On the Interview Trail once again...

Part of being a 4th Year Medical student includes the inevitable transition from being a student, to being a doctor. A big step in this process is choosing a specialty in which you want to practice in, and where you would like to learn this trade. For medicine, this process is called the residency. After graduating from medical school, the new doctors enter into a residency where they continue their training specific to their career goals, such as in orthopedic surgery, or cardiology. Most of the time as a 4th year medical student is spent in applications and interviewing for the different residency programs that are available.

My application for a residency in Emergency Medicine is now complete and I have started on the interview trail. I'm already lucky enough to have one interview behind me. When I did my away rotation at UT Houston (which is practically right across the street) they went ahead and interviewed us there on the spot to save us from having to travel back once again--again not much of a deal for those of us that already live in Houston, but a great deal for those who do not. So for me, my first real "away" interview was a week ago at Scott and White Memorial Hospital in Temple, Texas. Again, not very far away, but it did involve some traveling. Scott and White was the program that I spent a month at in August and was really impressed with on many levels. I loved the small town nature of the area, yet the business of their emergency center and the quality of the training available. The staff and residents were extraordinarily friendly and easy to get along with. In January, they also have a brand new, very large emergency center opening to brag about as well. Temple is also where Kristi will be doing her clinical years for her medical school as well. So I definitely have a lot of reasons to have S&W as my first choice.

The night before the interview, the residents hosted us for dinner at a local restaurant as kind of a meet and greet ordeal. Kristi was able to make it and I think we all enjoyed ourselves. I was familiar with all the residents who were there that night, so it was more of just catching up than meeting. There was one other student from Baylor there that night, but I've never shared any activities with him, so I really didn't know him that well. This was our opportunity to "get the dirt" on the program, or in other words, the information that we wouldn't really feel comfortable getting from people at the hospital on the day of our interview. It was very comfortable and laid back, and I think everyone enjoyed it.

Kristi's parents were gracious enough to let me stay at their house again overnight for this weekend stay, even though S&W offered to pay for an overnight stay in one of the local hotels. It was really nice of them considering most programs do not offer as much. The interview day started bright and early with a tour of their brand new Emergency Department. It's so new that it's not even open yet. We had to wear hard hats and safety goggles and dodge the construction crews. It was very impressive however, and much larger than their current space. If I did happen to come to Temple, it would be a very nice place to work and learn, state of the art as well. Dr. Stallard then gave a presentation of the program which was very thorough and informative and interviews quickly followed. I interviewed with Drs. Stallard, Stone, Greenberg, and Tobleman, all of which I knew, and were familiar with me from my stay in August. I definitely learned of the importance of visiting a program you were interested in and getting to know people beforehand. All of the interviews were very laid back and comfortable. Most simply wanted to know what I had been up to since my visit. They also all gave me a very good impression that I would very likely have my first choice in a spot for residency. That much was very encouraging.

After the interviews, they took us out to eat in downtown Temple at a very nice restaurant called Cheeve's, which they provided for again. Overall, it was a very positive and laid back experience which only solidified my reasons for wanting to go there. Now I just have to wait for March for match day to see if that's where I will be going come summer.

The rest of the weekend was filled with helping the Kreneks at the lake and enjoying a Sunday early Thanksgiving dinner with them at their house. It was the perfect way to end the weekend.