Air Force Physician PME

[AFlightdoc]

I'm swore I'd never do PME, yet here I am starting ACSC. I didn't do SOS but have been getting guilt tripped by leadership types to do PME. I figured I'd give it a chance- how bad could it be? Bad. Very bad. Reminds me of everything I hate about the Air Force. I honestly don't think I can stomach this class and I'm finding it extremely hard to justify the time suck. So the big question- is there any reason to do this as a physician? I'm going to do 20 but I have absolutely no interest in the "leadership track" and don't really even want to make 0-6 and endure the Colonels group. Someone give me a thumbs up to pull the handle on this waste of time.

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[Shikima]

Go shoot skeet, you'll be happier.

 

[DrMetal]

I'm swore I'd never do PME, yet here I am starting ACSC. I didn't do SOS but have been getting guilt tripped by leadership types to do PME. I figured I'd give it a chance- how bad could it be? Bad. Very bad. Reminds me of everything I hate about the Air Force. I honestly don't think I can stomach this class and I'm finding it extremely hard to justify the time suck. So the big question- is there any reason to do this as a physician? I'm going to do 20 but I have absolutely no interest in the "leadership track" and don't really even want to make 0-6 and endure the Colonels group. Someone give me a thumbs up to pull the handle on this waste of time.

What's PME? Are you talking about Professional Military Education, as in JPME Phase 1/2?

 

[Homunculus]

nothing wrong with being a terminal O5. or in the navy, a "termander." my partner looked it I think it came out to $500-600 a month difference in retirement pay. not a ton, but not a trivial amount. depends on what you will be forced to do as an AF O-6. I've heard horror stories about how in the AF this puts you into some kind of pool they draw from for exciting opportunities to excel. also, make sure you read the fine print, most of those courses have an ADSO that while it may run concurrently may bite you if you happen to do it the year you are considering getting out.

--your friendly neighborhood PME avoiding caveman

 

[pgg]

nothing wrong with being a terminal O5. or in the navy, a "termander." my partner looked it I think it came out to $500-600 a month difference in retirement pay. not a ton, but not a trivial amount. depends on what you will be forced to do as an AF O-6.

Moreover, for most doctors, making O6, if it happens at all, it occurs at year 18+, and actual promotion doesn't occur until the end of the NEXT fiscal year. Attaining and accepting that promotion means you need to stay well beyond 20 to fully reap the high-3 benefit of being an O6.

From a purely financial perspective, for almost all physicians but especially higher-paid specialists, every day spent on AD beyond retirement eligibility is a loss. The lifetime difference between O5-with-20 and O6-with-22 retirement is less than the difference between AD and civilian pay for those two extra years.

The choice for lifers boils down to
1) be content with O5, accept the ankle-biter collaterals you must, leave the EP fitreps to others, retire at 20
2) gun for O6, take the huge collaterals you must, scratch and claw to be competitive, beat the odds and get selected for O6 (congrats), wait a year, pin it on, continue with the huge collaterals because hey you're an O6 now for the next 3 years, retire at 22 or 23

or ...

3) gun for O6, take the huge collaterals you must, scratch and claw to be competitive, don't get selected for O6 along with most of the herd

then either ...

3a) keep scratching and clawing for another year chasing a shrinking selection window, hoping to beat the odds, and likely failing to (the numbers don't lie)
3b) accept terminal O5, GOTO (1)

Too much stick, not enough carrot for this termander.

 

[Gastrapathy]

There's another option:
Accept life as a termander and accidentally get promoted when there's a dip in the O6 population. That cycle is fairly predictable and I think it's 1-2 years until you're back at 80% IZ.

 

[pgg]

There's another option:
Accept life as a termander and accidentally get promoted when there's a dip in the O6 population. That cycle is fairly predictable and I think it's 1-2 years until you're back at 80% IZ.

Unfortunately even if you get promoted accidentally you're still likely to need to stay past 20 to get your high-3, and that's a loss.

 

[Gastrapathy]

Unfortunately even if you get promoted accidentally you're still likely to need to stay past 20 to get your high-3, and that's a loss.

Sure but the first year is worth a couple hundo a month. Not worth staying or really trying for but still better than not promoting.

 

[DrMetal]

1) be content with O5, accept the ankle-biter collaterals you must, leave the EP fitreps to others, retire at 20

Some numnut suggested to me that I---as an O-4 in training, and thus getting all Non-observed FITREPS--should take on more collateral duties, to help me "break out" and make O-5. I countered, "Wouldn't extra duties take time away from studying and training...ie the things I'm supposed to be doing as a resident?" No intelligent response. I think I'll pass on the collaterals, my civilian credentials (BE/BC) are more important, right?!

 

[pgg]

Some numnut suggested to me that I---as an O-4 in training, and thus getting all Non-observed FITREPS--should take on more collateral duties, to help me "break out" and make O-5. I countered, "Wouldn't extra duties take time away from studying and training...ie the things I'm supposed to be doing as a resident?" No intelligent response. I think I'll pass on the collaterals, my civilian credentials (BE/BC) are more important, right?!

Odd

Never heard of a resident being asked or advised to take a collateral. Surely it'd count against ACGME hours, same as moonlighting (if such was permitted by military-funded GME).

 

[DrMetal]

Odd

Never heard of a resident being asked or advised to take a collateral. Surely it'd count against ACGME hours, same as moonlighting (if such was permitted by military-funded GME).

It might be something with in the context of the department. For instance become the 'smoking cessation' coordinator....or getting involved in research that would put you on the radar of the hospital CO.

Id approach it with a lot caution. Plus I'm not sure that it's absolutely necessary. I've seen resident O-4s promote doing nothing else but their duties as a trainee.

 

[Shikima]

You're right - BC is most important now these days.

Pepperidge farm remembers when BC used to be optional.

 

[pgg]

I've seen resident O-4s promote doing nothing else but their duties as a trainee.

O5 promotion is a mystery to me. I've also seen O4s promote straight out of residency, yet I was passed over once as a board cert physician, with a deployment in my specialty, a couple years of EP fitreps ranked against peers, dept head, other significant collaterals, no flags, no errors/gaps in my record. I was selected the next year after doing a turn in the DSS barrel.

That experience, and observing which collaterals the O5 EPs go to every year (in truth they're not collaterals at that point but primaries), has naturally factored into my decision to not invest any effort into making O6.

I'm not going to lie, I was angry about my O5 selection experience. Will not play that game again. The medical corps selection process is fundamentally broken; its foundation is the line officer selection criteria (we even use the same fitrep forms, complete with a N/A block for tactical performance!) which IMO is not merely irrelevant to physicians but actually harmful.

In a number of ways, it's sort of liberating to simply opt out of that game when you realize there's nothing you want any more. Which reminds me, my fitrep is due in 16 days. I guess I ought to get around to conjuring a block 41.