chief residency vs cardiology research

[samer333]

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Hi everyone, and hope all are doing well!

I was wondering if I can get help from good people here, please.

I just started my PGY-2 and I am interested in cards. I am in a community-affiliated hospital that has no fellowships, unfortunately.

My question is, which one would improve my chances for cards more...doing an extra year as chief or doing one year of clinical cardiology research? Probably doing both is good, but if you had to pick one over the other, which one would it be?

Thank you for reading this, and I hope to hear responses.

Samer

 

[chanx314]

If the chief residency is done at this same hospital that has no fellowship, then it isn't worth that much, and the research is a better call. The real value of a chief residency is the contacts you can make at the hospital who can go to bat for you when you apply for fellowship, research will definitely improve your app more, alot more.

 

[VCMM414]

If the chief residency is done at this same hospital that has no fellowship, then it isn't worth that much, and the research is a better call. The real value of a chief residency is the contacts you can make at the hospital who can go to bat for you when you apply for fellowship, research will definitely improve your app more, alot more.

Spoken by someone who hasn't even started medical school.

OP, just be aware that it is easier said than done whether or not you are invited back for a chief year. Not everyone gets this opportunity, and it IS an honor to be invited, community hospital or not. You just started your PGY2 year, so you likely have not been offered the position yet. I would plan on doing a year of research for now until I know for sure that I have the option of doing a chief year.

 

[daelroy]

Spoken by someone who hasn't even started medical school.

OP, just be aware that it is easier said than done whether or not you are invited back for a chief year. Not everyone gets this opportunity, and it IS an honor to be invited, community hospital or not. You just started your PGY2 year, so you likely have not been offered the position yet. I would plan on doing a year of research for now until I know for sure that I have the option of doing a chief year.

He may not be in medical school but he is correct. A chief year only improves your chances of fellowship at your own program especially if it's a community program. It would be different if you did your chief year at a reputable academic program that other programs could recognize. However, your situation is different and a chief year at your program will mean little to cardiology fellowship director when compared to someone who took a year off to do solid research. To me this isn't even worthy of debate. Do research. The poster above may be a little sensitive since he is probably in your situation and erred by electing to do a chief year instead of research. I hope he didn't do a chief year solely for the purpose of becoming more competitive for a cards residency; that would have been a foolish mistake.

 

[VCMM414]

He may not be in medical school but he is correct. A chief year only improves your chances of fellowship at your own program especially if it's a community program. It would be different if you did your chief year at a reputable academic program that other programs could recognize. However, your situation is different and a chief year at your program will mean little to cardiology fellowship director when compared to someone who took a year off to do solid research. To me this isn't even worthy of debate. Do research. The poster above may be a little sensitive since he is probably in your situation and erred by electing to do a chief year instead of research. I hope he didn't do a chief year solely for the purpose of becoming more competitive for a cards residency; that would have been a foolish mistake.

Quick to judge, are we? Truth is, I am not at that stage of my career yet, and from an underling's perspective the position of chief resident is a pretty coveted one. Also, it is true that I have little experience with community hospitals. At my university-based program (which is reasonably reputable I guess), the chiefs often eventually go on to good if not great fellowships, so in a way I did assume this is the case at all other programs. Over here, research years are great, but to be invited back as chiefs is a VERY positive thing as well.