Plastic Surgery Residency

[docmemi]

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I have some Q's about plastics. Im posting here cause the allo forum isnt so great. so please dont close this down.

1. do you know who offers an integrated plastics program?
2. do you generally apply to general surgery first and then after 4 or so years apply to plastics or do you apply to plastics straight from med? if both are possible, do you know which programs you can do straight?
3. since plastics is a pgy-4-6 program, do they also consider step 2 and 3 usmle? what is a competitive board score for plastics?

some other gernal questions: what is the san francisco match? i also heard of an arizona match??

thanks in advance.

 

[exmike]

I thought you could go into plastics directly also.

You're going to UCLA, perfect place to do plastics 😀 (LA that is)

 

[TheFlash]

There's a plastic surgery forum too. They might be more adept to answer your queries over in those parts.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdisplay.php?f=52

 

[sfgboy]

I don't know too much about plastics, but I do know that the direct-match (straight from med school) plastics programs are a relatively new invention. if i'm not mistaken, these direct programs are called IPS (integrated plastic surgery). I believe the non-direct plastics programs are just like any other surgical subspecialty (e.g colorectal surgery, surgical oncology, etc), which you match into and begin after you finish your 5 years of general surgery training.

I think the purpose behind these new IPS programs is to save residents about a year and also get them started doing more plastic surgery-related training earlier on in their residency. If you want to check and see which programs are / are not direct, I am fairly sure this information is available on FREIDA.

About board scores and selectivity (a): IPS programs generally don't get to see your step 2 scores (unless you take step 2 early during fourth year), so all they have to go by is step 1, rank, grades, LORs, etc. But I am sure that the non-direct plastics programs take everything including steps 2&3 into consideration when considering candidates.

About board scores and selectivity (b): Plastics (both direct and indirect) is a very very competitive match. I have been told there are annually less than 100 IPS spots available in the whole country. With the inherent inequity in supply and demand created by this relative paucity of positions, you can assume that you'll need to be at least AOA and have a step 1 score of 240+. Anecdotally, I have an MS-IV friend at UTSW who had to scramble this year even though he was AOA and had a step1 score of 255+. He mentioned that politics and "who you know" also play a large role, and that great stats are only a part of the equation.

Good luck.

 

[sfgboy]

By the way, SFmatch is an earlier match for grads wanting to do ENT, ophtho, neuro, or neurosurgery. Incidentally, I think these are all PGY-2 positions. SFmatch also has match for plastics (indirect) and various fellowship positions.

Along with the AUA match (for urology), these are the only two other matches that I know of besides NRMP. Never heard of arizona match.

 

[medman12677]

http://www.ama-assn.org/vapp/freida/pgmrslt/1,1239,,00.html

 

[docmemi]

thanks so much for the info. there are actually 77 spots total in 39 programs nationwide for plastics.

 

[aidan73]

Baylor College of Medicine:

http://www.debakeydepartmentofsurgery.org/home/content.cfm?menu_id=3

 

[docmemi]

baylor plastics....

Each year, 25 to 30 applicants are chosen from a pool of about 200 for a vigorous and highly competitive interview process. Candidates with an MD/PhD are strongly encouraged to apply. Only applicants who are among the top in academic excellence, USMLE scores, and research interests are invited to interview. All candidates must participate in the National Resident Matching Program, and three PGY-I positions are filled each year.