What should I do?

[doc600]

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I am in a sticky situation and maybe you guys can give me some advice.

Once upon a time I was in a residency for a very short period of time. However I ended up leaving the program because I was not being treated fairly. Since this time I have been trying two get back into a residency. I have had a number of interviews. All the interviews have been very positive! but once I tell them I was previously in a residency program and try to explain what happened....... they pretty much say see ya!!

My approach with this has been to just be upfront about it and Just lay it out in the open. However I'm not so sure this is the best approach..... I am not going to lie about it if someone asks me straight up. But, would it be better to just not tell? My concern is, that they find out a few months into the residency that I was in a previous program and they feel deceived. Is there a way for them to find out if I DO NOT TELL?

What should I do?

Any advice will be appreciated!

 

[dragonfly99]

Wow. This is a real quandary. You WOULD probably do better if they never knew you'd been in a prior residency. You really didn't tell us anything about the circumstances of your leaving the previous residency...they probably are investigating that after you confess what happened. Likely they called and talked to the previous program director or department chair, etc. They might be afraid you would quit the new residency also.

I don't know if you can avoid telling them. I know that when/if you go to get a license (state license to practice medicine) at some later point, there will be questions about what residencies you have been in in the past (whether or not you finished, you still have to list them). However, if you successfully completed the 2nd residency this is unlikely to be an issue with most state licensures.

I really don't know how you are going to get around this. If you were only in the previous residency a few days or weeks, then I'm not sure if the new program would have a surefire way to know you were there...but would think that Medicare has some records of that. They pay the hospital/med center for each resident/trainee who is there, and I'm sure they have records and I'd think your program would find out at some point. I think they'd find out before you even began/started your new residency.

Do you think it might be better to try and be up front about what happened, and try to explain why you don't think it would happen again and why you can be a successful resident in the new program? Switching specialties may help, since sometimes the docs care less how you did in a prior specialty (i.e. I had a friend who switched out of a surgical field into internal medicine, and even though she left the prior program on not the best of terms, she was able to successfully switch to medicine).

 

[Doowai]

I was discussing this with a program director and they said there was no way they would know - but if they found out later it could be grounds for dismissal. The ERAS page where you list previous training asks you to list programs in which you completed the intern year, but the directions link - if you read it - says to list any training regardless of the amount of time you spent there.


I believe in honesty - but then again I have screwed up most things in my life.

 

[cali-ob]

I am sorry you have gone through such difficulties getting past that inital disclosure step.
I quit my Ob/Gyn residency last October of my intern year, so I can sympathize. However, I went straight into the match that same year, and I addressed the situation in my PS. I think the fact that it was in my PS, meant that any program who read that and then still chose to interview me decided to evaluate me with the knoweldge of my previous experience and not to have it be a road block. Anyone who had an issue with it....well, I guess I just didn't hear from those people.

Also, I agree with above posts in that, I was switching out of a specialty. I think that is generally looked upon a little more favorably than just switching programs within a specialty. People can get that you can think you like something as a med student and realize different once you're in it, and I actually had most people applauding me for being "courageous" enough to make that change instead of just suffering through and being unhappy.

If you have questions, please feel free to pm me. Believe me, I did not leave my program in the most perfect manner, but I think I did do some key things that enabled me to secure a residency spot that I wanted with relative ease. It can be done.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

If you give a PD a copy of your CV, and your prior training is not on it or disclosed, and someone finds out about it later, we have a word for that.

It's called fraud.

And, your entire career can come to an end, regardless of how much training you have.

So personally, I don't think it's worth the risk.

I agree with the poster above. If PD's are finding out about this at the interview (assuming it's not a phone interview), then that's the problem. I would be pissed if I went through all the work of organizing an interview for you, to find you had left off a very important piece of information. I'd wonder what else you had left off. And I'd show you the door.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Agree wholeheartedly with APD and others that say to lie is to spend the rest of your life wondering if you'll be found out.

I would advise you to think about not WHAT you are saying but also HOW you are saying it.

You may very well have been treated unfairly. Unfortunately, this can come off as whining or at best, unprofessional. If you are seemingly complaining about your former program, that may be hurting you more than the fact that you left. There is an art to "spin" - people get paid big bucks to do this for a lot of famous people! 😉

Obviously its hard to ascertain why you aren't getting past the interview...I suspect if you are hiding the fact that you were in another program until you get to the interview, like APD says, its not improbable that is why you are being shown the door.

If you get through the interview and then are rejected, it could be anything from the fact that you left very soon after starting, or your former PD is telling a different story than you are.

So I'd work on the easiest thing to change and that it how you spin/present this period of your life.

 

[doc600]

Thanks every one for your thoughts and advice. I really do want to do the "right thing" with this situation.... even if its the "hard thing" to do. Explaining the situation in the personal statement seems like a good idea.

I was only in this program for less then a month. So it is VERY easy to just skip over it when I am asked the question "what have you been doing with your life since graduation"
Its just very hard explaining it with out making myself.... or the program look bad. Which I realize, I have to find a way to do without telling a lie.

Oh and I am switching specialties as a result of my experience. So perhaps that may help explaining as well.

 

[Blade28]

Definitely do NOT lie and omit your prior residency training (no matter how brief) from all future applications.