How much does your residency choice matter for becoming a sports medicine doctor?

[PaprikaLeapt]

Ex: are certain residencies looked at significantly more favorably than others by sports medicine fellowships (there are no residencies in sm right?)?

Or some that are looked at very unfavorably?

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[galactus]

No. People match from residencies with and without sports med fellowships attached.

 

[jkmph]

Ex: are certain residencies looked at significantly more favorably than others by sports medicine fellowships (there are no residencies in sm right?)?

Or some that are looked at very unfavorably?

It's definitely not looked at unfavorably. That would be a misinterpretation. Many people match from residency programs without fellowship.

It would be fair to state that being at a program with a fellowship is advantageous for a few reasons. You will likely have more sports medicine experiences (rotation, coverage, teaching, academic opportunities, etc) and exposure to the fellowship faculty. Conversely, some programs intentionally don't take folks from their program to avoid this appearance.

Read more if interested: Sports Medicine for Residents — The Sports Medicine Review

 

[Freezeout]

I matched from a residency with no fellowship. I think it helped show my desire for sports because I had to work harder for exposure/experience. It was a disadvantage in terms of ultrasound exposure cause I had basically zero. That may be different if you go to a residency that does a lot of POCUS as I think that’s more common these days than even five years ago.

 

[PaprikaLeapt]

I matched from a residency with no fellowship. I think it helped show my desire for sports because I had to work harder for exposure/experience. It was a disadvantage in terms of ultrasound exposure cause I had basically zero. That may be different if you go to a residency that does a lot of POCUS as I think that’s more common these days than even five years ago.

1. If you were thinking of doing a residency in PM&R and then maybe later go into sports medicine, how would you go about this in terms of activities/choices you did before/during/after med school?

2. What are the best reasons not to do what I described above?

 

[n3xa]

Ex: are certain residencies looked at significantly more favorably than others by sports medicine fellowships (there are no residencies in sm right?)?

Or some that are looked at very unfavorably?

I am at a FM residency that has a sports medicine fellowship, and some program(s) do view us more unfavorably because of that, but that's far and few between.

 

[PaprikaLeapt]

I am at a FM residency that has a sports medicine fellowship, and some program(s) do view us more unfavorably because of that, but that's far and few between.

1. Family medicine residencies are looked at unfavorably for sports medicine by some schools? Which residencies are looked at unfavorably?
2. What residencies are looked at favorably (positively) for sports medicine out of curiosity?

 

[PaprikaLeapt]

I matched from a residency with no fellowship. I think it helped show my desire for sports because I had to work harder for exposure/experience. It was a disadvantage in terms of ultrasound exposure cause I had basically zero. That may be different if you go to a residency that does a lot of POCUS as I think that’s more common these days than even five years ago.

What are some of the best and most common ways to get ultrasound experience before a sports medicine fellowship?
Is it common for some schools like yours not to offer that many opportunities for it?

 

[Freezeout]

What are some of the best and most common ways to get ultrasound experience before a sports medicine fellowship?
Is it common for some schools like yours not to offer that many opportunities for it?

The best way is in practice but outside of that there are conferences. I think it is/will be less and less common but I can’t speak to the exposure offered at other programs. If you do PM&R you’ll have exposure. I’m FM trained.

 

[superfan56]

I would actually say that I was at a fellowship where the residents had basically no sports/injection/ultrasound training. Residents referred to sports clinics and we managed it. My residency had no fellowship attached and basically had free reign on what i wanted to do. You should pick a program where you can mold your interests as well.

 

[Synophrys]

In order to be a good fellow, you must first be a good resident. It really makes no difference if your residency is attached to a SM fellowship. It does however provide you with more sports coverage opportunities though if you have one in house.

If you are trying to select a specialty, there is a very lengthy breakdown of that exact topic in a different thread so I will not repeat it here. The bottom line of looking for a good applicant is to evaluate their ability to collect and synthesize information and their ability to carry out a plan in a highly dynamic environment. Every residency will offer this experience. I have found that some of the best applicants are the ones from unopposed FM programs with no sports fellowship attached to them. This creates an environment that favors a more proactive approach. The resident must seek out events and network with other teams and coaches. This gives experience in several different facets and is a highly sought after trait. The leadership qualities it takes to identify a potential experience and then the social skills to negotiate the event coverage and build the relationship will be reinforced in this type of a residency.

Applicants that go to an FM program attached to an SM fellowship typically get spoon fed experiences and have very little knowledge of how to network or build relationships with teams. This skill can be taught in fellowship, but your competition may be viewed as a more well rounded applicant. This is just my opinion, and I am sure every other fellowship out there will have their own.

 

[n3xa]

1. Family medicine residencies are looked at unfavorably for sports medicine by some schools? Which residencies are looked at unfavorably?
2. What residencies are looked at favorably (positively) for sports medicine out of curiosity?

1. What's really important in all of this is that you have a reason for why you are applying to the program.
2. Like people have mentioned, it's really more of seeking out experiences with game coverage and ultrasound. Despite being linked to a fellowship, I still had to inquire about game coverage and show interest in US. I treated myself one year and burned through my CMS stipend on an US course.

In order to be a good fellow, you must first be a good resident. It really makes no difference if your residency is attached to a SM fellowship. It does however provide you with more sports coverage opportunities though if you have one in house.

If you are trying to select a specialty, there is a very lengthy breakdown of that exact topic in a different thread so I will not repeat it here. The bottom line of looking for a good applicant is to evaluate their ability to collect and synthesize information and their ability to carry out a plan in a highly dynamic environment. Every residency will offer this experience. I have found that some of the best applicants are the ones from unopposed FM programs with no sports fellowship attached to them. This creates an environment that favors a more proactive approach. The resident must seek out events and network with other teams and coaches. This gives experience in several different facets and is a highly sought after trait. The leadership qualities it takes to identify a potential experience and then the social skills to negotiate the event coverage and build the relationship will be reinforced in this type of a residency.

Applicants that go to an FM program attached to an SM fellowship typically get spoon fed experiences and have very little knowledge of how to network or build relationships with teams. This skill can be taught in fellowship, but your competition may be viewed as a more well rounded applicant. This is just my opinion, and I am sure every other fellowship out there will have their own.

Based on comments made on the interview trail so far, I would say that being a good overall FM resident by doing the stuff described above has been a huge plus. It's easy to fall into the trap of "oh this isn't sports med and therefore I don't care." Try hard not to.

 

[Synophrys]

Based on comments made on the interview trail so far, I would say that being a good overall FM resident by doing the stuff described above has been a huge plus. It's easy to fall into the trap of "oh this isn't sports med and therefore I don't care." Try hard not to.
[/QUOTE]

If you look at the type of stuff we do at our fellowship, it's very much in line with the tenets of family medicine. Our residency is heavily invested in the under-served population. Our sports program decided to focus on alternative sports. Specifically, things like skateboarding, surfing, motor sports, mountain biking, etc. If you take a look at historical skateboarding, for example, many of the athletes come from broken homes, and have never had a coach/trainer/or any other medical professional looking over their shoulder. This is the most under-served population in sports. If you cannot excel in family medicine, it may be difficult to compete with other applicants.

In my opinion, education should be fun. If you are not enjoying your training, you picked the wrong career or the wrong program.

 

[galactus]

If you look at the type of stuff we do at our fellowship, it's very much in line with the tenets of family medicine. Our residency is heavily invested in the under-served population. Our sports program decided to focus on alternative sports. Specifically, things like skateboarding, surfing, motor sports, mountain biking, etc. If you take a look at historical skateboarding, for example, many of the athletes come from broken homes, and have never had a coach/trainer/or any other medical professional looking over their shoulder. This is the most under-served population in sports. If you cannot excel in family medicine, it may be difficult to compete with other applicants.

In my opinion, education should be fun. If you are not enjoying your training, you picked the wrong career or the wrong program.

This!!!
I think people see the glamour of sports medicine like we see at the pro level, but there are teams I cover that I would consider "under-served". I've done mass school physicals where doing the sports physical was the kid's only time to see a doctor, because their parents do not have insurance for them. I've worked with inner city schools who can't afford medical equipment and have to rely on donations for crutches, walking boots, etc. I had a med student with me in a college training room clinic one time and we brought up social determinants of health. Some of these collegiate athletes on scholarship are the first in their family to go to college, and saw football as a way out from their difficult upbringing. They never sought out help with their grades growing up, and after neuropsych eval by the team counselor they've actually had ADHD all along. With these kids/athletes it's the first time seeing a medical professional outside of school physicals. I teach my medical students and residents to look at the athlete as a whole, but then again that maybe the FM training in me haha.

Honestly during my sports medicine fellowship I felt like I was also doing a mini-adolescent medicine fellowship! lol.

 

[The Creeper]

My recommendations overall would be:
- Tailor your residency clinic experiences by talking with fellow residents about getting more MSK patients on your panel. Show interest in basic procedures (ie knee CSI etc) to your FM attendings which should be able to do these.
- Use your mandated research/QI to do sports or MSK related things.
- ATTEND NATIONAL CONFERENCE
- Find out who is covering sideline at local schools and ask to attend

These would provide you with most of the key components of what fellowships are looking for. If you can find time for these basic things, the place you train at is irrelevant.