Fellowship/Job Opportunities for D.O.s who trained in Community vs University Programs

[Dr. Zombie]

John the DO physician who trained in a community IM program, trying to pursue Endocrinology.

Stacey the DO physician who trained in a university IM program (doesn't have to be top tier) also trying to pursue Endocrinology.

Would the job offers truly vary between John or Stacey? Or fellowship opportunities for that matter?

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[SLC]

Job offers, not necessarily. Though I'd bet Stacy would beat John out for the job if they went head to head, all else being equal.

Fellowship, Stacey wins every time; though in Endocrinology John probably gets a spot with relative ease.

My neighbor is an anesthesiologist and an MD. He told me that his group doesn't necessarily care about MD vs DO. They do care about where one went to residency. Apparently if someone went to a residency with a poor rep. they hesitate to bring them on, unless they have some good career history under their belt without any real problems (malpractice history etc.)

They just don't want to bring someone on that might reflect negatively on the group, or put the group in financial risk which I definitely understand.

 

[AnonymousD.O.]

I heard a talk from a D.O. cardiologist last night, somebody asked a similar question.

He always wanted to do cards. He said when he looked at IM residencies, he didn't necessarily look at the size of the hospital etc. but the size of the fellowship itself in relation to the number of Internal Medicine Residents they have. Now as a general rule, of course a massive hospital will have a larger number of residents and fellows. But among the medium to large sized hospitals it may vary among them. He went to a program that had about 12 Card fellowship spots each year (which is a high number) He said, that most programs fill about half of their fellowship spots internally, so that meant there were about 6 spots, and he felt his chances were good. He also said at that point nobody cared (even back then) if you were a D.O. or M.D. What they cared about, was getting to know you blah blah blah during your IM residency. So what he was saying is your best bet is probably a fellowship at your IM residency, where you can prove that you are worthy. If you are at a small hospital with 25ish IM docs, competing for 1 or two fellowship spots, not good

Pretty obvious, but something to really pay attention too if you want a competitive fellowship.