Board Certified with multiple fellowship trainings?

[RockDoc7]

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Being that EM has a number of different fellowship opportunities that all intrigue me, I wonder if it is beneficial, typical/atypical, or just plain stupid for one to go through multiple fellowships after being BE/BC?

 

[BADMD]

Doesn't make much sense to do multiple fellowships. You can't really work in them all. I can make an argument why critical care-tox or critical care-HBO might support each other, but other than that, it would just be because you want to.

 

[Rendar5]

Well, it depends on what you want to do. If you want to do multiple fellowships for education, great. If you want an "in" to a certain academic environment, then a single fellowship is great. If you want better pay, then no fellowships is just fine.

 

[dotcb]

Each year of fellowship costs you $150K+ in lost income. The EM fellowships generally won't increase your earning.

 

[gman33]

From a job standpoint, the main reason to do a fellowship is to build a research base for an academic career. By doing multiple fellowships, you will be spreading yourself thin and not dedicating enough time to be an expert in a given area. You would be better off just picking one and dedicating time to research in that area.

Most of the fellowships don't really change your day to day job.

Don't worry, by the time you get to this point, you will be so sick of training you probably won't do any fellowship.

 

[Rendar5]

amen, brother

 

[Venko]

Some pairings may go together. For example, pediatrics and ultrasound is a great new field with only a few members. Simulation and almost anything else would be a great pairing that is complimentary. International medicine and almost anything is a useful pairing. So, try and imagine what your career goals are and pick the training that makes sense.

Here are some other pairings that off the top of my head make sense:
critical care - ultrasound
critical care - simulation
critical care - tox (previously mentioned)
pediatrics - critical care
pediatrics - ultrasound
pediatrics - simulation
critical care - simulation
ultrasound - simulation
international medicine - simulation
international medicine - pediatrics
international medicine - wilderness medicine
international medicine - maybe critical care?
research - anything
international medicine - health policy
pediatrics - health policy
critical care - health policy
ultrasound - health policy
ems - health policy
ems - simulation
ems - pediatrics
ems - wilderness medicine
pediatrics - tox
critical care - tox (previously mentioned)
ems - tox
tox - health policy
tox - wilderness medicine maybe?

Im sure there are others, but these are just off the top of my head...

Now to the other people's comments, my experience suggests:
1. People with fellowships are often paid more per clinical hour. This is because there is often protected time involved in advancing the subspecialty within emergency medicine which makes the hourly clinical wage higher but the overall number of hours worked may actually be greater (lots of time put into ultrasound for example). So dont do it for the money as you will generally work harder per dollar. There is lost income associated with the fellowship itself as outlined but there are dividends paid on that investment everday thereafter.

2. The idea that doing a fellowship is only to spark a research niche, I would disagree. I would recommend a fellowship if you are passionate about the subspecialty, and in general wish to become a leader on the ward, in the legal forums, in organized medicine, in education, and research, of that subspecialty. So do things that you wish to continue to immerse yourself into for the rest of your life.

 

[RockDoc7]

Well, it depends on what you want to do. If you want to do multiple fellowships for education, great. If you want an "in" to a certain academic environment, then a single fellowship is great. If you want better pay, then no fellowships is just fine.

My thoughts were geared towards the personal education and growth. I didn't realize that an EM fellowship was geared towards an academic career.

This may or may not be the time and place for the following question, and if I should start a new post I will, but since academic EM was brought up I am curious as to what that entails as an EMP? Googling has given me nil insights to satisfy the aforementioned.

Each year of fellowship costs you $150K+ in lost income. The EM fellowships generally won't increase your earning.

That unfortunate news is what I was fearfully expecting in regards to the lost income. 👎

From a job standpoint, the main reason to do a fellowship is to build a research base for an academic career. By doing multiple fellowships, you will be spreading yourself thin and not dedicating enough time to be an expert in a given area. You would be better off just picking one and dedicating time to research in that area.

Most of the fellowships don't really change your day to day job.

Don't worry, by the time you get to this point, you will be so sick of training you probably won't do any fellowship.

Thanks for the tips of spreading oneself too thin to become a dedicated expert. And I have no doubt that by the time I find myself in your shoes I probably wouldn't want to do any more training either 🙂

Some pairings may go together. For example, pediatrics and ultrasound is a great new field with only a few members. Simulation and almost anything else would be a great pairing that is complimentary. International medicine and almost anything is a useful pairing. So, try and imagine what your career goals are and pick the training that makes sense.

Here are some other pairings that off the top of my head make sense:
critical care - ultrasound
critical care - simulation
critical care - tox (previously mentioned)
pediatrics - critical care
pediatrics - ultrasound
pediatrics - simulation
critical care - simulation
ultrasound - simulation
international medicine - simulation
international medicine - pediatrics
international medicine - wilderness medicine
international medicine - maybe critical care?
research - anything
international medicine - health policy
pediatrics - health policy
critical care - health policy
ultrasound - health policy
ems - health policy
ems - simulation
ems - pediatrics
ems - wilderness medicine
pediatrics - tox
critical care - tox (previously mentioned)
ems - tox
tox - health policy
tox - wilderness medicine maybe?

Im sure there are others, but these are just off the top of my head...

Now to the other people's comments, my experience suggests:
1. People with fellowships are often paid more per clinical hour. This is because there is often protected time involved in advancing the subspecialty within emergency medicine which makes the hourly clinical wage higher but the overall number of hours worked may actually be greater (lots of time put into ultrasound for example). So dont do it for the money as you will generally work harder per dollar. There is lost income associated with the fellowship itself as outlined but there are dividends paid on that investment everday thereafter.

2. The idea that doing a fellowship is only to spark a research niche, I would disagree. I would recommend a fellowship if you are passionate about the subspecialty, and in general wish to become a leader on the ward, in the legal forums, in organized medicine, in education, and research, of that subspecialty. So do things that you wish to continue to immerse yourself into for the rest of your life.

ThymeLess, this is a brilliant post of fellowship pairings; much appreciated. Your 2 commentaries are also well received.

 

[anonymousEM]

IEM-US
IEM-EMS

could also be useful

 

[joeDO2]

what would be great is if 4 year EM programs would give you 1 yr credit towards a fellowship. might make it more palatable.