ID-Infectious Disease Fellowship???

[daseib]

Hello all,

Am a MSIV right now and applying to IM residency this year. Have questions on ID fellowship as follows:

1. How competitive is ID fellowship (know that it is not like Cards and GI)?
2. What types of jobs (academic/VA only?) and types of salarys can I expect at these jobs?
3. What programs have the best ID fellowships??? (interested mainly in Midwest programs but will go anywhere if the program is stellar and they will take me)
4. Is there such thing as a private practice ID doctor/group? It seems like there is little money in ID and I do not want to shoot myself in the foot by going into it if I cant pay my Sallie Mae!
5. What type of hospital work does ID docs do besides the consult (seems like they could get pretty bored if there are no consults)- and also seems like their pay would be pretty low if no consults too!

thanks from all who know and all who contribute to the fine board of SDN- it is a wealth of information!
daseib

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[Medikit]

1. Not competitive, here's a subjective thread: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=177573&highlight=competitive+fellowship
There used to be an FAQ but I can't find it now. Also look here: http://www.nrmp.org/fellow/match_name/msmp/stats.html for some hard data

2. Check out aamc careers in medicine for salary statistics

3. Like medicine I'm not sure there exists a list of best ID fellowships but obviously UCSF, MGH, and Johns Hopkins all have great programs. Cornell used to be the leader in ID and remains an excellent program. Yale and University of Washington also have excellent ID programs. I'm certain I'm leaving amazing programs out as I'm still trying to populate this list myself. You can receive input from a faculty adviser when you apply for fellowships during your residency.

4. Private practice ID does exist, I visited a doctor specializing in travel medicine doctor in Hickory, NC. I think with the proper entrepreneurial skills any MD/DO can do quite well for him or herself. That being said for the most part there aren't that many procedures in ID and the average salary is under 200,000 so if money is a concern and you would like a clear roadmap on how to pursue that wealth ID might not be what you're looking for.

5. The ID service at my hospital is very busy with consults, it is one of the busier consult services. They also spend a couple days a week in clinic to see patients with HIV, TB, MAC, severe MRSA infections, Endocarditis/infected indwelling devices, syphilis, malaria, and other infections. Some doctors also are involved in antibiotic stewardship within the hospital. They also go on various trips around the world, one faculty member runs his own travel clinic, is part of the FDA for approval/testing of new antibiotics, teaches lectures, and does research in addition to everything else I just mentioned. You can also get involved with the WHO or the CDC if that's your cup of tea.

Hello all,

Am a MSIV right now and applying to IM residency this year. Have questions on ID fellowship as follows:

1. How competitive is ID fellowship (know that it is not like Cards and GI)?
2. What types of jobs (academic/VA only?) and types of salarys can I expect at these jobs?
3. What programs have the best ID fellowships??? (interested mainly in Midwest programs but will go anywhere if the program is stellar and they will take me)
4. Is there such thing as a private practice ID doctor/group? It seems like there is little money in ID and I do not want to shoot myself in the foot by going into it if I cant pay my Sallie Mae!
5. What type of hospital work does ID docs do besides the consult (seems like they could get pretty bored if there are no consults)- and also seems like their pay would be pretty low if no consults too!

thanks from all who know and all who contribute to the fine board of SDN- it is a wealth of information!
daseib

 

[Reddpoint]

ID is a fascinating field and it is one I have thought about doing. Some of the pluses are: 1. Being one of the most knowledgeable doctors in the hospital. 2. Seeing pretty much all types of patients (ie surgical, OB, medicine) 3. Lots of research opportunities if you are interested in academic medicine. 4. Some of the most bizarre and interesting cases. 5. At an academic center there are many different types of jobs open (epi, infection control, public health etc). 6. International travel 7. HIV medicine (although at my institution most HIV patients are seen by doctors without ID training.)

The downsides 1. Mostly a consultant which means you never have control over what happens to the patient. This can be extremely frustrating if you believe the patient is being mismanaged but cannot convince the primary team. 2. Many BS consults from doctors who either dont want to think at all (ie Ortho consult "Um my patients got a fever what should I do?) or consults where someone is asking for you to sign off on some management plan they are worried will get them sued. 3. Personally I do not think private ID is a great career choice. As one ID boarded hospitalist said, "I can get paid 20K less and cover 3 hospitals doing ID or just be a general hospitalist, work less get paid more." 4. Finally, I always felt as if many times we did not significantly change the hospital course for our patients. By this I mean, often our consults resulted in recs to narrow coverage or run another test. There were definitely times when we really helped but most times our recs were minor changes. I suspect that if there wasnt an ID consult team the hospital would get by alright.

So basically, I feel that ID is great for someone who wants to do primarily research with some clinical time (80/20 etc). The research is interesting and unlike something like cardiology you can keep your clinical skills up as a researcher. However, if you know you dont want to research I think private life as an ID person might be hard.