I am a brand new cardiology fellow who is seriously considering leaving my program and would like advice on my options. I apologize for the long post, but I would greatly appreciate any advice.
Background:
I am a US-IMG who is fresh out of residency. I have just begun fellowship at a fairly new community program which has not graduated any fellows yet. This program's faculty come from a few of the many private practice groups at my hospital and who are mostly interventional cardiologists.
Shortly upon arriving and speaking to some of the fellows, a few of them were without prompting very upfront about how poor they considered the training here. They said there is no structure and little guidance from the attendings. They are essentially left to do everything alone and are fudging the numbers of echos, stress test and caths they are performing and reading. There is effectively no proper 1:1 teaching with attendings on imaging studies, yet the fellows will report as though they have read several hundreds of echos. They said the attendings are often so busy with their procedures and clinic that they rarely do proper rounds, instead relying on the fellows to manage everything with variable oversight. There is no CCU rotation, and those type of patients are seen on consult service and we are rarely primary.
Additionally, the dissatisfied fellows tried to change things, and were promised changes, but nothing has materialized. They were not allowed to speak to the applicants during my cycle. During my interview, this was the case and I did not get a chance to speak to any fellow privately. Reportedly one of the fellows was told by a non-faculty attending that if he were in the fellow's situation, he would quit the program as the training is poor. This attending has tried to join the faculty to improve things, but has been rebuffed.
Apparently, several months before I began, the ACGME did their site visit and after meeting with fellows was appalled at the situation. A final evaluation is pending, but seems will come out in August and September.
My experience so far seems to corroborate the complete lack of structure. I hesitate to go into more detail here as it may be identifying but can do so if it would be helpful.
I seriously questioned ranking this program but ranked them last as I didn't have many interviews. I was wary of this program going in but tried to stay positive in the months leading in. However, these revelations from the other fellows are frightening and have sent me reevaluating my future.
Main concern:
I am terrified that 1) my training will be dangerously insufficient in its current form with little likelihood for meaningful improvement and 2) that there is a real chance my program may get shut down before I can finish, and 3) my job opportunities will not be great as a general cardiologist.
Any advice would really be appreciated.
Background:
I am a US-IMG who is fresh out of residency. I have just begun fellowship at a fairly new community program which has not graduated any fellows yet. This program's faculty come from a few of the many private practice groups at my hospital and who are mostly interventional cardiologists.
Shortly upon arriving and speaking to some of the fellows, a few of them were without prompting very upfront about how poor they considered the training here. They said there is no structure and little guidance from the attendings. They are essentially left to do everything alone and are fudging the numbers of echos, stress test and caths they are performing and reading. There is effectively no proper 1:1 teaching with attendings on imaging studies, yet the fellows will report as though they have read several hundreds of echos. They said the attendings are often so busy with their procedures and clinic that they rarely do proper rounds, instead relying on the fellows to manage everything with variable oversight. There is no CCU rotation, and those type of patients are seen on consult service and we are rarely primary.
Additionally, the dissatisfied fellows tried to change things, and were promised changes, but nothing has materialized. They were not allowed to speak to the applicants during my cycle. During my interview, this was the case and I did not get a chance to speak to any fellow privately. Reportedly one of the fellows was told by a non-faculty attending that if he were in the fellow's situation, he would quit the program as the training is poor. This attending has tried to join the faculty to improve things, but has been rebuffed.
Apparently, several months before I began, the ACGME did their site visit and after meeting with fellows was appalled at the situation. A final evaluation is pending, but seems will come out in August and September.
My experience so far seems to corroborate the complete lack of structure. I hesitate to go into more detail here as it may be identifying but can do so if it would be helpful.
I seriously questioned ranking this program but ranked them last as I didn't have many interviews. I was wary of this program going in but tried to stay positive in the months leading in. However, these revelations from the other fellows are frightening and have sent me reevaluating my future.
Main concern:
I am terrified that 1) my training will be dangerously insufficient in its current form with little likelihood for meaningful improvement and 2) that there is a real chance my program may get shut down before I can finish, and 3) my job opportunities will not be great as a general cardiologist.
Any advice would really be appreciated.
