Brigham and Womens Hospital Program Individual Response

What is your in-state status?:

Out of state

On what date did the interview take place?:

2/1/2008

How do you rank this residency among ALL other residencies?:

9 out of 10

How do you rank this residency among other residencies to which you've applied?:

9 out of 10

What is your ranking of this program's facilities?:

9 out of 10

What is your ranking of this program's location?:

10 out of 10

What is your ranking of this area's cultural life?:

9 out of 10

What was the stress level of the interview?:

2 out of 10

How did the interview impress you?:

Positively

How long was the interview?:

20 minutes

How many people interviewed you?:

6

What was the style of the interview?:

One-on-one

What impressed you positively?:

see below Report as inappropriate

What impressed you negatively?:

see below Report as inappropriate

How was your interview day? Please summarize.:

PROGRAM: 33+ residents per class (CA1 class has ~38 residents); 50 ORs providing 45,000+ anesthestics/yr. 3rd largest OB program in USA (11,000 births last year; 25% of those were high risk); the OB experience and hours are supposed to be wonderful. Critical care is the one thing the residents consistently complained about - hours were "into the 80's"; those will be (reportedly) changing from Q3 overnight call to Q4 in one ICU, and then to shift work in two other ICUs - you do thoracic ICU (they do big-ass lung cases at a very high volume here), SICU, and Burn/Trauma ICU. All are semi-closed, so without stating so directly, the residents seemed to imply that you are the slave to at least two masters (anesthesia attending and surgical attending), and you supposedly round with both, separately. New building for Cardiovascular stuff (Shapiro building - I think it's the same Shapiro that just lost a gang of money in the Madoff Ponzi scheme thing, so that will be fun to watch) has new ORs and is beautiful. Level I trauma center here, but we were told "all the real big trauma goes to Boston Medical Center". No livers. ADMINISTRATION: Chairman was one of my favorite people so far on the interview trail...candid, funny, kind. He, along with his two brothers, were the guys that figured out how to put a human ear on the back of a mouse, if you've ever seen that picture. He's stable. Residents report his ultra-responsive to resident concerns, although not overbearing in the residency program. Program director and associate director are very clear about what they're looking for and how things go. Program coordinator is a gem, and by rumor, holds incredible power within the program. DIDACTICS: Be clear about this when you interview; they make no bones about this. Vice-Chair for education's direct quotes: "This is a reading-directed program", and "There will be no attempt to lecture you on each and every keyword". It's up to you if you think this is important. Some residents made this an issue, and very recently, a "sunrise rounds" program was started - this was resident created, and it is a keyword lecture, given by either residents or faculty from 0630 - 0650 twice a week. CALL SCHEDULE/HOURS: this sounded almost too good to be true - all the residents I met say "We do work pretty hard", and when I asked the question, they said 58-62 hrs/wk while in main ORs...but they take maybe 4 calls a month, and only ONE weekend call per month - so 3 of 4 weekends are "golden". Nice. BENEFITS: a total of $1500 for education for all three years, but they do give you some of the foundational texts for the field. Can get one week educational time for conference, but as CA2 and CA3 only. They'll pay for written boards if you do well on the intraining exams. INTERVIEW DAY: 0720 - 1600, but the time flies. 6 interviews, all one on one, and everyone interviews with the same people, including the chair and program director. Group splits into two for tour and interviews; tour group changes into scrubs. Residents very content. The interview day ends with cocktails, in the room where all the applicants gather, with wine and beer (Sam Adams, natch) and sushi...freakin' awesome. Great dinner the night before. Hotels in the area pricey, and mine sucked. OVERALL IMPRESSION: I got a great gut feeling here. I mean REALLY GREAT. Harvard name, happy and very cool residents. Seemed like great caseload. Residents felt respected and got good autonomy. Will rank VERY highly. Report as inappropriate