Categorical Residency

As a PGY1, you will further develop and master your organizational skills and ability to make efficient, clinically sound decisions as you rotate through various experiences. We expect our PGY1 housestaff to begin to think independently and to voice their opinion on diagnosis and treatment plans. PGY1s participate in our “Residents as Teachers and Leaders” seminar in the spring to help prepare them for their PGY 2 year.

A sample PGY1 schedule is as follows:
 

As a PGY2, your responsibilities grow. You will lead and teach teams of interns and medical students on the inpatient wards and perform medical consultations to other services. In the ambulatory setting, you will enjoy an ever-increasing sense of continuity as your personal patient panel grows. PGY2s use their elective time to explore career interests or conduct research. Increased academic expectations include regular presentations at resident report and other conferences.

A sample PGY2 schedule is as follows:

Our PGY3s assume major clinical leadership roles on the medical service. Advanced rotations include the CCU, the telemetry unit, and serving as the Code and Rapid Response Team leader for the institution. We expect our PGY3s to role model professionalism and outstanding clinical care to their junior peers. The transition to fellowship or clinical practice moves into high gear at the beginning of this year with ongoing individual mentoring by the program directors and faculty.

A sample PGY3 schedule is as follows:

Categorical residents are allotted five months of electives over the course of their three-year training. Two weeks are scheduled in the PGY1 year. The remainder may be taken over the PGY2 and PGY3 years to suit individual preference and to allow for natural variability in the schedule. Two months of elective time must be taken in the ambulatory setting.

Neil Patel, MD
They say that once you live in New York for long enough, its culture and boundless vibrancy becomes ingrained in your persona. As a native New Yorker, I always knew my professional development had to take place in the best city in the world, bar none. After a quick pit stop in St. Louis for medical school, it came time to decide which program in New York I felt would best complement the traits and goals I inherited from living in New York for so long.

During the interview process, I knew I was looking for a program that 1) supported its residents in their scholarly pursuits, 2) exposed their residents to a multitude of cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds, 3) trained their residents to manage the conditions, from the simplest to the surprisingly esoteric ones, and 4) believed in nurturing their residents’ mental wellbeing as comprehensively as they did their intellectual curiosity. My immediate and lasting impression from my interview at Mount Sinai Beth Israel was that the program met these criteria but had so much more to offer. In the same way that I reflexively identify myself as a New Yorker, I had an unshakeable feeling there was a unique and enriching bond between the housestaff, the attending physicians, and the program’s support staff.

After I matched into MSBI, I was excited and ready to start my professional career. My intern year was full of rigorous yet rewarding experiences and unique opportunities. Luckily, along the way, I developed what I am sure are lifelong friendships with my co-residents. The program has been unwavering in its support of my ambitions to become a cardiologist, and the cooperative environment it engenders has made the process seamless.

This is not to say the program is perfect; I am not sure any program is without its flaws. However, I think the advantage that our program has, is the quality of people who constantly work to improve the shared experience. Ultimately, I am thankful to have found the program that was the perfect fit for me. In many ways, joining MSBI was a true homecoming.

Devi Sampat, MD
There is a unique aspect to Mount Sinai Beth Israel which no other residency program seems to have: It's a family. When you're several miles from home, spending 10+hr days and often seeing your co-residents just as much as your own family, I think it's best to make sure you choose a program which really does feel like a close knit unit. When going on residency interviews, I was looking for a program much like my hometown in the South. My only criteria was that I wanted the people to be sweet and be able to put up with my Southern sayings and constant need for the sweet(est) iced tea.

What I found at Beth Israel was more than I hoped for. At BI, I really grew up. I saw death in medical school, but here I felt an overwhelming responsibility for my patients and an even greater support and mutual understanding from my colleagues when we dealt with death together. I found people who would race into a code and put their entire focus into saving a life. I met and bonded with interns who would laugh with me until our stomachs ached at 3am on night float.

While there have been multiple changes with the hospital, the one thing that never seems to change is our magical algorithm for picking personable and wonderful new residents into our BI family. I'm not sure how we do it, but sometimes it's best to leave serendipitous situations as is and allow the magic to continue.

Leslie Seijo, MD
I was born in Miami, Florida but raised in Honduras after my mother was deported to her home country when I was four years old. I arrived in the US when I was 18, and through many struggles, learned English, finished college and went to medical school.

In medical school, I recall trying to choose a residency program that had the following qualities: served a diverse group of patients, had multiple fellowship programs, and fostered a friendly environment. In Mount Sinai Beth Israel, I found all three.

Working at MSBI has given me the opportunity to serve patients from many different countries and socioeconomic backgrounds. The diversity in clinical pathology has helped me acquire the experience needed to be a great physician.  

The best quality that this program offers is its people. We are friendly people! In my time here, I have made great friends that have helped me along the way. The program is very supportive to the housestaff and offers research, QI projects and other learning opportunities.

My training here is not done, and I am excited to continue to learn and be the best physician I can be to help those in need. Mount Sinai Beth Israel is helping me achieve this goal.