Interview List & Part 2 Prep/review: 2021 Edition

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The residency interview list came up on Caspr today at around 5 pm. What does it mean when there isn't a YES or NO next to the program?
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Weirdy said:
I've been checking today and still have a ton pending.

Believe some programs are still operating off old schedule or just havn't turned it in yet.
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Yeah like a third of my 18 programs are still pending lol
 
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Does anyone know when we schedule the interviews?
 
plant based said:
Ok y'all... I need advice. I am supposed to be doing my final clerkship in Jan at a place that... didn't grant me an interview lol.
So... do I still do the externship? It seems a little bit pointless now? I'm lost.
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If it was me I'd dip....pending how flexible your school is.
Your time is better spent doing something else instead of being free labor.

Of course its already 12-29 so.....don't know how that'd look.

The politically correct answer is to just suck it up and go.
 
I hope part 2 went well for everyone (it was a pretty hard exam though)!

Does anyone have any advise on how to prep for these interviews? 1-2 of my programs are going to do a phone interview instead of zoom or anything like that. Also, if a program asks for example why you want to go there specifically, what do you guys think is a good answer? I'm thinking most of the academic q's they'll ask should be covered by what we studied for part 2 with. What does everyone think???

Is there any such thing as an early decision or something for pod residency programs? Like can we just tell a program we want to go there and they'll give us a guaranteed spot there?
 
TarsalCoalition said:
Like can we just tell a program we want to go there and they'll give us a guaranteed spot there?
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Really? You got this far and you're asking that?

That being said if you had a good month, they've probably let slip that they want you there or outright told you.

No guarantees.

Pretty sure there's a rule somewhere against the whole "early acceptance" thing on both sides. Makes absolutely no sense.
 
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Weirdy said:
Really? You got this far and you're asking that?

That being said if you had a good month, they've probably let slip that they want you there or outright told you.

No guarantees.

Pretty sure there's a rule somewhere against the whole "early acceptance" thing on both sides. Makes absolutely no sense.
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Oh okay!
 
Does anyone have any insight or whether it's better to be in a Veterans Affairs Residency or a non - VA program? Will one have better working hours, benefits? I know the salaries are a bit lower, but other than that I mean
 
TarsalCoalition said:
Does anyone have any insight or whether it's better to be in a Veterans Affairs Residency or a non - VA program? Will one have better working hours, benefits? I know the salaries are a bit lower, but other than that I mean
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What year are you?
Have you clerked at any VA/non VA programs?

Some VAs are utter ****e. Some get fantastic training.

Depends on what you like when you clerked/visited.
 
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There's a reason that many VAs scramble every single year. The defining trait of many doctors who work at VAs is not wanting to work. It applies to the rest of the staff also. When that trait is systemically present throughout every aspect of the care that is received you can end up with problems.

The doctor doesn't want to work.
So he doesn't see many patients.
The few patients he sees he may pawn off on residents.
The residents may dump them on students.
Seeing fewer patients often means fewer surgeries.
In fact though he works at a place no one wants to work.
So the OR wouldn't turn over and only a few cases could happen regardless.
But we have outside surgery sites they say.
Yes, but the attending is going to need you in his clinic so he doesn't have to see patients.

The reality is a mix. I've met great VA attendings and trash. I visited a place that was turning over high numbers looking for surgery with the non-surgical cases filtered over to attendings who were there to take over non-surgical cases.

Other issues. The population. Veterans come in all shapes and sizes. I spent some time at VAs and I remember thinking - some of these people could go anywhere and some of them could only get care at a VA. There's also a mantra of sorts - essentially, you're veterans, you're heroes, you deserve everything. That can create all sorts of problems - like insane entitlement and preachiness from mentally ill patients.

Its a wonderful thing to help patients but residency is only 3 years and the training needs to be maximally focused on producing an awesome clinician and surgeon. There are FAR too many residencies that aren't focused on actual resident education and training. They are focused on making an attending's life easier.

Having lots of work is not a reason for a residency to exist.
 
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Does anyone know what time Prometric will be releasing part 2 results?
 
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Just got mine... passed... thank the lord
 
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plant based said:
Just got mine... passed... thank the lord
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Podstar said:
Passed as well.
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Congrats to you both. I passed as well :dogfive: :cool: , thank god, lol. Please post a review here about your part 2 prep.
There aren't updated info here for part 2. I will try to post mine in the coming weeks.

Enjoy your day and stay safe!
 
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Congrats!

So for me, I used the Board Vitals question bank starting about two months before the test. Did as many questions as I could per day, then wrote down the answers for the questions I got wrong. I would regularly review these. About a month before I started reading the Watkin's manual and finished that a couple days before the test. For any topics I felt super weak on, I would go back and review class notes throughout the month before. That's really about it. I was also prepping for interviews during it a little so I was also going through prism concurrently. Honestly felt like Board Vitals was the most help; there are just so many questions.
 
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Unfortunately I did not pass. Scored a 73. I felt like a significant amount of my questions were very random. I studied pocket pod, BV, Krozer and prism. I think I need additionally studying with radiology and anesthesia.
 
Shadowfax12 said:
Unfortunately I did not pass. Scored a 73. I felt like a significant amount of my questions were very random. I studied pocket pod, BV, Krozer and prism. I think I need additionally studying with radiology and anesthesia.
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Sorry to hear. I echo what @plant based stated above; stick with BoardVitals and Watkins. Review the wrong answers every day.

You can do it! :thumbup:
 
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BV questions.
Do as many as you can. Start picking up on the types of questions they ask, the trends, what topics they like.

Watkins/PRISM/Crozer
Read it back and forth, then go back and read some more. Even if you think its not working, it will stick and you'll be able to answer a few more questions correct because of a random factoid you remember seeing.

APMLE practice exams.
They are floating out there. Ask your upperclassmen or your classmates. Not that hard to get your hands on them. Do the questions, see what type of questions they like to ask, how they ask them.

Medicine/Anesthesiology.
I used class notes or straight up Googled that ****.

Half the test is figuring out what they like to ask and the style they ask them in. The other half is discipline with reading + doing as many practice questions as you can so when you are faced with a "Wtf" question, you aren't caught off guard and aren't thrown off your game.

Edit:
You need a dedicated study schedule, and you need to do your best to stick to it. There will be days when you can only do 70-80% of what your schedule is. The important thing is you're doing something every hour for at least 6-8hrs a day. No skipping.
 
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KSUCPM 90% pass rate.

I went through BV twice and my incorrect answers a third time. I averaged right at 80% my first pass through. I did all of the APMLE practice exams floating around and read through NBPME part 2 pearls by Kushner. Part of my studying was interview prep as well so I also went through PRISM+ and Crozer. Lastly, I read the perioperative/anesthesia chapter in McGalmry. I didn’t like Watkins, so I didn’t use it.
 
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Is anyone who needs to retake part 2 able to sign up? I submitted the application for the test then when it was approved, it says on Prometric "The requested page could not be found."
 
TarsalCoalition said:
Hey everyone, I had some questions for those can help out!:

1) Does anyone know how to differentiate Cushing Disease from Cushing syndrome based on lab values? If so, what specific labs value(s) is/are the differentiating factor?
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Cushing disease is a subtype of Cushing syndrome in which excess cortisol is caused by a pituitary tumor, whereas Cushing syndrome is excess cortisol caused by internal (i.e. Cushing disease/pituitary tumor) or external (i.e. too many corticosteroids) factors.
TarsalCoalition said:
2) Also, regarding gastroc vs soles equinus? My understanding is that gastroc equinus is when equinus is present when the knee is extended and that soleus equinus is when equinus is present when the knee is flexed and that gastroc-soleus equinus is when equinus is present when the knee is both flexed and extended. Is this correct?
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Yes, if ankle DF is < 10 deg (abnormal) with knee extended but > 10 deg with knee flexed (normal) it's gastroc equinus. If ankle DF is < 10 deg with knee extended and flexed, its gastroc equinus with soleus influence a.k.a gastroc-soleus equinus.
TarsalCoalition said:
3) How do I calculate net NCSP given values?
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NCSP = STJ Neutral Position + Tibial Influence. STJ Neutral Position = (Inversion + Eversion / 3) - Eversion
TarsalCoalition said:
4) Regarding bone scans? If only positive on first 2 stages, it's cellulitis and if only first 3 it is Charcot and if first 4 it is OM. This is my understanding. Is this correct?
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Honestly, I already forgot. OM would be positive on both 3 & 4, but I'm not sure a definitive Charcot diagnosis can be made just based off stage 3.
TarsalCoalition said:
5) Does anyone have a list of high yield info that shows up on part 2? Really could use the extra help
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I'd suggest reading the technical radiology chapters of Christman, knowing how to position the foot for all the radiographic views, all the common classification systems, and the normal radiographic angles and surgical procedures to treat bunions, pes planus, and pes cavus. The general medicine questions asked were all very random, in my opinion, and I'm not sure there is a time efficient way to study for them.

TarsalCoalition said:
Lastly, does anyone know approximately how many questions away I was from passing if I received a 73%. I would assume a few but not sure. I'm just really concerned about receiving that FAIL on a basic licensing examination, which usually isn't an issue for most people to easily pass
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It would probably require a PhD is statistics to accurately answer this question. I don't think anyone understands exactly how these exams are graded.
 
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The other day a patient came to me saying that years before she'd done a bone scan and it said she had a pool of blood in her foot. She wanted to know where it was.
 
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Hey everyone, what type of MRI (t1 or t2) and (weighted or unweighted) and (with or without Gadollinium conrast) should be used to diagnose OM? Bone biopsy is best but I mean in terms of MRI. My school notes say T2 for acute OM but I always thought T1 weighted with Gadollinum contrast. Can someone chime in please
 
LizFranc said:
Hey everyone, what type of MRI (t1 or t2) and (weighted or unweighted) and (with or without Gadollinium conrast) should be used to diagnose OM? Bone biopsy is best but I mean in terms of MRI. My school notes say T2 for acute OM but I always thought T1 weighted with Gadollinum contrast. Can someone chime in please
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www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The imaging of osteomyelitis

Osteomyelitis is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in children and adults. Imaging plays a crucial role in establishing a timely diagnosis and guiding early management, with the aim of reducing long-term complications. Recognition of the imaging ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
 
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DexterMorganSK said:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The imaging of osteomyelitis

Osteomyelitis is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in children and adults. Imaging plays a crucial role in establishing a timely diagnosis and guiding early management, with the aim of reducing long-term complications. Recognition of the imaging ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
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Hey! I think I saw this article before but didn't really 100% still get what the conclusion was. I just don't understand why my notes say T2 for acute OM. So it's t2 weighted with contrast for acute OM? And t1 weighted with contrast for late OM? What if a question doesn't specify type of OM? And just asks about OM in general? Sorry about the q's just want to make sure since I'm retaking in a few days
 
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LizFranc said:
Hey! I think I saw this article before but didn't really 100% still get what the conclusion was. I just don't understand why my notes say T2 for acute OM. So it's t2 weighted with contrast for acute OM? And t1 weighted with contrast for late OM? What if a question doesn't specify type of OM? And just asks about OM in general? Sorry about the q's just want to make sure since I'm retaking in a few days
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I don't think we can say one or the other like that. It all depends on the case (the question).

We were taught to start with both: T1-weighted, Fat-suppressed T2-weighted. If you see soft tissue abnormalities adjacent to the bone/bony destruction, it is most likely OM. Also, gadolinium contrast should be used for chronic cases and not for acute OM because in chronic there would be an abscess, and areas of the inflammation would enhance more using the contrast. I wish I could tell you which one is correct, but I believe it depends on what the question asks for, so hopefully, someone else can chip in.

Good luck!
 
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DexterMorganSK said:
I don't think we can say one or the other like that. It all depends on the case (the question).

We were taught to start with both: T1-weighted, Fat-suppressed T2-weighted. If you see soft tissue abnormalities adjacent to the bone/bony destruction, it is most likely OM. Also, gadolinium contrast should be used for chronic cases and not for acute OM because in chronic there would be an abscess, and areas of the inflammation would enhance more using the contrast. I wish I could tell you which one is correct, but I believe it depends on what the question asks for, so hopefully, someone else can chip in.

Good luck!
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The question just asked diagnostic MRI for OM (it did not mention acute or chronic)! What would you put in that case??? Also, there was no image provided either. Just a question with choices. Answer choices were:

- t1 MRI weighted no contrast

-t2 MRI weighted no contrast

- t1 MRI weighted w/contrast

-t2 MRI weighted w/contrast
 
LizFranc said:
The question just asked diagnostic MRI for OM (it did not mention acute or chronic)! What would you put in that case??? Also, there was no image provided either. Just a question with choices. Answer choices were:

- t1 MRI weighted no contrast

-t2 MRI weighted no contrast

- t1 MRI weighted w/contrast

-t2 MRI weighted w/contrast
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I want to say t2 weighted w/contrast for acute OM.

If the patient has a kidney disease of some type, then I would pick B; if the patient has an implant of some type, then MRI is not an option; if there is gadolinium mentioned, I would use it for chronic OM or DDx OM from Charcot. Do you get what I'm saying? It all depends, lol
 
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DexterMorganSK said:
I want to say t2 weighted w/contrast for acute OM.

If the patient has a kidney disease of some type, then I would pick B; if the patient has an implant of some type, then MRI is not an option; if there is gadolinium mentioned, I would use it for chronic OM or DDx OM from Charcot. Do you get what I'm saying? It all depends, lol
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Ok lol! So if they don't specify what type of OM, you're saying you would go with T2 weighted w/contrast right???
 
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What did everyone who had to retake think of the exam today????????? Does anyone know how many q's/% of questions we have to get right to pass it?
 
They use the Angoff method to grade the exam. I truly dont understand how it works. I felt like I got alot more questions right this time tho so I hope it was enough.
 
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Does anyone know what day and approx what time the part 2 retake results will be released? It's so hard to keep waiting for this thing lol
 
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