Ontario FM more competitive this cycle?

[freewheeler]

I wouldn't bother joining that site. We could just make a sticky thread on this forum and it could serve the same function with a google doc to help organise a list of posters interested in swapping with current location/program and that desired. Users could private message each other on this site or use temporary email accounts.

[bearded frog]

As part of the carms contract you have to show up and do X number of days in your matched residency, I forgot what that number is. 45? After that you can transfer, or apply in second round of carms in the following year. You can't just swap with someone like that website says. If it's between programs at the same school, its a little less official, but you'd start with the PD of the program you would like to transfer to. For interschool/interprovincial transfers you have to go through your and the target school's PGME office, and funding doesn't transfer between provinces, which complicates things. There are national transfer standards which every school has their own standards based on. This page is outdated but its a good place to start: https://residentdoctors.ca/areas-of-focus/resident-transfers/pgme-transfer-guidelines/

[ChemPetE]

Anecdotal stories from friends in the know; there are precious little spots available for transfers. Sometimes there’s a FM spot, IM spot, and 2-3 path spots at my school which get first priority to people at this school to switch in, then from other in province locations, and then nationally. Which makes transferable incredibly difficult. There needs to be the surplus of residency spots to allow more shuffle post match. Because while people talk of transferring... it’s not a realistic option for all but the most desperate residents. 

[polarbear89]

23 minutes ago, ChemPetE said:

Anecdotal stories from friends in the know; there are precious little spots available for transfers. Sometimes there’s a FM spot, IM spot, and 2-3 path spots at my school which get first priority to people at this school to switch in, then from other in province locations, and then nationally. Which makes transferable incredibly difficult. There needs to be the surplus of residency spots to allow more shuffle post match. Because while people talk of transferring... it’s not a realistic option for all but the most desperate residents. 

This. Transferring success stories are always exciting to hear but the truth of it is that most people who apply to transfer are not successful. We just don't hear about the people who didn't get a transfer because they probably don't want it to be public knowledge.

[Heisencat]

This is why I don’t understand the whole backing up mentality. I think you should only apply to FM if you would be happy being a family doctor and forgoing your first choice specialty. 

[hero147]

3 minutes ago, Heisencat said:

This is why I don’t understand the whole backing up mentality. I think you should only apply to FM if you wanna be a family doctor and would be content with forgoing your first choice specialty to do FM. 

There are definitely people on match day who don't match and regret not backing up with family though....So it goes both ways

[Heisencat]

1 minute ago, hero147 said:

There are definitely people on match day who don't match and regret not backing up with family though....So it goes both ways

That’s why planning in advance and asking yourself these key questions is important. Would I rather unmatch and try again for my desired specialty or would I be happy with a career in FM if I don’t get my first choice? 

[blah1234]

13 minutes ago, Heisencat said:

That’s why planning in advance and asking yourself these key questions is important. Would I rather unmatch and try again for my desired specialty or would I be happy with a career in FM if I don’t get my first choice? 

I think it's a hard position because these days being unmatched carries far higher risk. By that, I mean the increasing number of students that never match again due to system capacities.

It is one thing to not want to do FM but another to not be able to be a physician of any kind. Any sort of clinical position and many non-clinical positions require a license to practice. 

FM would give you the option to choose if you wanted to continue to work in medicine. No residency gives you no optionality while still bearing the time and money costs of medical training. 

I know it might seem unfair that we put all this effort and time into this career path only to be told that you can't get your "dream" job or that you "failed" by the system. I think it's a big shock to many students who have only given 100% in their lives so far. I think as someone on the other side I can only caution that I have seen too many students abandoned by the system and would always advocate students to match to anything. It is the lesser evil in my opinion.

[la marzocco]

7 minutes ago, blah1234 said:

I think it's a hard position because these days being unmatched carries far higher risk. By that, I mean the increasing number of students that never match again due to system capacities.

It is one thing to not want to do FM but another to not be able to be a physician of any kind. Any sort of clinical position and many non-clinical positions require a license to practice. 

FM would give you the option to choose if you wanted to continue to work in medicine. No residency gives you no optionality while still bearing the time and money costs of medical training. 

I know it might seem unfair that we put all this effort and time into this career path only to be told that you can't get your "dream" job or that you "failed" by the system. I think it's a big shock to many students who have only given 100% in their lives so far. I think as someone on the other side I can only caution that I have seen too many students abandoned by the system and would always advocate students to match to anything. It is the lesser evil in my opinion.

Society/government has the obligation to balance physician mix and allowing for learners' autonomy. In part, this is why governments have not been in such a rush in upping spots for specialties as at least this way they can control the physician mix moving into residency. Yes, collateral damage = unmatched, but this is with no doubt a reason that gov'ts are sitting on their laurels.