What if you're interested in 2 fellowships?

[nancysinatra]

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I will be applying for the match next year, and I know there are some combined child and general psych programs, so this is on my mind. I could definitely see myself wanting to work with adolescents. So that makes me interested in a child psych fellowship or in one of the combined residencies. But then I think I would also be very interested in psychosomatic medicine.

I'm pretty sure I will apply for a general residency, since I won't be ready to decide for sure for awhile. So this isn't an urgent issue. But what do people do if they have two interests? These two interests could even overlap. How do you gain the expertise in both areas?

 

[Doc Samson]

I will be applying for the match next year, and I know there are some combined child and general psych programs, so this is on my mind. I could definitely see myself wanting to work with adolescents. So that makes me interested in a child psych fellowship or in one of the combined residencies. But then I think I would also be very interested in psychosomatic medicine.

I'm pretty sure I will apply for a general residency, since I won't be ready to decide for sure for awhile. So this isn't an urgent issue. But what do people do if they have two interests? These two interests could even overlap. How do you gain the expertise in both areas?

Your options are to do both fellowships (unusual, but not unheard of), or to do a C&A fellowship with a heavy emphasis on PM and elective time where you could get more experience (in my narrow experience the MGH/McLean program would fit the bill).

 

[atsai3]

I will be applying for the match next year, and I know there are some combined child and general psych programs, so this is on my mind. I could definitely see myself wanting to work with adolescents. So that makes me interested in a child psych fellowship or in one of the combined residencies. But then I think I would also be very interested in psychosomatic medicine.

I'm pretty sure I will apply for a general residency, since I won't be ready to decide for sure for awhile. So this isn't an urgent issue. But what do people do if they have two interests? These two interests could even overlap. How do you gain the expertise in both areas?

I've encountered several residents over the past two or three years who intend to do child forensic psych. Typically they fast-track into child and then do a forensics fellowship after that.

-AT.

 

[nitemagi]

I've encountered several residents over the past two or three years who intend to do child forensic psych. Typically they fast-track into child and then do a forensics fellowship after that.

-AT.

That's what I'm planning (child forensics).

As for Child/CL, you could always triple board in adult/child/peds. You don't technically have to be boarded in CL to do CL work. Our CL service is run by a combined Family Med/Psych attending, for example, and the Children's hospital here in SD has a psych CL service run by a triple boarded attending as well.

 

[whopper]

I've seen a few people do more than 1 fellowship.

Heck I'd do that if I were in my mid 20s, but I'm getting old and I figure its time to get the loans paid off. I will though perhaps look into getting certified in some specialized areas after fellowship.

 

[Faebinder]

Why not just do both? Consider a longer "single" fellowship. Moonlight to pay loans if loans are troubling you.

 

[michaelrack]

Since most psychiatry fellowships are only 1 year, it's easy to do more than 1 (compared to internal medicine subspecialty fellowships which are 2-4 years).

What's hard is paying for all the board exams! The board exams for general psychiatry and for psychiatry fellowships are more expensive than most board exams for other specialties. I consider myself an expert in this area since I have taken and paid for the following board exams:

Internal Medicine
Psychiatry part one
Psychiatry part 2 - three times
Old sleep medicine boards parts 1+2
Psychiatry part one again (you're required to repeat it after flunking oral boards three times).
Psychiatry part 2 two more times - finally passed
New sleep medicine boards (will hear later this week if I passed)
Psychosomatic boards- scheduled for April, I grandfathered into this specialty

That's 12 board exams paid for and 11 taken so far. The IM boards and new sleep boards were taken under medicine, the old sleep boards were a "rogue board" which I used my Internal medicine boards (in addition to a sleep fellowship) to qualify for, the rest are psychiatry boards. Total direct cost in board fees alone so far is about $20,000. If you add in the costs of travel and board review courses, I've spent about $50,000 in obtaining all my certifications.