Specialties/Fellowship combos

[Cybii]

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So I was browsing different websites and a few questions came to mind.

I was researching fellowships available for family practitioners, and I liked the idea of obstetrics. The AAFP listed fellowship programs in obstetrics (http://www.aafp.org/fellowships/obstet.html)
but the American Board of Family Medicine doesn't seem to acknowledge any (https://www.theabfm.org/caq/index.aspx ).

Am I missing something?

Also, I was wondering if anyone knew of mixed specialties (like IM + FM) or a site that would list them? I'm having trouble finding them myself. I assume there are different mixed specialties whether you match osteopathic or allopathic? Can you do a fellowship if you complete a mixed specialty? I am naive when it comes to this.

Anyone else thinking about doing mixed residencies or certain fellowships here? I know it's kind of weird to be thinking about this so soon, but I like knowing the different possibilities. 😀

Thanks!

 

[EmersonAnne]

Here's a link to the allo residencies. You can go under specialty and choose combined specialty. You can also search for fellowships.

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/education-careers/graduate-medical-education/freida-online.shtml

Here's the one for DO residencies.

http://opportunities.osteopathic.or...essionid=f030e4bf43a0c90a3fb13be787f3b4f12531

 

[sonofva]

You shouldn't really do the whole FP/OB fellowship route unless you plan to open up your own family practice in the middle of nowhere (ie-a situation where the family practitioner is the only doctor around).

otherwise it wouldn't make financial sense for an FP to deliver babies all the time in a normal setting, due to the malpractice costs and competition with certified OB's. The other types of fellowships in FP are for things like sports medicine, geriatrics, and aerospace/flight medicine. (but isnt the whole idea behind FP that you don't need to specialize?)

as far as combined specialties, there is always IM/Peds, IM/EM, FM/EM, etc...in these cases you are eligable to be dual certified and pursue fellowships in either specialty...but keep in mind, you also have to maintain both specialities and be recertified over the course of your career, and i can imagine it would be a lot to keep up with...

dual residencies are generally to the tune of 5-6 years training. I always thought dual specialty IM/EM would be good if you wanted to do medical critical care down the line, or something similar.

 

[Cybii]

Here's a link to the allo residencies. You can go under specialty and choose combined specialty. You can also search for fellowships.

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/education-careers/graduate-medical-education/freida-online.shtml

Here's the one for DO residencies.

http://opportunities.osteopathic.or...essionid=f030e4bf43a0c90a3fb13be787f3b4f12531

Thanks for the links. I will check those out.

You shouldn't really do the whole FP/OB fellowship route unless you plan to open up your own family practice in the middle of nowhere (ie-a situation where the family practitioner is the only doctor around).

otherwise it wouldn't make financial sense for an FP to deliver babies all the time in a normal setting, due to the malpractice costs and competition with certified OB's. The other types of fellowships in FP are for things like sports medicine, geriatrics, and aerospace/flight medicine. (but isnt the whole idea behind FP that you don't need to specialize?)

as far as combined specialties, there is always IM/Peds, IM/EM, FM/EM, etc...in these cases you are eligable to be dual certified and pursue fellowships in either specialty...but keep in mind, you also have to maintain both specialities and be recertified over the course of your career, and i can imagine it would be a lot to keep up with...

dual residencies are generally to the tune of 5-6 years training. I always thought dual specialty IM/EM would be good if you wanted to do medical critical care down the line, or something similar.

Well, I thought maybe pregnant patients would feel more comfortable if they stayed with their original family doctor. Hmm, but I didn't consider the ridiculous malpractice insurance. Thanks for your input! 🙂

 

[JaggerPlate]

Thanks for the links. I will check those out.





Well, I thought maybe pregnant patients would feel more comfortable if they stayed with their original family doctor. Hmm, but I didn't consider the ridiculous malpractice insurance. Thanks for your input! 🙂

OB is one of the riskiest fields with respect to malpractice and the quickness in which people sue when things go wrong (no one likes hurt babies, and the docs are an easy one to blame). The only way you really could do much with FP + OB (in my opinion) is in a really rural/underserved type of setting that doesn't have access to straight OB/GYNs. Otherwise, I think there would be issues with hospital rights, how much OB you could really do, etc. I do know some FP programs that talk about how much OB you get to experience (Ventura is one that comes to mind), but I don't know how much these FPs get to do with it once it's all said and done. Just my two cents ... maybe people will actual experience will come in and answer.

 

[TopQuark]

http://denver.yourhub.com/Broomfield/Stories/Archive/About-Town/Story~91060.aspx

This thread reminded me of my one time PCP. It seems he did a lot of OB with just an Army FP residency. As a DO no less...

Hope the link still works. The story is a little old, but it was all I could find in the vastness of webspace.

 

[MN premed]

I was actually looking online for job openings in family practice in MN, just to see if i could find out what kind of pay they were getting and whatnot. I noticed a LOT of the listings were "family medicine with OB" or "family medicine with OB optional." Others specifically said "family medicine without OB." I don't believe you needed a fellowship in obstetrics either, just a family practice residency, which would be pretty nice (but I'm not 100% sure on this) 🙂 Most of these weren't in really large cities, but I wouldn't say they were all rural either. Plus, you could always work somewhat rural and live closer to the city.

 

[sonofva]

As an FP you are technically allowed to do a lot of things without further specialization, including deliver babies. FP's are expected to be able to take on all basic medical issues (i.e- minor surgeries, ob/gyn, psych. issues, etc.), which is why you rotate through all of these specialties in your residency...

i've heard from a large handful of FP's, though, that OB/Gyn's really turn up the heat on FP's that practice OB. Guess they don't like the competition...

 

[Cybii]

http://denver.yourhub.com/Broomfield/Stories/Archive/About-Town/Story~91060.aspx

This thread reminded me of my one time PCP. It seems he did a lot of OB with just an Army FP residency. As a DO no less...

Very interesting... I was under the assumption you have to have a fellowship in Obstetrics to delivery babies. Maybe not. Hmmm.

I was actually looking online for job openings in family practice in MN, just to see if i could find out what kind of pay they were getting and whatnot. I noticed a LOT of the listings were "family medicine with OB" or "family medicine with OB optional." Others specifically said "family medicine without OB." I don't believe you needed a fellowship in obstetrics either, just a family practice residency, which would be pretty nice (but I'm not 100% sure on this) 🙂 Most of these weren't in really large cities, but I wouldn't say they were all rural either. Plus, you could always work somewhat rural and live closer to the city.

That sounds awesome... Thanks for the info! Can't wait to see if it's 100% true or not, and whether or not in all states.

As an FP you are technically allowed to do a lot of things without further specialization, including deliver babies. FP's are expected to be able to take on all basic medical issues (i.e- minor surgeries, ob/gyn, psych. issues, etc.), which is why you rotate through all of these specialties in your residency...

That's exciting. 😀

 

[scpod]

Very interesting... I was under the assumption you have to have a fellowship in Obstetrics to delivery babies. Maybe not. Hmmm.

No, not at all. AOA Family Practice residencies require you to do a minimum of 40 or 50 deliveries on your own. In some places the residents get 100 or more easily. In other places (where they have OB residents) you are likely to be shipped somewhere else just to get your minimum numbers in.

What determines whether or not you can practice Obstetrics is whether or not you get hospital priviledges. The way to do that is to have the numbers ( a lot of deliveries) and generally to be in a more rural area. There are many FP docs who are still doing deliveries in the US because there is no one else locally to do them.

While it is not necessary to do an OB fellowship, because you can always elect to do additional rotations in OB for electives and get your numbers up, they do exist, and that would probably look really good when you are applying to hospitals for priviledges.