I chose this program over MGH/BWH in Boston and UCSF in San Francisco because I felt it was more humane and the city was more affordable while still providing an excellent education. I still feel that these statements are true. You will work hard your first year, but that is true most places, and here you will be rewarded for it at the end with a final 2 years preparing for your career instead of doing more scut. By reputation, this is probably one of the top 4-6 programs in the country along with MGH/BWH, Hopkins, UCSF, Mayo, Wash U and Colombia and I think that it compares favorably with all of them. You can choose your fellowship from here pretty much wherever you'd like to go, but that is true for many neuro programs. Everyone here does some sort of fellowship, with non-critical care fellowships such as movement disorders, cognitive, neuro-optho, and epilepsy being the more common ones. If the program has a weakness, it is the critical care aspect, but they have recently added a neuro-intensiveist and a Neuro-ICU to address this and the stroke faculty are very good and nice, so it may be more perceived than actual. There are good research opportunities here in a variety of fields, and it is not unreasonable to set a goal of writing a K award by then end of your residency, although there is not a tradition of this here as there is at some other programs in Boston and Hopkins. Overall, I am happy with my choice and glad to he here.
Please feel free to contact me with Questions.
My Schedule
Housestaff: 7 Adult and 3 Child neurologists per year
Locations: Program is set in 2 different hospitals; The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (aka, "HUP"- very large hospital serving much of Philadelphia and West Philly in particular, with a large african american population, but a relatively small number of asian or hispanic immigrant patients. But anything and everything walks thru the door in terms of pathology every day) and Pennsylvania Hospital (smaller community hospital in the heart of downtown "oldest hospital in the country").
Schedule/hours: In General, the program is very front loaded and you will be on call every 4th for most of the year your PGY2 year-the exceptions are 2 weeks of elective and when you are at Pennsylvania hospital. No call during the elective and you are on either days or nights wih 1 weekend call every other week during your 2 months at Pennsylvania your first year. After your first year, though, you have virtually no in house call. over the last 2 years, you have a total of 3 months of Q2 home call where the in house PGY2's call you with new consults/ admissions/ questions, 3 months of Pediatric neurology at CHOP where you are on Q4 home call (busy, though) and perhaps 3-4 in house calls at Pennsylvania hospital to cover on the weekends. The rest of the time is Monday-friday 8-5 or 6 PM- and often less, depending on the service, etc. You get 5 weeks of vacation a year (4 weeks plus 6 days over xmas or New years) and you get a total of 11 months of elective over your last 2 years to do whatever you'd like (Research, away electives at Johns Hopkins or in Botswana, etc).
Workload: In general, its 80 hrs+/week for most of the PGY2 year and then it gets much better, with 40-60 in house hours being common. As a PGY2, you are very busy at HUP, with a large (20+ pts) inpatient service, a new open NICU where you cover your own acute stroke and bleed patients (usually no more than 2-3), and a very busy consult service, where you will see 5-10 consults per call. There are always two people in house at HUP, so you have a little in-house backup, but you will be working, no doubt about it. You usually get a little sleep, but often not much more than 1-2 hrs/night on call. At Pennsylvania hospital it varies from a reasonable workload to incredibly slow. Expect to sleep much of the night on nightfloat.
Scutwork: In general, much of the Scut has been removed from HUP and very little ever existed at Pennsylvania hospital. There are now scheduled blood draws 4x/day and a stat phlebotomy and blood culture team, so you rarely if ever draw blood. Respiratory therapy will do your ABGs if you ask nicely, although usually its easier to just do it yourself. About the only scut (aside for the mountains of intern paperwork that is unavoidable) you sometimes do is if you need a truly STAT head CT, you will often be wheeling the patient down by yourself. Otherwise, it can take a few hours to get transport to do it. Orders are all computer based at HUP with templates and Signout sheets now being built into the system. You can look at Radiology studies on the neuro floors. Nursing is adequate, but sometimes with a little more attitude than you might appreciate- but things get done if you ask for them nicely. ICU nurses are incredible and very helpful. Inpatient MRIs are harder to get than where I came from, and calling the radiologist to beg for you scan is one of my least favorite parts of the place- but at least you get some time to think about where the lesion is before you see the study!
By the way, the prelim program here is also a plus- very protected (caps on admissions, etc) very good a not violating the workhours, and best of all 3+ months of call free elective to do whatever you want!.
My Learning Experience
This place is famous for its teaching. Galetta (the program director) won an award in 2004 for best teacher in all of medicine (all specialties, including surgery, etc) anywhere in the country and residents in the program annually win awards for being the best teachers at Penn. Lots of Didactic lectures (2/day, plus rounds daily and professor rounds weekly). In addition, the program gets a little nuts about its inservice exam, where you will study like your taking step 1 all over again every year for 3 years. As a senior, you will even teach these lectures. In general, the faculty are approachable and interested in the residents and are very good.
The environment is one that emphasizes teaching but also expects you to work hard on your own education
My Life and Environment
The program is relatively formal, especially the chairman, but there is not a lot of humiliating or berating that goes on.
The residents in the program are in general a more social and interactive bunch than your average neurologists. The residents hang out together on a regular basis outside of the hospital (and with the medicine people who you train with as a pre-lim) and we count on eachother very much as friends as well as colleagues. People take care of one another and cover for one another when its needed. With that said, there is an unspoken sense that whining about the pains of the first year is not really allowed- sort of a "Days of the Giants" approach. The end result is that you should not come here if youre not ready to work very hard that first year and expect to learn a little on the fly.
There are no foreign medical grads in the program. It is pretty competitive for a neurology program.
Philadelphia is a city on the rise- the downtown area is quite safe compared to its previous incarnations and there are a ton of good restaurants and things to do. A very walkable city. In addition, if you have a family and don't want to live in th city (where most of the schools are still pretty bad) the near suburbs are also very nice and easy commuting distance (15-20 min for many of them) by car Still, its pretty affordable to both rent and to buy and many residents do just that. In the incoming class, 5/7 people either bought a brownstone downtown or a house/condo in the suburbs.
Yes, you do have a life here- especially your last 2 years. Good scenes for both singles and families. Philly has a bit of a inferiority complex that can wear on you after a while, but it is definently a reasonable place to be for 4 + years.
– Posted 07/11/05
Overall Rating5
Teaching
5
Atmosphere
5
Research
4
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This is an outstanding training program. Residents emerge qualified and obtain their pick of fellowships. The biggest strengths are the quality of education, the camaraderie and the lifestyle. The program director is caring and supportive, as well as a talented teacher and mentor. Philadelphia is a wonderful city. It offers all of the advantages of a major metro area (dining, music, theater, etc.), but at the same time, it is a very manageable place to live. I am happy to talk to interested applicants.
My Schedule
The program is front-loaded in terms of overnight call. During the first year there is Q4 call throughout the year. However, in the subsequent two years there is absolutely no in-house call! The typical day varies depending on the rotation. The day starts with conference at 8-9 am. ICU/general neurology rounds begin at 9:30am. At noon there is a second conference. The rest of the afternoon is spent taking care of the patients. The day usually ends between 4:30 and 6:30pm. On elective, the workday is generally 9 to 5.
My Learning Experience
There are eight didactic conferences per week. This is one of the program's strengths. The faculty is friendly and extremely accessible. There are a number of masterful teachers.
My Life and Environment
This is the biggest strength of the program. The residents and attendings enjoy working with each other immensely. There is strong camaraderie among the housestaff and there are many "extra-curricular" gatherings.
– Posted 07/26/02
Overall Rating4
Teaching
3
Atmosphere
5
Research
3
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