residency with few fellowships vs. many

[rock_climber]

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M3 here, starting to look at peds residencies in the midwest. I have heard arguments that going to a residency which has fewer fellowships gives the residents more face time with attendings and more chances to do procedures, etc. Do you think this is true or do residencies with more fellowships give residents better teaching opportunities? Or does it make a difference at all? Right now, I'm planning on doing a fellowship but not quite sure in what yet. Thanks!

 

[generic]

yes, that is generally accepted to be true (to some extent). Of course, much more depends on the individual program--some with fellows can certainly be very education-focused.

One might also argue that having good fellows who love to teach around may be more educational than having more face time with attendings, since attendings might be busier/more jaded/out of touch with distant residency training, etc.

The other issue is that having big well-known fellowships around at your training site probably indicates that more rare diagnoses, well-known attendings, etc. will be around, so those are more sources of learning.

Oh yes, and if you want to do a fellowship, you may end up wanting to stay wherever you do residency, so that would be another reason to go somewhere with lots of available options...