Choosing between two residencies

[Hollow Knight]

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So let’s say residency A prepares me the best for my chosen field of practice (Family Medicine).

Let’s say residency B isn’t quite as optimal for training as residency A, but they’re super close to home, my family is nearby, and family/that community is very important to me. They’re a good residency, just not as awesome as residency A.

Which residency do I rank first? Just interested in hearing different perspectives. I’m having trouble deciding and I’ve got to start planning fourth year rotations and aways.

 

[MrBigglesworth]

I would go with B: Closer to friends and family. Outpatient medicine becomes relatively routine after awhile. It is important for you to be happy these next 3 years. It would be a different story if you were talking a top academic program with hopes of doing some competitive fellowship. But in your situation, I would stick with friends and family and call it a day. good luck.

 

[operaman]

Residency B hands down. Not only is the support important, but you’ll have 3 years to make connections locally and it may be easier to find a nice job when the time.

Now, if you want to end up living and working closer to where A is, then by all means go there. But sounds like you might want to settle down and practice closer to program B.

 

[mistafab]

I would go to B. life outside of medicine is so important for life inside of medicine. You'll learn more if those boxes are checked anyway.

Plus, around half of people practice where they trained. Thinking in terms of the long game will help you score local gigs and networks faster right out of residency - though it isn't a dealbreaker.

 

[cj_cregg]

As a family doc a year or two into practice - I think it depends what you want to do with your career. If you want to do anything beyond bread and butter outpatient primary care (prenatal care/deliveries, inpatient coverage, more advanced office based procedures, more complex peds patients or newborn care, certain niche interests like addiction medicine, HIV treatment, transgender care, etc.), think twice. Are there alumni of either program who are doing those things? If the answer is yes at program A but no at program B - might be worth a few years away from home to get the training you need to spend the rest of your life doing the job you want. Some places these days just do not prepare you for the "extra" stuff as ACGME requirements for family medicine residency training have been watered down over the years. If you just want to do plain old regular office FM - any decent program in the US is probably adequate.

One other factor to consider (and perhaps you already have) - beware of some programs affiliated with religious hospital systems if you are wanting to do IUDs, nexplanon, birth control, etc.

As for the above comments re: connections/finding a job: connections are really not that important for family medicine jobs (except perhaps in high demand areas - which I do not have experience with, but have not heard anything about this being an issue from friends in larger cities). Most places are THRILLED to hire an FM doc who is excited to be there regardless of where you trained. Personally - I exclusively applied to jobs a few hours away from where I trained with no particular "in"/connection at the health systems/clinics where I interviewed, and I had zero issues getting interviews. Recruiters were excited that I had family connections in the areas where I interviewed, eg I applied to a few places near where I have extended family and spend a lot of time visiting - it sounds like you would benefit from that in the area of program B anyway if that's where you want to work long term. But I also got recruited very hard at places where I had no particular connection whatsoever and just applied because it seemed to be a good fit for me.