Internal Subspecialties

[Guest brandonite]

Hi,

 

I'm a Med II in Manitoba... I'm really interested in internal medicine - more specifically, some of the sub specialties like nephrology, cardiology, and respirology. I've done a bunch of job shadowing in all of these areas, and I've really loved them.

 

I'm not too worried about getting into internal medicine - I don't care where I go, and internal generally isn't super competitive. But does anybody know exactly how hard it is to get into one of those subspecialties? Or what the procedure is? Do you just send a resume to all of the schools?

 

I realize this is a ways off... But I would like to learn as much as I can about internal medicine over the next year or so leading into CaMRS.

 

Thanks!

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there brandonite,

 

Weren't you interested in completing the MD/PhD program a wee while back? (Your handle is still on the SDN MSTP forum. ) Are you aiming to complete the PhD as part of a residency, perchance? I've heard that a bit of research can go a long way in terms of CaRMS and securing sub-specialty spots.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest Ian Wong]

Internal Medicine fellowships are available at most Canadian teaching hospitals. The trouble is getting into them, with some subspecialties (notably Cardiology and GI) being more competitive than others. One very interesting thing about the Internal Medicine programs in Alberta is that getting accepted into an Alberta program guarantees your being funded for the extra years of a fellowship. Because of that, once you get into Internal Medicine in Alberta, you are guaranteed a fellowship position later on. I do not know all the specifics of this, but this (huge) perk is, I believe, only available in Alberta. On that note, U of A Internal Medicine has a reputation for being right at the top of all the IM programs in Canada, if not outright #1.

 

Ian

[Guest moo]

brandonite, haven't seen you for a while. How's second year life treating you?

 

Good to hear you're interested in medicine. I'm interested in med onc or rad onc but I think medicine in general is pretty interesting.

[Guest stevetilley]

Wow, the IM program in Alberta certainly seems like a good deal! Does anyone know once you're finished IM there if you can just walk into any fellowship or do you have to compete w/ other IMs for the more competitive ones?

[Guest JSS02]

Hey Ian, were you referring to U of A when you said "Alberta?" Or both U of A and U of C?

[Guest Ian Wong]

You're right. Both Alberta programs have that feature, last I heard. The thing is that the Calgary IM program is reputed to be pretty malignant, and a definite second compared to the U of A program if you are strictly going on quality of teaching (obviously, other factors like the city, or proximity to family and friends are big influences on where you want to ultimately end up). I would just add the disclaimer that I haven't experienced either program firsthand via electives, but am just relaying opinions I've heard from several students from different medical schools who were interested in IM.

 

Ian