Poll: Fellowship

[alison]

I'm leaving it completely up to dh to decide whether he does a fellowship. And I'm also leaving it up to him to decide in which sub-specialty. I moved him to this country, forced him to rank his current program #1, and by the time fellowship rolls around, I'll be done with my studies. I don't care where we move - it'll just be one year.

[migirl]

Re: Poll: Fellowship

I picked Option 1, "Yes and it was okay" even though we haven't started fellowship yet. I felt like it was the most appropriate answer for our situation.

DH will start a 2-year research fellowship beginning in July '08. At this point I'm just kind of resigned to it, not really thrilled about it but not really bitter about it either. He wants to stay in academics, and I really think it suits him. All told, we'll have done 6 years of residency and 2 years of fellowship by the time he finishes training ... for a total of 8 years. Not as long as a lot of you, I know, but still pretty damn long.

The hours shouldn't be too bad since it's a research fellowship, it will be an 80/20 split (one day a week clinical at the VA hospital). Again, not bad. I expect his hours will be much improved over residency.

DH has a friend who graduated from here a few years ago with a similar type of fellowship and research background, and he's being very heavily recruited for jobs in academia right now so we feel pretty good about his job prospects once he's finished and the doors that this fellowship will open.

[Flynn]

Re: Poll: Fellowship

If you are comfortable, it would be great if you could say what specialty the fellowship is in/was in, the length of the fellowship, and what your experience has been (during the fellowship and if relevant, after - did extra doors open? etc.) - what was good, what was bad, what was plain intolerable, what was really pretty okay, etc.

Thanks!

I put "yes and it was okay" when I really meant "Yes, but it sucked wankers."

CT surgery fellowship...2 years

Fellowships don't have to follow the 80 hour work week so it sucked in that area BADLY. Also, if an attending asks for something it could be someone who will call on a job for you or write you a glowing letter. You are at their mercy because the fellowship attendings have a lot of weight in how your DH is viewed for future jobs.

It's kind of like "yes sir can I have another" mentality because it's your last hurrah before you're "on your own" so to speak. Get as many cases as you can NOW in a safe environment before you're done.

DH gets paid way more than he would as a General Surgeon and works a lot less so in that respect it was a good investment.

[SuzySunshine]

Re: Poll: Fellowship

We will do one - DH is doing academic nsurg so its a necessity. Since we won't start until July 2011 we have no idea where, most likely it will be tumor or skull based or epilepsy or a combination of those three. He has mentioned locations like Cleveland or Little Rock but we really have no idea. I'm sure his research over the next two years will shape a lot of that.

I figure after four years of undergrad, five years of medical school and seven years of residency its just another year so we'll manage through it. Hopefully we'll have a job lined up before we start the fellowship, that seems to be the trend in nsurg so we'll probably do a partial move and then do the big move for the 1st job.

[DCJenn]

Re: Poll: Fellowship

My husband did a three year fellowshipin Child Neurology. Now, you don't have to go that route (three year peds residency/3 yrs fellowship- some people do an intern year of peds and then three years of CN) but he hadn't decided on a subspecialty until 2nd year of residency.

It sucked balls.

The guy running the program has had to appeal to the Senate like 4 times to be allowed to continue to stay in the Army (he's like a million years old). That program sucked, there was discord between the adult neurology fellows (like they wanted the CN fellows to pull their call but didn't want to reciprocate) and the neurosurgery fellows and everyone else.

The attending staff were dropping like flies. (nothing like looming deployments to suddenly reassess military medicine...)

They were shoved into what used to be two patient rooms. Everyone (and this includes the adult people) had a cubicle. there was one bathroom and they were to pull in-house call on a chair.

Sucked, I tell ya.

Jenn

[ides]

Re: Poll: Fellowship

I chose yes and it was okay, though we aren't there yet. dh and I are resigned to the fact that he needs/wants to do a fellowship. He doesn't want to stay in general surgery for a number of reasons. The subspecialities he's considering are one year fellowships, so I feel like if it's going to make him happier, less overworked and will help our bottom line, why not? We've been on this path for 10 years so far, so for the payoff I think one year is a pretty good deal.

What he is struggeling with though is which subspecilaity to join. He know's what he likes, but there is more to it than that - research, sucking up to specific attendings, financial and social realities of the subspeciality- these all matter too. For those of you who's dh went from GS to a surgical subspeciality, how did they chose - was it simply what they liked best or a combination of all the factors above? (sorry, not meaning to hijack)

[Sheherezade]

Re: Poll: Fellowship

Fellowship for DH was three years, surgical and very intense. He did a gyn onc fellowship after an OB/Gyn residency. Call was 24/7 for a year, then back up and every other weekend for the next year. Year one was research. Research could have been a golden year, but DH cose to work hard and get several publications instead. The program he attended operated everyday and SATURDAYS which was all kinds of crazy. Basically, "weekend" meant Sunday and then he only had to round if he was on.

Fellowship was the only time I seriously considered divorce. It wasn't that I wasn't totally in love and committed to DH and the kids, it was just that life then sucked so much that divorced life actually seemed OK. Maybe it was that it wouldn't be that different in terms of availability of spouse - and I would no longer be tied to DH's career moves.

I'm glad he did it because I think life as Gyn/Onc is better for us than life as an OB - but I consider fellowship the worst time of his training.

[alison]

Re: Poll: Fellowship

I'm curious about how many of you convinced your spouse *not* to do a fellowship?

Re: Poll: Fellowship

MIL + kids convinced DH not to do a fellowship. I don't think he regrets it at all.

We would have had to move for a year and then likely move again. That sucks for school age kids. :huh: Or, we would have stayed here for a year and had to move (non-compete clause part of fellowship agreement). It wouldn't have been that bad of a year but the moving issues were big ones for us.

Re: Poll: Fellowship

I chose Yes and I wonder how I've made/will make it through, though I don't think it'll be that bad. DH is only in PGY-1, but he's already interested in doing a combined fellowship/Ph.D. program in basic science. He wants to go the academic route for several reasons -- the bennies are usually the best there, he doesn't want to get burned out just working in the ER, and the nerdy research side suits his temperament.

It's some kind of reserach/clinical split that allows him to make more than just standard fellow pay -- I don't know exactly how it works, but it should be at least double what resident pay is. That would be nice (though not as nice as attending pay! )

Re: Poll: Fellowship

I chose "Yes, and someone in this house regrets it." That someone would be ME. If he'd chosen almost any other fellowship / sub-specialty, he would have at least doubled his income. The Transfusion Medicine pretty much relegates you to academics, and we all know what that means $$ wise.

As I said before, he's not using his fellowship training at all now.

[GrayMatterWife]

Re: Poll: Fellowship

DH will do a one-year fellowship in functional NSG.

Have no problems with it. Known since Day 1 of NSG that's what he wants to do. It's only a year.

The biggest headache will be due to the fact he will move away for a year. We're in St Louis right now, and we own a comfortable apartment, I have a good job and DS has a good school. I'm not giving that up to move somewhere for one year. I said that from the beginning, and DH is on board with it. But it will be hard to be separated (and to make all those plane flights with a kiddo). But, we've lived apart before due to jobs, so I look at it as a way to have my choice on the remote control for a year.

We can relocate after his fellowship, to whatever institution he'll (HOPEFULLY!!) be able to get employed at.

I am just hoping he doesn't go for fellowship to the Univ. of Toronto. That's one of the best places in the world for functional NSG. THAT would be an expensive pain in the ass for me.

[moonlight]

Re: Poll: Fellowship

I'm curious about how many of you convinced your spouse *not* to do a fellowship?

strongly working to put that idea OUT of his head.

[moonlight]

Re: Poll: Fellowship

i hope this isnt a stupid question LOL! can your dh moonlight during fellowships?

[Laker]

Re: Poll: Fellowship

There are 1 year fellowships in radiation oncology. I am hoping that isn't necessary for DW. 5 years is plenty IMO. I haven't heard that it will really improve the $, but it may allow her to be more selective in the job search. I feel that I have already done my part during residency, as I have had to be flexible with my career.