Program Comparison

[jjohnsonanick]

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Just looking for some thoughts on programs for which I am deciding on their ranks................ here are my personal takes so far:

St. Louis Childrens: Great place, awesome PD. Ridiculous amount of research going on. Don't know much about St. Louis

Mayo: Extremely nice PD, love the clinic itself. Not a big name player in peds, still have huge research opportunities. Have to live in Rochester.

U of Minnesota: Again, very nice PD, kind of chaotic with 5 different hospitals (not including other clinics) that you will go to. Residents seemed to be hedging on their feelings about the program when asked. Beautiful city.

U of Chicago: Beautiful new hospital, less call than other places. Chicago is an awesome place. Cool residents.

U of Michigan: Again, nice place and nice PD. Hospital all computerized including prog notes, vitals. Each intern gets a laptop.

Med Coll of Wisc: Great chairman, signs a copy of Nelson's for you. Nice hospital, nice area. Milwaukee not the most exciting city.......

Yale: Great PD, New Haven again not the most exciting place. At least its a college town. Great month of pre-NICU training so you aren't lost when you get in there.



I would sincerely appreciate any thoughts from anybody on these or other programs. The other thread on programs seems to have died, so why not start a new one. Would really love any thoughts especially on St. Louis Children's, Yale, Mayo and U Chicago.

Thanks!

 

[gvmatt]

here is my take on a few of these.

St. Louis Childrens: i was actually very surprised by my day there. i did not expect to like it at all. had heard that was extremely malignant. i even was honest wtih the pd about it. i interviewed with the pd and the old pd (now the asst). basically the pd said the old pd was a big source of the malignancy. he is still around but has changed a lot. my concerns about the program are how busy they are. one intern told me she had admitted 17 pts in one night the week before. and she carried all 17 - they were not divided up amongst the team. she said that didn't happen oftern - avg was 10. and most were for common things. however when i thought about this it still made me nervous. i like to think about each pt -and i am not someone that needs to see an asthma exas. 15 times a day to get it. but everyone did seem very happy there.

Mayo: i agree about the pd and staff being amazing. i did a second look there and spend the day with the nicu team. what i was most impressed with is the quality of education. they are definitely not as busy as slc - but everyone felt they saw enough of the regulars and zebras to be able to do well in primary care or subspecialty. the name will get you wherever you want - even though they are not specifically known for peds. the residents were all very nice and remembered me from my interview day. they all get along - and having only 10 per year they all actually knew each other. as far as rochester goes -it has one of everything - but not necessarily the best of what you are looking for. minneapolis/st paul is 1.5 hrs away and definitely has everything that you would want. as one of the residents put it "even when i lived in a big east coast city, i still only went to see a theater/opera event a couple of times a year - and i still do that here". so if you actually take advantage of a big city very routinely then rochester may be a shock otherwise it won't be too bad.

U of Minnesota: i did a visiting elective there a month ago. everyone agrees that the pd there is by far one of the best out there. there is also a new chair of peds and he seems to have some very big changes in mind, and has already implamented some of them. he had a meeting with the residents right after he got there and had them tell him what was wrong with the program. and some things were changed immediately and others within a month or two. so things are definitely looking up there. the faculty i worked with were very very good. i didn't get a lot of on the side teaching - but went to numerous lectures and talks. i only interacted with a few residents, but they were all very nice and definitely looked out for each other. there are definitely spread out, but no one ever said that was a bad thing. they actually all ended up liking it in the end -because when they were tired of one place they got to move on to something different. everyone said that the teaching at united and minneapolis childrens was great. they had to make an effort to see their peers because it was unlikely they would be in the same hospital more than 1-2 months a year.

hope that answers some of your questions about those three. i am trying not to be biased either, but if you want to know anything else just ask.