has derm ever been a noncompetitive residency to match into?

[tetris]

if so, then perhaps it will become that way again some day.

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[Mirror Form]

Originally posted by tetris
if so, then perhaps it will become that way again some day.

Even if it has always been competitive, it could still become less competitive someday in the future, along with any other field.

 

[CambieMD]

Derm will always be highly competitive. It will probably become even more competitive with time. I

 

[ny skindoc]

The last time Derm was not competitive was in the mid 1960's..There were only a handful of programs around and it was just starting to be clearly established as a specialty on its own apart from Medicine.Since then it has always been in big demand.Given the very small number of derm residency programs and available positions compared to the large number of medical school graduates Derm could fall drastically in popularity and still be highly competitive.Dont plan on this in the near future.

 

[Moocow2011]

I talked to a dermatologist, and he said back in the 70's and 80's, you had to "beg someone to go into dermatology." Everything is cyclical (eventually).

 

[Kalel]

Originally posted by Moocow2011
I talked to a dermatologist, and he said back in the 70's and 80's, you had to "beg someone to go into dermatology." Everything is cyclical (eventually).

A dermatologist who I talked with disagrees with this statement. He told me that dermatology has always been a very competetive field. Part of the reason is secondary to how residency programs are established and expanded. Most residency programs are run out of large hospitals, whose CEO is always looking at the bottom line. Most hospitals have very little need for an in-patient derm services, so when hospitals are looking to expand training programs at their hospitals, they would rather take more surgical/medicine/neurology/etc residents who can help run their hospital rather then put their funds into training dermatology residents who will be spending most of their time at some clinic which would be more profitable/productive without them. It's a funding issue, medicare doesn't reimburse enough for training to be "profitable", the hospitals themselves usually have to ante up as well.

 

[ny skindoc]

Originally posted by Moocow2011
I talked to a dermatologist, and he said back in the 70's and 80's, you had to "beg someone to go into dermatology." Everything is cyclical (eventually).

This is not accurate.During this time period Derm was highly competitive with many applicants for each available position.It was not as bad as today in terms of the super high quality of the applicants but it was difficult to get and many people had to do research fellowships or completed other residencies prior to entering Derm.

 

[jdog]

While getting my haircut yesterday, my very attractive hairdresser asked me a question. "Why does it take so long to get a dermatology appt?". As a student of economics in addition to medicine, my reply was

In my opinion the Dermatology Society, whatever it's name may be, has an agenda of keeping down the number of residency slots. It is really quite elementary in my opinoin.

Less dermatologists = lot of pts to be seen = long wait times = overbooking = seeing a freaking ton of pts a day. Derm does have procedures but not all derms to mohs, plastics stuff. They have a heavy volume and often only need 5 minutes with the patient. My derm took some time with me when I went but I got in early b/c of professional courtesy.

I think it is economic. I do not believe that residency slots are low because of poor funding from hospitals. A lot of depts suffer from this. The amount of inpatient activity should not matter becasue the hospitals still make a ton from Derm b/c of volume and procedures. I would think hospitals would love to expand their derm practice because it is lucrative. my 2 cents.