Didn't match in med peds...

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So I'm one of several who didn't match in med peds. I got lots of good interviews and feedback but then didn't match.

I scrambled into a medicine program I'm happy about but am having doubts if I made the right choice in the medicine vs peds decision.

I am planning to go ahead and do intern year, but then what are my options? Is it possible to do peds PGY2 after a medicine intern year? What if I did all of medicine and then wanted to do peds?

I know I could look for a Med peds spot but there would have to be one open. I know that I could re-enter the match but that sounds really painful right now as I really didn't see not matching coming and went through all the time and expense for nothing.

Any suggestions?

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You wouldn't be able to go straight into PGY-2 peds residency from a PGY-1 medicine intern year. If you wanted to do peds after completing an IM residency, I think you would still have to do all 3 years of a peds residency. Is there a med-peds program at your program? Maybe you could try to get into the med-peds program there next year or try to jump into an open spot there if someone leaves. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure your medicine rotations won't apply towards a categorical peds residency.
 
actually, one of the things that you may be able to do is to complete your residency in IM, and then do a pediatrics residency after that. Often, the pediatrics program will then only have you do 2 years of the residency (sometimes a little more than 2 years, but not all 3 years) in order to complete the residency program. Essentially, it would be like completing a med/peds residency in 5 years instead of 4 (or, if you look at it another way, the same as doing a med/peds residency followed by a chief year). Of course, I would ask your program more specifically about their policy.
 
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actually, one of the things that you may be able to do is to complete your residency in IM, and then do a pediatrics residency after that. Often, the pediatrics program will then only have you do 2 years of the residency (sometimes a little more than 2 years, but not all 3 years) in order to complete the residency program. Essentially, it would be like completing a med/peds residency in 5 years instead of 4 (or, if you look at it another way, the same as doing a med/peds residency followed by a chief year). Of course, I would ask your program more specifically about their policy.

Umm, no.

Med-Peds programs are accredited through the ACGME with its own RRC and have its own guidelines and curriculum to follow. If you want to be board eligible in pediatrics outside of Med-Peds, you will have to fulfill the requirements for the ABP (essentially doing a full peds residency). I can't see the ABP giving people credit for adult medicine. A medicine inpatient month is different than a pediatric inpatient month. NICU is different from MICU. Peds cardiology is different than adult cardiology. And the idea of jumping into a PGY2 peds year without having done any Peds PGY1 year is crazy - do you want to be a senior PEDIATRIC resident without ever having done a peds intern year?

Unless done early in PGY1, it is hard to jump into a Med-Peds residency from a categorical position because of the requirements of Med-Peds - it has to satisfy the requirements of both ABIM and ABP. You need your clinic numbers, rotations, etc.
 
MedPedsFan how do you know that? I mean if I could do medicine then peds and do it in about 5 years, I might stick with what I'm doing. If not I'm going to have to do a lot of soul searching.

No I understand why doing a medicine intern year and then categorical peds doesn't make sense. I'm more trying to see if I could do both in less than 6 years.

No, no med peds. I applied to a number of programs in the scramble but went with my first offer which is great if I am happy not caring for kids. I made a calculated decision to go for it but feel kinda lost as I had really planned on working with children. The scramble is a scramble.
 
Thanks for your info. I'm going to see what I think of categorical medicine and see what happens. If I still want to do peds I'll try to negotiate.

Stupid match. Hope others who didn't match find their way also.
 
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The advice that I got about the possibility of doing a pediatrics residency after a medicine residency came from a PD. There are others who have definitely done it in the past over a 5 year course (with only needing to complete 2 years of peds after 3 years of a medicine residency - see the leadership at UCLA pediatric's department for an example). What I am saying is that it has been done in the past and I am SURE it is program specific (so I would definitely check with your program). Also, I can imagine that it would be more than 5 years to complete both residencies, but that it would likely be less than 6 FULL years to do both.
 
I am sorry to hear that you did not match. For some reason this year med-peds was highly competitive, more so than any of the last 10 years. We were as shocked by that as you were. We had many excellent applicants on our rank list that did not get positions at all and many more that matched into IM, Peds or FP suggesting that they also might not have matched if they did not put these programs as back up. (Hard to say). In any case these candidates were well within range of where we usually go to on our list and so our communications have generally been quite encouraging. I suspect other programs had this issue as well.

If you still want to do a med-peds residency there will certainly be positions opening up in the next year. I would guess 5-10 second year positions will be open. This issue will be finding the opening positions. Obviously the institution where you are doing IM would be the logical place to look first. You may speak with some med-peds program directors around January/February when they may have an idea of who is leaving.

If peds is your true love you can change at any time. You can probably get credit for some of your IM rotations but not a lot. Keep in mind that when you enter a three year residency program in IM you are pegged for three years of GME funding and that number follows you around for the rest of you career. If after one year on IM you chose to enter Peds the last year of residency (your fourth year) will not be fully funded. This will make you a less attractive candidate than someone who will be fully funded such as someone transferring from another categorical peds program. This is true for med-peds too. Once you start IM year 4 of med-peds is not fully funded. If the program really wants you they will take the financial hit.
 
Thanks! Yeah, I'm going to do some thinking. I like my medicine program but had not thought I'd do categorical medicine. Medicine was my first rotation clinical year and not my favorite. I did a year abroad and liked a lot of the medicine and med peds people I worked with there. I liked medicine more as a 4th year. I think I may like what I'm doing as I get into it.

I'd almost applied in peds in addition to med peds for geographical reasons but decided I'd like to do med peds more than being close to home. I want to do global health work and med peds seemed like such a natural way to do what I wanted.

Perhaps I shouldn't have scrambled but I was afraid if I didn't match the first time I wouldn't match better later. I guess I'll have to see how residency goes and what happens.

There isn't a med peds program where I'm headed but my med school pd said she'd tell me if programs came open.
 
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