A Note on the University of Minnesota

So, while I was back up in Minneapolis for my interview at Hennepin County, I headed back over to the University of Minnesota to get a tour (since I missed it last time I was up there). I was very pleased with the tour, and found out that in fact the resident take about q5 call, which better than I thought! :) I was also able to snap a photo, seen above.

I also went to TwinsFest, saw Rambo, and sucked it up in bowling, but those are not to be discussed here... :)

Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 25, 2008

The city: I pretty much already stressed how much I love the city of Minneapolis, and visiting again just reinforced this. This time I stayed with my cousins, which was an adventure, and I also went to TwinsFest 2008, another adventure. :) HCMC is literally, right across the street from the Metrodome, which is kind of fun.

The program: So the Hennepin County program is pretty solid at training general surgeons. Even the specialty surgeons at HCMC do general surgery, and part of that is because they only have 20 faculty. The program also has the option of a surgical critical care fellowship between the third and fourth year (this is shared with the University). HCMC gets about 60% of the trauma in the twin cities, and is well known within Minnesota. However, I'm not sure HCMC is known outside of the state of Minnesota.

The residents: The HCMC program takes 4 residents per year, and they are really happy. About half go on to fellowships and half go into practice. During the research year, some residents go other places, since HCMC is not as academic as some programs. There is also one intern that went to OSU for medical school.

Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, January 24, 2008

The city: So, the city of East Lansing is about 4 hours from Columbus, and has an interesting mix of state capital and BigTen college campus feel. A little like Columbus, but not as big. It seems like there are some things to do, and the city is really affordable to live in.

The program: So, the MSU program rotates through two hospitals. The first one is in East Lansing (Sparrow--I forgot to take a picture of it, but you can imagine what it looks like--a tall building that says "Sparrow" on it). The other is McLaren, which is in Flint. Unfortunately, Flint is an hour away, and the residents have to commute for the rotations that they have there (which is about half the time). They don't get housing in Flint, although they do get reimbursed $300 a month for gas. Also, one of my interviewers happened to tell me that MSU's program has a "proposed probation." The residents insisted that "all those issues have been resolved," but it's still up in the air that if I matched there in July, the program could be on probation.

The residents: All the residents seemed like pretty cool midwest folks, and I enjoyed them very much. There is one resident that swore a lot, and (I'm not sure if it's because of this), but another resident kept looking at me and telling me that, "if you're really PC, then this might not be the place for you." Weird.

From East lansing I drover over to Detroit and flew to Minneapolis.

Loyola University, Maywood, Illinois, January 16, 2008

The city: Loyola is actually a little west of the city of Chicago, in Maywood, Illinois. I was also informed that Maywood has the #1 homicide rate in the country (thus the Level I Trauma Center). Obviously there is a ton of stuff to do in Chicago, and most of the residents either live downtown ($$) or in Oak Park.

The program: The Loyola program functions out of their main hospital, a VA hospital, and their private hospital Resurrection. The hospital itself is under a lot of construction (thus the picture), and they are adding 68 new private rooms and some new ORs for a total of 27. Loyola does quite a bit of trauma (for aforementioned reasons), and has a total of 160 ICU beds (including NICU and PICU), so they do a lot of critical care as well. However, they don't do much pediatric surgery (just obtained their first ped surgeon), nor do they do much laparoscopy. There is a two-year research period between the second and third year of residency, and two residents per year have to "go out" to do research so two others can "come back in."

The residents: There are 6 residents at Loyola, and they all seemed to love living in Chicago. They were all very friendly and good at answering questions, and seemed like nice, midwest folks.

Four more interviews--stay tuned! :)

University of Texas-Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, January 11, 2008

The city: So, UTMB is in Galveston, Texas, which is an island about 1 hour south of Houston. It's pretty much in the middle of the ocean (heh, the definition of an island), and most of the attendings live either just on the mainland or on the bay (which is actually really neat--like you look out their back door, and there's the ocean!). As far as things to do, it's a pretty touristy town, with lots of souvenir shops, etc. Many people come there before departing on a cruise ship. There's not that much to do on the actual island, so people usually head up to Houston. But there is a beach, and I spent about an hour one day walking around on it, and got those first three pictures.

The program: The program at UTMB seems pretty solid. They get a surprisingly high number of patients, because anything outside the circle of Houston comes to UTMB, in addition to the corrections department from the entire state of Texas. They also have the Shriner's Children's Hospital for Burns (fourth picture, above), which apparently is really famous, and the adult burns center has the highest survival rate for burn patients with 90% BSA.

The residents: The five categorical residents at UTMB seem pretty happy. They also seem to have somewhat of a life (similar to all surgery residents, really). About 70% live on the island and 30% live on the mainland.

Disclaimer: I'm writing this almost a week after my visit and without my notes in front of me, so I'm trying to remember as much as I can!

Penn State University, Hershey, Pennsylvania, January 5, 2008

Ok, ok, I didn't get any pictures of the medical center. I guess I was focused on Chocolate World instead....

The program: So the Penn State program has two years of mandatory research, and they are expanding the options, so you can get your masters or PhD or do outcomes research or whatever. All the attendings were pretty cool, and most of them went to Penn State and have come back to work there. The residents do a good variety of rotations, and the hospital is usually over 100% capacity, meaning there are a ton of cases. The Penn State University Milton S. Hershey Medical Center was started with a $50 million Hershey trust. Mr. and Mrs. Hershey have also done a lot of good things in the community, including start an orphanage (Hershey himself was an orphan), and a k-12 school for orphans and other children with family issues.

The residents: There are four residents per year in this program, with quite a mix of ethnicities. They kept saying how well they all support each other and get along. About a third are single, a third married, and a third married with children. They were very friendly, although there were a few that I thought were lacking personality.

The city: The city of Hershey consistently has one of three odors: chocolate, peanuts, or manure--which one depends on how high the clouds are and which way the winds are blowing that day (or so I'm told). Hershey is 12 miles away from the PA capital, Harrisburg, from which it gets a lot of it's trauma. The city of Hershey is also three hours or less from New York City, Philadelphia, D.C., and Baltimore. There is also a huge Amish population (aka: farm accidents) that are served by the medical center. Hershey itself is very safe and family-friendly. This leads me to the conclusion that I would be more keen on Hershey if I was married +/- children. As a single person, it's just not as intriguing...

Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, January 4, 2008

So, my first interview of the New Year. A little freaky that we are actually in the same calendar year as graduation. Won't think about that right now.

The program: It seems that the surgery program at the Cleveland Clinic is pretty solid. The one thing that bothered me is that the surgical oncology experience is scattered throughout other surgical services, like there isn't a separate oncology service. Not sure why that bugs me, it just does. There are 4 residents per year, and they have a night float system, which limits their call, and they don't pre-round, which is nice. Several residents said this was probably one of the "easiest surgical residencies there is." There are quite a few fellows, but since the clinic is quite literally a monster medical center, they have a ridiculous amount of cases, and everyone gets plenty. The term "clinic" is quite misleading, as the medical center has 39 buildings and miles of skyway (seriously, people walk around it for exercise, see picture). The Clinic also has 36,000 employees! My dad keeps saying, "Case, the Cleveland Clinic is like one of the best hospitals in the world!" Yes, Dad, I know.

The residents: There are four residents per class at the Cleveland Clinic, which is pretty small. However, they were all very friendly and seemed really happy. They were not excited about paying $50 a month for parking, though. Although they do enjoy chips and salsa, to which I can relate.

The city: Hmm, I have to admit I'm not very excited about the city of Cleveland, and I'm not quite sure why. It seems like there are things to do, but it just seems kind of dirty and icky. There are pro-sports teams, but, of course, none of them have Joe Mauer.

Orlando Regional Medical Center, Orlando, Florida, December 21, 2007

The city: Orlando is actually a really cool city. Not too big, perfect weather, a nice combination of chain and individual restaraunts (believe me, I partook in both), and things to do (about 45 minutes from Daytona Beach). And you can't forget Disney World! Unfortunately, I did not have enough time to visit the "happiest place on Earth;" however, I was surprised by how little this major tourist attraction interfered with life in Orlando. That was nice.

The program: The Orlando Regional Medical Center program is a pretty solid academic/community program mix. They are associated with both the Arnold Palmer children's hospital and also the Winnie Palmer women's and children's hospital, both of which, of course, are gorgeous. The residents do quite a bit of trauma (4800 trauma admits last year) and ICU work, which I liked. And the attendings that I met with were really friendly and laid back. They seemed to like me as well. The residents get 3 weeks off during the year, in addition to a fourth week either during Christmas or New Year's. However, the interview day was really disorganized, and myself and the other applicants did a lot of sitting around and waiting! :(

The residents: The ORMC program is pretty small--only 4 categorical residents per class. And most of the residents seemed to be from the south--despite this, they didn't seem too much like beach bums! They were all very friendly and helpful, and said that ORMC was one of their top choices for the match. Once again, I felt a lot younger than all the residents, but it didn't seem to bother me as much this time.

UF-Jacksonville/Shands, Jacksonville, Florida, December 13, 2007

The program: Jacksonville has a pretty solid clinical program, with TONS of ICU and trauma rotations (4300 rotations a year), which I was really pumped about. However, they weren't very academic, and I even had a resident tell me that if academic was what I was looking for, then UF-Jacksonville wasn't the place for me. The residents that do do research usually have to go to a different location (Pittsburgh, Gainesville), and have a tendency NOT to return to Jacksonville.

The city: Jacksonville is a pretty nice town, really. It's the largest city in the nation, square-mile-wise (840 sq mi), and it feels like it. I rented a car (my first time ever), and got lost 3 times while pimping in my white PT Cruiser. Of course there are a ton of outdoor and water activities to partake in, and the entire city looks like the pictures above. However, the hospital is in a pretty bad part of town, and the residents even admitted that there are regularly transvestite prostitutes and homeless people milling around the hospital at night. Awesome.

The residents: So, the residents seemed a little like beach bums, to be quite honest. Many of them were bald and had big muscles (I know, you are thinking, that sounds perfect for you!), and spend all their post-call days at the beach ("Dude, if I leave the hospital at 12, I can totally be on the beach by 12:20" Seriously, that's what they said). They also frequently talked about hanging out with their attendings and "ripping it up." Not sure that's for me....

Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana, December 11, 2007

The program: So, IU has a solid program. They seem to do a good diversity of rotations and have five hospitals that they rotate at, including Wishard (a VA hospital that was built before the Civil War, second picture, above), and Methodist Hospital (a HUGE private hospital that is absolutely gorgeous, first picture, above). All their hospitals are right within walking distance, except for Methodist which is one mile away, and which you can get to by Monorail (aka: "The People Mover"). That's pretty sweet.

The city: I'm really not too keen on the city of Indianapolis. I guess there are some cool things to do, and it would be a good geographic location for me--close to Columbus, Champaign, and Chicago. I guess I wouldn't be diverting much off I-70 though. While in Indy I stayed with a girl from my class who was interviewing for peds at IU. Apparently the peds department is nicer than the surgery department, as they put her (and therefore, me) up at a super duper nice hotel downtown, with a sweet view (third picture, above).

The residents: I really can't say anything bad about the residents at IU. Most of them seemed happy, and I talked to a few who have had majorly productive research, which was cool. I had a million interviews that day--3 interviews with 2 people each, then 2 interviews with 1 person each--which was draining. I hope I don't have to do that anymore. I withhold further comments because, as my dad says, "be careful what you write, anyone can read that!"