What is call like? Call at Olive View is every fourth night with two teams taking call. Interns cap at five patients/call unless the hospital is in overflow status, in which case the intern takes six patients. Days off are scheduled and average four days off per ward month at Olive View. ICU call at Olive View is every third night, with every sixth day off. Call at Olive View tends to be very busy, with acutely ill patients being admitted. The UCLA-San Fernando Valley Program strictly adheres to the “24+6” rule regarding work hours. Housestaff are not permitted to work more than 30 hours during evening call.

How much continuity of care is provided for the patients? Continuity of care is very important to our program. At Olive View interns provide follow up care for their discharged patients (Post-Discharge Clinic), and all categorical housestaff have a continuity clinic.

Where do residents go when they finish the program? There is a fairly equal balance between residents who choose to go into general internal medicine (primary care or hospitalist practice) and those who go on to do subspecialty training. Most of the residents pursuing additional training choose to stay in the Los Angeles area for their fellowships. Those who decide to leave the UCLA system often get their first choice of fellowship. However, given the changing nature of internal medicine training and the nationwide movement towards decreased availability of subspecialty training, future trends cannot be predicted and fellowship positions are not guaranteed.

Can I do research and is it required? Residents are encouraged to do research in any field of their choice and are given the time to do so. No resident is required to do a bench research elective. However, it is required that housestaff in the categorical and IM/ER tracks participate in some creative or scholarly activity while in training.

How much responsibility are residents allowed? We have a system that allows a gradual increase in the responsibility each individual has for his or her patients’ care. Interns are closely supervised by the residents, but are encouraged to actively make decisions about the care of patients. In the second year, residents make decisions about patient care with the assistance of the attending physician. By the third year, residents are expected to be able to make appropriate choices, using the attending as a consultant. Obviously, this is an overly simplistic description of the maturation process, as all residents differ in their capabilities and comfort level in making independent decisions. Although we try to allow the residents to directly manage the teams, it must be done with active attending supervision; the attending physician is still ultimately responsible for all decisions and takes an active role in patient care. Attendings are available 24/7.

Is food provided on call? Olive View provides daily meals regardless of whether a resident is on call. Each intern/resident gets a meal allowance daily to use for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which is available 365 days a year.

What is the difference between the preliminary and categorical interns’ schedules? We make no distinction between one-year and three-year residents when making the schedule. The schedules are virtually identical, since our goal is to provide the best training possible, regardless of future plans. The only difference is that preliminary interns do not have a mandatory continuity clinic. It is expected that any intern who completes our preliminary training program would be competent to continue on in internal medicine.

What are the attendings like? All attending physicians hold faculty appointments at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. The faculty members are divided into two tracks. One is the traditional research oriented academic career, where the faculty members devote a good proportion of their time to basic science or clinical research. Many of the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center faculty are nationally known in their area of expertise. The second category is the clinician-educator track, which encompasses a large majority of our faculty. Under this plan, faculty members are promoted based on their teaching abilities and creative activities. Many have gained local and national recognition for their creativity related to innovations in medical education and health services research. Having both types of faculty give the program an excellent balance between research and up-to-date clinical teaching in the specialties and in general medicine.

What do the housestaff think of the program? The housestaff are active participants in all the decisions regarding the program, and its goals and guidelines generally reflect the residents’ needs. It would be easy to say that they are satisfied with the program. However, all programs have both their strengths and weaknesses. We strongly believe in our program and suggest that you ask the housestaff how they feel about it.

What types of patients are there? Olive View-UCLA patients tend to come from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Most patients are indigent and uninsured, and come in with acute, undiagnosed illnesses. Housestaff see common presentations of unusual diseases as well as unusual presentations of common diseases.

Are translators available at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center? Many patients bring in translators and many staff members speak more than one language. For those patients where no translator is available, Olive View-UCLA has a contract for telephone translation for over 100 languages. Housestaff are expected to seek and use translators for all significant patient interactions.

Do I have to do a Sub-internship to get a spot in your program? We do not require that applicants do a sub-internship. However, it is encouraged because it allows you to get to know the program. Similarly, it allows us to get to know you, which may put you in a higher match position than a similarly qualified applicant.

Do you have any specific requirements to be considered for an interview? No. We only ask that you apply through ERAS and that you have at least three letters of recommendation in your file prior to being considered. Otherwise, there are no minimum USMLE step 1 or 2 requirements (class average fluctuates between 220 and 230 on both exams). However, this is just an average and we do consider everyone’s application equally.