question about gmo's

[mdm2fly]

I'm still trying to make a decision on whether or not to take a Navy HPSP...please help with some info...

Is it possible to serve out four years as a gmo after PGY-1, then leave? Will your active duty commitment be fulfilled, or do you have to apply to a military residency afterwards? Also, is training to be a FS considered part of active duty?

I want to serve the Navy after my residency, but I don't want to be stuck in a specialty I really don't like, and I don't want to go do a crappy residency, so I was thinking that I would sign on as a civilian doctor after my residency. I definitely want to be a FS for a period of time (not forever though...I don't want to be single for the rest of my life), so I thought that HPSP would work out for me.

Any info/advice would be great. Thanks!

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[TX_NFS]

Going from what I've absorbed so far and having others hopefully back me up with certainty...

Is it possible to serve out four years as a gmo after PGY-1, then leave? Will your active duty commitment be fulfilled, or do you have to apply to a military residency afterwards? Also, is training to be a FS considered part of active duty?

Yes; Once the commitment is up, I'm fairly certain one can't be forced to apply for a military residency; Err...I certainly hope so, or else the FS course, API, and the abbreviated flight instruction (6 months total) make another pause in fulfilling the commitment...

I want to serve the Navy after my residency, but I don't want to be stuck in a specialty I really don't like, and I don't want to go do a crappy residency, so I was thinking that I would sign on as a civilian doctor after my residency.

Don't you love dilemmas? Anyways, if military docs really do GTFO (low retention rates) for the foreseeable future, I can see more contracting out to civilian doctors. Just guessing on my part, so them practicing people can probably contribute more.

 

[orbitsurgMD]

I'm still trying to make a decision on whether or not to take a Navy HPSP...please help with some info...

Is it possible to serve out four years as a gmo after PGY-1, then leave?

Yes. Not just possible, but probable.

Will your active duty commitment be fulfilled,

Yes, unless you are stop-lossed.

or do you have to apply to a military residency afterwards?

No, you don't have to apply, but if you want a military residency it is wise to apply each year while you are working as a GMO.

Also, is training to be a FS considered part of active duty?

Yes, it is. So the payback clock starts to run down the day you leave internship, and runs both while waiting for your flight surgery training class to start and all the way through training and into your fleet assignment(s). It stops only if you go back into residency training. If you do a military residency, you accrue additional service time obligation which is served out concurrently with any remaining time left from your HPSP obligation. Whichever service period is longer, the remaining time from HPSP or the accrued additional time from training is your minimum period of obligated active duty service from that point.

I want to serve the Navy after my residency, but I don't want to be stuck in a specialty I really don't like,

No one is going to force you into training you don't want. Your bigger problem is likely to be getting the training you do want.

and I don't want to go do a crappy residency,

That is reasonable, nobody should. You will just have to keep a eye out for the opportunities you want.

so I was thinking that I would sign on as a civilian doctor after my residency.

Probably a better bet if getting complete training is your priority.

I definitely want to be a FS for a period of time (not forever though...I don't want to be single for the rest of my life), so I thought that HPSP would work out for me.

There were several prior residency-trained people in my flight surgery class. That is definitely a way to consider going. Just remember, you may be assigned to work outside of your residency training field. One flight surgeon I knew trained previously in neurology got a general flightline clinic billet instead of a neurology job, which I suspect he had been promised when recruited. He wasn't happy.

Any info/advice would be great. Thanks!

Done.

 

[mdm2fly]

That helped a lot!

 

[psychbender]

I want to serve the Navy after my residency, but I don't want to be stuck in a specialty I really don't like, and I don't want to go do a crappy residency, so I was thinking that I would sign on as a civilian doctor after my residency. I definitely want to be a FS for a period of time (not forever though...I don't want to be single for the rest of my life), so I thought that HPSP would work out for me.

Any info/advice would be great. Thanks!

Have you looked into the FAP (Financial Assistance Program)? After completing civilian training, you can join the military as a board-certified physician in a specialty of your choosing, and they help pay off some of your loans. Most on here generally say that it gives you a bit more leverage for getting initial assignments, and you have more control of your medical career (since you chose your GME and don't owe the military anything). If you really want to serve the Navy as a doctor, that may be something worth looking into.