Skills Learned During an Internal Medicine Residency

Written By: Rachael Kaine

Choosing an Internal Medicine Career

In order to become an internist, or someone that practices medicine on adult patients of all levels of wellness, a long time in school is required. Along with the typical years of medical school, an additional period spent in an internal medicine residency is absolutely necessary in order to ensure that you’ve learned all of the required skills and abilities to adequately practice and help the people that need you. This career is a good choice for people that want to learn how to prevent, diagnose and treat the different medical conditions that impact the lives of millions of adults on a daily basis.

Though their skill set makes it possible for them to see and treat a large variety of patients, someone that has completed an internal medicine residency is different from a family medicine doctor, as only adults are seen by internists. Completing an internal medicine residency DC will set you up to become a successful and well rounded practitioner of internal medicine, and give you the opportunity to see and treat your own patients, as well as potentially be called upon to assist stumped doctors from around the country as to the condition and needs of their patients.

Completing an Internal Medicine Residency

During the three year long Georgetown internal medicine residency, participants will be exposed to a variety of situations, facilities and patients. This time will be largely spent “on the job” as 70% of the educational experience relies on the residents interacting with patients, other doctors and nurses and real-life situations that require treatment and diagnosis. This will give residents an idea of what it is like to practice on their own, and make it possible to get a better understanding of the broad spectrum of situations that they can be faced with throughout their medical career.

The field allows for both generalist and subspecialist career paths. By choosing to become a generalist, the bulk of your residency will be spent focusing on a broad range of problems or conditions, while a specialist will focus their attention on a particular condition or issue, like cardiology or oncology. The residency will focus on giving participants experience, but also allow them to study electives in order to focus on a specific area of their choice. This breaks up the program a little bit, and ensures that not everyone is always studying the same things.

The residency will give new internists the confidence, skills and abilities to treat patients in a variety of settings from hospitals and clinics to rural offices and smaller facilities. General internists do not always perform procedures on patients, as they are typically more focused on the diagnosis and examination aspects of medicine, but there are some that may choose to go above and beyond their “expected” duties and perform things like incisions, draining of abscesses, and other lumbar procedures.

How to Choose an Internal Medicine Residency Program

Written By: Rachael Kaine

The Basics: An Internal Medicine Residency

To start your career as an internist, you must complete an internal medicine residency at an accredited facility. This residency will teach you the most important things about operating in a hospital or care center and coming into contact with patients and other hospital staff. This residency period is designed and structured in a way that will provide a natural progression of knowledge, information, and skill development, and includes both on the job (in the hospital) and educational (classroom/text or research-based) training and opportunities. While the ultimate goals are acceptance and enrollment into the program and eventually completing the program and becoming a practicing internist, finding and choosing the most appropriate program are the first and most necessary steps.

Deciding How to Choose an Internal Medicine Residency Program

While you may feel that it is necessary to make a quick decision and enroll in a program as quickly as possible, there should still be a great deal of consideration that goes into selecting a program. The first thing that you need to do is to think about and define your own goals and desires. This is a good time for you to make a list of the things that are most and least important to you, and find programs that align with these things. Looking into things like the location of the program, the reputation, past graduate experiences and information, and even information about the field as a whole.

Compiling this information in a spreadsheet or other list type is a good way to compare things in a simple manner. This is a great method you can use to make decisions, and to narrow your choices down in a logical manner. Not only should you consider your needs in terms of the educational experience, but in terms of your lifestyle and overall capabilities - including financial, emotional and educational factors.

When going in for interviews, many professionals will recommend getting a few of them under your belt before interviewing with your top choices for residency programs. Though you may feel that this is a waste of time, it can give you a better idea of what to expect and potentially help you come up with questions that you’d like to ask, or that you should ask. Not only will interviewing at multiple places make you more confident, but it can also give you the chance to check on a lot of different factors like resident satisfaction, the organization of different internal medicine residency programs, the way that hospitals and facilities are organized, and even the patient volume.

While ultimately you’ll need to narrow down your lists and choose the program that is best for you, thinking ahead gives you the time to make an educated and informed decision. No matter if you choose to stay local and complete your residency in an area that is known to you in a small town or move to a large city or area and complete a program similar to Georgetown's internal medicine residency, every individual’s decision will come down to a personal, thorough choice.

What Does a Cardiology Fellowship Consist Of?

Written By: Rachael Kaine

Before Choosing a Cardiology Fellowship

In order to be considered for a fellowship of this nature, you’ll first need to complete the requisite years of medical school. These first years will provide a basic level of knowledge in many different areas, as well as give you the first pieces of information that are necessary in order to ensure that you’ll be successful during your fellowship as well as after. As dealing with patients and health care is one of the most important jobs available in today’s society, it is imperative that the training you receive and the education that you complete is meaningful and high quality.

During your time in medical school, you’ll have many different opportunities present themselves to you, as well as giving yourself the chance to decide what your career path will be. Many people choose to become general practitioners or nurses, but it takes a special person to choose to become a cardiologist after pursuing and completing a cardiology fellowship with a reputable institution.

Cardiology Fellowship Basics

A Georgetown cardiology fellowship is only different in the fact that it is located on the East coast of the United States. The program, skills and practices that are taught and learned throughout this experience are similar to those from other institutions; the location and the patients are different. Throughout the duration of this cardiovascular fellowship Washington DC’s setting will bring a lot of unexpected challenges and opportunities for fellows as well as staff members. For more information, visit http://www.medstarhealth.org/education/affiliated-hospitals-2/medstar-georgetown-university-hospital/cardiovascular-disease-fellowship/ to start your decision making process.

This type of fellowship is concerned with care and treatment of the human heart, which is one of the most important organs within the human body. There are different branches of cardiology that can be studied, including coronary care, echocardiography, imaging, consulting cardiography, and even diagnosing, treating, and improving congestive heart failure and transplants. These skills will help individuals become great cardiologists after finishing their extensive training and learning experiences.

A fellowship in cardiology will not always be easy, but it will be worth working hard for. The hours may be long, each day may be difficult, and there is a great deal of information to learn and remember, but when dealing with the heart and the health of expectant patients, the time and effort are truly worth it. In addition to the medical knowledge learned throughout the program, you’ll also make friends, earn the respect of medical colleagues and become familiar with the city you complete your fellowship in - so it is important to pick one that will mesh well with your personality.

Emergency Medicine Residency Training

Written By: Rachael Kaine

Beginning Your Emergency Medicine Residency

This type of program differs slightly in organization depending on the institution that you’re going through, but the basic idea behind it remains the same: to provide medical students with the experience and education that they need in order to be successful within emergency rooms and medical facilities across the nation. Many organizations limit the number of residents that they accept each year to very small numbers, meaning that the selection process is very thorough, and you must work hard in order to appeal to potential schools. A Georgetown emergency medicine residency is a three year program that combines on the job experience with learning in a classroom or lecture setting. The varied opportunities give residents a chance to stay busy, stay focused, and stay educated about the things that they will need to learn in order to practice medicine on their own after graduation.

The first step of an emergency medicine residency is choosing your desired program, and this should be done with some careful consideration. Not only will you be spending multiple years learning about patients and medicine, but you’ll be living in the city you’re working in, meaning that location is important, too. In addition to choosing a program in a desirable area, you’ll want to carefully look into past experiences with the program and find out if participants were happy, fulfilled and highly recommend the program for students like you.

Emergency Medicine Residency Explained

There are many different things involved in completing an emergency medicine residency, and your rotation may not be the same as all of the other residents, especially when it comes to the electives that you choose. You’ll use the information learned each year to benefit your studies each following year as with any educational program, but you’ll also be instructed (and expected) to expect the unexpected, especially with emergency medicine. While carefully structured, these programs offer an opportunity for students to study different areas including international health, ultrasound technology, health policies and wilderness health and medical treatment. This is a chance to study and work on things that are of interest to individuals, and give them a chance to diversify their skills without breaking from the program.

Throughout the residency, you’ll have the chance to make professional and personal connections, learn a great deal about emergency medicine, and become confident in your skills as someone practicing medicine alone after graduation. These opportunities are something to work hard toward, and though they can be extremely tedious and seem like they will never end, they are all worth it after they have been completed.