Rural track

[phosphorylation414]

Hello,

I am wondering how does being part of the rural track may affect one's fellowship chances or career prospects, if at all?

Is it common for the curriculum to be different even for the first two years? A program I know has the rural track residents take 4 months of FM as opposed to 2 months of IM + 2 months of FM. With this point, I suppose I am worried about getting my residency training recognized in a foreign country (where I MIGHT move to 10-20 years from now).

Any other advantages/disadvantages of such tracks, besides the obvious obligation to train in a more rural area during PGY3/PGY4?

Thank you!

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[comp1]

There are so many more jobs than physicians (or NPs or PAs, whatever) that generally...no. Whatever random thing you do or don't do during training that still results in board eligibility at the end, it's not going to affect your job prospects. Do something you enjoy. I think you probably have an idea of what is involved with rural healthcare. There are fewer immediate healthcare resources and statistically a more conservative, less wealthy and ethnically Caucasian population. Obviously there are massive exceptions (particularly ethnically in the South and around Oklahoma, Nevada, New Mexico Arizona, etc), but you didn't give us a lot of details. In terms of fellowship, what fellowship specifically? C&L isn't going to care, they don't fill the large majority of their slots. CAP fills more of their slots, but still has plenty. I guess if you REALLY wanted to do forensics, you're probably not going to be networking with a lot of big city lawyers during your residency, but could you still do forensics? Absolutely. I'm not getting the issue with the foreign medical practice. What country are you thinking of? You think they will recognize the difference between 2 months of internal medicine or family medicine as practiced in the US? If they trust anything from America, I would think they would only care about your board certification and MD. You're still probably going to have to do some remedial years to learn their system regardless, unless you were thinking Canada.

 

[Stagg737]

Hello,

I am wondering how does being part of the rural track may affect one's fellowship chances or career prospects, if at all?

Is it common for the curriculum to be different even for the first two years? A program I know has the rural track residents take 4 months of FM as opposed to 2 months of IM + 2 months of FM. With this point, I suppose I am worried about getting my residency training recognized in a foreign country (where I MIGHT move to 10-20 years from now).

Any other advantages/disadvantages of such tracks, besides the obvious obligation to train in a more rural area during PGY3/PGY4?

Thank you!

Is this a new requirement or something? As far as I know, FM is not required in psychiatry residencies. It's 2 months of IM + 2 months of neuro...

 

[comp1]

So yes on the 2 months of neuro. However, the other non-psych requirement is MUCH broader according to the ACGME. The written requirement is 4 months in a setting that provides "comprehensive medical care." That could be interpreted as family medicine, inpatient IM, outpatient IM, an ED, etc. Of course most programs try to cram as many inpatient IM months in as possible (whether educational or not) because those are the most work heavy and profitable to the program. That may be where the misconception comes from. My point is that if we don't grasp the range as Americans...another country certainly isn't going to take the time to investigate minor variations.