How do you choose a residency program?

[han14tra]

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I am interested in rural family medicine, and I know I want to get closer to home when I do my residency.

The hospitals near me are:

1) Altoona Regional Health System, Altoona PA
2) Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, Johnstown, PA
3) Excela Health, Latrobe PA
4) Geisinger Medical Center, Danville PA

I am a US allopathic medical student in PA. The reason I'm bringing this up is that I did a summer internship at Altoona and Conemaugh, and 90% of the residents were from India and 1 or 2 were from DO schools. There were no allopathic US grads AT ALL. Why is this? How do I determine how good a residency program is?

*I'm only a 2nd year, but some of these are 3rd year rotation sites. So, I also want to know about these hospitals for that purpose.

 

[sunset823]

I'm only an M2, but I'd say don't look at who the other residents are when choosing which hospital you want to go to. Keep in mind that the most likely reason the only residents at the hospitals you're considering are DOs or IMGs is because only DOs or IMGs apply. Family medicine is already an unpopular option among US allo grads, rural even less popular, and rural in Pennsylvania (vs. in the mountains of Montana or something) even less popular. So, in the end, the fact you WANT to do this means any of the hospitals you're considering would LOVE to have you there, I'm sure.

Beyond that, I know nothing of the hospitals you're considering. Just keep in mind you are in a vanishing minority being intrested in rural FM in the midwest/mid-atlantic.

 

[TexasPhysician]

I am interested in rural family medicine, and I know I want to get closer to home when I do my residency.

The hospitals near me are:

1) Altoona Regional Health System, Altoona PA
2) Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, Johnstown, PA
3) Excela Health, Latrobe PA
4) Geisinger Medical Center, Danville PA

I am a US allopathic medical student in PA. The reason I'm bringing this up is that I did a summer internship at Altoona and Conemaugh, and 90% of the residents were from India and 1 or 2 were from DO schools. There were no allopathic US grads AT ALL. Why is this? How do I determine how good a residency program is?

*I'm only a 2nd year, but some of these are 3rd year rotation sites. So, I also want to know about these hospitals for that purpose.

There is no consensus of residency rankings. Programs are ever changing in faculty, rotations, affiliations, etc. Most people just go by word of mouth. I would start by talking to the most experienced FM physicians at your school. They are probably the best source for advise.

I would question those programs though if there are minimal US MD's in the program. FM isn't competitive, so most programs do have some DO's and FMG's. All FMGs and DOs is something that would lead me to doing more research in the program. Maybe its that no one wants to live in Altoona, Johnstown, or whatever other place you mentioned that I've never heard of. Maybe the program is known for routinely breaking the 80 hour work rule or maybe they have accreditation issues.

You are going to have to do your own research on this. Email their residents. Talk to your faculty. Look up their accreditation.

 

[phantomx87]

I am interested in rural family medicine, and I know I want to get closer to home when I do my residency.

The hospitals near me are:

1) Altoona Regional Health System, Altoona PA
2) Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, Johnstown, PA
3) Excela Health, Latrobe PA
4) Geisinger Medical Center, Danville PA

I am a US allopathic medical student in PA. The reason I'm bringing this up is that I did a summer internship at Altoona and Conemaugh, and 90% of the residents were from India and 1 or 2 were from DO schools. There were no allopathic US grads AT ALL. Why is this? How do I determine how good a residency program is?

*I'm only a 2nd year, but some of these are 3rd year rotation sites. So, I also want to know about these hospitals for that purpose.

Johnstown is primarily full of DOs (unofficially affiliated with LECOM). Danville should have more MDs bc it's affiliated with Temple.

 

[werd]

you should ask the faculty and former students at your school what they know about the different programs you're considering. you may be surprised how knowledgeable the faculty are about other programs. otherwise, the best way is to go there for interview or just to visit and see what you think of the facilities/faculty/residents/etc. generally, less competitive programs will have more foreign and DO residents.

btw, i'm originally from northcentral pa... i think the problem a lot of these programs have is that the area isn't that exciting to outside people looking in. there's also a fairly low population density in these areas. i don't know much about the other programs, but you may find geisinger to be surprisingly strong (it is in some other specialties, don't know about family med in particular).

 

[MossPoh]

I agree with most of the sentiment above. Almost all but the extremely prestigious research oriented type places will have a ton of IMGs and DOs. It is hard to attract random US allopathic students to some of those areas and how many people from central PA (who grew up there) actually go to med school? How many out of the ones that go to med school want to go into family practice? Numbers get small real quick.

I don't think it says anything about the quality of the program. In fact, I bet they are all great for education since they are unopposed...I'm assuming they are. Didn't actually look.