Job Prospects after ACGME-accredited v. non-accredited Fellowships?

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PGY4A

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I recently started a non-accredited PM&R fellowship at a private practice. It looks like I will learn a lot and get a great deal of experience, as the practice has a pretty sophisticated practice and is swamped and they are willing to allow me to jump in early. However, I have heard that competitive post-fellowship jobs in metropolitan areas usually require ACGME-accredation. Is this true? My concern is that the only options left to me will be in rural and far-flung places. If that's the case, what can I do to better my position?

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I completed a non-accredited PM&R fellowship at the end of June this year. I've been offered a faculty position at a major academic program here in southern California; in the process of getting a contract put together and getting hospital privileges.

I've actually been offered several other jobs as well. For me, it has never been an issue that I went to a non-accredited program.
 
SCIronMike,

What will your practice consist of? Is it the kind of practice that you were hoping your fellowship would allow you to practice?

Fozzy40
 
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SCIronMike,

What will your practice consist of? Is it the kind of practice that you were hoping your fellowship would allow you to practice?

Fozzy40

The job is going to be all outpatient Monday through Friday at a comprehensive spine center. 3-4 days of clinic a week. 1-2 days of procedures covering EMG and fluoroscopic injections. I'll ramp up the procedure time as the volume goes up. In the beginning it'll probably be 4 days of clinic and a 1/2 day block of EMG and a 1/2 day of fluoro time.

I did a PM&R spine fellowship, and I think it prepared me perfectly for this type of job. If something falls apart in the final contract, I still have a job waiting for me at Kaiser for PM&R with pain procedure privileges.
 
Good to hear that you'll be practicing how you want!

This is definitely such a "hot" topic amongst us residents. More often than not, I've heard that accreditation status (Pain or Sports) is not an issue currently but there's always the fear of "the future." I guess it really depends on your expectations and what you want out of your fellowship.

PGY4A, what are your expectations out of your fellowship? What kind of job do you want?
 
I am a PGY3 and this is a burning question that has been on my mind. So thanks, everyone, for your input. I am leaning towards applying to a PM&R sports/spine fellowship that would be unaccredited. I would like to practice in the NYC/Long Island area. So I look forward to some words of wisdom anyone can offer.
 
I asked the "accredited and non-accredited" question to a colleague a couple years ago. He completed a sport/spine fellowship and didn't have any difficutly finding an outpatient job. Among other components, one aspect of your fellowship training that most practices asked him for were his numbers. How many procedures did he complete during his training. This colleague of mine told me that if he came from an accredited program, the employer can already have an understanding of his training environment ( didactics, number of procedures, training hours) however in the non-accredited program he had to show what he did during the year. I could be wrong, but this is what he told me and he did have at least 3-4 good offers to choose from.
 
It totally depends on the location. In some places they are very aware of the differences, in other, not even close. All things being equal, you'll increase your opportunities with an accredited program, but it will not often be a deal-breaker.
 
It's true, in many places it doesn't matter. Especially if you are in private practice. Matters even less if you are an Anesthesiologist. As a person who was the first PM&R physician in a hospital where fluoroscopic pain procedures were traditionally done only by Anesthesiologists...it was a selling/bargaining/hiring factor. I'm almost certain that my hospital privileges would not have been granted otherwise and they would have sought someone who was B/C.

Most academic institutions that want to preserve their AGCME Pain certification need to have a multidisciplinary faculty. To have all the teaching faculty Pain Medicine board certified, is one less headache to think about(and one less hoop to jump through).

So...all things being equal, if you and equally qualified candidate(who was board certified) were applying for a job...who do you think would have an advantage?
 
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