chief resident

[squamous_eddie]

Is it considered a faux pas in most residency programs to self-promote and tell the program director that you want to be considered for chief resident? Would they not take someone who does this (I heard from one source that asking to be chief resident tells them not to pick you). Different residency programs (and different specialties) may have a different view on this, so I would like to get the full range of responses. Thanks in advance.

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[LoaLoa]

In my program, the chief was elected by the residents. The program director did reserve the right to step in if the results of the election were unacceptable to the faculty. Being chief was considered an honor and is a gold star for one’s resume, so openly gunning for it was not viewed favorably by anyone. Those who were interested made it known in a roundabout way by volunteering for administrative activities and possibly by doing some benign, under the radar, low-grade political campaigning. If at any point you were perceived as a douchebag, it hurt your chances.

 

[pianoguy05]

Haha...I never undestood why anyone would take the job of chief resident. Ours were useless and didn't even do the responsibilities that they were supposed to do...they were chosen by the PDs at my program. Essentially being a complaint inbox with zero ability to make decisions or develop solutions, and for what? A line on your resume that will be buried? I assure you, no one has ever said "This guy was a chief resident, so we need to hire him."

Spend your senior years getting ready for boards and actually learning histopathology...much more useful to your longterm plans.

 

[LADoc00]

there is zero point in my estimate to being the chief resident unless you want to game the time off schedule...

 

[pathslides]

Being chief in my path program was so worthless. You got bombarded with emails and scheduling crap. In pathology, I don't think being a chief resident helps get a job like it does in other specialties.

 

[chooks]

In contrast to other posts, I found the chief resident year to be extremely valuable. In many ways we were treated like junior faculty (including going to the departmental faculty meetings/retreats) which was very interesting to see. I also received more exposure to some of the hospital politics, internal committee mechanisms, and the political maneuvering of fellow residents.

Residencies in general (I feel, maybe am wrong) do not in general do a good job of exposing residents to things like hospital and departmental politics. I got a taste of that with my chief year, and it has been extremely useful in the job now (which is way more political than I would have ever though).

As to deciding on chiefs - my program you could announce your candidacy, and then residents voted for whom they wanted. It is mostly advisory though - PD had the ultimate choice. No penalty for throwing your name in the hat.

 

[pathspouse88]

Being chief in my path program was so worthless. You got bombarded with emails and scheduling crap. In pathology, I don't think being a chief resident helps get a job like it does in other specialties.

Seconded, my spouse is currently chief resident and he spends most of the day arranging grossing coverage and juggling resident schedules. Boards are coming up in May, and his co-residents are getting lots of study time in while at work. He feels his skills are behind his peers as he is often pulled out of sign-out to deal with administrative busywork.

 

[deleted314957]

Skip that job!

 

[Alteran]

Haha...I never undestood why anyone would take the job of chief resident. Ours were useless and didn't even do the responsibilities that they were supposed to do...they were chosen by the PDs at my program. Essentially being a complaint inbox with zero ability to make decisions or develop solutions, and for what? A line on your resume that will be buried? I assure you, no one has ever said "This guy was a chief resident, so we need to hire him."

Spend your senior years getting ready for boards and actually learning histopathology...much more useful to your longterm plans.

This was also my experience as chief. You're between a rock and a hard place with no escape for a year.

My responsibilities were:

• Make a schedule that isn't adhered to.
• Find solutions to mundane problems that aren't implemented because the faculty are in denial about the serious problems.
• Make a call schedule that everyone will find something wrong with and be overridden by the faculty anyway.
• Be the warm body to fill a service gap whenever something unexpected happens because God forbid that an attending should have to sign out a case by themselves or the PA actually do grossing.

It wasn't a worthwhile experience, for me. But everyplace is different I suppose.

 

[pathspouse88]

God forbid that an attending should have to sign out a case by themselves or the PA actually do grossing.

Gets even more fun when your program does ~35,000 surg specimens per year with no PA.

 

[Euchromatin]

Ours was also determined by popular vote of the residents with the PD able to veto if necessary. I believe the veto was primarily to prevent someone who was felt to be too far behind academically from taking on additional responsibilities instead of studying/working more. Two twists to our system, both of which I thought were good ideas:
We usually had 2 co-chief residents. If done poorly, having 2 could be pointless, but we tried to do a reasonable job of dividing duties between them in a fairly logical/organized fashion so the overall responsibility was a bit less onerous and only one person would consistently be the "go-to" for any given issue/topic.
Chief resident(s) served during 3rd year. This was great because it did not interfere with board study time of 4th years and it was early enough that you could put it on your CV when applying to fellowships, which most people do during 3rd year. I'm not sure how much fellowship directors care about it, but, I would think it could theoretically be a bit more significant on the CV at that earlier point in one's career vs. when applying for actual jobs.

I'll second the opinion of many others that it is probably more of a pain in the butt than it is a valuable/useful experience for most, but YMMV. If I remember correctly, the only meetings our chiefs had to attend that the rest of the residents were not invited to were resident selection committee (for discussion/ranking of applicants), where they were expected primarily just to share the opinions of the residents as a whole. Serving at/Attending meetings of various hospital/professional society/resident committees was not limited to or necessarily associated with being chief resident in our program.

 

[AZpath]

I agree with Chooks. It was a valuable experience.
I don't know if it helped me get my first job but it helped me learn leadership skills.

 

[LoaLoa]

It is definitely a pain in the ass to be chief, but I found it to be valuable experience. For me personally, no question it helped me get a job and to perform better at my non-signout duties.

 

[octopusprime]

So the moral of the story is it depends on how your institution values the Chief Resident...if it grants said person additional sign-out responsibilities, access to faculty meetings and a few perks, may be worth it. If it mainly detracts from your time to study/board review and serves as a shoulder to cry/complain on for the rest of the residents, pass. For me it was the latter, and no way I would have wanted it...and had no bearing on my PP job prospects.

 

[SEpathguy]

I was chief - didn't want it but no good way to say no without making people mad. I agree it took away a lot of time I would have been studying for boards, but I passed, and I'd bet most people who end up being chief pass. I don't think it helps you get a job. I do think it helps you learn how to deal with trouble makers / a-holes - this is not a worthless skill to have

 

[Autopsy101]

Honestly, I have seen people do the chief resident role well (grow as a leader, increase managerial skills, multitasking) and poorly (game the call schedule, give their friends less grossing, not do required duties on time). Just like any other aspect of residency, you get out of it what you put into it. Instead of saying you want to be chief resident just outright (seems a little presumptuous/arrogant), consider discussing that you hope to gain leadership skills and managerial opportunities during residency and find out how their program can meet your needs. The person interviewing may volunteer that being the chief resident would fill that gap - then it was their idea, not yours

 

[Korzh]

do you guys get any benefits from your programs for being chiefs?

 

[icpshootyz]

do you guys get any benefits from your programs for being chiefs?

I think I got maybe an extra $1000 for the year or something. Plus "chief resident time" which I could schedule for administrative duties (or board prep).