Life after flight surgery

[chickendoc]

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I am finishing my 5th year as a flight surgeon and ready to grow up. I am getting out and looking from some advice from those who have gone before me. Any advice? What do I do about a Dean's letter? What about my internship program director letter? All of these people are long gone and if I could find them would not have anything recent about me.
I will be applying next year and just getting familiar with ERAS now.

 

[island doc]

I am finishing my 5th year as a flight surgeon and ready to grow up. I am getting out and looking from some advice from those who have gone before me. Any advice? What do I do about a Dean's letter? What about my internship program director letter? All of these people are long gone and if I could find them would not have anything recent about me.
I will be applying next year and just getting familiar with ERAS now.

Having spent 4 years in the military as a GMO prior to separating to enter a civilian residency, hopefully I can provide you with some helpful information (a departure from my usual tirades on this forum, I have turned over a new leaf 😀 ).

One important piece of advice. Once you have selected the residency program you are most interested in, arrange to do an "elective rotation" with them, so that they can get to know you, and you them, that way you will not be a stranger to them when it comes time to apply through ERAS/Match. You make need to take leave from the military to do this, but it will hopefully pay off. This is especially true if you are applying to a competitive residency program because you will be competing with students who have rotated on the service and with whom they are already familiar. You do not have to be a medical student to arrange an elective rotation with them, just explain your situation and they should be accomodating.

As for the Dean's Letter, simply request one from the current Dean of your former medical school, who will use your med school records to prepare the letter. Dean's Letters say pretty much the same thing anyway: he/she had a class ranking of blah, blah, blah, etc..... Don't sweat the Dean's Letter. You may wish to write the Dean a separate letter explaining your current situation, and include any current information concerning yourself that he or she might find helpful.

Request a letter from the current program director where you did your internship. He or She will have access to the evaluations/records from back during the time you were there to use in preparing the letter. (RRC requires that they be kept on file.) You may have to explain your situation to him or her in a separate letter, and include any current information concerning yourself that might be helpful.

You do not need to chase down the individual people who held these positions previously, the current Dean and PD are the ones to provide these.

This is what I did and had no problems with ERAS/NRMP. One last piece of advice, it is possible to secure 2nd year positions outside the match, which is something you may wish to seriously consider, depending upon what internship you did and what residency you are entering, in order to prevent having to repeat the internship year. If you go through the match, you will be matching for a first year position, again depending upon specialty.

Hope this info helps.

Island "Turned Over a New Leaf" Doc

 

[r90t]

Also, if you are going into some specialties that match 2 years ahead for the 4th year med students, i.e. internship at one facility and then residency at another, you need to apply now. For example rad onc is matching for 2007 positions. With this in mind, there are openings due to unforeseen circumstances in a program you are interested in. Your unique situation of being a licensed physician can allow you to "slide" into one of these spots outside the match. I had several offers to "start now" (while I was waiting for 15 months for my residency to start) due to attrition of incoming residents. Let program directors know that you are available.

 

[chickendoc]

Thanks for the info! I have thought about going right into second year but I feel as if I would be lost...outpatient medicine (especially in the military) has sucked any knowledge I ever had about managing sick patients.
Island Doc - after 4 years did you go right into second year? How did the transition go?
Appreciate your insights!

 

[island doc]

Thanks for the info! I have thought about going right into second year but I feel as if I would be lost...outpatient medicine (especially in the military) has sucked any knowledge I ever had about managing sick patients.
Island Doc - after 4 years did you go right into second year? How did the transition go?
Appreciate your insights!

I can empathize with how you are feeling, after being a GMO for so long I had the same concerns about my ability to take care of sick inpatients, fearing those skills had atrophied. However, once you are immersed in it once again, it will come back to you, and since it is just a matter of being refreshed in those skills, it shouldn't take you too long to get back up to speed. In my specific case, I felt I did need a "refresher" in inpatient medicine, therefore I spent three months as a PGY-1 on the inpatient and outpatient medicine service when I first arrived before going into a PGY-2 position. (So, in answer to your question I entered a second year position after first spending three months as an "intern". This was all done outside the match.)

Also, the months (rotations) during your internship will be reviewed for credit, and how much time you will need to spend as a PGY-1 will be determined by how much credit you will be given for it. Ideally, it would be nice to receive 100% credit, but that is not always the case, depending upon what type of internship you did and what type of residency you are entering. In some cases, you might have to repeat the PGY-1 year.

In answer to your second question, the transition was for the most part an easy one, however I was very surprised at how unfamiliar I had become with all the newest medications on the market, which (because the military is so cheap when it comes to medicines) were not on our MTF's restricted formulary. And of course, being back in a civilian hospital setting did require a bit of a readjustment, but it sure was great to be back, and just being out from under the military was wonderful.

 

[ishii123]

I am finishing my 5th year as a flight surgeon and ready to grow up. I am getting out and looking from some advice from those who have gone before me. Any advice? What do I do about a Dean's letter? What about my internship program director letter? All of these people are long gone and if I could find them would not have anything recent about me.
I will be applying next year and just getting familiar with ERAS now.

I agree with Island Doc's advice to applying to civilian residencies.

I myself am in the process of applying to civilian programs thru ERAS right now. I did exactly what Island Doc said. I went to my med school to update my Dean's Letter. My Dean's letter only had a few changes. They only added my 4th year grades and evaluations into the Dean's Letter.

I went to my old Internship Program Director and asked for a letter of recommendation (LOR). He gladly wrote one for me. It's important to get your internship Program Director's LOR because some civilian programs ask for it.

I also got LOR's from military docs I worked with (eg. supervision senior medical officer, military radiologist, etc).

I would recommend rotating at a civilian program for AT LEAST 2 weeks. It's a great way to show your stuff at a prospective residency program...plus, you can possibly get a great LOR out of it. I wish I had the opportunity to rotate at a civilian program I was interested in...but I've been deployed so much that I never had the opportunity to do so.

One thing to remember if you've been a GMO for awhile is that if you apply thru ERAS you're considered an "independent applicant". This means a civilian residency program can offer you a position outside the match (this is in contrast to 4th year med students who are obligated to enter the match). For example, a fellow flight surgeon applied to anesthesia and was offered a position outside the match at Georgetown University. Another GMO was offered an Internal Medicine position outside the match at Case Western without an interview! Outside the match is a great benefit of being an "independent applicant". However, the more competitive the specialty (eg. Derm, Rads, Plastics), the less likely you will be offered a position outside the match.

I have already received a number of civilian interviews. One thing I noticed is that there are a bunch of ex-military docs in the civilian world, which may workout in your favor. All the programs I received interviews so far have ex-military docs in their program. It's crazy, but I believe my military experience was a common thread they liked and understood...and I truly believe that this is a major compelling reason why they chose to invite me for an interview. Yes, the military can be a frustrating organization, but it does teach you a lot of valuable skills, such as discipline, flexibility, etc. These are very useful skills in a future resident.

 

[GMO2003]

I agree with Island Doc's advice to applying to civilian residencies.

I myself am in the process of applying to civilian programs thru ERAS right now. I did exactly what Island Doc said. I went to my med school to update my Dean's Letter. My Dean's letter only had a few changes. They only added my 4th year grades and evaluations into the Dean's Letter.

I went to my old Internship Program Director and asked for a letter of recommendation (LOR). He gladly wrote one for me. It's important to get your internship Program Director's LOR because some civilian programs ask for it.

I also got LOR's from military docs I worked with (eg. supervision senior medical officer, military radiologist, etc).

I would recommend rotating at a civilian program for AT LEAST 2 weeks. It's a great way to show your stuff at a prospective residency program...plus, you can possibly get a great LOR out of it. I wish I had the opportunity to rotate at a civilian program I was interested in...but I've been deployed so much that I never had the opportunity to do so.

One thing to remember if you've been a GMO for awhile is that if you apply thru ERAS you're considered an "independent applicant". This means a civilian residency program can offer you a position outside the match (this is in contrast to 4th year med students who are obligated to enter the match). For example, a fellow flight surgeon applied to anesthesia and was offered a position outside the match at Georgetown University. Another GMO was offered an Internal Medicine position outside the match at Case Western without an interview! Outside the match is a great benefit of being an "independent applicant". However, the more competitive the specialty (eg. Derm, Rads, Plastics), the less likely you will be offered a position outside the match.

I have already received a number of civilian interviews. One thing I noticed is that there are a bunch of ex-military docs in the civilian world, which may workout in your favor. All the programs I received interviews so far have ex-military docs in their program. It's crazy, but I believe my military experience was a common thread they liked and understood...and I truly believe that this is a major compelling reason why they chose to invite me for an interview. Yes, the military can be a frustrating organization, but it does teach you a lot of valuable skills, such as discipline, flexibility, etc. These are very useful skills in a future resident.

what specialty are you applying for?