presents

Ryan's Top 5 Things To Look For In a Residency


In no particular order...

1) Location, Location, Location
This one is self explanatory but I'll say it for the hell of it. If you want to stay and practice in an area then you should try for a residency in that area. Many times residents are hired into groups they rotated with. It's hard to make connections in New York if you're doing a residency in Idaho. If you have the luxury of being able to choose your location please do so wisely.

2) Fellowships
There are two schools of thought on fellowship selection. Some programs tend to take residents in their own programs and some don't. If specialization is in your futures I suggest you get this information about your programs. This being said, don't pick an inferior program just because it always takes its own residents for its fellowships, but keep it in mind when selecting between 2 or 3 programs that you are unsure about.

3) Workload
You want a happy medium here. You're going to want a fair amount of patients so you can be exposed to a lot of pathology. Generally speaking while it might be nice to sit around all day and have short hours you're only going to end up with inferior training. On the flip side all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. You'll go crazy in a program that works you to the bone, especially if it's scutwork. So don't think an abusive program that treats you like dirt will make you a better physician, because it won't. Just keep in mind you have a lot to learn and the best way to do that is through experience. Also, take a look at the call schedule, you're going to want a place that does night floats instead of the 36 hours straight crap, trust me.

4) The Residents
I'll say it again and again, the people make the program. You are going to be working in close contact with the other residents for 3 years maybe more. If you really don't like most of the residents then you are going to hate your life. Talk to the residents at each program, if they are not happy chances are you won't be either. You want a place that has a "team" atmosphere, where the residents will help each other. While a little competition may be good, an ultra-competitive environment will be couterproductive. People there will tend to withhold information and backstab rather then teach each other and learn. Now, no matter where you go there will always be one or two numbnuts who get into each program. You cant avoid them all so when it's just a few you'll just have to deal with them.

5) The Attendings
Don't forget that attendings are also part of the program. You're going to want people who practice good medicine. Try not to be immediately put off by an attending who is strict and detail oriented. Sometimes it can be misconstrued as malicious. In actuality many of them genuinely care about your progression which is a crucial part of a program. There will of course be some that are just mean. They won't teach, you won't learn, and they don't care. Stay away from these. A program with attendings that enjoy having and teaching residents would obviously be superior to one where they just want you to do their work.



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