What's up with UTSouthwestern?

[Mike59]

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When browsing the scutwork.com site, I looked at the match outcome from last year. What struck me is that UTSouthwestern (which is a program I plan on applying to for FP) had 9 spots and filled only 1 of them!

Can anyone who's done a rotation there please let me know the pros/cons of their program? I was surprised that such a popular name and top notch facilities like Southwestern could have such a poor match outcome.

 

[hans19]

Can anyone who's done a rotation there please let me know the pros/cons of their program? I was surprised that such a popular name and top notch facilities like Southwestern could have such a poor match outcome.

UTSW is an Internal medicine dominated program-- they take 50 residents per year! General Surgery is also dominant at that institution. OB/Gyn is also very strong there.

As a result alot of the other residencies are overshadowed.

For instance IM runs its own emergency room, Surgery/Trauma runs its own ER, OB/Gyn runs its own, as does Psych and Peds. As a result, EM residents rotate through everyone else's ER. It works the same way for the wards. You can carry the same analogy to FP residents.

If you want a strong FP residency, you want to go to an institution where the majority of the hospital is run by FP staff. JPS in Fort Worth and McClellan County in Waco (Affiliated with UTSW) come to mind in Texas.

As far as names and facilities go, Harvard might have one, but in the same vein, I don't think their FP program is considered one of the top in the country.

Just my 2 c's
Best of luck

 

[mfrederi]

If you want a great FP program in the DFW area, look to JPS. Just as IM and GS run UTSW, FP runs JPS. The FP docs I have worked with that did their residencies were some of the sharpest I have seen in my limited experience and they are ready for whatever comes their way (they run the ER at JPS, which is a big county hospital that gets its fair share of knife and gun club / MVC) Plus, fort worth is ALOT better than living in Dallas. You could find some very nice places to live w/in 10-15 min of JPS, whereas in Dallas nothing is 10-15 minutes away from anywhere because of the traffic.

 

[PACtoDOC]

If you want a great FP program in the DFW area, look to JPS. Just as IM and GS run UTSW, FP runs JPS. The FP docs I have worked with that did their residencies were some of the sharpest I have seen in my limited experience and they are ready for whatever comes their way (they run the ER at JPS, which is a big county hospital that gets its fair share of knife and gun club / MVC) Plus, fort worth is ALOT better than living in Dallas. You could find some very nice places to live w/in 10-15 min of JPS, whereas in Dallas nothing is 10-15 minutes away from anywhere because of the traffic.

Don't get me wrong, there is a lot to learn at JPS. The problem is, JPS is not the real world. Were the US a socialized medicine country, then training at JPS would prepare you for it well. JPS is dirty, old, and the patient population is way skewed toward indigent. Infectious disease is everywhere, and you have to really be on your toes so as not to expose yourself to something quite easily. The hours are worse than most IM programs. The 80 hour work week helps but it too gets pushed to the limit for nearly the entire first 2 years. 3rd year is a bit better it seems. It is true, that FP residents run the hospital, but most of the crazy things they learn there will never translate into things they do in real life. How many FP's routinely put in central lines, manage inpatient ICU patients, or go to the OR? JPS to me is weak in routine outpatient clinic. Yesy you can learn these things on your own later, but its simply something to think about. One plus is that the residents are great. They are all like brother and sister because they are truly in the trenches together!! I am going into FP, and if my dream residency never comes along in the search process, JPS will be my backup.