AOA Anesthesia Residencies

[FutureHuskerDoc]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I've been following this forum for a while now and as a second year at a DO school who is interested in Anesthesia (pretty sure thats what I wanna do), its great to hear what programs are DO friendly and which ones arent, etc etc etc. But I dont think I've ever heard anything about DO Anesthesia Residencies. Its always about how to make a DO a better candidate for an allopathic residency. Are DO residencies in Anesthesia that bad? I'm just curious. Any info is welcome!

 

[Ketamininus]

I've been following this forum for a while now and as a second year at a DO school who is interested in Anesthesia (pretty sure thats what I wanna do), its great to hear what programs are DO friendly and which ones arent, etc etc etc. But I dont think I've ever heard anything about DO Anesthesia Residencies. Its always about how to make a DO a better candidate for an allopathic residency. Are DO residencies in Anesthesia that bad? I'm just curious. Any info is welcome!

D.O. residencies are not that bad, but they are definitely a different animal. They tend to be weak in the didactics compared to the allopathic residencies in big academic centers, they need to have good affiliations for subspecialty rotations (mine in neuroanesthesia has been lacking), and really are "working" residencies. You learn by doing a whole sh@t-pile of cases. I think the recommendation is for CA-1's to do about 600-800 cases for the year. I haven't finished doing all the numbers on my abacus, but I believe that I easily cracked 1000 cases as a CA-1.

You can still be a good resident and a good anesthesiologist for sure, but it's not at all spoon-fed to you. Some of it you really have to go out and do on your own, especially the book-work.

- Ket

 

[FutureHuskerDoc]

I understand the need for affiliations for subspecialties. Say you just end up wanting to do general. Does it matter that much where you did you residency? A neurologist I shadowed this summer made it sound like if you dont go to a big name for residency, you might as well go pick cherries with the migrant workers. Is it like that in anesthesia???

Thanks for your reply by the way.

 

[amyl]

i looked briefly into osteopathic residencies, for me the killer was no fellowships in the osteopathic world. in general I have been given the advice to do an allopathic residency. i don't think you need a name to get a job...in these forums people have said five years out of residency it won't matter where you did your residency...but i think they meant allopathic residencies. I have heard that the training at osteopathic programs is just not as good as allopathic residencies.

 

[militarymd]

You do a DO residency and you won't be eligible to sit for the ABMS boards.....

If you're ok with that, then no problems.

 

[mcfreak]

I understand the need for affiliations for subspecialties. Say you just end up wanting to do general. Does it matter that much where you did you residency? A neurologist I shadowed this summer made it sound like if you dont go to a big name for residency, you might as well go pick cherries with the migrant workers. Is it like that in anesthesia???

Thanks for your reply by the way.

In general, you do not need to go to a big name residency. You will still get a good paying job.

With that said, I did a rotation at a DO residency in southern California, and I do not want to ever go there again. The didactics were poor, and most of the attendings seemed uninterested in teaching. It might be different at other locations.

I like being a DO, and I like my DO education, but for anesthesia, I'm passing on the DO match

 

[Ketamininus]

In general, you do not need to go to a big name residency. You will still get a good paying job.

With that said, I did a rotation at a DO residency in southern California, and I do not want to ever go there again. The didactics were poor, and most of the attendings seemed uninterested in teaching. It might be different at other locations.

I like being a DO, and I like my DO education, but for anesthesia, I'm passing on the DO match

There's only one D.O. anesthesia residency in Southern CA...which is the Riverside one, and it is indeed horrible. Lots of issues that I won't delve into here.

The one truism about D.O. anesthesia residencies are that the didactics are either quite poor or just below average. Most of these programs, mine included, exist at community hospitals not at big academic centers. Therefore, they rely on outside affiliations to supplement the diversity of cases and their ability to provide some level of didactic learning. If you don't have someone at these programs who's purely dedicated to maintaining a good didactic schedule and topics, it's not going to be good by itself. One of the things I'm working on at my residency is ways to improve the didactics...and there are possible solutions. It's just going to take time, and those programs may never live up to the quality of didactics at comparable academic centers close by.

My training is pretty good, and I'll stack up my abilities when I'm done with residency against anyone from a MD anesthesia residency. That said, I'm gonna have to work my arse off to make up for the didactic element when it comes to my boards. No one's failed them yet from my residency, so I know that I can pass them as well. I just might not set any land-speed records with my certification board scores. Then again, passing is all I really need with that anyway.

- Ket