break between residency and fellowship

[prlester]

is it possible to take an indefinite break between residency in fellowship. i am in med school now but am weary about my age when i finish residency so would like to know if it is a good idea to take a break for four years or so after residency but before fellowship.
right now i am interested in an internal medicine internship and want to maybe do a fellowship in allergy, pain. thank you

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[Amy]

Of course you can take a break between residency and fellowship. Many people do (usually because they don't know they want to do one until they're stuck in primary care for a couple years). Just be prepared to take a pay cut.

 

[prlester]

Of course you can take a break between residency and fellowship. Many people do (usually because they don't know they want to do one until they're stuck in primary care for a couple years). Just be prepared to take a pay cut.

yeah, but would i be at a disadvantage when i applied? what do you mean by a paycut? is primary care really as bad as they say?
thanks for your reply

 

[phllystyl]

yeah, but would i be at a disadvantage when i applied? what do you mean by a paycut? is primary care really as bad as they say?
thanks for your reply

No, what the poster meant was that after residency you will start earning a real salary. Then, when you enter your fellowship, you will be paid at a residency-type rate until you complete it.

 

[adilasad]

If you know what you want to do after residency/internship then I would not wait and I would recommend going straight through and getting done. Programs usually tend to take there own for further subspecialized training and its hareder to get recs later after leaving the acedemic scene.

is it possible to take an indefinite break between residency in fellowship. i am in med school now but am weary about my age when i finish residency so would like to know if it is a good idea to take a break for four years or so after residency but before fellowship.
right now i am interested in an internal medicine internship and want to maybe do a fellowship in allergy, pain. thank you

 

[Winged Scapula]

is it possible to take an indefinite break between residency in fellowship. i am in med school now but am weary about my age when i finish residency so would like to know if it is a good idea to take a break for four years or so after residency but before fellowship.
right now i am interested in an internal medicine internship and want to maybe do a fellowship in allergy, pain. thank you

Well, if you fear being "weary" then it might make sense to delay fellowship in order to get some (relative) rest.

However, if you mean you are "wary" about your age...well, you'll be the same age regardless of whether or not you do a fellowship, so why not go right through? After all, you'll only be 4 or so years older when you start a fellowship (and perhaps really weary...or wary).

There are lots of people who do decide to do fellowships later on...but its generally because they had increased exposure to a certain part of their field that they wished to be further trained in or realized the income potential that 1 or more years in training might generate.

We had a local general surgeon who came back to do a Radiology RESIDENCY (yep, that's right - he started out at the bottom) when he discovered that he wasn't happy with his work and then finished up with an Interventional Radiology fellowship. He'd been in practice a number of years and the pay cut from > $200K per year to < $40 (his first few years to around $50 his final years) was tough...but he was happier than he'd ever been. Just a little anecdote, not meant to convince people its ok to wait.