"--Brand new stand-alone rehab hospital is in a great part of Philadelphia and will help centralize this program in the future. --New SCI and TBI attendings have been hired to help develop these new services for the program. They will no longer have to send all of these patients to Magee and Moss respectively. --Graduates get well-respected AGCME Pain and Sports/Spine fellowships on par with the elite PM&R programs --PD is clearly interested in the education of his residents and is an advocate for them and the program --Dr. Larry Chou is an adjunct faculty and lectures occasionally. --Has unique system of video consults while on call w/ critical-care/intensivists able to view patients and monitors in patient rooms --PD seems committed to changing program for the better --Support for research --Didactics done in blocks by subject, instead of mish-mosh at many other programs --4/6 spots are categorical - a pro or con depending on what you're looking for, but apparently 1/2 advanced spots are already spoken for and PD clearly stated he prefers categorical spots. Residents seemed pleased with intern year. " | More from this Member | Report Response

"-Brand new stand-alone rehab hospital is in a great part of Philadelphia and will help centralize this program in the future. -New SCI and TBI attendings have been hired to help develop these new services for the program. They will no longer have to send all of these patients to Magee and Moss respectively. -Graduates get well-respected AGCME Pain and Sports/Spine fellowships on par with the elite PM&R programs -PD is clearly interested in the education of his residents and is an advocate for them and the program -Dr. Larry Chou is an adjunct faculty and lectures occasionally. -Has unique system of video consults while on call w/ critical-care/intensivists able to view patients and monitors in patient rooms -PD seems committed to changing program for the better -Support for research -Didactics done in blocks by subject, instead of mish-mosh at many other programs " | More from this Member | Report Response

"I thought program was improving and that they would benefit from move to free standing hospitals. Rotations seemed good especially pediatrics. Dr. Salcido committed to improving program. Seeks input from residents. " | More from this Member | Report Response

"--Dr. Slipman is on an undisclosed "leave of absence" and the other prominent interventionalist at Radnor has left for HSS. They are in the process of recruiting replacements. --Regarding EMG's, residents stated they get over 200, but they are predominately the bread and butter variety as most rare pathology is seen by the Neurologists who are highly protective of their emg's at UPENN --Most residents stated that the Penn name played a very large role in their rank decision --No on-site x-rays or doplers, so all patients needing them will be transferred out. This is unlikely to change in future because (per chief res) it is not cost-effective. --PM&R resident on call covers 38-bed LTACH unit from 7pm-7am in addition to rehab patients --Residents spend 3 months at Good Shepard in Allentown during PGY-4- they have housing there for you --PD made several negative comments about Temple/Moss and Jeff/Magee. This was the only program I interviewed at where I witnessed something like that. --Several residents made it very clear that to match their you have to tell the PD you will rank them #1, as he is very, very proud of getting the people on the top of his rank list. PD also stated that if he has 20 or so top candidates, the ones who show the most interest will get ranked higher --41 calls during PGY-2, mostly weekends --On-call resident and/or another resident does consults as they come in on Sat/Sun (though not a ton) " | More from this Member | Report Response

"-Dr. Slipman is on an undisclosed "leave of absence" and the other prominent interventionalist at Radnor has left for HSS. They are in the process of recruiting replacements. -No EMG's are done with Neurologists and residents stated they get over 200, but they are predominately of the radic/cts variety and most rare pathology is seen by the Neurologists who are highly protective of their emg's at UPENN -Most residents stated that the Penn name played a very large role in their rank decision -No on-site x-rays or doplers, so all patients needing them will be transferred out. This is unlikely to change in future because (per chief res) it is not cost-effective. -PM&R residents cover 38-bed LTACH unit from 7pm-7am in addition to rehab patients -Residents spend 3 months at Good Shepard in Allentown during PGY-4 -PD made several negative comments about Temple/Moss and Jeff/Magee. This was the only program I interviewed at where I witnessed something like that. -Several residents made it very clear that to match their you have to tell the PD you will rank them #1, as he is very, very proud of getting the people on the top of his rank list -During the 3 hours of introductions, lectures and program overview I barely saw any residents smiling or having friendly interactions with each other or attendings -41 calls during PGY-2, mostly weekends -On-call residents must do consults as they come in on Sat/Sun (though not a ton) " | More from this Member | Report Response

"Research weaker here than other programs I looked at. Emphasized though that Penn is a major research university - but I think it is different to have to make connections than when research is integral to department. " | More from this Member | Report Response

"--The day starts w/ applicants being brought into a conference room w/ nametags next to their seats at the center table and all the residents sitting along the border of the room in chairs. Chairman then asks applicants questions about some aspects of their application that he found interesting and asks that give a roughly 1 min answer to all those in the room. Some were cut off in the middle of speaking so he could correct them about a perceived inaccuracy in their answer, pimp them or make a teaching point to the group. Definitely unique and not for those who don’t like being on the spot unexpectedly, but it was clear that he had read our applications as the questions were very personalized. --This program has tons of potential and the resources to pull off being elite in the future. However, in my opinion, it does not yet provide the level of excellent and well-rounded training available at the other Philly programs (Temple and Jeff) or other highly regarded programs such as Spaulding, RIC, Kessler, Mayo, UWash, UMich, etc. " | More from this Member | Report Response

"The day starts w/ applicants being brought into a conference room w/ nametags next to their seats at the center table and all the residents sitting along the border of the room in chairs. We were told that there was coffee and breakfast in the back, but weren’t given any time to get any until a few hours later. Not a big deal, but I could have used a cup of coffee. Chairman then asks applicants questions about some aspects of their application that he found interesting and asks that give a roughly 1 min answer to all those in the room. Some were cut off in the middle of speaking so he could correct them about a perceived inaccuracy in their answer or to make a teaching point to the group. Definitely unique and not for those who don’t like being on the spot unexpectedly, but it was clear that he had read our applications as the questions were very personalized. This program has tons of potential and the resources to pull off being elite in the future. However, it does not yet provide the level of excellent and well-rounded training at the other Philly programs or other highly regarded programs such as Spaulding, RIC, Kessler, Mayo, UWash, UMich, etc. At this point in time, the UPENN name is still the best part of this program." | More from this Member | Report Response

"Interview day was well organized. Met in the lobby, taken to the department. Dr. Salcido (Chair) had us go around and introduce ourselves and say why we were interested in PM&R. 3 interviews: 2 with faculty, 1 with chief resident, one break. Then tour which was limited in part because they will open new facility next year (July 2008). Lunch was excellent! Chance to talk to residents and some faculty. Then day ended. " | More from this Member | Report Response