MS4 looking for a advice on Pulm/Crit planning

[jackinabox1]

Answered

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[swimminginloansMD]

To answer your questions:

1. choose a residency program that provides 1. very strong and diverse clinical training, 2. has strong mentorship for pulm/crit research and career advice, and 3. a community where you feel a strong sense of fit. Residency is your one shot for learning how to be a strong and competent internist and clinician, which is crucial for pulm/crit. Mentorship, however, is also key. Depending on which stats you look at, PCCM this year was arguably more competitive than cards and GI (yikes!), however the field has not yet adapted to this huge surge in popularity. With that said, if you don't like your co-residents or your residency or the city you're in, you'll be miserable, which will very much affect your success and productivity.

2. honestly, unless you're planning to stay at your home program for residency or you're able to finish your project before leaving, not sure how this will help you. Enjoy MS4 year -- you'll never get this much protected "free time" again.

3. see #2 re: enjoying MS4 year. Pre-pandemic, I would have recommended traveling. Since that's not an option currently, pick up a new hobby that will bring you joy and that you can continue to cultivate during residency. This will boost your longterm productivity and overall sanity more than any research skill at this stage of your career path. My most productive and "successful" co-residents were also residents who made an active effort to hold on to their humanity during residency through trying to keep up at least 1 or 2 hobbies or outside activities. Doesn't have to be super ambitious - learning to bake or brew beer or going hiking or getting fit via indoor home workouts all count. Spending time with loved ones (pending safety concerns) also counts. Life isn't just about building a sparkling CV or going for the most "prestigious" programs. Take this from someone who yes was fortunate to interview at many academic institutions but who also saw utter sadness and horror while working on covid floors and units and who has only seen my aging parents once this entire year.

4. debatable. I don't know if networking within professional societies really opens any doors for fellowship, unless you're working with a connected mentor who can introduce you to contacts at meetings (see #1) -- which might also be difficult to do while everything is virtual. Most mentors will also recommend that you focus on enjoying MS4 year and prioritize your clinical training and acumen during residency.

also, don't use SDN to gauge your own worth. By SDN standards, I shouldn't have even been able to get into med school, yet here we are. Focus on getting into a residency that fits your personal and professional needs, and then take it from there.

Good luck!

 

[Bobblehead]

Neither ACCP nor ATS makes any substantial difference for your fellowship application. If you end up presenting a poster your 2nd/3rd year of residency that would be a good year to join obviously. If you have a specific research interest in mind I'd work on that after you've figured out how much paddling you're going to need to do to survive intern year. Research presentations will not save a weak application where clinical acumen is an issue.

 

[jackinabox1]

To answer your questions:

1. choose a residency program that provides 1. very strong and diverse clinical training, 2. has strong mentorship for pulm/crit research and career advice, and 3. a community where you feel a strong sense of fit. Residency is your one shot for learning how to be a strong and competent internist and clinician, which is crucial for pulm/crit. Mentorship, however, is also key. Depending on which stats you look at, PCCM this year was arguably more competitive than cards and GI (yikes!), however the field has not yet adapted to this huge surge in popularity. With that said, if you don't like your co-residents or your residency or the city you're in, you'll be miserable, which will very much affect your success and productivity.

2. honestly, unless you're planning to stay at your home program for residency or you're able to finish your project before leaving, not sure how this will help you. Enjoy MS4 year -- you'll never get this much protected "free time" again.

3. see #2 re: enjoying MS4 year. Pre-pandemic, I would have recommended traveling. Since that's not an option currently, pick up a new hobby that will bring you joy and that you can continue to cultivate during residency. This will boost your longterm productivity and overall sanity more than any research skill at this stage of your career path. My most productive and "successful" co-residents were also residents who made an active effort to hold on to their humanity during residency through trying to keep up at least 1 or 2 hobbies or outside activities. Doesn't have to be super ambitious - learning to bake or brew beer or going hiking or getting fit via indoor home workouts all count. Spending time with loved ones (pending safety concerns) also counts. Life isn't just about building a sparkling CV or going for the most "prestigious" programs. Take this from someone who yes was fortunate to interview at many academic institutions but who also saw utter sadness and horror while working on covid floors and units and who has only seen my aging parents once this entire year.

4. debatable. I don't know if networking within professional societies really opens any doors for fellowship, unless you're working with a connected mentor who can introduce you to contacts at meetings (see #1) -- which might also be difficult to do while everything is virtual. Most mentors will also recommend that you focus on enjoying MS4 year and prioritize your clinical training and acumen during residency.

also, don't use SDN to gauge your own worth. By SDN standards, I shouldn't have even been able to get into med school, yet here we are. Focus on getting into a residency that fits your personal and professional needs, and then take it from there.

Good luck!

Thank you so much for your kind response. Funny enough, I've been saying the same things through the years to my buddies who recently matriculated to medical school. I will definitely keep this in mind, the importance of having a balanced life. Regarding choosing a program, I am planning to rank with the priorities of a strong foundational IM education (autonomy, volume) in mind.

I have seen pulm crit increase in competitivity as well from the recent threads. Do you believe that the standard 2 years of research during residency is still sufficient to match well from a mid-tier IM program or is that extra chief/ research year becoming the norm?

 

[chessknt]

Thank you so much for your kind response. Funny enough, I've been saying the same things through the years to my buddies who recently matriculated to medical school. I will definitely keep this in mind, the importance of having a balanced life. Regarding choosing a program, I am planning to rank with the priorities of a strong foundational IM education (autonomy, volume) in mind.

I have seen pulm crit increase in competitivity as well from the recent threads. Do you believe that the standard 2 years of research during residency is still sufficient to match well from a mid-tier IM program or is that extra chief/ research year becoming the norm?

It is unreasonable for programs to assume you can be highly productive at research while also becoming a competent resident. There are some people that manage to do this but they are few and far between. Showing interest and developing some kind of research background is important but pure output is not. It is important to have people who are well connected support your application because unlike residency fellowship matches are still very much based on personal connections of mentors. If you go some place that does not have this you will be in a much worse position from what I have seen. This roughly translates in to match to a residency program that is 'good' and absolutely one that has an in-house PCCM program since the PD/faculty there will know PD/faculty at other training programs and his/her support will be much more important than some random attending.

So if your 'mid-tier' program has PCCM faculty and fellows that have gone on to academic positions at other places then there is a great chance they will have some networking muscle and be able to support your application which is by far the single most important aspect of the whole process.

The only reason to do a chief year is if you are angling to go in to admin at your home institution. 6 years of training is already too long, dont make it 7.

 

[jdh71]

I’ll need to know how much you bench