ENT Fellowships and Most Commons...

[hydro5]

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Hi Everyone,

3rd year medical student here with a few questions for the ENT people:

1. Do most ENT surgeons specialize in one field or do general ENT surgeons exist? Where do you think the trend is going?

2. What kind of fellowhips are available, and do most complete fellowships if they plan on doing mostly general ENT, just to have?

3. Bread and butter procedures, what would you say are the most common?

4. And of course, what would you say is the worst thing about ENT surgery? (Gotta know to make a decision!)

Thanks for all your help in advance!

(PS- you may see a similar post in another forum, just want to compare some things I have on the table!)

 

[Pir8DeacDoc]

Hi Everyone,

3rd year medical student here with a few questions for the ENT people:

1. Do most ENT surgeons specialize in one field or do general ENT surgeons exist? Where do you think the trend is going?

2. What kind of fellowhips are available, and do most complete fellowships if they plan on doing mostly general ENT, just to have?

3. Bread and butter procedures, what would you say are the most common?

4. And of course, what would you say is the worst thing about ENT surgery? (Gotta know to make a decision!)

Thanks for all your help in advance!

(PS- you may see a similar post in another forum, just want to compare some things I have on the table!)

There are many "general" ENT surgeons in practice. They tend to be in private practice, though a fellowship trained surgeon could certainly be in private practive too. I have heard talk of shortening our residency in the future, those who want to do bread and butter stuff take the shorter route, those who want to do more specialized stuff, go into that sooner, without bogging down in the rest of the speciality. For now, plenty of folks do general ENT.

Available fellowships (I'll likely leave out one)
- Head and Neck, Laryngology, Rhinology, Otology-Skull Base, Pediatrics, Facial Plastics.
- Most don't complete a fellowship, "just to have". You complete an extra year of training because you are interested and want to focus on that area. Most general ENT's dont have fellowship training.

Most common procedures-- ear tubes, tonsillectomy +/- adenoidectomy, sinus surgery, lumps and bumps/biopsies.

I like all the areas of our speciality for different reasons. It doesn't mean I'll practice all parts of it when I get out, but there are good things about each part of the field. Can't really think of anything negative to be honest.

 

[Pir8DeacDoc]

I just thought of something negative. I absolutely hate taking care of epistaxis. A good percentage if the time it's really easy and responds well to my typical management strategy. But the pesky ones are SUPER pesky, and they always re-bleed or present for care in the middle of the night. Uggh

 

[THE armada]

I have heard talk of shortening our residency in the future,

This is the first I have heard of this. What are everyone's thoughts on the current length of residency training? (Sorry for potentially hijacking the thread)

 

[resxn]

This is the first I have heard of this. What are everyone's thoughts on the current length of residency training? (Sorry for potentially hijacking the thread)

From what I've heard, Kennedy is leading the call for this along with several academicians. I think it's garbage. What a way to lower our specialty. What a way to try and raise the bar for the academic centers to be the focal point of ENT care. IMHO, academic centers are concerned that the level of skill now being provided to the general ENT is so good, that they are losing their cases to the community and they want to change it so that they get a larger referral. It goes without saying that the goal of shortening the residency for a general ENT and making it longer for a subspecialist is to drive more business to tertiary care centers. It fragments our specialty, it doesn't unify it. And in my opinion, the entire problem with the medical community and why we take it in the rear end on things like health reform is because we are already so divided.

I'm just glad I got a real residency in and not some jacked up version of something where you can call yourself an ENT, but can't do sinus surgery or remove a thyroid or do an MDL or whatever.

 

[Fah-Q]

This is the first I have heard of this. What are everyone's thoughts on the current length of residency training? (Sorry for potentially hijacking the thread)

There has been talk of shortening the ENT residency since at least 2004. I've never seen an actual proposal but from the rumors it sounds like they want our specialty to adopt the ophthalmology model. It would be a 3 year program for a general ENT residency. It would be expected that the vast majority of residents would then go on to a fellowship training program. The ophthalmology model is flawed in my opinion because a general ophthalmologist is not really qualified to do much of anything and they can't compete with the throngs of fellowship-trained subspecialists that set up shop next door. The same thing would happen with ENT. It would definitely devalue the ENT residency and virtually eliminate the general otolaryngologist.

 

[FutrrENT]

There are many "general" ENT surgeons in practice. They tend to be in private practice, though a fellowship trained surgeon could certainly be in private practive too. I have heard talk of shortening our residency in the future, those who want to do bread and butter stuff take the shorter route, those who want to do more specialized stuff, go into that sooner, without bogging down in the rest of the speciality. For now, plenty of folks do general ENT.

Available fellowships (I'll likely leave out one)
- Head and Neck, Laryngology, Rhinology, Otology-Skull Base, Pediatrics, Facial Plastics.
- Most don't complete a fellowship, "just to have". You complete an extra year of training because you are interested and want to focus on that area. Most general ENT's dont have fellowship training.

Most common procedures-- ear tubes, tonsillectomy +/- adenoidectomy, sinus surgery, lumps and bumps/biopsies.

I like all the areas of our speciality for different reasons. It doesn't mean I'll practice all parts of it when I get out, but there are good things about each part of the field. Can't really think of anything negative to be honest.

I’ve heard that talk about shortening the general ENT residency, and I think it’s a very bad idea. First, we are not just a surgical specialty, we’re a medical specialty as well. That in itself commands a lengthier residency. Second, we work in what is undoubtedly the most complex area of the body. The newly-graduated ENT is a full-fledged surgeon who, while not fully-trained in any particular area of ENT, is certainly capable of managing most conditions that fall within the scope of ENT. By the time I graduate, I suspect that there won’t be a hell of a lot of things that I unconditionally cannot do. To take our residency and cut it down to four years just to make it easier for someone to become an “ENT” and do the most simple procedures within our specialty will ultimately hurt the specialty, not help it.

 

[swoop]

Anyone know/know where to look to see how competitive fellowships are? I am waiting/hoping to match into ENT on March 14th, and have at least a passing interest in skull base surgery from the cases I have seen. I know neuro-otology is a very difficult match, but I am more interested in the rhinology/endoscopic skull base fellowships. Thanks