Interview #9: Providence St. Peter (Olympia, WA) and onward to Oregon

Monday was a travel day from Bellevue down to Olympia, WA, which was about an hour's drive south. The resident I was staying with, Ian, and his wife Ali had generously left me a map and some "ideas" of things to do during the afternoon I was there before I headed to the resident dinner that night at the house of the program director (they served Thai food- yum!).

I had my ninth interview today. It was a good time! Overall, I have started to tire of being on the road, but I still really love meeting people during the days and learning about these programs. For some reason (which may seem odd to some), I also really enjoy the hospital tours! And this one had a great one! Providence St. Peter was a very, very strong FM program. Highlights:

• Unopposed, community-based hospital where the residents get to do everything. They are taught by competent and considerate faculty in all the departments and get to take part in all the deliveries or other procedures that need to happen.... There are lots of didactics to attend, including noon conferences, M & M, and morning reports.
• Catholic, mission hospital which aims to serve the underserved, with approx. 50% of the patients being Medicaid.
• Training for broad-scope family medicine, traditionally training physicians for rural practice in SW Washington or elsewhere.
• Really, really nice, solid, and friendly people. There are very collegial relationships among residents (6 per year), faculty, and staff. Everyone is family here and immediately made me feel welcome. I hear even the surgeons are nice here! I bonded with people who also shared strong interests in international health and in outside activities including music performance!
• Strong in OB and maternity care, with residents able to get C-section privileges without having to do additional training/fellowships (if you're aggressive!) and an interesting adolescent OB clinic
• Night float system, including in the first year, which is, in the words of one resident, a "beautiful, beautiful thing."
• Resident-driven, dynamic curriculum and a very receptive program director willing to make changes that the residents feel would be beneficial for the program
• Longitudinal medicine/ICU service and then a combined Peds/OB service that ends up giving residents lots of deliveries overnight.
• Good procedural training, including IUDs and vasectomies despite the religious affiliation (residents go across the street to urology for this experience) and hands-on workshops.
• Very good simulation center with opportunities to practice on dummies for high-risk OB as well as resuscitation
• Clinic which is right across the street from the hospital-- NO COMMUTING! I love this. And good precepting ratios.
• Fun Peds ER rotation at Tacoma Children's Hospital during the R2 year, which residents say is awesome for its teaching
• Good practice management training to prepare residents for clinical practice after residency
• 1 month per year of rural/away rotations, which, 2nd and/or 3rd year can include international ones. Residents have recently gone to: El Salvador, Ukraine, Madagascar, and Nepal! And a LOT of these residents have gone to/ are going to Alaska to practice/rotate. Alaska is among my top 5 places in the world to spend some quality time. What an opportunity.
• GORGEOUS hospital facilities. This hospital is beautiful. And it has amazing, big windows in the rooms, which are arranged circumferentially on the floors. I stopped dead in my tracks while we were walking on the 11th floor and I glimpsed Mt. Rainier (the first time so far on this trip!) through a patient's room! We went to an adjacent room and I (nerdily) took this picture, which I hope comes out. It was amazing (again, I'm not sure the pic does it justice...)!
• The call room is also really great. There is a "call lounge" with a stocked fridge, computers, etc. I enjoyed reading the "records" whiteboard, which really had some interesting ones!
• Great benefits, including free fitness membership (there is a really nice gym right in the hospital), insurance, free parking, meal stipend, educational stipend, travel reimbursements/grants, free PDA, relocation reimbursement, and more...
• EMR in the clinic and (soon to be) in the hospital. Now, labs, images, tele, etc. are on the computer and even accessible from home.
• Affiliation with the (reputable) Univ. of Washington, with access to resources such as Up to Date

Olympia is a very cute town. It actually reminds me a lot of Rochester. It is similar in size, very comfortable feeling, and easily navigable. Cost of living is very good, with many residents easily buying houses in town. But it's also really pretty! It is right at the southern tip of Puget Sound with easy access to Seattle as well as the Olympic peninsula (north and west) and beaches, Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens. It is a very "granola" city, with lots of tree huggers that I'd fit well with. It is home to not only the State Capitol but also to Evergreen State College, a very liberal four-year school which does tend to influence the culture and "feel" of the town. There is a great farmers' market, lots of organic produce, independent bookstores and coffeeshops, good Asian (particularly southeast Asian) food, an indie theater, quirky stores, lots of "natural" medicine facilities that include massage, cheap spas and pedicure places (this really caught my attention!), and lots of other downtown hangouts. There are lots of nice trails for biking and running (I drove up to Boston Harbor and Priest Point Park) too. And did I mention water? And mountains? :) I really can't imagine that there are more beautiful places in the whole United States than the Pacific Northwest in the summertime.

It's whether I can take the rain..... (and, believe me, it rained again today). The people tell me, "You have to embrace the rain!" and "There's a reason we're called the Evergreen state." Hmm.

I made it safely to Portland this evening (less than 2 hrs from Olympia). I'm in the home stretch!