Forum Members Recently matched Resident Physician (PGY-1): AMA

[DexterMorganSK]

Feel free to ask any questions to our recently matched residents. I'm tagging 2 for now, but if other newly grads like to participate, please let me know.

Thanks for your time!

@Podstar @Weirdy

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[DexterMorganSK]

Ask any questions related to the residency process, ranking, interviews, scramble, etc.

 

[heybrother]

Question - how little do you care about your current rotation?

Are you back at school or still on some misguided after match clerkship.

How badly do you want to tell the residents that you are with that you don't care and just want to go home.

Or are you doing that thing where you tell them that you are about to be a resident so you want real responsibilities to help prepare you?

Asking for a friend.

 

[ConsciousCalc]

Anything you would have done differently looking back after going through the entire process?

 

[Podstar]

Question - how little do you care about your current rotation?

Are you back at school or still on some misguided after match clerkship.

How badly do you want to tell the residents that you are with that you don't care and just want to go home.

Or are you doing that thing where you tell them that you are about to be a resident so you want real responsibilities to help prepare you?

Asking for a friend.

Our last rotation was in February, so I have been off since then and on vacation. It’s been amazing.

 

[Podstar]

Anything you would have done differently looking back after going through the entire process?

Looking back I would have taken a vacation month off and done 6 clerkships instead of doing 7. It really starts to be a grind towards the end with boards and interviews.

 

[wakaflocka88]

Question - how little do you care about your current rotation?

Are you back at school or still on some misguided after match clerkship.

How badly do you want to tell the residents that you are with that you don't care and just want to go home.

Or are you doing that thing where you tell them that you are about to be a resident so you want real responsibilities to help prepare you?

Asking for a friend.

Thank you for the daily humor - I 100% echo this

 

[deleted1097413]

Question - how little do you care about your current rotation?

Are you back at school or still on some misguided after match clerkship.

How badly do you want to tell the residents that you are with that you don't care and just want to go home.

Or are you doing that thing where you tell them that you are about to be a resident so you want real responsibilities to help prepare you?

Asking for a friend.

I haven’t done **** for a long time now. And I feel like I have forgotten everything and anything related to podiatry lol

 

[Weirdy]

Question - how little do you care about your current rotation?

Are you back at school or still on some misguided after match clerkship.

How badly do you want to tell the residents that you are with that you don't care and just want to go home.

Or are you doing that thing where you tell them that you are about to be a resident so you want real responsibilities to help prepare you?

Asking for a friend.

Very little. Almost wanted to cancel. That said still grinding, rounding, scrubbing surgeries, doing clinic. At least residents are nice enough to send me home as often as they can.

No clerkships left. Just rotations.

They've actually been very upfront with me about that- "We've all been there. If I tell you to go home, go home." Internal Medicine next month probably won't be as kind.

Havn't told them I want more responsibilities. Definitely not that. Am skimming the line between "Sure I'll go run and see your consult and report back, sure I'll scrub that surgery" and "Oh you don't need help rounding at 5am? Ok I'll see you tomorrow!"

 

[med2345]

Question: while on clerkships, what was the best way you found to show interest in a program you already left to show them you were highly interested?

 

[Podstar]

Question: while on clerkships, what was the best way you found to show interest in a program you already left to show them you were highly interested?

Text the residents letting them know you are interested in coming to the program. I reached out to the residents of the program I’m going to twice after my clerkship before interviews. Don’t be overbearing about it.

 

[Weirdy]

What podstar said.

Programs will get a feel for students they like and vice versa. Treat it like business. Normal. To the point. Not annoying.

 

[med2345]

Text the residents letting them know you are interested in coming to the program. I reached out to the residents of the program I’m going to twice after my clerkship before interviews. Don’t be overbearing about it.

Being overbearing and annoying about it is my main concern. I got along really well but the attending is the less social type, I got a “good” clerkship review, but I do know the residents well and got along well with them.
As sociable and normal ive been my whole life I just find texting or getting ahold of them to be odd.. like I’m. It sure what else to talk or ask about or mention besides “hey I really liked it there, remember me pls”

 

[med2345]

Also another question I’ve been having:

how much do clerkship reviews say about what they think of you? I mean do you usually expect all 3’s... then maybe 4’s and 5’s from programs that are interested in you as a resident? Also positive comments? Or do the majority just give positive for everyone aslong as you aren’t a terrible students?

 

[Podstar]

Being overbearing and annoying about it is my main concern. I got along really well but the attending is the less social type, I got a “good” clerkship review, but I do know the residents well and got along well with them.
As sociable and normal ive been my whole life I just find texting or getting ahold of them to be odd.. like I’m. It sure what else to talk or ask about or mention besides “hey I really liked it there, remember me pls”

I just sent something along the lines of “hey ___ I have rotated with all the programs I’m going to and I want you to know that y’all’s program is by far my top choice and I really want to be a resident there.”

Never had any programs give me reviews so not sure what you mean by the numbers, but it should be pretty obvious if you performed well and they liked you or not.

 

[med2345]

I just sent something along the lines of “hey ___ I have rotated with all the programs I’m going to and I want you to know that y’all’s program is by far my top choice and I really want to be a resident there.”

Never had any programs give me reviews so not sure what you mean by the numbers, but it should be pretty obvious if you performed well and they liked you or not.

Gotcha. Maybe Kent doesn’t do it but I know some schools do. It goes along with the pass/fail feedback you get for every month but idk how every school does it

 

[Weirdy]

No idea in terms of clerkship reviews.
Even if they did review me, it'd mean little to nothing.

If I know I worked my butt off and had as much fun as possible, I could not care less what they think or the school thinks.

 

[med2345]

While rotating as a clerk.... What were the biggest red flags for a program?

at the same rate.... what did you notice to be indicative of great programs? (There’s obvious answers and you should get a feel, but I’m looking for more unknown answers or insights to pay attention to)

 

[air bud]

So glad my program never had students rotating there....didn't have to do the dog and pony show.

Man all this stuff seems like forever ago. Hang in there dudes and and dudettes and whatever the they/them genderless version of dude is. It gets better. The real world is awesome. Don't worry if you don't learn it all. Learn the anatomy and do a lot of surgery. You can always learn new techniques. Just starting to get into frames did minimal in residency. But I know the anatomy so I can figure this out. Learn what you can, figure out the rest later. And NEVER work for another podiatrist.

 

[Weirdy]

While rotating as a clerk.... What were the biggest red flags for a program?

at the same rate.... what did you notice to be indicative of great programs? (There’s obvious answers and you should get a feel, but I’m looking for more unknown answers or insights to pay attention to)

I split Red Flags into 2 avenues: "Soft Skills" and "Actual Training"

Soft skill examples:
- Gauge the attendings the residents work with the most. On their worst day- is it something you can handle while you are stressed and overworked? Do they still make an attempt to treat you and teach you well at their worst? Says all you need to know about their character. Because their character will dictate how much you suffer while you work with them. Pick your poison. When everything looks rosy, see if you can gauge them at their worst, and if you can live with that for 3 years.

- Gauge the types of residents the program picks. Some programs (for better or worse) tend to be self-selective pending the residents they take. How are the residents? Transparent? Gossipy? Laid back? Smart but lazy? Hardworking but not well read? Did they pick a bunch of kiss-assers? Is it a mix of all of that but overall more good than bad and vice versa? This tells you what type of candidate the program tends to self select for. Do you want to be at a place that chooses these types of people?

Actual training examples:
-At what point do they meet their numbers? Are the residents doing most of the case or are they just retracting for the attending? Are the residents balanced in both clinical and surgical acumen? Do they lack in one area versus the other? Is there too much/too little clinic? Is there too much/too little surgery? Are you triple scrubbing every case? What is the volume of surgery you are getting? The volume of clinic?
-Have the attendings won their turf war and have an established presence? Do they play second fiddle to another department?- and if so, how bad is it? Are the attendings willing to call bull**** when they see it? Are they willing to go to war for you and your department if you guys are in the right? Are they willing to stand up for their patient? Does playing second fiddle to whatever department affect the cases you get? The variety of surgery or clinic you get? Are the work hours manageable? Is there so much driving involved, it takes away from training time and time with your family? What's the call schedule like?
-Do the clinic staff and OR staff respect the attendings and residents here? Do they work well with podiatry? Do they respect the residents' decisions?
-Are there bullsht meetings involved that take time away from clinic/OR/family?

These are just a few examples. Red flags to some degree can be subjective. Use these examples and observe so you start to build a list of what you like and don't like. No program is perfect. When the positives are too easy to look at, compare the negatives.

If any attendings are reading, feel free to correct me.
These are completely personal observations during clerkships that helped me decide rankings. Would like to know how accurate/far off I am.

 

[med2345]

I split Red Flags into 2 avenues: "Soft Skills" and "Actual Training"

Soft skill examples:
- Gauge the attendings the residents work with the most. On their worst day- is it something you can handle while you are stressed and overworked? Do they still make an attempt to treat you and teach you well at their worst? Says all you need to know about their character. Because their character will dictate how much you suffer while you work with them. Pick your poison. When everything looks rosy, see if you can gauge them at their worst, and if you can live with that for 3 years.

- Gauge the types of residents the program picks. Some programs (for better or worse) tend to be self-selective pending the residents they take. How are the residents? Transparent? Gossipy? Laid back? Smart but lazy? Hardworking but not well read? Did they pick a bunch of kiss-assers? Is it a mix of all of that but overall more good than bad and vice versa? This tells you what type of candidate the program tends to self select for. Do you want to be at a place that chooses these types of people?

Actual training examples:
-At what point do they meet their numbers? Are the residents doing most of the case or are they just retracting for the attending? Are the residents balanced in both clinical and surgical acumen? Do they lack in one area versus the other? Is there too much/too little clinic? Is there too much/too little surgery? Are you triple scrubbing every case? What is the volume of surgery you are getting? The volume of clinic?
-Have the attendings won their turf war and have an established presence? Do they play second fiddle to another department?- and if so, how bad is it? Are the attendings willing to call bull**** when they see it? Are they willing to go to war for you and your department if you guys are in the right? Are they willing to stand up for their patient? Does playing second fiddle to whatever department affect the cases you get? The variety of surgery or clinic you get? Are the work hours manageable? Is there so much driving involved, it takes away from training time and time with your family? What's the call schedule like?
-Do the clinic staff and OR staff respect the attendings and residents here? Do they work well with podiatry? Do they respect the residents' decisions?
-Are there bullsht meetings involved that take time away from clinic/OR/family?

These are just a few examples. Red flags to some degree can be subjective. Use these examples and observe so that you know what you like and don't like about a program. No program is perfect. When the positives are too easy to look at, compare the negatives.

If any attendings are reading, feel free to correct me.
These are completely personal observations during clerkships that helped me decide rankings. Would like to know how accurate/far off I am.

Great response. ty

 

[shezadeh]

And NEVER work for another podiatrist.

But how else can a person perpetuate the notion that Pods get paid 50k after residency?