In April, they will head for Orlando, Fla., where they will compete for the hospital's third consecutive national championship in the Doctor's Dilemma, a Jeopardy!-style competition of medical wits hosted annually by the American College of Physicians.

No other hospital or medical school in the country has won the crown five times. Einstein doctors aced it in 1997, 1998, 2007, 2012, and 2013, beating dozens of teams each year with their buzzer-quick fingers, calculating betting, team collaboration, and dead-on answers.

"When we play, it's a bloodbath," said Guillermo Garrido, 31, an attending physician at Einstein's Elkins Park campus who coached last year's squad and played on the team in 2012.

Topics can include little-known diseases, treatments, diagnostic techniques, medical history - certainly not typical watercooler musings.

In "final jeopardy" last year, the team had to answer this question: "What is the imaging test of choice to diagnose hepatopulmonary syndrome?" (Or, for the layperson, liver and lung syndrome.)

The answer: a bubble study.

Garrido said one of the toughest categories was medical eponyms. The eponym for polycystic ovary syndrome, for example, is Stein-Leventhal syndrome.

Medical chiefs at Einstein attribute the team's success to recruitment of top-notch medical graduates, good teaching, and lots of practice against faculty and one another. The team also brings on one newcomer each year and keeps a previous team member as coach to provide continuity.

When a major competition nears, team members are given easier rotation schedules so they can rest and practice.

"We take Jeopardy seriously here," said Steven L. Sivak, a doctor and chairman of Einstein's department of medicine. "They practice all year round."

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Einstein medical residents continue their quiz dynasty