Wondering about doing critical care fellowship as an R3

[gsurg2011]

Have had a few programs suggest that a trauma/critical care fellowship can be done after R3 instead of doing a research year. Any thoughts on this? From what I have heard:

Pros: get ICU management down without taking a year "off" from the OR after finishing residency, avoid wasting a year doing research
Cons: to get the most out of a critical care fellowship you need to be in the role of a junior attending which is obviously not possible if you are doing it after your R3 year

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DO_Surgeon]

Have had a few programs suggest that a trauma/critical care fellowship can be done after R3 instead of doing a research year. Any thoughts on this? From what I have heard:

Pros: get ICU management down without taking a year "off" from the OR after finishing residency, avoid wasting a year doing research
Cons: to get the most out of a critical care fellowship you need to be in the role of a junior attending which is obviously not possible if you are doing it after your R3 year

Not sure if this is something I would be concerned with as a medical student. I did this following my R3 year and thought it was a great experience. Functioned as the attending in the unit for the majority of the year. Learned a great deal when it came to the management of a certain subgroup of patients (cardiac and neurosurgery). Though I am going into a "less competitive" field in CT surgery felt it looked good on my overall application.

 

[JackADeli]

...a trauma/critical care fellowship can be done after R3 instead of doing a research year. Any thoughts on this? From what I have heard:

Pros: get ICU management down without taking a year "off" from the OR after finishing residency, avoid wasting a year doing research
Cons: to get the most out of a critical care fellowship you need to be in the role of a junior attending which is obviously not possible if you are doing it after your R3 year

So, my opinion FWIW, ICU after PGY3 is ideal. But, I am pretty sure it is only ICU and NOT trauma. As to your "cons", I have never seen any resident have a real problem with their position as ICU fellow after PGY3.

Not sure if this is something I would be concerned with as a medical student. I did this following my R3 year and thought it was a great experience...

Haven't looked at the OP's year in med-school. However, a med-student applying for residency now or soon, should consider this. Plenty of general surgery programs will not support a post-PGY3 ICU year. So, it is a consideration when deciding on training programs:

straight 5 program,
2 + 1-2 research + 3 programs,
3 + 1-2 research + 2 programs, &
3 + ICU + 2 programs

Note, programs that do not have research options will likely not support your ICU mid-training; programs that have residents do research after PGY2 will not likely want to change all the logistics to allow you to step out after PGY3 for an ICU year; programs that do not have a SICU training program may not support your ICU mid-training.

 

[gsurg2011]

Not sure if this is something I would be concerned with as a medical student.

The reason I'm looking into it is because I plan on doing this fellowship but I don't want to do any research years during residency. This "compromise" might allow me to attend a program that requires a research year.

 

[Chirurgia magna]

Have had a few programs suggest that a trauma/critical care fellowship can be done after R3 instead of doing a research year. Any thoughts on this? From what I have heard:

I agree as well. It's only critical care. Honestly, I just don't see the benefit of it.

 

[droliver]

I'm personally of the opinion that this kind of intra-residency "fellowship" is a farce as you are still (at that point) a junior resident without the experience or judgment to benefit from an in depth critical care experience. These frankly were created for the convenience of the residency programs to take care of manpower issues or finding something for someone to do who really didn't want to do an involuntary lab year and do real bench research. As someone who has sat to interview candidates for post residency fellowship programs this kind of mini fellowship is recognized for what it is and does not carry any weight as a big + on your resume.