Prelim year in peds

[pocketofgold]

Does anybody know of people who have done their prelim year in peds? I'm pretty committed to doing anesthesia, but I definitely want to do peds anesthesia eventually, and I would much rather take care of kids for as many years as possible. Some peds programs offer a prelim year, and I've talked to people in peds departments where there's technically no prelim year offered who say it might be possible to work out, but I'm not sure how it is viewed from the anesthesia standpoint. Would it disadvantage me significantly to not know anything about MIs and COPD when I start my CA1? Thanks for any input.

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[IceDoc]

Does anybody know of people who have done their prelim year in peds? I'm pretty committed to doing anesthesia, but I definitely want to do peds anesthesia eventually, and I would much rather take care of kids for as many years as possible. Some peds programs offer a prelim year, and I've talked to people in peds departments where there's technically no prelim year offered who say it might be possible to work out, but I'm not sure how it is viewed from the anesthesia standpoint. Would it disadvantage me significantly to not know anything about MIs and COPD when I start my CA1? Thanks for any input.

My program has a number of folk who do a whole peds residency before starting anesthesiology, and they do fine. Yes, you'll have to pick up the slack; but the level of detail I've learned about IM (as it pertains to anesthesia) outpaces what I learned during internship.

...And get the peds prelim in writing. Programs that don't regularly offer a prelim spot actually aren't all that willing to fund a prelim spot (in my 1-town experience).

 

[VolatileAgent]

no problem. they won't hold it against you. all the training you need doing adult cases you'll get ca-1 to ca-3. then, you'll be squared away and even have a leg-up when it comes to fellowship time.

go for it.

 

[FJLA]

A prelim year in pediatrics will serve you well. I am a CA-1 and am one of those crazy people who did a complete pediatric residency (and am now board certified--Yay!) beforehand. I am partial to other folks who are interested in taking care of children and feel that a prelim year will help you when you apply for peds anesthesia. In my opinion, it only demonstrates your desire to take care of sick kids, and this can be profound, especially if the fellowship is a competitive one. I may be mistaken, but I believe that there are a few pediatric prelim programs out there. When I was a 4th year med student (back in 2003), University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Medical College of Wisconsin, Boston Children's, and CHOP all had one year slots. There are probably more, now.

If you do end up securing a peds spot, expect to work hard. Peds is like any other inpatient specialty and, as an intern, the program will expect a lot from you.

Best of luck!

 

[granolabar2]

Framingham Union Hospital transitional year (Harvard Medical School affiliated program, 20 minutes outside of Boston) has 3 months of peds (inpatient, outpatient, and NICU) plus you take peds call during a light required ER rotation. The other 8 months are 3 months elective which could incorporate peds (one month can be done at a Boston hospital), and 2 or 3 months adult ICU plus 2 or 3 months telemetry unit or medicine floor. It seemed like a good balance to me of peds plus adults, plus it fills the 'suggested' 2 months of ICU during pre-anesthesia internship.

I was also looking at doing a full year of pediatrics for internship, and was told by the PD and Chair that it would be OK, but that I would have to work harder during anesthesia residency to 'catch up' if I saw no adults during internship.