Bridgeport Hospital has provided a very positive educational experience for me.  Since I began my residency almost two years ago, I have been graciously welcomed and educated by the fabulous staff of physicians and support personnel at the hospital. I feel that I have gained valuable skills and confidence, which I know will serve me well when I leave my training and strike out on my own.  I am very thankful that I have been afforded this unique educational opportunity at Bridgeport Hospital, and I'm sure my future patients will be as well.  

--Patrick Frencl, D.P.M.

I had the wonderful opportunity of training at the Yale University (Bridgeport) Program in Internal Medicine.

The quality training I received motivated and enabled me to set higher objectives in my professional career. It gave me a balanced mix of inpatient and outpatient volume and an opportunity to participate in scholarly activities. Thanks to their educational allowance, I was able to publish abstracts and present at the American College of Chest Physicians' Annual Meeting in Toronto in 1998.

 This excellent training in community academic medicine awarded me the privilege of obtaining a Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at Brown University.

--Ahmed Nadeem, M.D.

I started my residency coming through NRMP and one of the reasons I had ranked the program high was because I was looking for a reasonable sized program at a community hospital with a strong academic affiliation to a good university and was lucky enough to get almost everything I asked for.

 As an intern, I think one of the best things I liked was the very smooth transition in acquiring clinical decision making skills and confidence in patient management. This was largely achieved by a very supportive learning-teaching environment and wide array of clinical experiences that one needs to learn clinical medicine. Another important thing was that the volume of patients we had to be responsible for was not excessive; probably the right combination in which one learns a lot without being over-burdened.

The excellent didactic training from the attendings from Bridgeport as well as Yale was always a plus. Our grand round schedule was fantastic. Honestly, the morning report might have had room to improve upon, but so much depends on the chief resident too. We enjoyed the liberty to choose our electives in second year and the size of the program makes it very easy to switch things around. 

Especially for someone like me who was planning to pursue a fellowship training in Nephrology, I was able to work with at least three different Nephrologists at Bridgeport, at Yale and at the VA Medical Center which helped me a lot in interacting with different people in the subspeciality and making critical career decisions.

Most of the subspeciality electives, except cardiology, pulmonary and GI are run by private groups of physicians, but all of them had a great interest in teaching, especially Nephrology, (I may be biased here, but that was one of the reasons I chose to do Nephrology). The advantages of this system, I think, are that one is exposed to the real life of a subspecialist in a non-university setting and that helps in making important career decisions.

The disadvantage is you really do not get a chance to work with "academic" subspecialists other than the fellowship porgrams we had. But I look at it this way: if one is entering a subspeciality he/she will eventually get that experience anyway. 

It was very important to have training programs in radiology and almost all other specialities existing in the same institution as it brings a healthy learning interaction. (Most of the time!) The moderate size of the program lets you get to know your colleagues very well and develop important professional relationships.

Retrospectively, after graduating from the program and talking to my peers, we still need to improve on outpatient training especially for those going into private practice as primary care physicians. All of us who graduated were most comfortable managing in-patients, but some felt that they could have benefitted from a more structured outpatient training. Bet needless to say, no matter how much you structure, there remains a vast difference in the patient population and the financial aspects of outpatient medicine in an inner city community hospital and a private practice in the community, which can only be learned once you are out there!

We did get reasonable opportunities to pursue clinical research, but the subjects and options were limited. To really learn research skills, residency is not the best time unless someone is really motivated and has some background in clinical research.

To summarize, I had a great time at Bridgeport Hospital and enjoyed my clinical training there. One of the largest proofs is that I entered the residency without any specific subspeciality in mind and was able to choose my future career as a Nephrologist and, thanks to the great support provided by my faculty, I will be graduating as a Nephrologist from one of the premier institutions of this country.

--Charuhas Thakar, M.D.

I was very fortunate to be able to train at The Yale University (Bridgeport) program in Internal Medicine. The program is very well organized and the environment is warm and supportive. The faculty has a strong commitment to teaching and mentoring of residents with great emphasis on evidence-based medicine. Senior residents were also supportive and friendly and served as an additional source of guidance on daily basis. The morning reports were high yield while didactic conferences were rigorous and stimulating. A busy inpatient and ambulatory medicine service in conjunction with a diverse patient population provided exposure to a wide variety of patient pathology. Subspecialty electives at Yale-New Haven Hospital offered additional opportunities for further learning and networking, especially for those applying for fellowships.

I feel that Bridgeport Hospital is an ideal place for residency training having a superior group of faculty with the necessary tools for professional growth and goal achievement. The program has produced accomplished internal medicine physicians and its high quality is reflected in the post-graduate positions of the residents. The excellent training that I received during my residency served me well in obtaining an Allergy/Immunology fellowship at Northwestern University. 

--Athanasios Konstantinidis, M.D.