Pennsylvania Hospital

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blueey

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Hi there

Does anyone of you know about this program? This is a community program ( university affiliated) .

Well, reading the review on scutwork it looked OK to me except the last line which says there is no fellowships, which puts me off really.

Does anyone know If Uni affliated community program or pure community program has more fellowship opportunities. I applied to University programs and Uni affiliated ones only.

BTW I am after some less competitive area like Rheumatology.. But I need to know I am on the right track.

Thanks so much.

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Many community programs don't have fellowship programs; these are generally (but not always) the realm of university-based programs.

Not sure why not having fellows around would be a problem, as long as the programs you're interested in are able to successfully place people into fellowships of their choice. From a surgical standpoint, fellows "steal" cases so aren't much fun to have around! ;)

Anyway, I don't believe Rheum is a very competitive IM specialty, so not having fellowships at your primary residency shouldn't be a problem, but will defer to my Medicine colleagues for final word on this issue.
 
Thanks for your input.

Do you mean the hospital will try and match with some fellowship deal. I am really not clear about how this whole fellowship selection thing works. And I am trying to get this misconception out of my head that Community Programs don't mean there won't be any Fellowship opportunities.
 
I'm not sure what you are referring to with the phrase, "Do you mean the hospital will try and match with some fellowship deal?"

Let's start at the beginning.

Fellowships are specialized training generally completed after the basic core residency program. For example, you would complete a Rheumatology fellowship AFTER completing an IM residency. Someone who wants to be a Cardiothoracic Surgeon would complete a CT fellowship after doing a General Surgery residency.

All types of programs can offer fellowships if they (the hospital) offers enough patient exposure/cases in that particular specialty for the fellow to get the appropriate specialty. A tiny rural hospital is not likely to get enough traffic to support a Plastic Surgery fellowship, or many others, for example.

I believe your confusion lies in the common belief that matching into a fellowship, especially relatively competitive ones (which Rheum is not), is more difficult from a community program rather than a university-based residency program. This can be true. However, there are smaller community programs, and many well-respected community programs which match people all the time into fellowships, even competitive ones. For example, the local community general surgery residency just had a Chief match into Surgical Oncology, a tough match for any program. In general, your chances are better at getting a fellowship from a well-known university program, but this should not be the be all and end all in your selection process as you can match into fellowships from all types of programs - ask about fellowship matches when you interview for residency.

Programs do not "try and match some fellowship deal" - getting a fellowship spot is very similar to getting into medical school and residency. It requires an application, transcripts, letters of rec, and an interview. While your residency program will either support or derogate your application, it is YOU who goes through the process - residency programs do not make deals with fellowship programs. If the hospital at which you do your core residency has a fellowship in the specialty you desire, there may be more or less paperwork, hardship in getting a position, but again, no guarantees.

Hope this helps.
 
Some hospitals, community as well as University hospitals have various fellowships in house, that would mean that graduating residents have the potential option of remaining where they are to complete their fellowship rather than look elsewhere.This is a help in very competitive fields such as Cardiology and GI but will not make much of a difference in Rheum.This sub specialty has a very limited number of training programs,in the whole state of Pennsylvania there are only 7 or 8 fellowship programs in Rheum.however the field is fairly low demand and should not be difficult to get by someone who has completed IM at a good community program.The lack of in house fellowships should not be a problem for you.
 
Thanks to both of you for clearing a few delusional ideas I had about Community Programs, I applied to about 45 programs just on the basis of if they are University Programs or not and luckily added another 6-8 Uni affiliated ones later. And guess what, it is these later additions that seem to be responding to me for interviews.

Kimberly, yes, what I thought was Community Programs that have few or no fellowships will probably go ahead and match their PGY3 residents with relevant fellowship programs, but now I know residents need to keep their eyes and ears open and look for these opportunities.

Finally, Could anybody tell me if this Pennsylvania Hospital - Uni affiliated one- 800 Spruce street, PA is close to CSA exam centre. Because I am doing both CSA and the interview on consecutive days, so wondering if this hospital is within walking distance, if so I could extend my stay in Tracy Devine Hotel (CSA) instead of booking another one.
 
Profit, Thanks for that info. Now I know it is managable distance..
 
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