advice needed-preventive medicine residency

[preventivemed123]

Hello there, I joined studentdoctor to ask this question. I assumed this was the best specialty forum. If its not, feel free to move it somewhere else.

I am currently a PGY-1 in Pediatrics. At some point, I plan on applying to preventive medicine residency programs. My preference is to apply this year and enter a program starting in July 2015. My issue is that I still want to be able to practice clinically, albeit in a limited manner (travel clinics, HIV, TB clinics, global health/refugee clinics, etc). Can I do those things with just an internship + prev med residency? Overall, am I better off completing my entire pediatric residency and then entering a prev med residency? Do programs seek residency grads versus just an internship?

I was also considering taking a year off in between end of internship and the eventual start of prev med residency. Working part time and maybe doing volunteer public health/clinical research at my local universities/med school to bolster my application. I'm unsure how competitive prev med is. There are not many programs so I assume it is semi-competitive. my career interests include outbreak evaluations and special populations (people living near hazardous material, local pathogens-example would be histoplasmosis outbreaks, etc.) In terms of epi/outbreak, it does not have to be global in nature-which I'm sure if crazy competitive. I'd be very content being a public health physician for local or state government as well. Thanks for any help!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Stories]

Maybe more help in one of the other forums? I unfortunately don't know much about this area. Anyone else?

 

[Solara]

Echoing the above, I would go ask this in the Prev Med Residency Programs.

I know these preventive residency programs can seem more appealing because they focus a bit more on the preventive/public health aspect of things, but in my opinion it's more ideal to have the best clinical training you can and learn some of the public health on the side. The clinical training is extremely valuable and will give you a really good skill set in public health. I'm not an intern in residency yet, but I've had physicians tell me that one year of residency isn't quite enough, and that you would want to 3 years to maximize the technical expertise.

Talk to some more people, but in my opinion I Would stick with the track that maximizes your clinical training, even if your end goal is mostly public health.

 

[simpler2]

In terms of epi/outbreak, it does not have to be global in nature-which I'm sure if crazy competitive. I'd be very content being a public health physician for local or state government as well. Thanks for any help!

My impression has always been that preventive medicine residencies are not competitive simply because there are not a significant number of applicants. It sounds like you are interested in going into prev med to basically do what a public health officer does and maybe in a more global arena. This kind of work typically only takes a masters degree at most and you get desired positions by experience, time, and networking. If you went as far as getting into med school and are now in a peds residency, I would assume there was interest at some point in practicing clinical medicine. I would recommend you finish your residency as it will be VERY difficult to abandon your clinical training now and come back years later. However, a preventitive medicine residency can be completed whenever. Also, as you move forward in your career you may realize that this residency is not the most efficient or best use of your time to acheive your goals. You may find that a funded political or global health fellowship (or something of the like) for physicians is more what you need/want.

 

[GeneRx]

Hi preventivemed123,

I practiced clinically for many years after doing a preventive medicine residency. It is a clinical specialty despite what some people may say. That said, preventive medicine programs vary tremendously in the amount of clinical exposure you get. Where I trained, I did a preventive cardiology clinic every week, as well as rotating in TB clinics, STD clinics and Occupational Health clinics. Your career aspirations sound like exactly what a general preventive medicine and public health residency will prepare you for.

However, I subsequently changed career directions and completed a second residency years later. The only hard part of going back to do additional training was the pay cut (ouch!). If you want to be able to specialize further, it may make sense for you to finish out your pediatrics residency. I know two more years seems like a lot when you are a PGY-1 but it goes by pretty fast (and faster each year... ).

Preventive medicine residencies aren't very competitive overall however, they are all small so if there is a particular one you want to get into then it could be challenging depending on who else has their heart set on the program. In general it is likely not worth taking a year off to do research or volunteering in public health.

Public health needs more good physicians, so I hope you are successful.

I hope this is helpful.

 

[preventivemed123]

thanks for everyone who replied. I'm still not sure exactly how I will proceed. Right now I don't see myself practicing clinically, I don't find myself feeling passionate about clinical care and at this time I don't plan on doing a peds fellowship but I know I will be exposed to more as intern yr goes along. To put it in perspective, I came very close to quitting med school in yr 2 and I was ready to send my application to mph programs and mpa with a healthcare/political policy track. I decided to stick out the last 2 yrs of med school and at minimum do an internship only for fear of regretting quitting and because I figured a medical license would be nice to have as a stepping stone to further/switch career paths. Now that I am a 1/4 through intern yr, nothing has really changed for me. I should have clarified my clinical goals in my original post. I don't see myself practicing in terms of having my own patients or joining a practice, I just wouldn't mind the option of working with special populations as mentioned above, I figured I could do this as a board cert preventive doc with the 1 yr internship. I feel like for career purposes I am in a good place right now. I have minimal student loans and no wife or kids yet so I want to take advantage of my professional freedom. If I don't want to practice clinically, isn't finishing peds residency unnecessary? We'll see, just trying to find a fit for me and right now clinical practice is not it.

 

[sandy_27]

thanks for everyone who replied. I'm still not sure exactly how I will proceed. Right now I don't see myself practicing clinically, I don't find myself feeling passionate about clinical care and at this time I don't plan on doing a peds fellowship but I know I will be exposed to more as intern yr goes along. To put it in perspective, I came very close to quitting med school in yr 2 and I was ready to send my application to mph programs and mpa with a healthcare/political policy track. I decided to stick out the last 2 yrs of med school and at minimum do an internship only for fear of regretting quitting and because I figured a medical license would be nice to have as a stepping stone to further/switch career paths. Now that I am a 1/4 through intern yr, nothing has really changed for me. I should have clarified my clinical goals in my original post. I don't see myself practicing in terms of having my own patients or joining a practice, I just wouldn't mind the option of working with special populations as mentioned above, I figured I could do this as a board cert preventive doc with the 1 yr internship. I feel like for career purposes I am in a good place right now. I have minimal student loans and no wife or kids yet so I want to take advantage of my professional freedom. If I don't want to practice clinically, isn't finishing peds residency unnecessary? We'll see, just trying to find a fit for me and right now clinical practice is not it.

Hi, I'm helping my fiance look into ways for them to transfer from their current peds residency program to a preventive medicine program. I just read the posts that you posted a while back and was wondering whether you transitioned to the prev.med residency or if you followed another path? Unlike you, at this point my fiance does not want to do any clinical work, he wants to work with larger populations, doing research etc. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you

 

[MedGrl@2022]

Hi, I'm helping my fiance look into ways for them to transfer from their current peds residency program to a preventive medicine program. I just read the posts that you posted a while back and was wondering whether you transitioned to the prev.med residency or if you followed another path? Unlike you, at this point my fiance does not want to do any clinical work, he wants to work with larger populations, doing research etc. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you

There is a preventive medicine residency forum now. You may like to ask your question there also: Preventive Medicine and Public/Population Health