Rotating at Kings County

[newB]

Hey, I am starting at kings county next month and would like to hear from anyone who just finished or currently there. I do not want hearsay or that your friend is going there. Also, has anyone stayed at the resident dorms there and how where they? It seems like a good deal....

Thanks

[Gator98MD]

I stayed at the T building when i rotated at Kings back in 2003. It was a dump. Now I am not high maintenance at all, so it sufficed for me for the 3 months. But whoa to the person that is expecting decent accomodations. Also get ready for a communal bathroom. Yes I mean, at least beck then, men and women shared the same bathroom. Imagine taking a dump and in the next stall over is a person of the opposite sex. Have fun!!!!



Hey, I am starting at kings county next month and would like to hear from anyone who just finished or currently there. I do not want hearsay or that your friend is going there. Also, has anyone stayed at the resident dorms there and how where they? It seems like a good deal....

Thanks

[NaggingWife]

I stayed at the T building when i rotated at Kings back in 2003. It was a dump. Now I am not high maintenance at all, so it sufficed for me for the 3 months. But whoa to the person that is expecting decent accomodations. Also get ready for a communal bathroom. Yes I mean, at least beck then, men and women shared the same bathroom. Imagine taking a dump and in the next stall over is a person of the opposite sex. Have fun!!!!

How yummy!!

[Dru]

The two biggest drawbacks that have been reported reliably to me are:

1. The communal co-ed bathrooms
2. The building is NOT secured....it is not locked, so anyone can access it from the street.

[stateofequilibrium]

The two biggest drawbacks that have been reported reliably to me are:

1. The communal co-ed bathrooms
2. The building is NOT secured....it is not locked, so anyone can access it from the street.

What's wrong with co-ed bathrooms??

[microphage]

What's wrong with co-ed bathrooms??

YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[stateofequilibrium]

YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eh? I'm not even there? How can I cause a problem for coed bathrooms? I'm telling you, I'm pro co!

[Dru]

Since this thread is a duplication of information that should have been posted in the Ross US Clinical housing sticky, I have linked it to there:

http://www.valuemd.com/showthread.php?p=236042&posted=1#post236042

[Gator98MD]

In terms of security, this is true, at least back in 2003. THe entrance to the building faces away from the street and you have to enter the Kings county grounds to get to it, but technically anyone who wanted could enter the building and take the elevator to the resident floors. The neighborhood is terrible also. Its not like you are on the upper west side where you would be relatively safer. King's is in the ghetto. (Remember it is a county hospital) I remember I got off the plane at JFK and took a taxi to the T building, and that neighborhood was my intro to clinicals.
The one positive to living there is that it is a very rigorous rotation with long hours, and you can just roll out of bed and walk across the courtyard to the "A" building which is where you spend your time.
That rotation will definitely put hair on your chest!! Sorry ladies!!

The two biggest drawbacks that have been reported reliably to me are:

1. The communial co-ed bathrooms
2. The building is NOT secured....it is not locked, so anyone can access it from the street.

[newB]

can you tell me a bit more about the room, i.e. the size of the bed, the room itself, is there cable or internet access. Also, is there parking at kings county and do you have to pay for it?

[Gator98MD]

The rooms are around 10' X 10' and they consist of a single bed. I think I remember that each room has sink in it and a mirror, chest of drawers, and closet. As far as internet, I am trying not to burst out in uncontrolled laughter here, remember like that rest of that wrectched city, the building is probably 100+ years old. I do recall, though that one of my buddies had internet. and I think it was DSL (he got the modem from verizon and hooked it up in his room). Alot depends on if you have an active outlet in your room.(I have no idea what you would do if your outlet was inactive or busted) I didnt even bother with it. We would just use the SUNY downstate library which was across the street for internet. I dont know if Rossies still have access to the library now though. Even when I was there our usage was kind of under the radar in terms of using the library, as I dont think technically we were allowed to. Usually we would quickly flash our Kings county ID's which were different from the downstate ID's and that would get us in. You would have to ask someone who has done the rotation more recently than me.
THere was parking avaialble when I was there , but it was difficult to get and did cost money. I dont know about now. Sorry my info is so dated, but it has been awhile since i was there.


can you tell me a bit more about the room, i.e. the size of the bed, the room itself, is there cable or internet access. Also, is there parking at kings county and do you have to pay for it?

[Chianti]

I did Psychiatry at King's earlier this year (excellent rotation BTW). Our King's County ID did get us into the SUNY library, no questions asked. The library has ample internet access and is a great place to study.

Living anyone where near King's County would probably induce depression or worse schizophrenia in most people. The area is straight ghetto. Its safe during the day, no worries, but I you couldn't pay me enough money to walk around there at night. I believe the rent there is $300 or $400 a month at King's. If you can afford it, you can get a room in Park Slope (very, very nice area- great place to live when you're in your 20s and single) for $800-900 a month. Park Slope is a 10-minute drive to King's or about 30 minutes via the subway. Further south in Bay Ridge (a very safe neighborhood, you can walk around at 3 AM w/o any worries) you can get a decent room for $600-700 a month. Any where but King's County. I can not emphasize enough what a dump/ghetto that area is. Think long and hard before you committ to living in the ghetto.

[backtocali]

Hey Chianti,
I'm scheduled to do Psych at Kings County... how are the hours? you say the rotation is great - how so? Is there parking available nearby or is the subway the way to go? Thanks.

[Spanky]

King's County should be the last place you choose to do your IM rotation for a million and one reasons which I have detailed in the past...really bad and will handicap you for step 2. The psych rotation is okay, it all depends what floor you are assigned to. The 5th floor will work you pretty hard. The 3rd floor is really cush. The E-bldg is adolescents and thats pretty low-stress too.

The T bldg is not that bad in my opinion. Definitely not luxury, but liveable. It can be a bit depressing, but that all depends on your perspective.

First of all, it's CHEAP. Dirt cheap. $235 a month cheap. The room is maybe 8x10ft (tiny), no a/c (although you can buy a cheap unit and install it), communal bathrooms (I almost never saw anyone else in there, but the shower stalls were dirty as all hell), the building is open to anyone (although your room has a good lock on it, and there is hospital security here and there). Some rooms do have functioning phone jacks which can be connected for DSL. There is a communal kitchen too, and some bought mini-fridges for their rooms.

[Chianti]

The psych rotation hours depend on the building and floor you're assigned to. My floor was basically 9-5, others had a nice 9-2 schedule. You have really good lectures covering all the important topics. At King's you will see the worst of the worst patients, some really interesting pathology.

A parking pass was like $80 bucks (something like that). King's is about 6 or 7 stops from Atlantic on the 2 Red line. I always took the subway. Its a 10-minute walk once you get off the subway, but during daytime the area is completely safe. If you're doing psych there during the winter months when it is dark by 6, I would NOT WALK OUTSIDE when the sun goes down. Last year 2 cops were gunned down at about 6 or 7 right outside the hospital. When the sun goes down all the decent people lock themselves in their houses and the thugs/drug dealers come out in full force (most of these losers are from the Caribean, BTW).