Probation question

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Cipher9422

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Hi guys,

I’m sorry if I come off vague but I really don’t want to put anything that would identify me.

I got placed on probation intern year for professionalism reasons. ACGME notified and the full shabang. Thankfully I was taken off halfway through for exceptional improvement and have been in good standing ever since.

I’m a third year Medicine resident now and will be graduating on time this year. Only thing is I feel like my history of probation will hinder me from being able to land a decent future job. Most people I’ve asked about this say not to worry but when I questioned whether or not they knew of anyone in a similar situation they say no.

I’m not making any excuses for being placed on probation. I understand why it was done. If anything I’ve overcompensated like a son of a gun and have been more active in hospital committees, teaching, research, etc. so that’s a plus I guess.
I’m just looking for honest answers if anyone can provide them. Thank you
 
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We don't really report things like this to the ACGME except with the milestones, and those are private and not released to anyone. So I wouldn't worry about that.

The main question here is what your program will be releasing in record requests. You should ask them specifically what your final documentation will say. If your final summary is supportive, I expect you won't have much problem.
 
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There are various types of 'probation' and whether or not they go on your 'permanent record'. Just talk to your PD about what will be in your residency confirmation notice and what you need to report when applying for licensing or jobs.

We put residents on 'probation' not infrequently, but it was a 'hey, you need to get your **** together' discussion rather than a 'this is a formal process that you will need to report' discussion unless they failed to show improvement.
 
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I've seen this a few times before. (Especially in the 1st year!) In each and every case the young doc has moved on with their career just fine. In fact, I would say that they are better people for their experience.
 
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The institutional response isn't really the issue, its what precipitated that action on their part. So its hard to say if it would matter without knowing what you did that lead to that. They could have terribly overreacted and I wouldn't care or excused something I would find inexcusable or anything in between.
 
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Hello everyone,

I wanted to update this thread since it has been a while since I graduated residency. In short, everything worked out well with respect to licensing and jobs. It really has not affected me at all. To be honest, when I brought it up most places just asked for a little more of an explanation and after being honest about what happened they just said, "ok sounds good".


I've been doing hospital medicine for about 3 years now and it's been great. It's quite amazing how much there really is left to learn and improve once you're out on your own.

Getting straight to the point though, I've taken quite a liking to Nephrology and could see myself working as an academic Nephrologist maybe one day. I do actually enjoy reading the subject matter and I never got to experience it during residency since my rotations were with other subspecialties so after working with the Nephro docs here I was surprised to find myself enjoying it.

Does anyone have any insight or ideas on how my past blunder might affect my chances if I was to apply? Do I even attempt it? I tried looking at past threads and reddit posts for people in similar situations but really have not found anything.

Thanks guys
 
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Cipher9422 said:
Hello everyone,

I wanted to update this thread since it has been a while since I graduated residency. In short, everything worked out well with respect to licensing and jobs. It really has not affected me at all. To be honest, when I brought it up most places just asked for a little more of an explanation and after being honest about what happened they just said, "ok sounds good".


I've been doing hospital medicine for about 3 years now and it's been great. It's quite amazing how much there really is left to learn and improve once you're out on your own.

Getting straight to the point though, I've taken quite a liking to Nephrology and could see myself working as an academic Nephrologist maybe one day. I do actually enjoy reading the subject matter and I never got to experience it during residency since my rotations were with other subspecialties so after working with the Nephro docs here I was surprised to find myself enjoying it.

Does anyone have any insight or ideas on how my past blunder might affect my chances if I was to apply? Do I even attempt it? I tried looking at past threads and reddit posts for people in similar situations but really have not found anything.

Thanks guys
Click to expand...

Nephrology fellowships will currently take anyone who can fog a mirror. I anticipate no difficulty whatsoever in getting into a renal fellowship.

Why you would want to match a renal fellowship these days is another question altogether. Have you read any of the posts around SDN talking about how undesirable renal has become?
 
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dozitgetchahi said:
Nephrology fellowships will currently take anyone who can fog a mirror. I anticipate no difficulty whatsoever in getting into a renal fellowship.

Why you would want to match a renal fellowship these days is another question altogether. Have you read any of the posts around SDN talking about how undesirable renal has become?
Click to expand...
Yeah, I won't lie I enjoy the subject matter which is why I would like to go into academics.

I think am lucky that I do though. I doubt any other fellowship program would even look at my application because I was on probation even though it was for 2 months during my intern year.
 
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Cipher9422 said:
Yeah, I won't lie I enjoy the subject matter which is why I would like to go into academics.

I think am lucky that I do though. I doubt any other fellowship program would even look at my application because I was on probation even though it was for 2 months during my intern year.
Click to expand...
If I'm not wrong, there are other less competitive fellowships for other IM subs?
 
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gutonc said:
Less competitive than nephrology? Maybe ID, but that's pretty much a wash.
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Not less competitive than nephrology, I wasn't clear sorry.

The OP said they doubted any other fellowship program would look at them, and I wasn't sure if that was true. Not clear to me if OP meant neph programs besides just whichever one they are looking at, or others subspecialties. It just seems weird to me without more details if it's really true the only fellowship the OP can ever aspire to is nephrology as a specialty or just one specific program, because of this probation.
 
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Crayola227 said:
Not less competitive than nephrology, I wasn't clear sorry.

The OP said they doubted any other fellowship program would look at them, and I wasn't sure if that was true. Not clear to me if OP meant neph programs besides just whichever one they are looking at, or others subspecialties. It just seems weird to me without more details if it's really true the only fellowship the OP can ever aspire to is nephrology as a specialty or just one specific program, because of this probation.
Click to expand...
I can PM you details if you want more insight. It was an interesting situation and during the meeting to decide most were against the decision. The PD ultimately made the choice but as I said, I was quickly taken off less than 2 months later. That same PD retired and was replaced early into my second year. I won't say that it was because of my old PD that I was put on probation, i'll take responsibility for how I was, but I won't lie when I say that things improved immeasurably across the entire residency program shortly after he left. I asked the new one about what would be written in a summative letter and he assured me nothing but positives. The issue with my intern year he would simply say that it was a period of time that I had to improve and I showed great growth and moved on - or something like that, it's been 3 years.

I like Nephrology, I like CCM, I enjoy Rheumatology. I believe my only shot at this point is Nephrology due to my probationary status during residency.
 
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