USMLE for DO applying for fellowship?

[somedumbDO]

Well guys I am a DO doing a residency at an allopathic anesthesia program (well i am a PGY1). I am probably going to take step 3 (comlex) in the next 3 months or so. What happend is that I was talking to another DO guy (peds) He said that his program director highly recommended taking BOTH comlex and USMLE for applying to fellowships??? Well I most likely will do a fellowship either critical care or regional, no pain. And have any of you guys/gals heard that this applies to anesthesia?? I have never heard this but just wanted to check before I drop ANOTHER 2k for testing. I rather just spend 1k 🙄.....

thanks for the help

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[Gern Blansten]

Things could change in the next few years, but Critical care is NOT competitive at the current time (probably a few competitive programs out there but not many). A huge number of positions go unfilled every year. I can't speak to the regional fellowship. There probably are not that many out there. Most don't feel a need to do a regional fellowship at the current time. Find a program where you get good regional experience during residency and do a lot of studying up on it on your own(ie learning ultrasound techniques) and you should be fine. The only real need I see for a regional fellowship is if you did very little in your residency or if you are trying to market yourself as a teaching faculty in an academic center.

So...my gut feeling, as a non D.O., is that you probably don't need the USMLE if you have gotten this far without it. I would, however, recommend that osteopathic students that want to go the allopathic residency route will greatly increase their available options by having a USMLE score to compare to other applicants(as long as it is good). Fair or not, many people disregard or do not have a good knowledge of how to interpret COMLEX scores.

Good luck.

 

[DoDrIII]

I would, however, recommend that osteopathic students that want to go the allopathic residency route will greatly increase their available options by having a USMLE score to compare to other applicants(as long as it is good). Fair or not, many people disregard or do not have a good knowledge of how to interpret COMLEX scores.

what would be considered a 'good' USMLE score, that would help a DO student? And do we need to take USMLE steps 2 and 3, if we took USMLE step 1, since we will be taking COMLEX II and III?

 

[supahfresh]

I'm a CA-3 and took only USMLE step I and I got a bunch of peds fellowship interviews. At this time I don't think they care. It may be less competitive to get a critical care fellowship. However, as the above poster mentioned, these things may change over the next few years. My personal opinion is that when the fellowships become more competitive it wont be your USMLE that they care about. That things like your letters of rec and your ASA-ITE scores will still hold more weight, not to mention a phone call from your program chair. It pays to be a team player during your residency.

Do well on your ASA-ITE scores. They actually do care and several fellowships commented on mine being good enough to get interviews.

 

[somedumbDO]

I'm a CA-3 and took only USMLE step I and I got a bunch of peds fellowship interviews. At this time I don't think they care. It may be less competitive to get a critical care fellowship. However, as the above poster mentioned, these things may change over the next few years. My personal opinion is that when the fellowships become more competitive it wont be your USMLE that they care about. That things like your letters of rec and your ASA-ITE scores will still hold more weight, not to mention a phone call from your program chair. It pays to be a team player during your residency.

Do well on your ASA-ITE scores. They actually do care and several fellowships commented on mine being good enough to get interviews.

Thanks, that is what I thought but who knows in the future. I just dont see how that test is applicable to anesthesia at all when they could use your in service training exams?? I have already taken step 1 and 2 but just dont want to spend the money on tests, rather something fun. The only thought of regional fellowship is that my current residency is Fair but not excellent in regional. Who knows the only fellowships i have definitely eliminated is peds, and pain.

 

[lh2004]

I am a CA-3 at UPenn and also a D.O. I will be doing peds fellowship at CHOP starting in July. I did take USMLE, but I only took Step 1, since at the time, I wasn't sure if it would be useful when applying to residencies. I only used my COMLEX scores when applying for fellowships. I do not think whether or not you take USMLE has any bearing on your fellowship application whatsoever. They may look at your in training exam scores, but even that has little weight compared to the actual interview, your letters of recommendation, etc.

 

[timtye78]

I am a CA-3 DO at an allo institution applying for pain fellowship.

I only took the USMLE Step 1 to increase the odds of matching in Anesthesiology. As a side note, I heard that someone high up mentioned the only DOs they interview are ones who at least have a USMLE score (step 1) in my program.


Back to fellowship. If you look on gaswork.com you may notice that there are pediatric anesthesiology fellowships advertised as job listings. Some of these are at notable institutions, eg UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas. You can actually search the job listings *by fellowship* to get a national listing of available fellowships. You may have to look to see how old these listings are, and you are just now a pgy-1, so this will informational only to you at this time. Seems to me like they have little to no competition, actually looking for applicants. I am sure at CHOP and other places there would be some competition.

Peds fellowship is generally not too sought after. Common reasons I have heard is no one wants to treat all the sick kiddos all the time. Peds on the other hand trends toward academic practice as ell. Healthy peds you can do as a generalist anesthesiologist.

Critical care is being promoted by the ASA but even the academic guys complain that there is no financial incentive. Not competitive at this time.

Pain very competitive in the sense that it is en vougue. Potential for better hours, pay, etc. Downside is patient population, narc writing, and decreasing reimbursements every year. Lots of cool procedures. Lots of epidurals. Few true emergencies, etc.

OB-few fellowships. Fairly non competitive. I have heard that in a few select areas of the country, Los Angeles, for example, that there are a few boutique practices that won't even interview you unless you are fellowship trained. Generally, not very many general anesthesiologists desire to actually work in the OB departments in private practice, and hence if you like it, the thought is, why not get paid full pay while doing it full-time in private practice. Again, if you go interview somewhere and tell them you want OB work, its yours.

Regional fellowship-another non boarded fellowship at this time, with little to gain except some volume in blocks that you can do in an outpatient ortho specialty hospital and get paid full fledged for it. I have an attending who tells me he placed 1800 blocks in a similar setting last year and made bank at the same time. The rumor has it that these non-boarded fellowships are basically private practice groups who are looking for cheap labor. The same can be said for the non-accredited pain fellowships. They throw out some big name and 'let' you work for them getting a fellow's salary. Then what you have is non-recognized skills.

Hope this helps.