Plastic or Reconstructive Surgery

[simpleton]

Hey guys, I have a couple of questions. I am matriculating this fall at a state medical school in Florida (USF) and was wondering what it takes to go into plastic or reconstructive surgery. I think there are residencies specifically for this field (18 seats) but can you get into this field by going a different route? Also, what does it take by the way of board scores, research, and does the medical school you attend make a big difference?
Thank you in advance for your help!

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[droliver]

Simpleton,

There are several ways to do a Plastic & Reconstructive surgery career.

1. Combined/Integrated programs which you apply for as a fourth year student. These consist of various types of setups with 3-4 years of general surgery and then 2-3 years of plastic surgical rotations. Some programs have special schedules for their residents during the preliminary years, while others mix you in with the gen. surgery residents

2. Traditional fellowships which require a minimum of 3 years general surgery or a completed residency in ENT, oral surgery, Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, or Gyn Onc (believe it or not).

There has been an increasing # of integrated programs due to financial pressures (its cheaper for the depts. b/c the feds kick in more for the cost). Most of the traditional spots are taken now by 5 year gen. surgery residents with much lower rates of success for abbreviated surgery training candidates & among the other eligible specialties.

Board scores, research, medical school, & prerequisite training all play huge roles in whether you will be accepted. If you know as early as you do this is what you wish to do, you MUST do well in med school from day 1 & plan on doing some kind of research project to be competative.

 

[godfather]

There are two ways to do plastics. the integrated programs in which you only save 1 year are extremely competitive. on the other hand do plastics the traditional route isn't hard at all right now(5 year gen surg + 2 year plastic fellowship) due to the extreme ease with which it is to match into gen surgery. Because there aren't that many people going into surgery it follows that the competition to secure a fellowship isn't that severe. for the most part virtually everybody i know at my school that completed a gen surg residency and applied to plastics got it.

 

[simpleton]

Thanks alot DROLIVER and godfather!!

 

[droliver]

Godfather,

the match statistics for traditional PRS fellowships available @ <a href="http://www.sfmatch.org" target="_blank">www.sfmatch.org</a> demonstrate a 33% nonmatch rate among ranked applicants and close to 50% among the whole group who paid the $250 for the paperwork & did not go no to be ranked or submit a rank list. I would not call that an easy match, & I bet the 33% rate for ranked candidates is probably the highest nonmatch rate of any surgery subspecialty fellowship.

 

[godfather]

hey droliver, your probably right. i guess i was basing everything on the handful of people i know that did get the fellowships. however i think you'll agree with me though that gen surg becoming less competitive is a recent phenomenon and that this may suggest that getting surgical fellowships will be easier in the future than in the past. i don't know if this will be the case but i guess that's what one would logically conclude.

 

[droliver]

godafther,

on the contrary, PRS spots in the traditional fellowship format are likely to get signifigantly more competative as more programs experiment with integrated plastic surgery residencies. Some of your perception may be based upon the fact that the subgroup of those with the highest match rate right now are 5 year gen. surgery residents with a precipitous fall off among the other applicant groups (gen surgery residents with 3 or 4 years & the other eligible specialties)