Post-Sophomore Fellowship

[mokka23]

Hi,

I was looking for information on the quality/degree of responsibility of post-sophomore fellowships at different places.
I'm a Radiology-bound FMG (going to do my residency either in the US or back home) and I have been interested in Pathology for quite some time. I feel like I would want to "put in the extra year" as I believe it would make me a better radiologist. For that reason, I'm looking for a PSF with a high degree of involvement in AP / surgical pathology and autopsy and a high degree of reponsibility ("first-year-resident level"). It would be great to hear some comments from people who have done PSFs - you can PM me if you prefer. I'm especially interested in Cali and Southeastern programs.

Thanks so much for any input!

Peace

I'll for you guys on monday & thursday!

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[ado]

Hi, mokka23

I have done PSF 2 years ago at UCSF. It was a great experience! PSF there is a 12-month program where you definitely act as a first year resident once you learn some ropes. If I recall it correctly, you would have min 2 mo. autopsy (only first couple of autopsies are done with another resident, the rest - you are on your own with the attending), 2 months surg path in the Moffitt hospital (main campus) – where you may share the load of one resident with another PSF, 4 mo. of surg path/autopsy at San Francisco General Hospital (neat experience, great cases, a lot of responsibility, as during these months you are working with only a chief resident on a 2 day cycle (one day grossing by yourself, second day signing out cases with attending one-on-one), and 4 mo. of elective – where you do anything you are interested in (there are a lot of options). I did neuropath, cytopath, dermpath, research months.
Also, as part of your responsibility as a PSF, you need to give one lecture (MOD – mechanism of disease), and help teach first and second-year med students during path labs.
Awesome experience! Lots of learning! Can be tailored somewhat to your special needs. There are also many research opportunities if you are interested. I did a project in neuropathology and neuroradiology, part of which was presented in the national neuroradiology conference.

You can also get some more info @ their website http://labmed.ucsf.edu/education/other/post-sophomore.html

Good luck! Thanks also for your

 

[moosepatrol77]

Hi,

I was looking for information on the quality/degree of responsibility of post-sophomore fellowships at different places.
I'm a Radiology-bound FMG (going to do my residency either in the US or back home) and I have been interested in Pathology for quite some time. I feel like I would want to "put in the extra year" as I believe it would make me a better radiologist. For that reason, I'm looking for a PSF with a high degree of involvement in AP / surgical pathology and autopsy and a high degree of reponsibility ("first-year-resident level"). It would be great to hear some comments from people who have done PSFs - you can PM me if you prefer. I'm especially interested in Cali and Southeastern programs.

Thanks so much for any input!

Peace

I'll for you guys on monday & thursday!

At UMass the PSFs did pretty much all the PGY1 duties.

 

[Gene_]

Aren't post-sophomore fellowships designed for students after their second year of medical school and before the third? I've never heard of a graduate doing a PSF, only observerships.

 

[yaah]

Aren't post-sophomore fellowships designed for students after their second year of medical school and before the third? I've never heard of a graduate doing a PSF, only observerships.

Sometimes people do them between 3rd and 4th year. Generally yes though, between 2nd and 3rd year is the standard time. I have only heard of one graduate doing a PSF, and that was because there was no other interest in the position and he had done a lot of research in the department (he was an FMG).

 

[mokka23]

thank you for your replies!

The UCSF schedule sounds great, I will look into that.

I know that it's quite unusual for an FMG to do a PSF, but I will just talk about that with the specific program directors directly, it will probably depend on how many applicants they have.

 

[Flintstone]

Just want to let you know that UCLA has a great PSF program. They give PSFs full responsibilities as first year residents.

 

[DarksideAllstar]

Overall, if you are trying to secure a Radiology slot here in the US, I think that you would be better off doing an observership/research in a department that you are interested in. While you are correct in making the argument that you would gain a lot from the PSF experience, there are two issues as I see it:

1. Most PSFs are designed for currently enrolled US medical students.
2. Most Rads programs probably wouldn't care.

I applaud your interest in learning some path, but I would probably look at alternatives if you are dead-set on rads. I would head to Aunt Minnie or the Rads section of this site and get a sense of what you should think about doing.

 

[yaah]

Don't radiology residents have to spend time learning about pathology during their residency? Maybe this is no longer true.

 

[DarksideAllstar]

Don't radiology residents have to spend time learning about pathology during their residency? Maybe this is no longer true.

I think that some (? all) places send their residents to the AFIP. That being said, I'm not a radiology resident, so if there are any purusing this thread, hopefully they will speak up.

Regardless of how much pathology radiologists are supposed to know, I can't imagine how this will be more helpful than spending their time in an area in which they plan on pursuing training.

 

[mokka23]

The thing is, I will graduate next year (~June) and want to apply in the match that same summer. So if i start either a PSF or research year after graduation, I would still be in the first months of doing it when I apply. I cannot really judge how much that would affect my application.
I'm currently doing 4 months of rads electives in Cali, I will talk to some rads attendings on their view of pros and cons of doing a PSF vs. radiology research.

I just think (and have been told by a radiologist in Germany, where I'm from) that significant pathology experience will give me a unique perspective as a radiologist. Plus, I think I will be doing rads research pretty much for the rest of my life

you guys are most helpful,

have a great weekend

 

[yaah]

I think that some (? all) places send their residents to the AFIP. That being said, I'm not a radiology resident, so if there are any purusing this thread, hopefully they will speak up.

Yeah that was what I thought too - not sure how the status of this will change as the AFIP changes.

To mokka23 - I am not quite sure what your goal is. You want more pathology exposure to increase your skills in radiology, yet you plan to not really do much clinical radiology and do mostly research?

Personally, I don't know how it would affect your application. It is a little strange though, and strange things often require explanations (programs might think you are indecisive about your career or something like that). With a good response and reasoning this is solved, of course. But I would think research would be more helpful to your application. You can always do some pathology as an elective during your training.

 

[Berg]

I'm currently doing a PSF at WVU. Before I started, I told them what I was most interested in and they adjusted the schedule to fit. If you want to do more autopsy or surg path, I'm sure they would allow it. I have 3 months of surg path, 1 autopsy, 2 heme, 1 cytology, 1 research, 1 lab techniques, 1 blood bank, and 1 of cytogenetics. I was originally supposed to have 4 of surg path but one month, there was an opening in cytology so they let me switch (not that I didn't like surg path, because I really do enjoy it, but I wanted to also see cytology). If you wanted to do more months of surg path and autopsy, they'll allow it.

They have given me about the same responibility as a first year. I am currently on autopsy and I am the only one (no residents). When I was on surg path, I was given the exact same amount of work as the residents and the same was expected from me. I would get big cases, which were scary at first but the pathology assistants here are wonderful teachers and I could get through them with relative ease. I go to all of the conferences and participate in the unknown and systemic path conferences. Later this month, I will be doing the cytology interesting case conference. They even had me do the glass slide drill with the residents. Of course I don't take call like the residents but for the most part, I have many of the same responsibilities.

I think the quality is decent as well. WVU has a fairly small program (12 residents) so I closely interact with all of the faculty and all enjoy teaching. They may not be well known (other than Ducatman) but they are very good teachers and all will take time to sit and teach and will give you room if you want to do more on your own.

The environment is also very relaxed. Even the conferences where you are on the spot (like unknown and systemic path) are not that high stressed. The hours are good. On the clinical path rotations, I generally finish by 5 (though on heme, some days would be longer and would stay til 7ish). Only once so far on autopsy had I stayed past 5. Even in the gross room, I would finish between 5 and 6 with a few random days where I would be there til 7 (like when I would have like 2 big ENT cases in one day).

Overall, it has been a great experience. I am planning to go into pathology though. With your situation, I'm not sure how much the year would really help.

 

[mokka23]

thanks so much for your very informative post!

To mokka23 - I am not quite sure what your goal is. You want more pathology exposure to increase your skills in radiology, yet you plan to not really do much clinical radiology and do mostly research?

I was just referring to the fact that I would like to stay in academics in the long run.

Again, thanks for all the comments. I'll see if I can cross-post this thread in the rads forum.



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