Has anyone had experience doing an away rotation there? Thanks.

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roger47 |
Duke |
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Posts: 6 03/21/06 14:41:00 |
Does anyone know anything about the Duke program? Do they look for well rounded folks or just huge number guys?
Has anyone had experience doing an away rotation there? Thanks. |
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urores2006 |
well.... | #1 | ||
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Posts: 34 03/24/06 01:23:54 |
I did a rotation there and I liked the upper level residents. The PGY4s and below are hit and miss. I would say almost half are not people you would ideally want to work with. In particular, one of this year's uro interns is known for his reputation as a kiss up and scuts the hell out of people and is all into the heirarchy.
That being said, it is a great program and a great school. They have a great stone guy, the chair is a big prostate guy, and they have most bases covered and are expanding to give more of a private practice feel for some rotations. About 75% of the attendings are nice and good teachers, which is the norm. They are obviously female friendly, since they took 3/3 females for this year and in general, for every year from PGY4 on down, they have 1 female per class. The city is a cheap place to leave, with lots of things to do, and is very family friendly. All in all, it is a good program but wasn't for me. I hope this answers your question. |
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roger47 |
Re: well.... | #2 | ||
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Posts: 6 03/24/06 02:57:43 |
Thanks for the reply! This is exactly the type of info I've been looking for -- very helpful! Would love to hear about anyone elses experience there.
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urores2006 |
me too... | #3 | ||
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Posts: 34 03/24/06 17:33:15 |
i did a rotation there and thought it was ok. I am glad I did a full month there because while it is a good program, I know it isnt for me. The onc guy, the one who does the huge kidney whacks, it miserable to work with. Absolute misery. The residents, and I think some of the faculty, hate him.
In terms of everyone else, I think they vary from ok to awesome. The chair is very friendly but he is also very weird. I cannot explain it. There was a Duke 4th year on my rotation, and I wish he would post here too because he may know more but that was my feel of the place. I would recommend applying for an away early, because they get their own students and students from ECU who come there. Since they dont limit sub-i's, you could be on rotation with 4-5 students, which is ridiculous, since there sometimes arent enough cases to go around. My advisor at my school seemed to like Duke and they do provide good training and good fellowship placement. They have their peds guy back, and is he a bad ass. He is very, very, very good and he is there to stay for a while. They are friendly to people going into private practice or academics, so it is not like Hopkins in that sense. The general surgery year is not so bad from what I hear, but they do have that reputation. Cost of living and housing is great and cheap and they are expanding OR space, so they may expand the faculty too in the next 4 years which should make it better. All in all, it is a good program, but it is not for me (it was a combination of faculty and residents, more specifically the junior residents who really, really turned me off. |
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anon |
Duke... | #4 | ||
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Posts: 1467 03/27/06 17:00:15 |
needs some help. The students seemed nice (there were too many on the sub-i I did.) The admin there does NOT regulate how many students are on, which sucks. Anyway they were nice. Now the residents were somewhat cool but some of them sucked. Attending wise they need help. I wont mention names because it is low class and all but some of those attendings suck. I am glad I did a rotation there because it helped me know for sure that i did not want to go there. I hope that helps balance the other people who gave it glowing remarks...
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anon |
Duke | #5 | ||
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Posts: 1467 03/27/06 19:29:06 |
I did a rotation there and it was ok. I did not match their because personally, while some of their faculty are great, they seemed really freaking bossy and closed off. Their peds guy was not back when I was there and I was miffed I couldnt work with him. Oh well. The residents are ok. not as cool as some other places but not as crappy as others. overall they are cool but i agree with an earlier post that the interns at least one of them seemed to suck in a serious way. The chair is nice overall but seems out of it and is slow to do your rec letter. i heard he even screwed some student in his/her rec letter by writing some totally false sh*!.
Overall impression: 6/10 Faculty: 6/10 Residents: 5/10 Reputation: 8/10 Location: 6/10 (cheap, nice weather, small) I really liked Baylor. Dont get me wrong, some of their faculty suck ass too, but their residents are much cooler. UTSW is a lot like Duke in some ways (residents are ok). So if i were you and you really want to go to duke, I would recommend an away rotation to get to know it. You may love it, more more likely you will think what a blah place.... |
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anon |
dont believe the hype | #6 | ||
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Posts: 1467 03/27/06 19:31:34 |
they are living off reputation as far as urology goes. they do have a great gen surg program and great internal med (who cares right!). as far as uro, chair is well know but new. another chair told me he is having trouble even getting everyone on the same page. I think the program is ok but in the Southeast, Vandy is the best place.
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anon |
mixed bag | #7 | ||
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Posts: 1467 03/27/06 21:40:54 |
Duke is really a mixed urology bag.. as previously mentioned the stone guy is incredibly prestigious, and the new chief of the division is a CaP guru who is currently I think the #7 most cited authority in the literature. Their reconstruction guy is arguably the best in the world although he is starting to slow down his case load, and the peds guy is money. There are certainly weaknesses with attendings as previously mentioned. But at the end of a Duke residency you will be very well trained, this is for sure. Duke has a huge operative volume and the chiefs can really OPERATE. They have incredible experience and do very well in the job market.
I respectfully disagree with the previous post and do not believe Duke is living off their reputation. They went through a rough patch with an interim chief, losing peds, etc. etc., but the fact remains that Duke uro provides excellent training in everything except SWL (no lithotripter).. |
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anon |
ok... | #8 | ||
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Posts: 1467 03/29/06 15:32:31 |
well for the record, most uro literature is not even worthy enough to be called science. So just because someone in uro is #7 doesnt mean a whole lot. That being said, I agree with the above post that duke, like all programs as +'s and -'s. it provides great training at the end of the day like 90% of the uro programs in the country. I dont think the stone guy or the reconstruction guy (Webster) will be there much longer than 5-7 years (esp. the stone guy, he is interviewing for chair positions every now and then). the rest of the crew is solid overall. the residents are for the most part cool, but the lower levels are average (from a personality perspective that is).
overall, duke is good, but you need to check it out for yourself to make that call. |
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anon |
Overall | #9 | ||
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Posts: 1467 06/09/06 00:18:12 |
Duke is ok but they have a lot of stuff wrong. If they can fix it, they will be good, but who is to say when this will happen. The new chiefs are cool, but the PGY 4 and below suck. Maybe one or 2 exceptions, but they suck. They suck in their attitudes, in their knowledge, and in their teamwork with each other. They are actually nice to students (at least they were to me and my other fellow students) but they are always bashing each other. They have some stellar faculty, but they have some garbage too, and I feel like the garbage is stinking more than usual. The chair is nice but weird. He is aloof. He hard to talk to, spills secrets, and is late as hell with everything. He does let you help out in the case. Overall, he is nice but I dont think he cares at all about his students or his residents as much as you think he would or should. The campus is nice and the facilities are standard and the research is good. However, one of their best, if not their best, just left to head up the program at UF, so that hurt them. The stone guy and the female guy, both heavy weights are probably there to stay for a few more years, so I dont think this should be an issue. Their robotic guy sucks and he, from what everyone is saying is headed out the door. They have some new faculty who are good enough.
Overall, the program is good and you will get the training you need, but I dont think it has anything else to offer. If Duke urology were a stock, I would give it a "sell right now as fast as you can" rating until the administration gets its act together. |
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anon |
Duke... | #10 | ||
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Posts: 1467 06/09/06 23:05:51 |
I did a rotation their very recently. I liked it ok. I will say, the upper level residents were nice, but the interns, second years and the ones who just came out of lab exude a really negative vibe. That said, they arent intolerable, but they wouldnt be my first pick.
I liked most of the attendings, and like all places they had 2-3 that sucked (either sucked at surgery or had terrible attitudes). The campus is nice, the ancillary services are great, the intern year sucks but is getting better, the cost of living is cheap, the students were great to work with, and it has a great name. The chair is nice to students but is kind of arrogant in a goofy way. I dont know how to explain it beyond that. They are expanding faculty and getting more private practice exposure, so that is awesome. They have a VA, the university hospital, outpaint surgery, and now a community hospital. I think they are trying to add a 4th resident, but that remains to be ironed out. Overall, I like it, but I will have to wait until I am done with my other away and do some interviews and compare notes. |
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ms3 |
Re: Duke... | #11 | ||
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Posts: 3 06/10/06 08:40:41 |
I will be doing a rotation in a couple of months at Duke. For those who have done their aways there, what is it like? Is there a lot of pimping? Is there a presentation that the students prepare during the rotation? How is call set up? How are weekends? Does the chair provide you with a letter of recommendation?
Thanks! |
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anon |
Not so positive | #12 | ||
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Posts: 1467 07/02/06 18:29:05 |
I rotated there very recently and it didnt meet my expectations. The attendings, the few I worked with, were very good at what they did, but some didnt give 2 craps about resident education. The stone guy, Preminger is bipolar, but he does teach and he is very, very, good at what he does. The chair is ok. I didnt get to know him that well, but he can be pleasant in the OR and he isnt known for having a temper. Some of the residents did complain that he talks a lot about other faculty and residents, but I did not notice this.
Most importantly, their residents are a weak spot. Most of the faculty openly bash them, which is scary when you think the people you picked sucked that bad to have to say it out loud. There are a lot of females there (this year's whole entering class was women). Having women in uro isnt bad and is very much needed, but the attitude factor and the catiness in this group is a lot higher than usual. One of the new PGY 2's nose is so brown, the ass kicking is almost tattoed on. The residents themsevles are nice overall, but there is something about them. Facilities are good and they have the best computer system I have seen (easiest, most comprhensive, etc..) the notes are still on paper (as most places still are) but everything else is on computer. They have home call. They are moving away from being inbred, which is a big plus, because I will likely try to rank them and UNC at the top for family and girlfriend reasons. that being said, it is a great school and you will go wherever you want which is why I think i could live there, but i do agree with the above posts about some of the faculty and residents. |
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anon |
good | #13 | ||
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Posts: 1467 07/03/06 18:40:45 |
I enjoyed my rotation at Duke. no call, no presentations, and a bunch of OR time. The interns (except for one) were nice and the residents were cool to the students. I guess i agree some arent the most socially capable, but some are cool as hell.
I loved the program and for a top program, they arent like other schools, who are obsessed with board scores and other stuff (although I hear this is changing). It is def. one of my top choices right now and if you rotate there, you will learn a lot about stones and prostate cancer and not be overworked. They dont even make students pre-round or even round at all if you dont want to and they dont count it against you. Go DUKE |
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Unregistered(d) |
duke | #14 | ||
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Posts: 0 07/04/06 15:54:38 |
When you do an away rotation, don't form your opinion of a program based on what you get to do in the OR or how easy it is for a student. Pay attention to the what the residents do.
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anon |
Duke resident life | #15 | ||
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Posts: 1467 07/04/06 20:15:27 |
The residents at Duke work on par with their counterparts at other top programs. They do have an easy VA rotation in the 4th year, but the downside is, it is in a town 4 hours from Durham. The upside is that it is Ashville, NC which is beautiful, but can suck in the winter.
As for day to day, they start around 630. The interns preround so they come in earlier. They finish anywhere between 5-7 on average, but of course some days it drags on until 9 or 10 depending on the procedure, attending, and rotation. Of course, the ED can also bring the pain making some days longer. I hope this helps in case people wanted to know what it would be like to be there. They also have good operative volume esp. for cancer and stones. |
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