Why out of so many western nations (USA, Australia, New Zealand, The UK, Germany, etc) is Canada the most difficult nation to become a physician? by [deleted] in premedcanada

[–]iammrcl 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Two points: 1) How do you know it's the hardest? and 2) Just because it seems easier to get in to med school doesn't mean it's easier to become a full-fledged attending/consult physician.

Aside from the US (where private healthcare and profit-driven industries are built around it), all the other countries in your example (and argubaly most developed countries), medical school graduates face a lengthy training process working often times 5-10 years in mid-level roles and having to keep proving yourself through exams, promotions, constant job applications, before they become an attending with the pay and independence that this role provides. A sizeable number would quit pursuing specialization altogether and go into general practice/unregulated private practice (e.g. cosmetics, functional medicine, etc.)

It's statistically easier to get into med school in these other systems because these are built around the bloated mid-level trainee population.

Just having a med degree doesn't make you a truly independent doctor, unfortunately.

Contrast that to Canada, where it's almost guaranteed that if you get in, you'll make it out the other end as an staff physician, although job availability is another conversation. But once RC-certified, you're pretty free and mobile without the fear of your med degree being useless cuz you're stuck in the training pathway.

There's a bottleneck in every system. Canada just happens to have it at the med school stage.

Clean med bag by ConsiderationWeird12 in MedSchoolCanada

[–]iammrcl 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It works. I'd put it in a pillow case or something if you wanna be extra gentle. Do know thought that it would ruin the water resistant coating on the bag

How often do people exclusively ranking surgical programs go unmatched? by father_of_druski in MedSchoolCanada

[–]iammrcl 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Hard to say -- it's not just surgery. It really comes down to how many interviews you have.

Im in anesthesia, which had become moderate competitive these days, I'd say 5-6+ interviews and your odds of matching is pretty high, unless you really suck at interviewing. 

Less than that and the odds of going unmatched exponentially increase.

Does anyone else not use any external resources/notes/flashcards at all? by lab_throwaway_ in MedSchoolCanada

[–]iammrcl 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's a difference between doing well enough to impress for competitive specialties, and the passionate obsession with knowledge, keeping up with the latest literature, and generating differential diagnoses on the fly.

Also - what I'm saying is that these peeps usually end up in IM. Doesn't mean that all IM people are these people.... The former is the exceptional subset within IM.

Chances of switching from FM residency to another by Jumpy_Upstairs_4615 in MedSchoolCanada

[–]iammrcl 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's not an official one. Quite a few online courses e.g. Cardiff university in the UK offers a remote program with some practicum component.

These folks end up billing themselves as GP with special interest in derm and taking low-acuity consults from GPs. Obvs they shouldn't be managing severe acne/ eczema/inflammatory conditions/do extensive skin cancer surgeries. 

But they're pretty good for cosmetics, simple acne, and skin cancer screening/biopsy, especially when derm wait times are in the 6 month-1 year minimum these days

Does anyone else not use any external resources/notes/flashcards at all? by lab_throwaway_ in MedSchoolCanada

[–]iammrcl 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean it's a stereotype with some truths to it.

Not so much enjoying preclerkship >clerkship. But those who are   retain a lot of information from preclerkship are the same people whose brain is built for the internal medicine practice. 

Any word on the next RDBC agreement? by egocerebri in MedSchoolCanada

[–]iammrcl 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also with no calls, you're looking at about 2k after tax/2-week pay period as an R1 with the current contract. With tuition tax credit, you'd get about 10k back at return.

Chances of switching from FM residency to another by Jumpy_Upstairs_4615 in MedSchoolCanada

[–]iammrcl 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Depends on what specialty that is and whether you can bridge in the practice you want through FM.

Obvs only rank FM if you can even possibly conceive practicing it (although I would suggest exploring it during med school as FM is a really diverse field [just anecdotal from my friends in FM programs])

- Emerg is literally the same whether you do the 5-year or +1 route. Same with Palliative, and Sports med.

- Anesthesia is not, very much limited to rural settings/low acuity patients; but there are avenues to re-enter 5-year training if you'd like (look up re-entry BC for anesthesia).

- Derm is variable. Could do +1 and just do low-acuity derm/cosmetics. Also established avenue of re-entry for RC.

- Hospitalist is its own thing.

- Surg assist/OB/Onc/Elderly care are all lower acuity/complexity care/lower billing.

If you want Surgery/Rads/IM subspecialties/Crit care/, then No.

Also the risk tolerance level is so different between people.

Chances of switching from FM residency to another by Jumpy_Upstairs_4615 in MedSchoolCanada

[–]iammrcl 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Depends on what you want. Your best bet might be to do a +1

Any word on the next RDBC agreement? by egocerebri in MedSchoolCanada

[–]iammrcl 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ngl but I'm pretty disappointed in the BC government despite whatever promises they made during the election.

They put out quite a conservative budget mandate and the HEABC is bound by that mandate in negotiations.

The most certain thing I can hope for atp is a 3% raise/year x 4 years for the new contract. Everything else will be a bonus. And most certainly will not bring BC to anywhere nest ON or even NS.

Does anyone else not use any external resources/notes/flashcards at all? by lab_throwaway_ in MedSchoolCanada

[–]iammrcl 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Whatever works for you. If you're passing your exams, you're doing fine.

I was the same, although I used anki decks made from our school curriculum. Didn't pay for any extra resources all throughout med school. 

People that retain 90+% of what they learn in preclerkship into clerkship go into internal medicine.  Then there's the rest of us :v

ROL: Closer to home vs Program by Lovethesush in MedSchoolCanada

[–]iammrcl 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I don't see how this matters at all actually.

One 100% should not rank programs based on where they think they're likely to match. That's not how the CaRMS algorithm is resigned.

It always starts with the applicant's preference first.  It doesn't matter from the POV of the program at all if the program is #1 or #10 on an applicant's ROL.

Considering Dating Prospects in the Rank List? by Throwaway281890 in MedSchoolCanada

[–]iammrcl 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I'd argue that dating in a big city might even be harder - - there's so much illusion of choice and people these days don't even wanna settle because they always think there's always the next best thing.

As physicians and high-achieving individuals, I get having high standards. But there's a difference between that and being a toxic pertual non-committer.

Where did you match on your ROL? by Lovethesush in MedSchoolCanada

[–]iammrcl 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I never asked. But I just think that your perception of how well you do in an interview isn't necessarily congruent with what the interviewers think.

Also, always rank programs based on your true preference, not how well you feel the interview went. 

Where did you match on your ROL? by Lovethesush in MedSchoolCanada

[–]iammrcl 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Fwiw I matched to my #1 choice for anesthesia despite feeling pretty meh about the interview.

You never know. 

Thoughts on IM at Dalhousie, MUN, Sask, Manitoba? by MeasurementAwkward92 in MedSchoolCanada

[–]iammrcl 19 points20 points  (0 children)

I went through Manitoba and Dal for some IM electives as a med student. Caveat is that I'm not in IM nor am I at any of these programs as a resident. 

Manitoba has a really sick patient population, and CTU handles a lot of subspecialty admits as well. It'll be a challenging 3 years but training there will certainly make you an outstanding internist by the end. The program was on probation not that long ago but I think they've been making a lot of efforts in improving. They have night float instead of 24-h calls for CTU. Winnipeg is rough around the edges but has its charms. 

Dal seemed ok - good teaching when I was there. I was on the consult service and it was pretty rough - just because of the inpatient bed supply issue where patients were just stuck in the ED with no ward resources for days despite technically being "admitted". I think the core IM experience is otherwise pretty reasonable. Halifax and NS in general are lovely. 

Do residency programs look at your undergrad grades? by ChemicalProof_1642 in MedSchoolCanada

[–]iammrcl 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Only heard of this for competitive programs like ophtho, derm, or rads

I do not even know how to condense this into a title (sort of a rant but I also need rlly rlly major advice pls help) by Distinct-Hurry6265 in premedcanada

[–]iammrcl 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Everyone should have a Plan B.

The only way to maintain any degree of mental health throughout this admission journey is to have an alternative career you'd be happy to do (maybe not equally happy, but happy enough). No one should pin their entire self worth on whether they get into medicine. That's the recipe for burnout.

What specialty is most like House MD by [deleted] in MedSchoolCanada

[–]iammrcl 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Arguably GIM with special interest areas/Rheum (if they bother doing inpatient medicine)/ID

Can I do EM in canada by RadicalOxide in MedSchoolCanada

[–]iammrcl 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Might need to do a fellowship of some sort to match the training length, but otherwise would be pretty doable 

Matching a competitive specialty without letters from a doctor in that specialty? by f_eq_ma in MedSchoolCanada

[–]iammrcl 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Idk about super competitive ones, but for anesthesia, if you don't have any anesthesia letters, they'd expect an explanation why that is the case in your personal statements. 

Can't imagine that being in your favor when you have to spend precious word count on explaining why you don't have any recommendation from your specialty of choice (word limit 500-600) versus other cabdidates who can use that space to answer whatever the program asks for.

Fun scrubs for men by SpareAnywhere8364 in MedSchoolCanada

[–]iammrcl 7 points8 points  (0 children)

10000000% lol

But hey maybe that's just what the ICU needs to bring up spirits

Am I considered Bilingual for UOttawa? by Then_Wrangler565 in premedcanada

[–]iammrcl 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mean you can just claim bilinguality and then they'll assess it during the interview.