Preventative Med Specialty, how does this work in the military?

[xmsr3]

So one of my top 5 specialties according to the U of Va personalty profiles is preventative medicine and I know that this is available as a military residency.

Does anyone know what someone who does preventative med specialty in the military does?

Do you get a MPH in the intern year as civilian prev med residents do? In terms of career post residency what do you spend your time doing?

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[orbitsurgMD]

So one of my top 5 specialties according to the U of Va personalty profiles is preventative medicine and I know that this is available as a military residency.

Does anyone know what someone who does preventative med specialty in the military does?

Do you get a MPH in the intern year as civilian prev med residents do? In terms of career post residency what do you spend your time doing?

You earn the MPH in your PGY2 year. You will still have to do an internship, probably in medicine, peds, psych or transitional, still apply for the program in the military match, you may still be deferred and have to do a GMO tour (or two) and then start your masters' program. I have heard you can get the degree anywhere you want, but many choose USUHS, Hopkins, Harvard and Tulane.

 

[a1qwerty55]

So one of my top 5 specialties according to the U of Va personalty profiles is preventative medicine and I know that this is available as a military residency.

Does anyone know what someone who does preventative med specialty in the military does?

Do you get a MPH in the intern year as civilian prev med residents do? In terms of career post residency what do you spend your time doing?

Sarcasm follows:

You start a residency, fail out after the first year - do a GMO, apply for Prev Med, go to Harvard for your MPH, then go to lots of meetings planning for bioterrorism, then Command your prior coworkers who actually graduated from your initial residency ensuring that they suffer as much as possible.

 

[xmsr3]

So basically you apply for preliminary pre med, which is the internship year?

Looking at the Army GME match stats preliminary pre med has never been competative except 2005 when there where 6 applicants for 3 spots. Every other year from 2003-2007 there has been 1-2 applicants for 3 spots.

So does the GMO tour only go to people who fail to match in Navy or AF or does Army have to do it too as a matter of course?

Also I am a bit confused about the preliminary part? Does this mean that you can get accepted into a pre med residency do the intern year and then not get accepted into a MPH program?

Or is it that being accepted into the prev med residency means that they reserve an MPH spot for you somewhere and then you do your intern year, followed by matriculating into the MPH class which takes 1 year to complete?

Finally, when the mil GME sit says 2-3 years for prev med does that mean 1 year prelim intern year+1 year MPH and your done? Or is there another year where you train with a prev med attending?

 

[notdeadyet]

So one of my top 5 specialties according to the U of Va personalty profiles is preventative medicine and I know that this is available as a military residency.

The U of VA thing is fun but I wouldn't take it very seriously....

And I'd look long and hard into preventative med. I thought it sounded cool at the time but looked into it more and found somewhat less than dazzling career prospects on the outside. Most of the interesting preventative medicine work that I found was more often being done by Internal Med folks with MPH's. You don't meet many that do the preventative med path because it's not as robust, imho.

 

[psychbender]

So basically you apply for preliminary pre med, which is the internship year?

Looking at the Army GME match stats preliminary pre med has never been competative except 2005 when there where 6 applicants for 3 spots. Every other year from 2003-2007 there has been 1-2 applicants for 3 spots.

So does the GMO tour only go to people who fail to match in Navy or AF or does Army have to do it too as a matter of course?

Also I am a bit confused about the preliminary part? Does this mean that you can get accepted into a pre med residency do the intern year and then not get accepted into a MPH program?

Or is it that being accepted into the prev med residency means that they reserve an MPH spot for you somewhere and then you do your intern year, followed by matriculating into the MPH class which takes 1 year to complete?

Finally, when the mil GME sit says 2-3 years for prev med does that mean 1 year prelim intern year+1 year MPH and your done? Or is there another year where you train with a prev med attending?

As with everything else, you apply, list your specialty goal as Prev Med, and rank all of the programs. Your PGY1 year will be a Transitional internship, after which you will do your MPH somewhere, then its back to 1-2 years (can't remember which) of additional Prev Med training.

 

[xmsr3]

Thanks for all the great answers. 2 final questions.

1. Assuming I did choose prev med and got into an army residency and wanted to do the MPH at USUHS, what are the chances of not getting in, meaning that I did the intern year but wasn't able to get into the MPH program? Also would the getting of the MPH be covered by the military like any other residency, ie you still get paid the same as an 0-3 and they consider it part of your residency training?

2. What exactly would an army doc who specialized in preventative med do in terms of a military career? Does anyone know what their day to day activity would look like?

Also, I have looked into the medical toxicology fellowship that the Army offers through GWU and if I do choose prev med, (of course most pre-meds change their minds about specialty later, so by no means am I claiming that this is the route I will take, I just want to get the facts straight) I will most likely do this 2 year fellowship.

Would doing this fellowship change the day to day activity I would face as an Army doc? Would being a medical toxicologist mean they would send me poison cases and I would see a certain case load of patients? Or would most of my time be spent on decontamination and prepping and or responding to biological and chemical terrorism/warfare? Or perhaps it would be a hybrid of the two, with most of my time spent at a major med center treating poison cases with the occasional involvement in bio/chem warfare/terrorism planning and or response?

Any answers to these questions are greatly appreciated.

 

[DrMetal]

Any answers to these questions are greatly appreciated.

Is there anything we can do to calm you down? Have you tried sex and tequila??? (pay for it if you have to . . .the tequila too)

 

[xmsr3]

I am super calm, just asking questions about one of the specialties I am interested in and how they apply to military medicine.

 

[sethco]

Sarcasm follows:

You start a residency, fail out after the first year - do a GMO, apply for Prev Med, go to Harvard for your MPH, then go to lots of meetings planning for bioterrorism, then Command your prior coworkers who actually graduated from your initial residency ensuring that they suffer as much as possible.

Sad, but true.

The U of VA thing is fun but I wouldn't take it very seriously....

And I'd look long and hard into preventative med. I thought it sounded cool at the time but looked into it more and found somewhat less than dazzling career prospects on the outside. Most of the interesting preventative medicine work that I found was more often being done by Internal Med folks with MPH's. You don't meet many that do the preventative med path because it's not as robust, imho.

Completely agree.

Now Occupational Medicine...That is an entirely different story.

BIG MONEY! (Or so I have heard)

 

[teacherman84]

The U of VA thing is fun but I wouldn't take it very seriously....

Are you trying to tell me planning your future on the results of a 10 minute survey isnt a good idea? Blasphemy

In his defense, a lot of people get an idea of what they think they want to do even before beginning med school...its just usually based on their limited clinical experience rather than a survey

 

[hosskp1]

So one of my top 5 specialties according to the U of Va personalty profiles is preventative medicine and I know that this is available as a military residency.

Does anyone know what someone who does preventative med specialty in the military does?

Do you get a MPH in the intern year as civilian prev med residents do? In terms of career post residency what do you spend your time doing?

I am one of those few doing a preventive medicine residency in the Army. There are lots of different career tracks, with the First assignment after residency usually being in an operational tour. I would also say that it is difficult to characterize the people in the specialty. There are people who did not like what they were doing in their first specialty and decided to do something else. There are also folks who left residency after theier first year and decided to go into this field for numerous resasons. There are lots of jobs and there is quite a need in the Military for preventive medicine trained doctors (there is a huge need for Aerospace medicine- a specialized preventive medicine residency). For me, I enjoy working with statistical data and large populations. The best thing you could do as a medical student is get informed- any preventive medicine specialist in the Army would be more than happy to talk with you. If you have specific questions, I would be happy to answer them.

 

[Trajan]

Sarcasm follows:

You start a residency, fail out after the first year - do a GMO, apply for Prev Med, go to Harvard for your MPH, then go to lots of meetings planning for bioterrorism, then Command your prior coworkers who actually graduated from your initial residency ensuring that they suffer as much as possible.

There's some truth to this.....

 

[xmsr3]

I am one of those few doing a preventive medicine residency in the Army. There are lots of different career tracks, with the First assignment after residency usually being in an operational tour. I would also say that it is difficult to characterize the people in the specialty. There are people who did not like what they were doing in their first specialty and decided to do something else. There are also folks who left residency after theier first year and decided to go into this field for numerous resasons. There are lots of jobs and there is quite a need in the Military for preventive medicine trained doctors (there is a huge need for Aerospace medicine- a specialized preventive medicine residency). For me, I enjoy working with statistical data and large populations. The best thing you could do as a medical student is get informed- any preventive medicine specialist in the Army would be more than happy to talk with you. If you have specific questions, I would be happy to answer them.

Hosskp1 thanks for volunteering to answer some questions.

1. By operational tour do you mean serving as a GMO type physician deployed with troops in Afghanistan or Iraq?

2. I know that there are 2 spots that offer preventative med residency in the army, Walter Reed and Tacoma, do you know which has 1 spot and which has 2? Which did you get and how do you like it so far?

3. What year of the residency are you in? Have you selected a school for your MPH yet? Which MPH track did you pursue or plan to pursue, (ie epidemiology, occupational med, community med, ect) Thoughts on your residency experience thus far?

4. Do you know what the average army preventative med doc does after their first operational tour? Is it mostly clinical, (ie your playing FP) or statistical work? Are you mostly assigned to the major med centers or do you travel a lot?

Sorry for all the questions but it is a rare thing to meet someone who would be in my shoes should I choose to pursue this particular residency and information regarding this specialty and how it pertains to mil med is hard to come by.

 

[Trajan]

..

 

[mslall]

Hosskp1 thanks for volunteering to answer some questions.

1. By operational tour do you mean serving as a GMO type physician deployed with troops in Afghanistan or Iraq?

2. I know that there are 2 spots that offer preventative med residency in the army, Walter Reed and Tacoma, do you know which has 1 spot and which has 2? Which did you get and how do you like it so far?

3. What year of the residency are you in? Have you selected a school for your MPH yet? Which MPH track did you pursue or plan to pursue, (ie epidemiology, occupational med, community med, ect) Thoughts on your residency experience thus far?

4. Do you know what the average army preventative med doc does after their first operational tour? Is it mostly clinical, (ie your playing FP) or statistical work? Are you mostly assigned to the major med centers or do you travel a lot?

Sorry for all the questions but it is a rare thing to meet someone who would be in my shoes should I choose to pursue this particular residency and information regarding this specialty and how it pertains to mil med is hard to come by.

In the operational setting you'll be serving as preventive med officer, which i think (and i could totally be wrong) is at the battalion level. Although that would be a lot of prev med guys.....maybe its at a brigade level.

I believe the number at Walter Reed and Madigan are variable. Either program can hold 2 residents with up to 3 residents per year in the field....again, i think.

4.) Do things like become the brigade commander at usuhs. Work as the prev med officer at, i would imagine, any army hospital. Deploy again as a prev med officer

 

[DrMetal]

....

Tell me you didn't make the USUHS logo your avitar?! Oh wait you did . . . please remove it, that's super gay (plus it might be illegal to use the school's logo like that, w/o official permission). Replace it instead with a cool looking avitar, like my AvengedSevenfold logo . . . or something else that showcases your personality. How bout a neurotic guy with his head exploding?! (j/k)

 

[grotto]

Tell me you didn't make the USUHS logo your avitar?! Oh wait you did . . . please remove it, that's super gay (plus it might be illegal to use the school's logo like that, w/o official permission). Replace it instead with a cool looking avitar, like my AvengedSevenfold logo . . . or something else that showcases your personality. How bout a neurotic guy with his head exploding?! (j/k)

Oh give him a break...

 

[notdeadyet]

Tell me you didn't make the USUHS logo your avitar?! Oh wait you did . . . please remove it, that's super gay (plus it might be illegal to use the school's logo like that, w/o official permission). Replace it instead with a cool looking avitar, like my AvengedSevenfold logo . . . or something else that showcases your personality. How bout a neurotic guy with his head exploding?! (j/k)

He's hardly the first excited MS0 who go into his dream school and plastered their logo up as an avatar.

Yeesh, SDN gets as pi$$y as 5th grade at a girls' school....

 

[dru2002]

Tell me you didn't make the USUHS logo your avitar?! Oh wait you did . . . please remove it, that's super gay (plus it might be illegal to use the school's logo like that, w/o official permission). Replace it instead with a cool looking avitar, like my AvengedSevenfold logo . . . or something else that showcases your personality. How bout a neurotic guy with his head exploding?! (j/k)

I'm confident you got the copyright permissions from avenged sevenfold. 😉

 

[mslall]

its going downhill fast

 

[dru2002]

If you do a medicine residency this may be what your looking for to round out your education.

http://www.usuhs.mil/med/genmedfellowbro.html

 

[hosskp1]

In the operational setting you'll be serving as preventive med officer, which i think (and i could totally be wrong) is at the battalion level. Although that would be a lot of prev med guys.....maybe its at a brigade level.

I believe the number at Walter Reed and Madigan are variable. Either program can hold 2 residents with up to 3 residents per year in the field....again, i think.

4.) Do things like become the brigade commander at usuhs. Work as the prev med officer at, i would imagine, any army hospital. Deploy again as a prev med officer

After residency, it is possible that a Preventive Medicine graduate could wind up as a Batallion Surgeon, but it is highly unlikely. They may wind up as a brigade surgeon, but more likely as the Division Preventive Medicine guy. They may also wind up working at the preventive medicine department in Hospital.