Accelerated Track Interview Prep

[Romans5verse8]

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Hello FM people! I am applying for a few accelerated 3+3 Family Medicine tracks this cycle, where I can complete med school in three years and be guaranteed a match at that institution's family medicine residency upon acceptance, should I choose to rank the program when applying for residencies. Here is a website with an overview of the programs that offer this type of track.

Consortium of Accelerated Medical Pathway Programs

www.acceleratedmdpathways.org

I am currently prepping for interviews and was wondering if the residents/attendings here have any insight on how I should approach this type of interview differently, seeing how I am potentially "matching" at the home program and how the residency faculty & current residents are much more involved than in other traditional track interviews. I have some thoughts on what type of questions to ask, including the focus of the FM training during residency, the relationship between the FM and other departments at opposed institutions, procedural opportunities, the culture around coverage for co-residents, etc.

Are there any other questions y'all would be sure to bring up at this point? I have interests in "full-spectrum" FM at this point, and I want to receive the most robust training possible to be equipped for the most challenging practice areas/patient populations possible, even if I do decide to limit my practice later on.

Thanks in advance.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

Hello FM people! I am applying for a few accelerated 3+3 Family Medicine tracks this cycle, where I can complete med school in three years and be guaranteed a match at that institution's family medicine residency upon acceptance, should I choose to rank the program when applying for residencies. Here is a website with an overview of the programs that offer this type of track.

Consortium of Accelerated Medical Pathway Programs

www.acceleratedmdpathways.org

I am currently prepping for interviews and was wondering if the residents/attendings here have any insight on how I should approach this type of interview differently, seeing how I am potentially "matching" at the home program and how the residency faculty & current residents are much more involved than in other traditional track interviews. I have some thoughts on what type of questions to ask, including the focus of the FM training during residency, the relationship between the FM and other departments at opposed institutions, procedural opportunities, the culture around coverage for co-residents, etc.

Are there any other questions y'all would be sure to bring up at this point? I have interests in "full-spectrum" FM at this point, and I want to receive the most robust training possible to be equipped for the most challenging practice areas/patient populations possible, even if I do decide to limit my practice later on.

Thanks in advance.

I'll start by saying that while I'm aware of such programs I don't have any experience in them so take my advice with a huge grain of salt.

It seems logical to me that a key thing here would be why you want to lock yourself into a specialty before you even start medical school - especially a specialty that academic medicine doesn't really think very highly of (despite what they say publicly). That's in addition to why you want to be a doctor to begin with. So kinda med school and residency interviews with the addition of "are you sure you might not want to change you mind in 2 years?".

 

[Romans5verse8]

@VA Hopeful Dr Thank you! I imagine they will drill down on that, so I will be sure to prepare and answer it well. Any thoughts on the kinds of questions I should be asking?

especially a specialty that academic medicine doesn't really think very highly of (despite what they say publicly)

I have sensed/seen this as well - is it just because FM doesn't generate research grant dollars and generally does not involve tech innovation? It was disheartening finding out one place I interviewed at doesn't even have a home FM program. I have wondered previously whether it was because they see the "writing on the wall" for the generalist specialty in the era of specialization.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

@VA Hopeful Dr Thank you! I imagine they will drill down on that, so I will be sure to prepare and answer it well. Any thoughts on the kinds of questions I should be asking?


I have sensed/seen this as well - is it just because FM doesn't generate research grant dollars and generally does not involve tech innovation? It was disheartening finding out one place I interviewed at doesn't even have a home FM program. I have wondered previously whether it was because they see the "writing on the wall" for the generalist specialty in the era of specialization.

Kind of. This type of thinking has been going on for at least the 20 years I've been in medicine. I'm told it was a thing in the 90s as well. Primary care jobs have only gotten better pretty much consistently for all this time.

I also think its a misalignment of priorities. We're not the experts in any particular field, so each of those fields I'm sure has lots of stories about "those dumb FPs missing X". Its also not very sexy work. I don't fix things with surgery, cure cancer with chemo/radiation, save lives with stents, resuscitate dying people in the ED/ICU. Instead I work to keep those things from happening or find them early enough for the specialists to fix them. Its incredibly important, but not exciting for most people.

And money is always an issue. Part of that is incorrect information. Most of us in primary care make way more than what people think. I've broken 400k for the last 5 years. I'm not even in the top 10 for my system. That said, specialists do make more than us. Frequently a whole lot more. I have a cousin who is a hand surgeon. I'd be shocked if he's not breaking a million a year. Same with the urologist down the street. The trade off is that my residency was about half the length of theirs. My hours are way better. In terms of time in the office, I'm at about 31 hours per week. Call is phone only and goes through a nurse triage line first. I haven't set foot in a hospital professionally since residency. So I don't begrudge them the extra money. My work/life balance is much better, and I'll gladly take a pay cut to achieve that.