end up dropping a lot of money at Duke.

It beats brown-bagging it.

Oh, no, we got the same $6.60 - it was journal club and conference food.

I hear where you're coming from. As I always said, "if Duke was a person, he would be the guy that is rich because he doesn't tip" (not to be confused with Mr. Duke who endowed the hospital).

That $6.60/day came out to about $2400/year, if you used it every day (which I mostly did, and nothing ever came of it).

 

[arrowsmith2]

Its about quality....not quantity, so its the one with the HOTTEST ladies!!!

Sometimes, especially if the charter or previous class is lacking in that arena, that becomes the ONLY thing that matters.
http://www.usfemresidency.com/2007.htm

We didn't too shabby that year, huh?