Specific VA residency question

[stark3]

So I am looking to apply to a VA residency in the near future and would like to know a review of Phoenix VA's residency. In their program, residents are either in the ambulatory track or acute care track. I am interested in doing acute care but I am hoping to transfer to a VA back home if a position opens up in the future. I know that many VA residency programs are starting to incorporate ambulatory care rotations into their curriculum so I was wondering if it would hurt that I am aiming for a purely acute care one if I want to transfer to a VA near home.

The rotations offered are :
Month Rotations

• Orientation
• Internal Medicine I
• Internal Medicine II
• Internal Medicine III
• MICU I
• MICU II
• CLC/Geriatrics
• Inpatient Pharmacy
• Pharmacoeconomics and Management
• Research
• 2 Electives

Thoughts??

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[EML9255]

See those 2 electives...that can be your ambulatory care experience, CLC and geriatrics will be more of an ambulatory care experience as well, so I wouldn't say that program is a full acute care experience. A lot of residency programs allow you to tailor rotations to get a broader experience/more rotations based on your interests. And by near future you mean Jan 2015, right?

 

[bacillus1]

See those 2 electives...that can be your ambulatory care experience, CLC and geriatrics will be more of an ambulatory care experience as well, so I wouldn't say that program is a full acute care experience. A lot of residency programs allow you to tailor rotations to get a broader experience/more rotations based on your interests. And by near future you mean Jan 2015, right?

CLC is not am care, unless some home-based primary care is incorporated into that (which is mostly chart reviews). However, I think you could be OK with the 2 am care electives. Most inpatient jobs out of PGY-1 have a large internal med focus, so 3 months of internal med will really set you up well to apply to lots of VA positions. In addition, you will also be better equipped to apply for non-VA jobs (as VA jobs don't have the highest turnover rate, so there might not be any VA jobs at all in your hometown at the time you apply). Btw if you're looking in Arizona, my coworker did residency at the Tucson VA and really liked it.

Feel free to PM me any other questions you have about VA residencies or jobs.

 

[stark3]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I have a lot to learn about picking residencies. I am new to this and I am still trying to judge a program based on its strengths and weaknesses.

 

[EML9255]

Just use the ASHP directory to look through the ones that interest you, talk to people you know how are doing residencies, etc.

My mistake about CLC, we call a site that i did a rotation at a CLC and it was basically am care but it wasnt related to a VA so term was not interchangeable, whoops!