bluestar
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I was told that FM residents are often treated as "2-class citizens" in a hospital where there are also other residents such as IM, surgery... so I was thinking it might be better to get into a program with only FM residency program and since you'd be the only one in charge of the whole hospital, you'd see all the cases you want. The "unopposed" program was actually the selling point of many programs that I've seen. Well, not until recently that I heard that those programs that don't have other residency programs are worse that those do. The main reason they don't have other residency program is not they don't want to, but because they are not qualified to. Nobody would give up the chance to set up a residency program if they could. I used to think they do not want residents to take care of the private patients so they don't need a residency program. Which point of view is true? Please clarify. BTW, I am applying for both FM and IM.
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| Lorena
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I would go for the unopposed. You dont want to be competing in every ward you are at with the residents of other specialties.
I applied and interviewed at a place that has both IM and FM programs...so during my IM interview, I asked a first year IM resident "how do you guys do when for example an IM patient comes to the ER and there are FM and IM residents?... who takes care of the patient?" and he said: "they do first if we think it is not a complicated case but we take over if they cannot handle it" so, at least at that place i had the feeling that FM residents are seen as "2th clase citizens"
"The main reason they don't have other residency program is not they don't want to, but because they are not qualified to"
Starting a residency program not only requires qualification, but also money and personnel: faculty/coordinators,etc. If a hospital doesnt have a residency program,it doesnt necessarily mean it doesnt provide a good healthcare. They may not have faculty to take care of the residents in IM or other wards as they are requiered to, but you will have your FM faculty to teach you.
I hope I didnt confuse you more. Good luck!!
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| bluestar
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Thanks Lorena! Best luck to your match! BTW are you from California? As far as I know, it's more competitive than other states.
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I leave no trace of wings in the air, but I am glad I have had my flight
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| Lorena
Forum Elite
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Best of luck for you too!!
I am not from California, I am from Mexico (GC holder), but only applied there because of my husband's job 
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| rashmi_k3
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Nice thread. But i don agree with you both.
By no means a FM resident is inferior to IMs, they are equaly qualified, trained in the same environment and got the same degree.
If you think yourself as a "2nd class citizen, then you are one".
Bring up yourself to that level where U can challenge an IM resident, then see the difference. U will hadle all the complicated cases in the ER, they will learn from you.
Its the process of "survival of the fittest", so don get depressed even if you are in FM.
GL
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With willing hearts and skillful hands, the difficult we do at once; the impossible takes a bit longer... hang in there.
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| drmamu
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Dear friends,
I strongly disagree with the idea that you have about family pratcice. Family practice is an excellent speciality if your aim is primary care. My relatives who came here before procedure coded billing started told me that it was almost the same difficulty to get fm as im. Now more people are oriented towards fellowship and beleive they have better chance with im.
It is true that the only reason that a hospital does not have a fellowship is that it does not qualify forn it. Residency and fellowship is prestige in US and necessity for referal status. If they dont have it,it is only because they didnt get it and not because they did not want it.
Second rate treatment is individual ego. An intern is at the lowest level of hierarchy. If im intern feels and thinks thatfm resident is at lower level and he can treat thet the fm cannot treat, I would say that it is immature brain that is working. I am also sure there wont be any official guideline alloting uncomplicated cases to fm residents. I beleive that you asked the wrong person
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| Lorena
Forum Elite
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rashmi and drmamu
I never implied FM residents are inferior than IM or any other residents. Please dont misunderstand what I said. And of course there is not official guideline alloting uncomplicated cases to fm residents. I only shared a comment I got, an individual experience and I agree I probably asked the wrong person - It should just be taken like that -a comment from somebody else and not myself- not everybody is like that.
But personally I would prefer to be in a hospital that has only FM residents because then I would get to perform more procedures.
What is the idea I have about family medicine? I never wrote about it,. not in this thread anyway. But I agree with you drmamu that it is a great specialty for primary care and the doctors are very well trained. I had wonderful experiences in my interviews and Family medicine doctors and residents deserve all my respect.
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| drmamu
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I think you got my point. Al that I want to tell you is that you can attain anything if you are happy working in a place. So join a program and specialty where you can be happy for 3years. The most reliable for this is your gut feeling regarding the program when you went for the interview. Dont allow small issues change your decisions. So the ultimate question is" can I be happy working in this program for three years? Can I be happy practising this specialty for the rest of my life?" Everything else will clear up in time.
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| drkill
Forum Elite
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very well said drmamu!
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| rashmi_k3
Forum Elite
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point noted MAMU......dr mamu
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With willing hearts and skillful hands, the difficult we do at once; the impossible takes a bit longer... hang in there.
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| sairaharoonkhan
Forum Senior
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Very well said mamu... Ur name reminds me of MUNNA BHAI ,MBBS !
Take care.
Saira.
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| timd1313
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I think a part of changing the scope of FMP is encouraging individuals who really want to go into family and not "use it for a back-up." I hate this attitude.
I fully understand if you are an individual that might be torn between Internal Med, Peds, OB/GYN and FMP. I was one of those individuals between IM or FMP or both. However, there are some individuals who use FMP as a way to "get into system."
Individuals who really do not want to be professional, responsible, competent family practitioners hurt the way FMP is looked at in opposed residency programs.
I applied to only FMP and proud of it.
Tim
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| Tiger07
Forum Newbie
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It's hard to stop ppl from using FP as a safety net, I believe one important part is played by the PDs. If the PDs only invite those who are truely FP, then the whole outlook of FP will be different. There are some programs that send out survey before invitation, and one question is 'Have you applied to other specialties'. I think ERAS should let pgms know what other specialties an applicant has applied to, this way, it's fair to both the pgm and those true FP applicants.
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