Pursuing a Medicine specialty after GP

[Doktor Timo]

To make a long story short, I'm just a few months away from starting my clinical year and I'm pretty undecided on what I want to do afterwards. I'm currently weighing the pros and cons of pursuing an ACVIM specialty (probably Internal Medicine or Med Onc) vs. going straight into general practice when I graduate. What I'm wondering is if anybody has any idea of how doing a few years of general practice might impact my chances if I decide to pursue a residency later? I know a lot of the older generation did that, but it seems like just about everybody who specializes now does it right away.

I've hard that doing GP first hurts your chances if you're trying to do surgery, but that isn't my primary interest. I do know an Anesthesiology resident who did emergency practice for several years before trying to specialise, but again that's not my specific interest. Any advice would be much appreciated.

(Also, I'm aware that it's highly likely I'll decide that I don't want to bother with an internship and residency after I've started doing GP and enjoying a real salary, but that's not really what I'm concerned about right now.)

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[Minnerbelle]

I know multiple recent IM residents in academia who were in GP first. Dunno if it's "harder," but it didn't seem like they struggled to get a slot.

 

[SocialStigma]

I know a few internists who were out in GP first (mixed animal, actually) prior to pursuing an internship and IM residency. They graduated in the late 90s/early 00s though, not sure if anything has changed since then. I don't know that it would hurt your chances but I think it's getting more competitive to obtain a residency position nowadays that it might become the norm in a few years for applicants to go through an IM internship following a rotating internship before matching to a residency (like with surgery). That alone would make me want to pursue IM specialization right out of school, if I was sure I wanted to specialize.

 

[Doktor Timo]

That's encouraging to hear. While we're on the subject, I noticed that all the ACVIM residencies say they require a rotating internship or "equivalent clinical experience." I've never heard any definition of what "equivalent clinical experience" would be and nobody I've asked seems to know. I'm curious if anybody has ever gone that route into a residency or if it's pretty much internship or bust.

 

[Minnerbelle]

The people I know who went on to IM residency after being in practice went back and did internships.

 

[jmo1012]

It's extremely unusual to get a residency without some sort of internship, even if yoyve been practicing for years. It would be worth doing a rotating right out of school if you have at feeling that you may want to go back for a residency later, because that will already make you more competitive than not having any internship, and then you've put one of those tough years out of the way