I think there should be more discussion about the basics of having a job for new grads. The norm is for fresh MD/DOs to be in their first job in residency. FM draws a lot of nontrads, but new grads with no work resume are still the norm. Which means a nontrad with a decade+ of work experience can be subject to supervision by an R3 who has only 2 years of work experience, and is in their very first ever supervisory role, and might have no talent for management. And that lack of talent for management is the norm in any job.
Residency is a job. You can get fired in
any job. When you start residency you'll sign a contract. In the contract there will be all the things you can get fired for. Generally you'll be nauseated by the list of things they have to spell out in a contract, because any fool with a shred of common sense isn't going to hit on mentally ill patients or steal or lie or go AWOL or generally do stuff you learn not to do in kindergarten. In most jobs you're subject to a review process. Residency is a daily review process. Make friends with the review process. It's okay if you hate it while you get used to it. But get used to it.
A lot of what's being discussed above is dereliction of duty. Before you get fired, you get warned. If you shrug off the warnings, you're digging your own grave. If you get pissed off for getting negative feedback, you're a fast grave digger. If you blame the person giving you the negative feedback, if you get angry, then you're a fast, pretty much unemployable, grave digger. (How to take negative feedback that pisses you off and might be total BS: say "thank you" without sarcasm. Forget about the messenger, forget about the delivery, step away, and take apart that feedback like somebody handed you a dirt clod that has a big possibly career-preserving chunk of gold in it.)
Yes, there are toxic residencies. Getting fired by a toxic residency for something beyond your control is a thing that happens very very very VERY rarely because lawyers. Occasionally on SDN there are horror stories about egregious malfeasance from a residency. Usually those stories get torn to shreds. Quickly. There's always, always, ALWAYS a key piece of the story that the aggrieved fired resident leaves out. IMHO there's always a whiff of un-self-aware entitlement in the first line of the story.
irrelevant
that matches FM in the mid west
midwest is irrelevant
what are the chances of me being fired or not having my contract renewed?
Nonzero. Very small. Worry about other things like how to research programs before/while applying/interviewing/ranking. (My 2 clutch data points at an interview: do the residents like each other, based on hugs, laughter, etc when they see each other? what is the look on the face of the resident interviewing you when you ask how many of the residents they'd invite to their wedding? obviously data point 3 is getting to meet several residents.)
As long as I keep my head down and work as hard as I did in med school is there a 95% chance that I'll finish?
More like 98%.
I think my plan is to be especially cautious during intern year and not talk about devisive things like my political views, religious thoughts, etc.
That's not caution, that's professionalism. Any time you talk about politics or religion in
any workplace you're taking a risk. But again, if you make a misstep, you get warned, you correct, you move on.
As long as I am on time and ready to work, should I be good?
That's 90% of it. You also have to study and pass step 3 and make progress on yearly inservice exams and stay organized (regardless of whether the residency is organized) and be a team player. Which sounds like a lot, but everybody in your class does it together. (See previous about noticing whether residents like each other.)
How many fm residents did you know that got fired and what was the reason for their termination?
The Natividad contract is available by googling Monterey County MOU. Residents are group R. The things that are spelled out in this contract as fireable offenses are nearly generic to any professional job.
If you're a 4th year med student worrying about getting fired in residency, without a specific reason why you might get fired, you're wasting the glorious freedom of 4th year. There are 35,000 4th year med students about to start residency in 5 months, and the overwhelming majority get through residency without getting fired.
