Tower is not taking over Hahnemann Hospital. Tower has agreed to accept any of Hahnemann’s residents who wish to transfer to the Tower Health system. Tower Health is a 6 hospital systems whose primary hospital is in Reading, PA. (Reading is located in rural Berks County about 1.5 hours from Center City Philadelphia where Hahnemann is located.) Tower has one hospital near Philly–Chestnut Hill Hospital which is small (140 bed), low acuity facility.
Tower does not have the anywhere close to the capacity to absorb all the residents and fellows currently training at Hahnemann. Nor does the Tower system sponsor all the specialties that Hahnemann did.
Note that Tower is a community hospital program whereas Hahnemann/Drexel is an academic hospital. Moving to Tower would be a step down in prestige and reputation for the residents and would limit/eliminate their opportunities to do research for those hoping to pursue fellowships.
There’s a whole lot of backroom maneuvering going on–and none of it has the residents’ best interests at heart. As of today, HUH and Tower are refusing to release GME fund to residents who have found other placements.
55 J-1 visa holders who are training at Hahnemann and their dependent family members will be deported if Drexel/Hahnemann/Towers do allow them to accept other training positions within 30 days.
Hahnemann’s ED will close permanently today.
Fewer than 100 patients remain in Hahnemann Hospital and all residency & fellowship training activity has ceased.
Drexel/Hahnemann/Towers is still refusing to release residents’ funding after yesterday’s preliminary hearing in bankruptcy court.
The ACGME and ECFMG have filed petitions w/ the Philadelphia bankruptcy court to force the immediate release of funding so residents can accept new positions. More than half of Hahnemann trainees have already been accepted to other residency programs, but they cannot be officially hired until their GME funding is released.
Towers only has 8 accredited residency programs in 4 specialties (FM, IM, EM, OB/GYN ) Hahnemann/ Drexel had 35 accredited residency & fellowship programs in 18 specialties. Towers doesn’t have the facilities, faculty, or patient acuities or volumes required to open additional accredited programs.
D is in the process of filling out her residency applications. The most I will ever know about her process is that she will tell me when she is done. And, I knew she had started because out of the blue this past Sunday she sent me her personal statements to read and edit.
So, I guess even my minimal involvement is stressing me out. I woke up this morning having just dreamed that her applications were not accepted because she had not visited each individual hospital to see what personalization they expected on their application.
I know better, I know it is just one app submitted to one place and they send it on to the various places that D indicates. So, there is no personalization needed, required, or even available.
Thanks @texaspg@CottonTales@WayOutWestMom we are not generally big drinkers, nothing against it just choose to spend the money other ways. It just so happens that our son just turned 21 and got a new job. He lives with us. He thinks he needs to have some beer in the fridge since he legally can, so maybe I will have one tonight while he is at work. (he does have good, expensive taste as far as beer goes. It won’t be a hardship to drink one)
My M4 is on the STRUGGLE BUS. She is tortured over the residency decision. She cannot decide between Peds and Surgery (her number 1 goal is pediatric surgeon, which required fellowship after 5 year gen surg residency). She has had several surgery electives, and in her surgery rotation, she was told she was the best surgical med student they had every had. She just doesn’t know if she can do the lifestyle. She also LOVES peds, and would like to be a hospitalist, not a clinic physician. Her next rotation is actually peds surgery and she will be with her mentor (who is a mom of 3, ped surgeon, and was paired with her day one of med school and is THE EXAMPLE of what she would like to be one day). I would love to hear from the wise ones who have come before and tell me … HONESTLY… how is a general surgery residency? Who has gone on to a peds surg fellowship. She is trying to hedge her bets, and she is REALLY coming down to the wire. She has people offering to write LOR’s for both peds and surgery, that’s not an issue. It’s deciding. Would love some input from my “been there, done that” crew!
@moonpie would your daughter be happy doing general surgery the rest of her career? Have her play through her mind what if for some reason she did not do the fellowship for peds surgery… can she see herself being happy as a general surgeon?
What age of peds does she like best? A general surgeon could do surgery on teenagers, at least in some instances.
Or would she rather be the doctor that took care of the kids after the surgery?
What matters the most is what makes her happiest, what she is the most passionate about. Not necessarily that she is the best one at it.
D1 went down to the wire trying to choose between 2 specialties–one of which was surgery
I sent you a PM with all the gory details, but the moral is that your D needs to trust her gut and just go with it. She shouldn’t try to overthink it too much.
She also shouldn’t assume she’ll be match into peds surgery.
Thank you SOOOOO much for you PMs! Really very helpful. @bajamm That’s the thing she is turning over and over in her mind… would she be happy doing general surgery for rest of her life? She can’t put a crystal ball up and see that. She loves the OR, loves making her patients feel better, loves comforting them and explaining the procedures. But she also loves kids. She thinks baby intestines are “cute” (gross). She gets the same thrill and excitement when one of her preemies gains weight as she does in the OR. Hoping her next internship will settle things (Peds Surg) and she will have the awful hours again, but will be doing surgery and peds… send all the good thoughts her way!
@moonpie - one should also consider duration. Does she want to do 5+2 (ped surgery) or 3+2 (ped hospitalist). D was quite interested in surgery for a while but was quite concerned about the lifestyle which ultimately made a difference for her.
Personally, I wouldn’t worry so much about whether one can get into a fellowship. People who want it, figure out how to get there. I see more people changing their mind.
Objections to the ruling were filed by the DOJ on behalf of the Centers of Medicaid and Medicare Services, by State of Pennsylvania, and the ACGME and ECFMG.
The are fewer than 37 patients left in Hahnemann Hospital. Lawyers for Hahnemann "conceded that Hahnemann does not have the funds to release the residents.’