Advice on 4th year schedule regarding subI

[dca_55]

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Not sure if anyone can shed some light/advice...I'm currently debating between psych and family med for residency...but leaning heavily towards psychiatry. That said, I'm planning my 4th year schedule and we're required to do a sub-I in either family medicine or internal medicine. I'd like to do the family med sub-I, but my advisor in psych suggested against this and to do the internal medicine sub-I because in intern year you do "internal med" rotations not "family med" rotations. He also felt the internal med sub-I would be fine if I ultimately decided to apply for family med.

I'm kinda tempted to go against his suggestion because in some ways I think the family med subI will be more useful by 1) helping me be really sure I'm choosing correctly between family med and psych and 2) I thought the family med inpatient team did a lot more in discussing and evaluating psycho-social factors and comorbid psych illness than the internal med team did

Any 4th years or residents that can throw their two cents about this would be greatly appreciated!

 

[masterofmonkeys]

MS4 here. Having an internal medicine letter is good. And probbaly does carry more weight than a family medicine letter, even if your family med experience was inpatient (silly IMO).

If you've already got a good source for an IM letter, I'd say do the FM SubI. FM and psych are what you're choosing between so it makes more snese to get more exposure to the field.

 

[Thorazine]

ms4 also. i applied with all psych letters. i never got asked about my lack of medicine letters.

do FM, since that is what you are interested in. if your FM rotation is inpatient, the experience you get will be like IM anyway, maybe with less acute cases.
i did a medicine sub-i, but in january so it wasnt relevant for my residency application.

 

[mere105]

MS4 too. Also just wanted to mention that some psych programs (such as UNC and Pitt) let you have the option of fulfilling your intern year medicine requirements with inpatient family med.

 

[HCE]

MS4 here. Having an internal medicine letter is good. And probbaly does carry more weight than a family medicine letter, even if your family med experience was inpatient (silly IMO).

If you've already got a good source for an IM letter, I'd say do the FM SubI. FM and psych are what you're choosing between so it makes more snese to get more exposure to the field.

MoM is dead on correct. Have an IM letter in your pocket, and do the FM SubI. Deciding which specialty you will practice the rest of your life is important.

 

[chameleonknight]

My vote would be for the IM rotation as well. FM probably isn't 'bad' but showing a strong background in medicine is helpful for psych. And don't forget the majority of your work as a family doc would be based on internal medicine!

 

[2tall]

but my advisor in psych suggested against this and to do the internal medicine sub-I because in intern year you do "internal med" rotations not "family med" rotations. He also felt the internal med sub-I would be fine if I ultimately decided to apply for family med.

If you're trying to rule out fammed, then I think a fammed sub-i would be the way to go. --particularly if the fammed month gives you a good variety of peds, inpt med, obgyn, surg, etc--

The folks above seem to place more value on the IM LOR for psych. I won't disagree. It all depends on the purpose of the month: a good letter vs decision-making.

I had 2 psych LORs and 1 fammed (from a fammed program director where I rotated) and I am doing my "sub-I" in family medicine right now.