Best back up plan?

I am not sure about the prilm surgery spot or the 5 categorical spot. I am certain that I think a year of research is a bad idea unless you already have some studies in the mix. That way at least a few publications will come to fruition. There are some older posts on this board about a research year that seems somewhat ligit up in Pittsuburg but again unless you got some studies already going it's still tuff to publish in only a year, unless it is somethiing clinical and I think if you are talking another year, you most likely want some basic science research to show for it. But at most big research places you can jump on the tail of other's research so who knows perhaps that's something to check out before joining a reserach team somewhere if all doesn't go according to plan. Also, if you need money that must be considered as well, prlim= 40 grand, research most likely = 0, and the loan sharks may start to break your knees!
As for prlim vs 5 yr, that I am a little foggy on myself. If you do one year, and I have run into many people on the trail re-appling (for god sake I hope that doesn't happen) it seems that they are interviewing at the same places from the year before. And it kills me when those interviewers say"so what happened", well "you didn't pick me that's what happened" and now you're applying again with only like 5 months of a prlim year done. I think, if they didn't pick you last year why would the same program pick you this year? But everyone knows that. I have also heard some stuff (unknown if it is true) but that a prlim year doesn't suffice for an ortho internship so jumping into a 2nd year spot is a no go, and new residency slots do always open up. Plus if you don't match again then you have to do another inter year or jump into a 2nd year of a categorical general surgery program somewhere. It seems to me that jumping right into a categorical year is a better bet, that way you're a little more covered, yes it sucks arse but if you are really dying to do ortho there is always the hand route. Also, unsure if you do join a categorical surgery spot does that preclude you from regestering for the match the following year? Plus, I'd be willing to bet if you go the 5 year route then they will be less likely to give you the necessary leave to go on interviews than if you only have a 1 year gig because it's expected.
There probably isn't any one right method of matching after you have to scamble the first time and every path with have it's own pain in the butt hurdles. It becomes even more of being at the right place at the right time. Sorry, but I have more questions than answers myself.

I'd go for the research year. If you want to get into ortho you're going to have to do the tern year over again unless you can jump into a R2 spot. So why waste a year doing internship twice with nothing to show for it? A year of research will get you pubs, great interviews, and most of all, CONNECTIONS. There are a few well funded ortho research programs - look up NIAMS and ortho Kirschstein t-32 training grants on the NIH website and they'll tell you who to contact. NIH pre-residency fellowship = don't have to pay back loans since it counts as a fellowship. The NIH fellowships are 2-years, but you can do your second year during residency which means all of the 6-year programs are extremely psyched to take a look at you.

I'm doing one right now. If you have any kind of academic inclination, the research year can be a lot of fun, (ie, lots of free trips all over the country for grants, conferences) esp if its well funded and you have a good PI. If I had to do it over again, I would do a research year rather than go straight to residency. What's the big hurry?

TGC

I play the lotto daily.

thank you everybody for your valuable suggestions. The great cornholio could you please let me know how to approach for a NIH funded research job. I would be more than happy to spend an year of research and learn the subject.
sincerely
vamsi

find all the grants related to ortho then email the person they list as the assignee.

that should get you started


tgc

Good luck to everyone in the upcoming match! If you find that you didn't match, you do have options. If it is Black Monday for you as it was for me, here is some advice about the different options.

1. Be A different kind of doc-
2. Scramble- There are very few REAL spots available. Most Ortho Spots ?open? are really just programs that closed this year and didn?t take residents. Those that do have spots are often programs with major deficiencies or uncertain futures.
3. Ortho spots outside the match- Unfortunately these are rare and only occur when a program was granted an extra spot by the RRC after the match list was due. Also, when these do come about, they are poorly publicized and often programs take one of their own to fill it.
4. General Surgery year- A chance to prevent losing a year but unless you are lucky enough to find out about 2 spots that open up and are offered one it is difficult road to orthopaedics. As a general surgery intern, you perform scut without much of a chance to improve your application or spend meaningful time with attendings to gain a new LOR
5. Research- Although you?ll miss the OR and seeing patients on a regular basis, you will be able to improve your application through publications, new LORs and networking. Also, you will improve your knowledge base in ortho. Many of the research positions including this one at PENN are available and often filled before the scramble begins so you will already be making strides to prevent a repeat disaster. I actually started here at PENN before i graduated from medical school so that I could get things rolling as quickly as possible.

The research position at the University of Pennsylvania is a paid research position. It is traditionally entirely clinical orthopaedic oncology research with the chairman, Richard D. Lackman, and his two partners, Edward J. Fox and Christian M. Ogilvie. The last two people who occupied this position had very little previous exposure to orthopaedic oncology. However, after this year of research, one gains a better understanding of it. The great things about orthopaedic oncology are: you work all over the body and not just around one or two joints, everyday you see something amazing (it never gets boring), you get to put in large complicated implants (total scapula replacement or replacing the entire femur with a total femur prosthesis), you are saving lives everyday, and patients really need your help.

Before I came to PENN, I thought orthopaedic oncology was predominantly a depressing specialty. On the contrary, this office (3 full-time ortho onc surgeons plus 5-6 staff) is quite upbeat. The vast majority of patients come in scared and leave either happy they don't have cancer or leave with options that will save their life and allow them to return to activities of daily living.

Even if you don't go into ortho oncology, there are still advantages to doing research in the field. You will probably have no problems on OITE oncology questions (which are often hard for residents). Even more important, as an orthopaedic surgeon, you are going to see quite a few musculoskeletal tumors in your career. Hopefully you will know enough about the clinical characteristics and imaging to diagnose these, decide which ones are malignant and which are harmless, and get the appropriate patients to an ortho onc specialist with the appropriate work-up. I think this year has given me a great ortho oncology background as well as improving my overall ortho knowledge. I would encourage anyone who doesn't match to give it serious consideration.

Doing research at PENN for the year has given me the opportunity to meet many great people and has been an excellent experience that will hopefully net me an orthopaedic residency. My new LORs from PENN and research experience helped me to be invited to seven more interviews this year (20) when compared to last year (13). The two preceding research fellows both matched. If your still reading, thanks and good luck on the 3/13. Hopefully the 13th will be lucky for all of us.

Feel free to inquire about the position with the attendings:

Edward J. Fox, MD
[url=mailto][email protected][/url]

Christian M. Ogilvie, MD
[url=mailto][email protected][/url]

or me

Joe Finstein, MD
[url=mailto][email protected][/url]

I'm with Jalby. To bad they still don't have the XFL. If I don't match, I could have "Orthohateme" on my jersey.