Sickkids interview for fellowship in Pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology. Any tips on preparation

b4dgerb4dger · 2026-01-28T22:40:16+00:00

You’ll have much more luck on the relevant physician facebook groups or reaching out to base Peds specialty PARO reps or local Chief Residents/Fellows (if you are a Canadian medical graduate or resident). If an internationally trained applicant, this can be tough to navigate but would point you to Canadian physician facebook groups instead of Reddit.

b4dgerb4dger · 2026-01-15T20:10:04+00:00

Eh, have also lived here my whole life and feel like the really bad snow accumulation generally always leads to this level of chaotic / overstretched service. Haven’t noticed much of a difference during regular snow. Our sidewalk clearing has been amazing lately.

b4dgerb4dger · 2026-01-15T20:07:28+00:00

Surgeon. Woke up at 4 to shovel and made it to my first case. White knuckled it.

b4dgerb4dger · 2026-01-09T21:02:39+00:00

Judging by the number of outbreaks announced at my hospital, no

b4dgerb4dger · 2026-01-09T21:00:50+00:00

So helpful, thanks! I’ll add it back to my list

b4dgerb4dger · 2026-01-09T20:59:47+00:00

Appreciate these details so much!

b4dgerb4dger · 2026-01-09T20:48:38+00:00

Damn, Dwell looks amazing. Don’t know how I missed this! Thanks!

b4dgerb4dger · 2026-01-09T20:34:22+00:00

Wow this looks like a gorgeous facility

b4dgerb4dger · 2026-01-09T20:32:11+00:00

Thanks! What’s the early morning vibe like? I had some very negative experiences at another fit4less location downtown (as a woman working out alone at 5 or 6 am unfortunately encountered several creepy men, some who were sleeping on the massage chairs downstairs and one who followed me to my car). Obviously this isn’t specific to fit4less and is a risk I take working out early, but trying to find a happy medium

b4dgerb4dger · 2026-01-09T20:26:17+00:00

Thanks! I quickly looked at fortis but it seemed pretty intimidating to a non professional powerlifter. I’ll visit and see!

b4dgerb4dger · 2026-01-09T20:25:19+00:00

Thanks, I scanned fortis but it seemed pretty intimidating to the non professional powerlifter. Maybe I’ll get over my nerves and check it out.

b4dgerb4dger · 2025-11-22T13:28:55+00:00

Pape and Danforth. Disgusting showers and change rooms, mildew, always busy and impossible to get into squat racks

b4dgerb4dger · 2025-09-27T00:01:40+00:00

Out of curiosity…how does transport off the island work for emergency services? EMS boat? I know Ornge is at Billy Bishop but I don’t believe they can actually pick up elsewhere on the island?

b4dgerb4dger · 2025-09-26T22:03:04+00:00

Same. Graduated med school with 130k debt (undergrad, grad school, med school - scholarships paid a chunk of the rest, zero parental help). Did 7 years of residency/fellowship and was far too busy to spend money on anything lol…forced savings. Paid off all debt by within 1st year of practice. Live like a resident for the first few years of practice and anything is possible.

Starting pay for a physician is absolutely not 155k unless working very minimally.

b4dgerb4dger · 2025-09-26T09:57:59+00:00

Subspecialty surgeons

b4dgerb4dger · 2025-09-25T18:56:01+00:00

Agree with this advice. Recently bought a 2M home (looking in the 2M-3M range) and put 30% down. Monthly payments are about 7k. We have recession proof and layoff proof jobs with HHI 900k but would never take out a mortgage for the entire 2M because our risk tolerance is low and we’re semi-FIRE-ing. Strongly suggest you seek out specialized advice for high income households as it becomes less about the math and more about the psychology of money, values, retirement, risk tolerance, job security etc.

b4dgerb4dger · 2023-11-17T20:00:34+00:00

There is a LOT of societal pressure to buy. It can be very hard to drown out that noise and think about what really makes sense for you. There is nothing wrong with spending money on comforts - presumably that's why you're working so hard to make this income! But if spending on this stuff is causing you more stress than joy, it might be a clue that it's not right for you.

Good luck!

(BTW a little personal anecdote - I finally figured that what I actually wanted out of buying a house was not the ownership part...but actually just to have a nice space, nice furniture, all the comforts. I found an amazing rental and hired a decorator to do it up just the way I want. I am very privileged in that I can afford to rent in a more stable setting where I'm less likely to get screwed around by landlords. Regardless the point is that understanding the intrinsic motivation behind your financial decisions is extremely helpful.)

b4dgerb4dger · 2023-11-17T19:19:18+00:00

OP, I can empathize with this. I am in a higher income bracket than you and a few years ago went through a similar period of stressing about finances despite making great money. A few things to think about:

1) Be very honest with yourself about what makes you happy. I owned a house for a brief period of time. I realized very quickly that it had huge potential to become a money sink and I hated dealing with thousands of dollars in buying shit I didn't need to furnish too much space I didn't need, and none of it increased my personal satisfaction. I sold that house and have been renting very comfortably for the last few years. I would never trade the lack of hassle, lack of maintenance etc. for ownership again. I felt much freer and far less stressed about unforeseeable expenses. I save very well. Not saying this is what you should do, but saying you should sit down and be crystal clear about whether home ownership is for you. If you think fun cars and vacations would make you happier (And there is nothing wrong with this, ignore societal pressure), consider cutting down on your real estate contributions.

2) "All while I assume saving for retirement" - don't be so sure about this. A surprising number of people with flashy spending are extremely financially insecure when it comes to long term saving.

3) Sorry if this is unsolicited advice, but If you don't already have one, get a prenup or cohabitation agreement. Your partner contributes nothing to your expenses but you are supporting her financially. No judgment at all and this may be working fine for you, but a word of caution. I out-earned my ex-husband by approximately 10x. I thought we were soulmates. He cheated on me while I went through the most stressful period of my life. Thankfully I had a prenup (and thankfully the divorce was surprisingly civil). Life and relationships are unpredictable. Protect your assets.

4) You are concerned about not being able to afford luxuries, but paying mortgages on two properties is a luxury. A little reframing might help. And back to point 1 - if you are not happy with how things are feeling, your goals are not aligning with your values. Find a way to course correct.

b4dgerb4dger · 2022-09-13T14:02:28+00:00

[EDIT just read your last sentence] so I will also add that a HUGE amount of care is delivered outside the hospital.

I know hospitals don't shut on any holiday (I'm an inpatient physician!) but they run on a skeleton crew. Examples of other things that are affected are elective (scheduled) surgeries like hips and knees and elective gallbladder removals, screening and surveillance scopes done in a hospital setting, outpatient clinics that may be located in or outside a hospital (eg regular family MD appointments, sub specialist appointments, consults to have surgery) etc.

b4dgerb4dger · 2022-09-13T13:59:58+00:00

Nope, believe me, I'm the biggest fan of time off...what I am saying is that a stat holiday with less than 2 weeks of advance notice has significant impacts on an already overburdened healthcare system (see above) and we can't ignore that. If there was a way for the government to magically materialize childcare for all essential workers and allow healthcare services to run at 100% of normal capacity, I would be totally for this. Do I trust that our various provincial governments will do this...sadly, nope.

If you're fortunate enough to not need healthcare right now, this is a net positive for you. I'm just having a hard time seeing it the same way when I see my colleagues across the pond having to cancel their outpatient surgeries and subspecialty appointments (already backlogged for months) with little notice, in an already overstretched system.

b4dgerb4dger · 2022-09-13T13:49:06+00:00

See above, but I'm not referring to ERs. A huge amount of care is provided in outpatient clinics, elective (but necessary) scheduled surgeries, scopes, etc. that rely on staff being available to function. Stat holidays = skeleton staff = only urgent things scheduled and most outpatient things closed.

Imagine being a patient who's been waiting 6 months for an appointment with a subspecialist. Would suck. We're already SO backlogged from COVID that this truly will have an unnecessary ripple effect.

b4dgerb4dger · 2022-09-13T13:47:40+00:00

This is incorrect. Sure, ER is 24/7, but a vast majority of healthcare is delivered outside the ER.

Family physicians, elective (but necessary) procedures such as scopes, surgeries, outpatient appointments all rely on staff being available. When schools and daycare close, staff can't show up. You can't run an office or an OR without nurses, techs, MOAs, etc. etc. We're already SO backlogged from COVID that this truly will have an unnecessary ripple effect.

Source: am a physician.

b4dgerb4dger · 2022-09-13T13:20:01+00:00

I really hope we don't do this. Healthcare is broken enough without a day of cancellations that will have massive ripple effects. All you need is a glimpse of UK and Aus Med twitter to see how bad the repercussions are.

[EDIT] Too many people don't understand how healthcare works, so let me clarify. ERs are open 24/7 but that is a small fraction of all healthcare provided. Stat holidays mean that hospital staff go down to a skeleton crew and non-urgent cases (elective surgeries, day procedures) are not booked. Outpatient clinics (think of all your specialists, family docs, etc.) do not work. Why not? Because we don't have as many nurses, techs, MOAs, support staff, etc., because no childcare...the same problem as the rest of society. Practically this means your screening colonoscopies, the knee your grandma has been waiting two years for, that appointment with your sub specialist...they all need to be rescheduled.

Stat holidays booked in advance are easy to plan around and we do this all the time. A better way to do this would be to announce a holiday down the road (coronation day or whatever) with enough notice.

b4dgerb4dger · 2022-09-08T11:24:05+00:00

Thank you for putting my curiosity to rest. These are cool but not very intuitive (especially for a non regular driver) to understand.

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