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Attending Overall Rating: 05-Jul- 2010 Teaching: Atmosphere: Research: Schedule I worked about 50-75 hours per week. We had home call when I entered the program, and hours were tolerable. However this has changed since last year ( see other review). There is a lot of scut in that all patients being admitted to cardiology are supposed to be seen by the fellow on call, and a note written. This can get very irritating at times ( as many ED folks here lacks cardiology knowledge 101), and in the past fellows have been fired for trying to turf any ED consults. The residents are great, but they dont have much role when it comes to decision making because of which not many of them are fond of the cardiology division. You do call on all rotations, and call is in-house and averages about 30 hours. Typically I saw between 4-14 patients in the ED, and anywhere from 0-4 or 5 patients in the CCU. Call starts at 5 pm ( till then CCU fellow holds the fort) and goes on till 8 am the next day. About 40 first calls in the first year, 20 in second year and 10 in last year. The number of second calls ( when you cover VA CCU which is light and Cooper Green) are 10, 30 and 40 in first, second and third years. Call coverage for second-on-call person has been a recent change, and has resulted in program being busy for the whole 3 years of training. First call weekend coverage is by first year fellows, but second and third years do second-on-call responsbilities, which still means that you can not go anywhere outside of Birmingham. Teaching Many faculty members are great and like to teach. However organized teaching on rotations is little, and what one learns is dependent on self-study. About 2-5 hours of organized lectures per week. Conferences are okay to very good. It is difficult to get dedicated research blocks in the program as the fellows are expected to get the work done. Atmosphere Camaraderie between peers is great. Some attendings are very intimidating and known to go after fellows. Surprisingly enough the PD does not have much say in the running of the program, and most decisions are made by the chair.There is some favoritism in the program as well which is not unusual. Physical environment of the hospital is okay. ABout 40-50 percent FMGs (mostly from smaller programs). You can find things to do in Birmingham, but recent fellows have told me that the schedules have been very hectic since recent call changes. Conclusion I think what stands out in the division are EP and imaging work going on. This is not a program for the faint hearted as it is very busy and there is scut. You are expected to hit ground running from day one, and if you can not do that judgements will be passed. I do feel very prepared. Most graduates enter private practice. I think our match has gone down since changes in call schedules, and we have not been able to attract good AMGs/IMGs. The whole atmosphere of the fellowship has also become more stressed because of this. The modus operandi of the fellowship administration seems to be how we can get more work out of the fellows which means that service takes precedence over education. They are not interested in seeking honest feedback from fellows. Moreover the division is also going low on funds which has affected things like meals on conferences etc. I would only come here, if this is the best program you can get in to, are very interested in imaging or EP ( UAB cards is quite reputed in those fields) or interested in an academic program in south. UAB cards is not what it used to be 10-15 years ago (going by what I am told by senior attendings). Few highly profiled faculty members have also left in the last few years due to internal politics. I have moved on, and would not like queries.

Recent Residency Graduate Overall Rating: 19-Apr- 2010 Teaching: Atmosphere: Research: Schedule This review is only for Echocardiography fellowship. Typical day starts at 7 AM and ends at around 6 PM. Most of the days are atypical and you need to spend lot more hours. Lot of scutwork involved, including cleaning of TEE probes and setting up echo machines in the OR. Lot of opportunities for research but satisfying the Director is a tough job. You are expected to take night call from home and if you get any call you do not have a place to sleep. Teaching Good learning experience. You should not expect any teaching and all that you learn is through self learning. Faculty are good but they do not take interest in teaching. Some of the faculty will just answer your questions. Atmosphere There is great camaraderie among peers and few attendings. Almost all the fellows are FMGs. Work environment is very stressful because of the pay (You have to work for about $10000 per year) and application with fellowships. Help from the Director of the Echo fellowship in getting into the Cardiology fellowship is very poor. Success rate over the past several years of echo fellows getting into General Cardiology fellowship is very poor. Conclusion The only positive to the program is the large volume of cases available for self learning and lot of opportunities for research. Negatives are stipend, lack of effort from the Director of Echo lab to help with General Cardiology fellowship, lot of scut work and uncooperative administrative staff. Bottomline would not recommend this program (ECHO Fellowship at UAB) to my worst enemy. Think twice before you apply and even if you apply gather correct information from previous fellows (dont get carried away from the information given by faculty during the interview) before you commit your valuable time and money.

recent graduate Overall Rating: 20-Mar- 2010 Teaching: Atmosphere: Research: Schedule Typical call starts at anywhere from 5-7 am. You do about 50 first calls in the first year and about 20 first calls the second year. Weekend coverage is all done by first year fellows. Since last year the fellowship has done away with home call for first call. The first on-call person stays in the hospital and covers all hospitals except VA ICU. The second on call person covers the VA ICU. This was only changed last year, and has resulted in much more increased responsibility for second-on-call person. I typically average about 60-75 hours on most rotations. Teaching The faculty is great. Most of them belive in learning by doing, as opposed to didactics. Didactics are few and far in between. The program is actively trying to change that. There are great research opportunities with few T32 grants available. In terms of autonomy, the atmosphere is a little bit reminiscent of private practice as all consults seen by the fellow are supposed to be staffed with faculty immediately. THe program has quite a few well known faculty members in subspecialities ( Iskandrian, Nanda, Bittner, Bourge, Dell-Italia, Oparil, Kay, Ideker, Pogwizd, Rayburn, Rogers). But there is room for improvement when it comes to lectures. Atmosphere Great camaraderie. Physical environment is typical for a university hospital. THe program is about 40 percent foreign graduates- most of them are actually outstanding and really MGH-Hopkins material. Cardiology fellowships are busy; so one has to really be efficient to develop a social life. Conclusion I think the clinical volume and experience at the program really stands out. The program clearly has the room to double the number of fellows they usually take (5-6). But for some reason this is not being done. I think biggest drawback is the paucity of didactic teaching, and recent changes whereby it has become very difficult for fellows to travel to conferences as the program has tried to cut its ties to pharma companies. The call schedule has also been made too hectic recently. Academic opportunities are great. Given the clincial experience and the genuine interest showed in fellows' careers by faculty members, I would certainly apply again. The program is very respected in academics, and I would place it at the same level as UTSW in terms of academic reputation. It clearly is not Duke, but is a top 10-15 program.