Military and civilian residency

[neuroprotector]

I know there's a few threads floating around on this, but they haven't really gotten down to the real issue for me.

If you look through the faculty at major academic medical centers across the country, you tend to find very few docswho did their residency at a military hospital. A lot of other HPSPers opt to do a GMO or defer so they can do their training out of the military. On the other hand, the board pass rates at a lot of military residencies are quite good (for internal medicine it's 100% at Bethesda, a few points higher than MGH and the Brigham). Not that pass rates are the end-all statistic for rating, but that has to be worth something, right?

At the end of the day, how is the training at military facilities viewed? Are you still competitive for academic faculty jobs in civilian hospitals?

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[colbgw02]

I know many former Army physicians who now work at civilian academic centers. Many of them moved immediately into positions of leadership (e.g., fellowship directors, department chairs) after separating from the Army. Does that happen because of their military residency, in spite of it, or neither? I can't say, but the frequency with which it occurs leads me to think that their military training was, at worst, a neutral factor.

 

[sethco]

Board pass rates are not everything, especially for procedure heavy specialties (i.e. surgical specialties). I remember when I rotated at Wilford Hall for Anesthesia. When compared to other highly thought of civilian institutions, their board rates were kicking their a**. However, the diversity of pathology (i.e. Very little trauma, Little CV, Little/No Transplant or Regional, farming out their residents to other institutions to get their numbers, etc.) was really poor. I am among those that would rather serve out my time as a GMO and then go into a civilian residency, but that is just my opinion. Others have their own and only YOU can decide if a program is right for YOU.

 

[Gastrapathy]

For IM, the board pass rates are somewhat helpful. I don't think they reflect the program as much as the baseline academic quality of the trainees.

 

[rogershru2]

I agree that there is more than board pass rates to consider here. I managed much sicker patients as a medical student at a civilian hospital than I did at the largest Navy hospital as an intern, and I did far more procedures (central lines, intubations, thoracocentesis, etc) at the civilian hospital as well. Patient volume tends to be lower, though hours are just as long because things tend to be much more inefficient at military hospitals. That is a lot of why I am doing my GMO tour and getting out and going to my civilian residency soon.

 

[HackFuJones]

I agree that there is more than board pass rates to consider here. I managed much sicker patients as a medical student at a civilian hospital than I did at the largest Navy hospital as an intern, and I did far more procedures (central lines, intubations, thoracocentesis, etc) at the civilian hospital as well. Patient volume tends to be lower, though hours are just as long because things tend to be much more inefficient at military hospitals. That is a lot of why I am doing my GMO tour and getting out and going to my civilian residency soon.

it just all depends because I was the exact opposite and am getting much better path and more procedures than all my friends in civi programs. i think its the communtity you train in more so than the program. I mean, if you live in Scottsdale, AZ where its rich white people with very little problems in general, your training will be much different than county hospital where everyone is an alcoholic street walker with god knows what ailments, etc.. same goes for military installations, its all about location location location and what type of personel you are dealing with...