I came across the following review that a 4th year med student wrote after completing a rotation at Harbor.
"I spent 3 weeks at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, CA. This is the hospital at which the residents work the hardest. This is a blood and guts county hospital and you should only go if you want to work hard. Very high Spanish speaking population so you'll look good if you bust out with the Latin-lingo. You are assigned to a team which includes the a chief, a senior resident and an intern (G-surg, ER, ortho, etc) and it will be your chief who evaluates. Usually round between 6:30 and 7:00 A.M. Discovery rounds, so no need to pre-round, just help grab charts, write notes, etc. Cases start 7:45 if I remember correctly and usually end by 5 -6 pm. The attendings are usually on staff at other institutions as well and some of the procedures are pretty impressive. I scrubbed for a couple of total elbows and a total shoulder. The attendings are happy to teach and there is one attending in particular who gives a play by play as the case progresses. Clinics are very, very busy. Easily 100+ patients on clinic days. Grab a chart, come out and present to the chief or senior resident, do some procedures if you want to be helpful. Really interesting pathology in some of the recent immigrants that I doubt you will see anywhere else except at another county hospital serving a large immigrant population. One thing that surprised me about the patients is how appreciative they are about the medical care they receive.
Not enough exposure to faculty in my opinion, but when there is exposure, they do teach. Residents are EXCELLENT about teaching. Didactic sessions are great. I was around while residents were preparing for the OITE. Attendings would come in one evening a week and go over past exams with the residents. Always had a drug rep hook up the meals for these sessions as well.
Residents get along very well. They hang out together and joke around with each other quite a bit. They also close ranks when they need to. If one clinic was finished and another was still going, the residents would come over to help. Faculty also are very laid back and while it is clear that they are in charge, they treat the residents very well. The program director is very well liked by the residents and feeling I got is that he's ride or die for them.
Program stands out compared to others because residents have serious operating time. Drawbacks is that it can be quite busy and I don't know how much research they do. However, several residents did very impressive projects with people over at UCLA. There was a chief from another LA Program with a big name (you can figure out which) and in my opinion the Harbor chief was in a different class altogether. Knew exactly what he was doing and obviously had done more cases. I would have loved to go to this program but unfortunately I was not offered an interview. It is quite competitive to get into but nevertheless, I recommend rotating there for the experience. If anything, you will look like a superstar when you go to the next place."
