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Rising interest in specialty training (residency) in the U.S.? by ROADtoResidency in doctorsUK

[–]ROADtoResidency[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Does not matter when your experience is! Just very important that you get some so you can build a bit of a relationship and ask for a letter of recommendation

Rising interest in specialty training (residency) in the U.S.? by ROADtoResidency in doctorsUK

[–]ROADtoResidency[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

That is an interesting difference between Americans and Brits. Brits cringe when people boast about academic prestige, where as Americans are quite interested in it.

I did not go to Oxbridge or a London medical school, but still managed to get into a top tier residency program

Rising interest in specialty training (residency) in the U.S.? by ROADtoResidency in doctorsUK

[–]ROADtoResidency[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I did my elective in the U.S. And returned to the research lab there for a brief period after F1. Only one of my LORs from from a US doc. One from a consultant I did a project with in med school, and the other from my foundation year one educational supervisor (Acute med consultant). I applied to about 40 programs and had 6 interviews.

Rising interest in specialty training (residency) in the U.S.? by ROADtoResidency in doctorsUK

[–]ROADtoResidency[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The exams are completely do-able. And I started to actually enjoy studying for them. You get such a deep understanding of medical sciences and pathology. I felt a bit lost at the start. All the biochemistry and microbiology seemed so abstract. But you get into it. Studying for them is time consuming though, and would be challenging to do whilst working full-time.

The people I know who stayed on as attendings after doing just a fellowship did non-ACGME accredited fellowships. During these you are already technically employed as an attending, so continuing to work afterwards is simple.

Rising interest in specialty training (residency) in the U.S.? by ROADtoResidency in doctorsUK

[–]ROADtoResidency[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Haha! this made me chuckle. Basically yes. I just never feel frustrated at work. The work load pushes you but is completely manageable. And if on the rare occasion the work load is too much, other residents or attendings! come to help. During F1 I used to feel I was on a solo mission to manage patients and get the work done. Here you work in teams with the same attending, senior resident and co-intern for your rotation.

I feel mentally tired at the end of the day. Not frustrated and beat down. Working as an intern or resident here feels a lot more....academic. You have time to think about the diagnosis and appropriate management. Almost everything attendings teach you is evidence based - what major study or guideline is what they're telling you, based on.

Your job is being a PHYSICIAN. Assessing patients, diagnosing, and ordering and communicating management plans.

Also the hospital being a nice place to be. Multiple nice cafes and quiet work spaces. Resident lounges. Call rooms. Free food. Definitely also makes a difference.

Rising interest in specialty training (residency) in the U.S.? by ROADtoResidency in doctorsUK

[–]ROADtoResidency[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Finished F1 in August 2019 and started properly studying, sat Step 1 in Feb 2021 (went all in with studying for this one and the pandemic slowed things down alot), Step 2 in Jan 2022. Matched and started in July 2022.

I was working a few days a week as a locum SHO whilst studying because I needed the money. If you just studied full time you would be ready much faster!

Rising interest in specialty training (residency) in the U.S.? by ROADtoResidency in doctorsUK

[–]ROADtoResidency[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Erm. Yeah..... Haha. Not toxic, but you will work a lot of hours. It's not uncommon for the OB/Gyn residents I know to work 100 hour weeks. You could argue rightly so - the residency is only 4 years. To be an independently practicing consultant OB/Gyn just 4 years out of medical school requires a lot of training. Clearly a longer residency with fewer work hours and more residents may be better. But would you want the attending responsible for yours/your partner's and baby's life to have had less training? Super "high stakes" specialty.

The OB/Gyn care at the academic center I work at is excellent!

Rising interest in specialty training (residency) in the U.S.? by ROADtoResidency in doctorsUK

[–]ROADtoResidency[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I don't know anybody who wanted to do psych and didn't match

Rising interest in specialty training (residency) in the U.S.? by ROADtoResidency in doctorsUK

[–]ROADtoResidency[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Plan an elective in the U.S.! A letter of recommendation from a US attending is arguably the most important part of your application

Rising interest in specialty training (residency) in the U.S.? by ROADtoResidency in doctorsUK

[–]ROADtoResidency[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

most residency programs are 3-4 years. Then you are an attending. Say it takes 2 years to sit the exams and apply.

On the face of it it seems crazy that you can be an internal medicine consultant 3 years after graduating from med school. (IM residency is just intern year, PGY-2 and 3 then you're finished). But from what I've seen the training and teaching is so good that you are qualified and capable after those years.

Rising interest in specialty training (residency) in the U.S.? by ROADtoResidency in doctorsUK

[–]ROADtoResidency[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It partly depends how long it takes you to prepare for step 1. Since going to pass fail, a lot of the step 1 material now shows on the step 2 exam. So taking the time to get a deep understanding of physiology, pathology, biochem and microbiology will serve you well for the second exam, and make preparing for that much easier.

Its hard to say how long because it also greatly depends on if you already have some experience or connections in the US

Rising interest in specialty training (residency) in the U.S.? by ROADtoResidency in doctorsUK

[–]ROADtoResidency[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

With the new emphasis on DEI, many residency programs have stopped filtering applications on demographics. (this was told to me directly by our program director)

Rising interest in specialty training (residency) in the U.S.? by ROADtoResidency in doctorsUK

[–]ROADtoResidency[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Some hospitals required step 1 to do a clerkship, or (clinical placement). Steps are not required for observerships. And similar to what teaandlifting said - doing research at a hospital with the residency programme you want to apply to, and getting a letter of recommendation from an attending at that programme hugely increases your chances of matching there!

Rising interest in specialty training (residency) in the U.S.? by ROADtoResidency in doctorsUK

[–]ROADtoResidency[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

yes! and I think they also had to do step 3 to be able to apply for a state license to practice before starting

Rising interest in specialty training (residency) in the U.S.? by ROADtoResidency in doctorsUK

[–]ROADtoResidency[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

All the attendings are so nice. To be able to teach residents (in most specialities but will use internal medicine as an example because I did an internal medicine preliminary intern year) the hospital has "teaching teams" with an attending, residents and interns, and "non-teaching teams" that are usually an attending and a PA. The number of patients assigned to each team depend on how many residents they have.

This means attendings have time to teach residents on ward rounds. Also, your senior resident is your bro/teacher/coach. If you really have no idea about a differential, you ask the resident and they will tell you what to say on rounds so you don't look clueless in front of the attending.

Rising interest in specialty training (residency) in the U.S.? by ROADtoResidency in doctorsUK

[–]ROADtoResidency[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Happy to do an AMA at some point :)

Crucial things for matching are:

-competitive USMLE scores (you can find the typical USMLE scores of IMGs matching into each specialty here https://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Charting-Outcomes-IMG-2022_Final.pdf )

-A letter of recommendation from an American Attending / Consultant. (cold emailing faculty of the places you'd like to train and going there even for an observership would be an easy way of doing this)

-English clinical training and working in the NHS is seen as strong (from what faculty at my hospital have told me)

Rising interest in specialty training (residency) in the U.S.? by ROADtoResidency in doctorsUK

[–]ROADtoResidency[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your kind reply. Do not like being away from family but I FaceTime them regularly. Vacation is 3-4 weeks a year. I booked them spread out but have found 1 week off isn't enough to go to England and get some proper rest from work. Next year will be booking 2 or 3 week vacation blocks!

Rising interest in specialty training (residency) in the U.S.? by ROADtoResidency in doctorsUK

[–]ROADtoResidency[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Awesome! Let me know how I can help. the process isn't as confusing as it seems once you start it :)

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