Fellowship requirements?

[scoopdaboop]

Hi. Med student here figuring out and collecting as much info as I can on specialties. Is fellowship essentially required like it is in rads?

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[sharkbaitwhohaha]

No. Most do it however. For personal interest

 

[scoopdaboop]

No. Most do it however. For personal interest

Nice. 4 years of training is a lot more palatable than say 5 years when at that point why not just do IM + fellowship etc.

 

[sharkbaitwhohaha]

Nice. 4 years of training is a lot more palatable than say 5 years when at that point why not just do IM + fellowship etc.

Cause IM is boring.

 

[scoopdaboop]

Cause IM is boring.

What makes neuro so exciting?

 

[DrSatan]

I'm not convinced that fellowship isn't necessary yet. If 85+% of residents go into fellowship, then there should theoretically be an advantage for them when applying for jobs, especially in bigger cities.

 

[scoopdaboop]

I'm not convinced that fellowship isn't necessary yet. If 85+% of residents go into fellowship, then there should theoretically be an advantage for them when applying for jobs, especially in bigger cities.

Why do so many people go for fellowships... It's kind of ridiculous. It makes sense upto a certain point because obviously a lot of people want to work in academics and fellowships help with that... but I doubt 85 percent of residents goal is academia. Is it that the 4 years of training is inadequate?

 

[Postictal Raiden]

I'm not convinced that fellowship isn't necessary yet. If 85+% of residents go into fellowship, then there should theoretically be an advantage for them when applying for jobs, especially in bigger cities.

This is the truth.

If you are not looking for coastal or large metropolitan areas, you’ll be fine without a fellowship training. However as more and more people go into fellowships, you’ll feel very compelled to do one regardless of your future career plans.

Another reason people in neuro do fellowships is because they are easy to match into. Everyone gets a spot somewhere. There are always more spots than applicants.

Neurology, like IM, is very broad. It’s impossible to master it all. Even those who want to do general neuro (like me) still feel the need to argument their training in areas that improve diagnostic skills and marketability (neurophysiology).

 

[scoopdaboop]

This is the truth.

If you are not looking for coastal or large metropolitan areas, you’ll be fine without a fellowship training. However as more and more people go into fellowships, you’ll feel very compelled to do one regardless of your future career plans.

Another reason people in neuro do fellowships is because they are easy to match into. Everyone gets a spot somewhere. There are always more spots than applicants.

Neurology, like IM, is very broad. It’s impossible to master it all. Even those who want to do general neuro (like me) still feel the need to argument their training in areas that improve diagnostic skills and marketability (neurophysiology).

In rads, basically every job looks for a certain fellowship.. like "MSK trained rad" or "neuroradiologist", but it doesn't seem like that in neurology... most job offers aren't asking for "headache neurologist" usually it's just "neurologist" idk if i'm misinterperting things though.

 

[Postictal Raiden]

In rads, basically every job looks for a certain fellowship.. like "MSK trained rad" or "neuroradiologist", but it doesn't seem like that in neurology... most job offers aren't asking for "headache neurologist" usually it's just "neurologist" idk if i'm misinterperting things though.

Yes, situation in neurology is different from radiology. Most community/PP jobs don't require fellowship training but they do have certain expectations. For example, many outpatient jobs want you to be comfortable in reading EEGs and performing/interpreting EMGs/NCs. In most residency program, you'll get enough EEG exposure to be comfortable reading routine EEGs. However, Unless you actively seek out EMG/NCS exposure by doing most of your electives in neurophy/Neuromuscular, you won't get enough exposure to feel comfortable with those. In fact, most EEG-focused neurophysiology fellowship that offer 2 or so months of EMG training fail at adequately prepare their graduates to independently perform EMGs competently.

In smaller towns, or even larger ones but in undesirable locations, it is difficult to recruit general neurologists, let alone neurology subspecialists. Getting a job there straight out of residency shouldn't be a problem. But in larger cities (LA, Miami, Houston, PHX, NYC, Chicago, etc) and their suburbs, there's an abundance of fellowship programs, and thus fellowship trained neurologists, so they don't feel the need to "settle" for a fresh residency grad.