It’s that time of year again. Residency interviews are in full swing and before you know it rank lists will be made, match day will happen and the next group of students will be getting ready to start the process all over again. No matter where you are in your medical school journey, I’m sure the thought has already crossed your mind…there are so many residency programs out there. How am I going to choose the one that is right for me? For this episode, Patricia was joined by EM Over Easy host, Andy Little and special guests, Will Smith and Chris Reilly to discuss how to choose your EM program.
Questions to ask yourself:
- Where do I see myself practicing in the future? A community hospital, big academic center, critical access hospital?
- What fills my cup and would I be able to easily access those things from this program?
- Is the program near your family/support system?
- If you like to hike, are there trails nearby?
Questions to ask the programs:
- Are there any areas where your residents don’t get as much experience because of other services in the hospital having residents?
- What kind of volume does your program see?
- How does your program receive and act on resident feedback?
- How long has the current leadership been at the program?
- Where did your leadership all train?
Things to think about:
- Wherever you choose to go you are going to work hard and you’re going to get adequate training.
- Find a program that is going to help you grow outside of your comfort zone.
- Leaning into discomfort makes you a better doctor.
- Consider reaching out to alumni of the program, if possible.
- If a program tells you they are a family, try to dive deeper into that. Ask the program what that means to them.
Take-Home Points:
- Residency is designed to be hard because being a doctor is hard and the job of residency is to prepare you for that.
- One of the easiest ways to stay well in residency is to choose a program that is near the things that make you well.
- You want to choose the program that is going to support you in becoming the best EM doc and person that you can be.
Post by Patricia Capone, DO PGY-3
About Our Guest:
Will Smith, MD
EM Physician, Northern California
Chris Reilly, MD
EM Physician and Medical Education Fellow, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY
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