How does the chief resident thing work?

[basupran]

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I am not yet a med student, but am unsure about this whole chief resident thing. I am writing my essays for AMCAS, and I remember while at the hospital, I met a surgeon to be, and he was the chief resident. In my essay, should I refer to him as chief resident in dept of surg?

Good luck to everyone.

 

[Castro Viejo]

In general surgery a resident in his last year of training is referred to as the "Chief Resident." So if there are three residents in a program who are in their last year of training, there will be three "chief" residents. "Chief" is more of an administrative title in most programs, but in surgery, for some reason, everyone's a chief.

 

[VienneseWaltz]

I shadowed in an emergency medicine program, where the residents in their final year were called "senior residents." "Chief" resident was something that you have to be chosen for. I'm not contradicting ******, just saying what I know for one particular program.

I'm not really sure how it works, but I have heard that in some cases the chief resident actually has finished his or her residency and is coming back for another year (with resident's pay) to be chief, presumably because the experience will help him or her get an administrative position (e.g., head/chief of department) later on.

 

[UCSBMed1]

Originally posted by VienneseWaltz
I shadowed in an emergency medicine program, where the residents in their final year were called "senior residents." "Chief" resident was something that you have to be chosen for. I'm not contradicting ******, just saying what I know for one particular program.

I'm not really sure how it works, but I have heard that in some cases the chief resident actually has finished his or her residency and is coming back for another year (with resident's pay) to be chief, presumably because the experience will help him or her get an administrative position (e.g., head/chief of department) later on.

You're not contradicting him at all, since he said that that convention only holds for surgery.

In most other specialties (including medicine, peds, EM, etc.) residents in their last year are called "Senior Residents" and one of them is a "Chief Resident," who is responsible for all others.

 

[nimbus001]

Yeah, the chief resident thing only applies to surgery, I don't know about others....What happen when there are more than one senior resident in surgery? Multiple chief residents? Do they arm-wrestle for the position? 😀

 

[womansurg]

Originally posted by nimbus001
What happen when there are more than one senior resident in surgery? Multiple chief residents?

There are always more than one senior resident in surgery...have you ever heard of a program that takes only one person per year?

Indeed there are multiple chief residents. Every person in their final year of training is chief. My two colleagues and I are chiefs. Because of the schedule rotations, we are often at different hospitals at any one time during the year. The administrative duties are assigned according to what services you are covering, so for four months out of the year you are stuck making out the call schedule, handling vacation requests, and all the other administrative crapola that comes with it.

It's not really such a bewildering idea. After all, does the military have just one general?

 

[nimbus001]

Pardon my incompetance.....

 

[womansurg]

Originally posted by nimbus001
Pardon my incompetance.....

It's spelled 'incompetence'.

😉 just bustin' your chops

Pardon me if I came off rudely. That topic's been making the rounds lately...hence the 'geez, enough already!' tone to my words 🙂 .