Cowboy DO said:
You dont hear too much talk about Osteopathic programs. Which ones are the strong ones? What kind of fellowship opportunities are there? How competative is it (ie board scores, extra curriculars, LOR's)
Also what programs are linked, which are pyramid style.
I looked and only found 14 programs, anyone know how many spots does that makes?
PS- i dont really expect anyone to respond to this, people never respond to questions like this. But i thought id give it a shot. If anyone has done rotations at any of these programs any input would be much appreciated.
I've looked into the programs and was disappointed at the lack of information, too. I'll tell you what I've learned, which I believe is accurate but if someone else knows more, please feel free to correct me. There are only 2 linked programs: Henry Ford in Warren, MI and the one in Pontiac, MI. I totaled up the number of slots and there are approximately 117 TOTAL residency spots, for a breakdown of approximately 32 NEW residents each year. The "word on the street" is if you don't rotate at the specific location in which you want to match, you will be at a considerable disadvantage. Whether or not that's true, I don't know yet. But I have been lurking on this site and aunt minnie for a couple of years now and that's the impression I've received.
Here is an email I received about 2 weeks ago from the PD in Texas:
> Thank you for your inquiry into our residency program. Sorry if this
> reply is late in coming. The e-mail address on the AOCR website is my
> home e-mail which I almost never use, but there was no other e-mail
> address to use at the time.
>
> To briefly explain our situation here: The hospital at which our
> radiology residency was based closed in October 2004 (the Osteopathic
> Medical Center of Texas in Ft. Worth, TX)at which time we were able to
> transfer only the 6 radiology residency slots over to the county
> hospital here in Ft. Worth, John Peter Smith Hospital. The way this
> worked was our 6 residents came with their own funding from their
> previous program, but the funding ONLY applied to each individual
> resident. When each of those residents graduates, there will be no
> more funding available. That means the radiology residency program
> will no longer exist. That is the bad news.
>
> The good news is that John Peter Smith Hospital wants to continue the
> radiology residency program and wants to increase the number of slots to 8 residents. We are at this time trying to find funding for up to 8 radiology residents. When and if we get this funding is the deciding factor. I am hopeful that we will know something by September or October of 2005. If we do get approved, that means we will probably be able to start the new program in July 2006 (with a little luck.)
>
> So until we know whether we even will continue the residency, we are
> not interviewing or taking applications at this time. My advice is to
> stay in touch with the AOCR as they will be one of the first to know
> whether we are going to continue and be approved with slots and
> funding. I am recieving so many e-mails that I probably won't have
> time to answer them all. If we do get funding, we will be getting a
> different e-mail address with the base at John Peter Smith Hospital.
>
> Good luck to you--if you are interested in radiology you have already
> made the first right choice. As one of my attendings told me during
> my first year as a radiology resident: "A bad day in radiology is
> better than a good day in any other field of medicine." This is
> becoming more true every year.
>
> Scott McGuire D.O.
> Radiology Residency Director
> John Peter Smith Hospital
> Ft. Worth, Texas
This sounds bad to me. I was pursuing an elective rotation there but doubt I'll continue to do so. I did have a rotation set up in New York but they don't have housing for any other students besides those at PCOM, so I cancelled that one, too. That's about all I know. Anyone else???
