3-Year Residency Question

[MarquetteGuy]

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Hi, I was wondering what life is like throughout a 3-year surgical podiatric residency? How many hours per week are you at the hospital, on call, ect... Is it extremely difficult to be married during this time, or to try having children during this time? I guess I'm just wondering what to expect during this type of residency and what it will be like, thanks.

 

[IlizaRob]

Hi, I was wondering what life is like throughout a 3-year surgical podiatric residency? How many hours per week are you at the hospital, on call, ect... Is it extremely difficult to be married during this time, or to try having children during this time? I guess I'm just wondering what to expect during this type of residency and what it will be like, thanks.

It really depends on the program. They vary. I know, not the answer you wanted. Maybe someone who has had experience can give you details on a specific residency they attended.

 

[dpmgrad]

Hi, I was wondering what life is like throughout a 3-year surgical podiatric residency? How many hours per week are you at the hospital, on call, ect... Is it extremely difficult to be married during this time, or to try having children during this time? I guess I'm just wondering what to expect during this type of residency and what it will be like, thanks.

As randersen wrote in his posting above, it will vary tremendously from program to program. In my 3 year Podiatric Surgical residency program, several of my past and current co-residents are married and a few even have kids. They do managed to balance their time between work and family life. In my residency program, majority of the time, I am usually at the hospital around 7 am and usually don't get to leave the hospital before 6 pm. Depending on the rotation and how much work I have to do, I will have to come in earlier and leave later. Currenly, all of the residents take call every 3rd night (mon-thurs) and every 3rd weekend (fri-sun). Fortunately, we take call from home because we are on call for two different hospitals. OF course, when we are on call during the weekend, we will have to come in to do patients rounds, work with an attending during office hours on Saturdays, and scrub any weekend cases with both Podaitric Surgeons and Orthopedic Surgeons.

There are some residency programs where you will have to take podiatry call at the hospital (staying over night). As you learn more about the resident's work hours at various residency programs, you will hear about the "80 hours work rule" for residents. The purpose of this "80 hours work rule" is to limit the amount of hours that a resident may work in the hospital to no more than 80 hours per week. Unfortunately, this rule will NOT apply to most of the podiatry residents in residency programs where they take call from HOME. The 80 hours work rule only applies to the number of hours physically working in the hospital. Hence, if you decide to go to a Podiatry residency program where you take call physically in the hospital (staying over night in the hospital), then the 80 hours work rule will apply in that situation.

My recommendation for you is to spend time at various residency programs that you might be interested in. By spending time at that residency program, it will give you a better idea if you will be able to balance residency and family life. Of course, there are always other factors that may affect the ability to balance the family life with residency. Residency programs that are pretty intense might be difficult for someone to balance out their family life and residency. I personally know a few people who ended up getting divorced while doing their residency training in one of those intense residency program.

 

[MarquetteGuy]

As randersen wrote in his posting above, it will vary tremendously from program to program. In my 3 year Podiatric Surgical residency program, several of my past and current co-residents are married and a few even have kids. They do managed to balance their time between work and family life. In my residency program, majority of the time, I am usually at the hospital around 7 am and usually don't get to leave the hospital before 6 pm. Depending on the rotation and how much work I have to do, I will have to come in earlier and leave later. Currenly, all of the residents take call every 3rd night (mon-thurs) and every 3rd weekend (fri-sun). Fortunately, we take call from home because we are on call for two different hospitals. OF course, when we are on call during the weekend, we will have to come in to do patients rounds, work with an attending during office hours on Saturdays, and scrub any weekend cases with both Podaitric Surgeons and Orthopedic Surgeons.

There are some residency programs where you will have to take podiatry call at the hospital (staying over night). As you learn more about the resident's work hours at various residency programs, you will hear about the "80 hours work rule" for residents. The purpose of this "80 hours work rule" is to limit the amount of hours that a resident may work in the hospital to no more than 80 hours per week. Unfortunately, this rule will NOT apply to most of the podiatry residents in residency programs where they take call from HOME. The 80 hours work rule only applies to the number of hours physically working in the hospital. Hence, if you decide to go to a Podiatry residency program where you take call physically in the hospital (staying over night in the hospital), then the 80 hours work rule will apply in that situation.

My recommendation for you is to spend time at various residency programs that you might be interested in. By spending time at that residency program, it will give you a better idea if you will be able to balance residency and family life. Of course, there are always other factors that may affect the ability to balance the family life with residency. Residency programs that are pretty intense might be difficult for someone to balance out their family life and residency. I personally know a few people who ended up getting divorced while doing their residency training in one of those intense residency program.

Thank you very much for your information, it helps greatly. In your opinion, where would be some of the best 3 year surgical residencies that would allow for a family along with great training? Which residencies would you suggest?

 

[runnersfeet]

I know that the Denver residency is definitely one of the top 3 yr surgical residencies and I know that one of their current residents had a baby the summer before she started the residency. She says it is of course a lot of work, but do-able. The director there is very supportive of family needs - not that you do less work, but I think he just makes it possible to be in that situation. I would imagine that you will find other residencies that are great programs and are supportive of women having families - after all, if you are a good podiatrist, then you will be able to make it work.

Thank you very much for your information, it helps greatly. In your opinion, where would be some of the best 3 year surgical residencies that would allow for a family along with great training? Which residencies would you suggest?

 

[jonwill]

Thank you very much for your information, it helps greatly. In your opinion, where would be some of the best 3 year surgical residencies that would allow for a family along with great training? Which residencies would you suggest?

There are a lot of great 3 year programs out there, most of which would allow for a family.

 

[dpmgrad]

Thank you very much for your information, it helps greatly. In your opinion, where would be some of the best 3 year surgical residencies that would allow for a family along with great training? Which residencies would you suggest?

To be honest with you, that is a very difficult question to answer because it really depends on your family situation. The situation where the spouse does not work and stays at home with the kids is very different from situation where the spouse works and you need to find a baby sitter for the kids. Location of the residency program is also a determining factor. Factors to consider in regards to location of residency program include ability of spouse to find employment, are there family members nearby who can assist with child care and provide support, cost of living, schools for kids, etc.... Another factor that you may want to consider is your family dynamics. Are you one of those parents that need to spend a lot of time with the kids in order to be happy? If so, going to a residency program where they require you to take call at the hospital may not be a good thing for you.

As jonwill mentioned in his posting, there are many good three year podiatric surgical residency programs that enables you to balance both family life and residency. My residency program is very family oriented. In my previous posting, I did mentioned that I personally know of a few residents getting divorced while doing their residency training that is pretty intense. The vice versa is also true. There are several married residents whom are doing well at some of the intense residency training programs. So, I highly recommend you visiting and spending some time at the residency program. If you have any geographical location that you might be interested in doing your residency training, let me know and perhaps I can mention some residency programs for you to check out.

 

[MarquetteGuy]

To be honest with you, that is a very difficult question to answer because it really depends on your family situation. The situation where the spouse does not work and stays at home with the kids is very different from situation where the spouse works and you need to find a baby sitter for the kids. Location of the residency program is also a determining factor. Factors to consider in regards to location of residency program include ability of spouse to find employment, are there family members nearby who can assist with child care and provide support, cost of living, schools for kids, etc.... Another factor that you may want to consider is your family dynamics. Are you one of those parents that need to spend a lot of time with the kids in order to be happy? If so, going to a residency program where they require you to take call at the hospital may not be a good thing for you.

As jonwill mentioned in his posting, there are many good three year podiatric surgical residency programs that enables you to balance both family life and residency. My residency program is very family oriented. In my previous posting, I did mentioned that I personally know of a few residents getting divorced while doing their residency training that is pretty intense. The vice versa is also true. There are several married residents whom are doing well at some of the intense residency training programs. So, I highly recommend you visiting and spending some time at the residency program. If you have any geographical location that you might be interested in doing your residency training, let me know and perhaps I can mention some residency programs for you to check out.

Dear DPMgrad,
Thank you very much for your help with my situation. I will be attending the school in Des Moines next fall, so I am looking at residencies either there, or around Chicago or Wisconsin (I am from WI originally). If you could suggest any well respected residencies in any of these areas, I would greatly appreciate your help. Thanks again.

 

[jonwill]

Dear DPMgrad,
Thank you very much for your help with my situation. I will be attending the school in Des Moines next fall, so I am looking at residencies either there, or around Chicago or Wisconsin (I am from WI originally). If you could suggest any well respected residencies in any of these areas, I would greatly appreciate your help. Thanks again.

I'm a 3rd year at DMU. You will love it here. There are a lot of good residencies in the midwest (Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, etc). The following link is to the AACPM residency directory. Click on the "Directory of Podiatric Residencies"

http://www.aacpm.org/residencies/casprcrip.asp

This should answer some of your questions.

 

[MarquetteGuy]

I'm a 3rd year at DMU. You will love it here. There are a lot of good residencies in the midwest (Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, etc). The following link is to the AACPM residency directory. Click on the "Directory of Podiatric Residencies"

http://www.aacpm.org/residencies/casprcrip.asp

This should answer some of your questions.

Thank you very much for all of your help. All of your information has been extremely helpful. If anyone has anymore information to offer on this topic, I would love to hear it. Thanks again.

 

[dpmgrad]

Dear DPMgrad,
Thank you very much for your help with my situation. I will be attending the school in Des Moines next fall, so I am looking at residencies either there, or around Chicago or Wisconsin (I am from WI originally). If you could suggest any well respected residencies in any of these areas, I would greatly appreciate your help. Thanks again.

Jonwill had posted the link to the current residency programs listing and that would be a good starting part for you. However, you need to recheck that list again when it is closer for you to apply for residency programs because programs are either going to stay open, closed down, or merge with another residency program when they convert over to the new residency program standards. It is anticipated that the number of positions for residency positions to continue to decline slightly over the next few years as the programs convert over to the new residency standards due to the fact some of the programs may not be able to meet the new residency standards or need to merge with another residency program to meet the new standards. By the time you apply for residency, most, if not all, would have converted to the new residency models and the number of positions will have stablized and possibly increase as new programs are being created.

As for programs in the areas that you listed, I have heard some good things about the Gundersen Lutheran program in LaCrosse, WI. Currently, there are only 3 programs in WI and would recommend you to check out all three of them, since all of 3 programs are PM&S-36 programs. In Iowa, I have heard good things about Broadlawns. Of course, you will learn more about the Iowa programs as you attend DMU. In Chicago, there are many good programs. I have heard good things about the DVA Hines / Loyola 3 yrs Podiatric Surgical Residency Program. My TUSPM classmate, who is married, is a graduate of that residency program. Of course, you should talk to some of the 4th year DMU students and your fellow podiatrists in WI / IL area about the different IL residency programs. Good luck with everything.