Residency

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Current 4th year, pretty much done with interviews, and trying to go over my rank list with my wife. I heard all throughout interview/audition season “every program is going to give you the same training so just find people you click with.” With you guys having experience in the field post-residency and being on the other side, is this true? Because on my end, it definitely seems like some of the programs had better training than others with third year residents that seemed way more confident/prepared, but maybe this is just me being naïve. I wanted to hear your guys thoughts/advice/opinions.

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[cabinbuilder]

A lot of residency comes down to what you want to learn and how you see yourself practicing. Are there enough elective rotations for you do go do the derm, podiatry, hospitalist, extra ER, Ophtho rotations? I wanted to do rural medicine so I did rotations where I learned to do procedures in office since I didn't expect to work where there were specialists available. I did extra ER. I wanted to know what eye injuries were ok to wait and what was emergent, etc. I did an ortho rotation to learn how to do injections, splinting and casting - the OR didn't help me. I did clinic only. Same with podiatry - what can I do in the office?

 

[SLC]

Dude, you’re a 4th year? When did we have lunch? You were just applying to med school then…feels like just the other day.

I always say, go with your gut. If you think a place is a better fit, it’s because it probably is. For educational reasons or otherwise.

 

[FrustratedFamDoc]

If you sense tension among residents with personalities that clash... next. The current 1st years will be your boss next year. You'll be miserable. Do they seem miserable? They will always tell you how great things are. Did you have a place where you felt that you are completely different than everyone there? Not good. Preserving your sanity is up there with the quality of training, especially if the workload is awful. "I think I can make this work" is always the wrong answer unless you just have no other choice. Best thing you can do is hunt out a first year's number or email and contact them outside. "listen dude/dudette, what's the real vibe on this place? Would you do it again if you could?"

Taylor training to the core things that we do, especially mental health.

 

[MedicineZ0Z]

Current 4th year, pretty much done with interviews, and trying to go over my rank list with my wife. I heard all throughout interview/audition season “every program is going to give you the same training so just find people you click with.” With you guys having experience in the field post-residency and being on the other side, is this true? Because on my end, it definitely seems like some of the programs had better training than others with third year residents that seemed way more confident/prepared, but maybe this is just me being naïve. I wanted to hear your guys thoughts/advice/opinions.

The bolded is completely untrue. Some programs are actually quite poor and will provide subpar training. And some are excellent. Many others are middle ground with lots of pros and cons. But the number of lower quality programs is fairly significant and continues to climb.