Fellowship or Not Questions...

We are trying to figure out the best option after residency. Lifestyle has turned into the number one factor in deciding her future medical career. Second is intellectual stimulation.

My girlfriend (USAF MD) has pretty much decided on staying a general internal medicine doctor or doing a fellowship in endocrinology as a specialty. Does any one else know what the lifestyle is like for either of these two options? What kind of schedule can she expect each week? What is the call schedule like? Also, what are the differences between the larger and the smaller military hospitals in regards to workload?

Any direction would be greatly appreciated.

BTW she is a first year general medicine internship right now. I'm sure her mind will change two or three more times in the next couple of years.

Thanks,
Jim

[DCJenn]

HI Jim-

I will attempt to answer this question, again- my first two tries were lost in the cybervortex (along with everyone's socks!)

You are right, she may well change her mind. My husband was pretty certain that he wanted to go into one area and then during second year, had a rotation through neurology and sort of rediscovered how much he really, really liked it. So, that changed everything- from the location of the fellowship to the job prospects I might have to our financial avings plan.

Another issue to keep in mind is that with the military, you are somewhat limited, because if they determine there's no need for that particular specialty your girlfriend could be the best possible candidate but she won't get a fellowship. Also, residents are competing with people who are already out in the field. It's all done on a points system and those who are currently working have more accumulated points that residents. (and I don't know if she's prior service or not- but it doesn't matter because it doesn't count toward points- it's only time in service as a physician)

One of the best ways to figure out what to do is to determine how long she wants to stay in. We have a few friends who have done thier time and are doing residnecy or fellowship on the civilian side of things. We have others who are planning on staying in so have requested a year in Korea which gets major points and then will reapply for fellowship.

So, hope this helps somewhat!

Jenn

PS- life as staff is always better then life as residents and life as 2nd and 3rd year residents is always better than life as an intern!

Thanks for the info!

I heard a rumor that going to the Airforce Academy gives you additional points towards a
fellowship. Do you know if this is true? Do you know were I can find the criteria for the points?

Thanks,
Jim

[DCJenn]

Hello again-

According to my husband, it shouldn't give you any objective points, but may give you some subjective points. Does that make sense? They can't automatically count someone more just because they attended a service academy for undergrad. However, a service grad is automatically going to owe five years plus the medical payback, so that's probably factored in. (The most any one person that we know of owes is 11 years-four for ROTC and then 7 for USUHS) Like, since they have you anyway...

Jenn