Peds Cardiac Anesthesia Fellowship

[HalO'Thane]

Does anyone know much about these fellowships? I recently came across a link on the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia website for second year Pediatric Anesthesia fellowships (additional training after one year) and there seems to be a huge increase in the number of Peds Cardiac Anesthesia fellowships that have sprouted up since I was in training (2009). Back then it only seemed like there were only a few official 6 month - 1 year fellowshps (Stanford, Boston, Texas, Emory). The rest were more or less unofficial ones where if you wanted to do hearts you could stay on staff and they would proctor you for a few months. Why is there a sudden increase in these advanced fellowships? Is this a result of the saturation of the pediatric anesthesia job market and/or a push by some of the pediatric anesthesia departments to make fellowships two years long? Are these new fellowships competitive and do they even fill?

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[IlDestriero]

You may find it hard to get a job without one if you want to do peds hearts at a major heart center. This is becoming the new norm, and it's probably for the best. By that I mean one of the places that has the volume to support a team that is exclusively peds cardiac and gets the most complicated cases referred there. If you did an extra month of cardiac and had the interest, I'm sure you could do healthier hearts in the lower acuity centers where there are a few cardiac friendly guys in the group.
Having said that, I'm sure 6 months of additional cardiac/cicu is enough, and you could probably still work out a supervised arrangement with a new job if you are a strong candidate.
The other goal is probably to attract future research people committed to academic medicine who can carry out some research over the 2 years and get their academic career started on the right foot. Our one year fellowships are great, but compared to a 3 year PICU fellowship, we are not prepared for a successful academic career when we graduate.
As for the job market, all of our fellows have multiple offers, so they are not looking to hide out in other fellowships to delay the inevitable.

 

[michigangirl]

You may find it hard to get a job without one if you want to do peds hearts at a major heart center. This is becoming the new norm, and it's probably for the best. By that I mean one of the places that has the volume to support a team that is exclusively peds cardiac and gets the most complicated cases referred there. If you did an extra month of cardiac and had the interest, I'm sure you could do healthier hearts in the lower acuity centers where there are a few cardiac friendly guys in the group.
Having said that, I'm sure 6 months of additional cardiac/cicu is enough, and you could probably still work out a supervised arrangement with a new job if you are a strong candidate.
The other goal is probably to attract future research people committed to academic medicine who can carry out some research over the 2 years and get their academic career started on the right foot. Our one year fellowships are great, but compared to a 3 year PICU fellowship, we are not prepared for a successful academic career when we graduate.
As for the job market, all of our fellows have multiple offers, so they are not looking to hide out in other fellowships to delay the inevitable.

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[HalO'Thane]

That is useful information to know. As a pediatric anesthesiologist at a large childrens hospital I see departments churning out 5-10 fellows per year and there does not seem to be much of an increase in demand; so I wasn't sure if these second year fellowships (not just cardiac but now regional and pain) were becoming a requirement to get a job at a children's hospital now.

 

[IlDestriero]

Peds pain is another field where I think you definitely need additional training if you want to be successful. How much extra time you need is certainly up for debate. Certainly several months of 100% pain, it also may be better suited for someone who completed a peds residency.
Regional, no way. OTJ training. That's for suckers just like trauma, neuro, OR management, etc.

 

[deleted9493]

I spent 3 additional months in Boston doing peds cardiac. Between that time and the 2 months I did during my peds fellowship, I feel well-prepared to enter private practice doing these cases. A lot of big name peds hospitals have anesthesia departments requiring 2 years of fellowship experience for new grads to be considered for a job. I have heard this to be the case at Seattle and Denver and will probably only expand to other institutions with time. Boston would have likely required a few more months of me in the cardiac OR before offering me a job.

These fellowships are not currently THAT competitive...it's a taxing fellowship and it's a second year of fellowship in a specialty where residency graduates have a hard enough time convincing themselves to do a one year fellowship.

 

[HalO'Thane]

I spent 3 additional months in Boston doing peds cardiac. Between that time and the 2 months I did during my peds fellowship, I feel well-prepared to enter private practice doing these cases. A lot of big name peds hospitals have anesthesia departments requiring 2 years of fellowship experience for new grads to be considered for a job. I have heard this to be the case at Seattle and Denver and will probably only expand to other institutions with time. Boston would have likely required a few more months of me in the cardiac OR before offering me a job.

These fellowships are not currently THAT competitive...it's a taxing fellowship and it's a second year of fellowship in a specialty where residency graduates have a hard enough time convincing themselves to do a one year fellowship.

Did you feel like it ultimately helped you out with the job search?

 

[deleted9493]

Did you feel like it ultimately helped you out with the job search?

It did for me. I wanted to move back to my hometown in Michigan and when I called to inquire of the group here, they told me that they weren't hiring. When I told them more about my background, they suddenly had a job. It was a 'one and done' job search.

Personally, additional fellowship time was only inspired by having fun with those cases. Doing any fellowship solely for purposes of marketability will only ensure that you are not happy in training and at the end of the day, it may or may not actually help you (depending on the type of job you're hoping to land).

My dentist once told me when I was a lost undergrad, "Find work that you love...because it's in work that you love that you'll excel and when people excel at their work the 'job stuff' takes care of itself." I think that is wise advice to live by.