First Anesth interview

New York Methodist Hospital
Park slope, Brooklyn

OVERALL IMPRESSION:
Walked into the hospital, promptly got lost.  No arrows for directions. Staff was very helpful, however had to ask three times before finally entering the right room.
Program Coordinator said hello, made me sit in the little common room type area. This area was small, had a few chairs around a table, a computer, a kitchenette with a K cup coffee maker and microwave. Met 2 attendings and 1 resident hanging out there. Talked with them while waiting to be called for my interview.

The program in general felt very CRAMPED

This visit was not an 'event' that was scheduled, I felt like I was intruding on their regular day by being there. There was no official introduction to the program.
PD walked in looking for Dr Punia, I stood up and said 'That's me'. He said 'That is incorrect, you should say THAT IS I', I apologized and walked into the room. He continued to correct my language throughout the duration of the interview. He was gruff, seemed like he was nodding off while the other faculty member (indian) interviewed me. Several phone calls interrupted his session with me.

THE INTERVIEW
-Very clinical. She asked me how I usually perform a lumbar puncture, what gauge needle(!), how I intubate patients. What if I cannot intubate. She asked me Why the US. Why Anesthesia. She asked about my US clinical experience. What else I did during my time in med school.
While describing my LP technique I mentioned that 'The assistant helps me load the Lidocaine' and she snorted and made fun of the fact that my training institution had someone 'assisting'.

-He asked me about how I got my clinical electives, I explained. Then he wanted to know if I had questions. Most of my questions he countered with 'How is this relevant to you' or 'Why do you want to know'. This 'why do you care' attitude made me feel very intimidated and I was afraid to raise all the issues I wanted to raise.

Why no Match? Because he doesn't like the rules, doesn't think the system works well. 'we are the only program out of the match' he said proudly. 'Because I'm an ornery cuss! You'll have to look that up' he said. DEAR GOD.

What don't you do? Not too much chest surgery, and no transplants. No elective opportunities to fulfill this curiousity. Transplant rotation is not necessary for board certification. Trauma experience from outside, westchester. Too much neuro at the moment.

Where are your residents? mix of private practice, fellowships, and some choose to stay on and work at Methodist.

Didactic schedule? An hour everyday 5d/week, grand rounds on tuesday, ONE board review course. He is very focused on the residents being well prepared for the boards. He said 'You wont have the time to do electives as a resident. You wont have time to do research. You have to study and prepare for the boards. I wont let you take electives unless you are exceptionally good at your previous tests'
ITE must be taken at the end of PGY1. WTF.

Research? No research. IF you want a big name, or want to get into academia, then look elsewhere.

Any changes? 'who can tell the future', Some faculty leave, some stay. Things change sometimes. Why do you care.

He kept emphasizing that you get from this what you put in.

Did not have the courage to talk about the accreditation history.

They do not begin an H1B sponsorship but they will continue it if sponsored. Otherwise have to do J. They match for advanced. I can do a prelim at Methodist but it will have to be on a J. Otherwise get into an H1B prelim (Griffin? ) and then transfer to NYC.

RESIDENT:
Seemed a little ADHD but he took us on a detailed tour. He seemed happy.

Cramped ORs. But close to 20 rooms in 3 diff locales: Main OR, ambulatory OR and OBGYN. They have CRNAs and SRNAs that are in training. Medical students rotate through as well. There is a VAST VAST diversity of cases you might have to work on during the day.

EXCELLENT in terms of clinical exposure, esp with OB. CA1 did 180 epidurals in three months. Very strong REGIONAL ANESTHESIA rotation too. OB chief trained at Brigham and Womens. He said 'We have people here that trained at big names like Columbia, and we all concur that the resident training here is superior. We just don't have a big name.'

Resident said research is a big part of the process, DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSITE to what the program director told me.

Housing is subsidized if you manage to get it, my resident did not get it and so has to pay full rent elsewhere.

Did not ask about conferences.

Free lunch everyday in conference room.

No EMR in the OR (paper charting of cases) but the hospital has EMR

Lots of autonomy once you prove yourself.

Long, long hours, busy busy rotations.

Call about 8times/month.

On OB days, call can go for 24 hours (OMG!)

Met one resident, she's going to a peds fellowship next year. She said she felt supported during her residency.

Lots of brown faces at this program.

Overall, I felt very uncomfortable during my interview. I don't know if they did that to see how I would deal with the situation or if they really treat the residents that way. I don't have a great feeling about the program, it felt very fragmented.
However the idea of living in Brooklyn, building a life year, a family: very tempting idea.

They want me to schedule a second look: 'If you are seriously considering working here, please consider coming back for a second look'

I am going to schedule this later in December I think.

Overall I'd rank this the highest, but only because it's giving me a shot at doing what I really want to do: Anesthesia.

Rankings:
1 NY Methodist Anes
2 Metrowest TY/Griffin IM
3 St Agnes IM
4 Bronx Lebanon Surgery

EDIT
Other people that interviewed there felt the same way, in fact felt worse about the experience than I did. No one else I know is scheduling a second look.
Apparently the current Chief resident advised the applicants not to work there at any cost, especially if they had better options.
Program was on probation earlier because of lack of research. Chief resident was the only one working on research and did not feel supported in any way.