Exit strategy for CARMs legal contract, I will start your family medicine residency

[Resident 1357]

Hi,

I’m a Canadian Medical Graduate that went unmatched in CARMS for family medicine this year.

 

There may be a group of MDs out there who matched to family medicine in CARMS for their second choice and want to annul their legal contract to start residency July 1, 2014.

 

I propose that I can happily step into your place.

 

A likely interested party would be someone who could not get their first choice match. They received their backup choice of family medicine and recognized that a year of research and publications along with getting more experience in their first choice may be a better option than committing to a residency that they do not want to do with only 2 years of funding when they would need 5 years of funding.

 

I am very passionate about family medicine and have a strong resume with lots of family medicine electives and experience. I am highly motivated and would be a very grateful and work hard for the program.

 

I would be willing to fly down to wherever you are so we can meet your program director together and explore an exchange. It will be 2 MDs versus 1 MD.

 

I also would consider Psychiatry and Public Health so please send me a message and we can start a conversation.

 

If any MDs have buddies that may be interested in this arrangement, lets explore this together and drop me a message.

 

Thanks!

Resident1357

[med88]

Although this sounds great in theory, I don't think it's possible?

 

Any data of people who have done this in the past?

[jfdes]

I remember seeing a topic from someone who matched to family residency just a few days ago actually and was looking for ways to get out of the contract, you may want to search through these forums (they don't move fast so it shouldn't be too far behind) and PM them.

 

Either way, good luck!

[thegame11]

How come you didn't match to FM this year then?

[rmorelan]

the program itself one would think would very much have to agree to this - and they for obvious reasons may not. I have never heard of anyone doing this before, I am quite curious as to whether it is even possible.

[Resident 1357]

I had done partial post graduate residency training in family medicine in the past but withdrew for medical reasons. I have since healed up and this last year done a significant amount of observerships in the field. I am only eligible for 2nd iteration because of the partial residency work. In that pool I was placed equally with all of the IMGs and unmatched CMGs (2013 it was 1500 IMGs and 139 CMGs, worse this year I hear) for positions and it was super competitive.

 

The IMGs are very skilled and good people, I’ve met several of them and they would be great teammates. Some I've shook hands with are interventional cardiologists from India, neurosurgeons from China, fam docs that have been practicing for 10 years in other countries, or top of their class from some European medical school and published as well. They really outnumber us CMGs 10:1. I applied to 22 programs, I got one interview in Moncton but didn't make the cut. Its really tough for CMGs in the 2nd iteration right now. These are the trends.

 

Yep, it is something that the receiving family medicine program will likely have to discuss. It may or may not work. I have heard of resident transfers though and if it works, it may be a viable option for those who recognize that they wish to pursue Derm or Ophthalmo but because of the legal nature of the match, they are now potentially railroaded into a backup field they may not want.

 

It may cause harm for the fam med MD because the program director may know that this resident doesn’t want to be in fam med. However, I believe that that conversation would be in confidence and would never interfere with said resident’s performance on the rotations. Come July, it should not affect his rotations nor his training in any way. Plus they already legally and contractually own that position anyways, the program director would not dismiss the resident except for good cause.

 

When you compare that harm to the potential harm of doing a field you believe you will not enjoy, or worse potentially ending a dream you had since childhood, it becomes a balance of probabilities, an individual subjective decision based on experiences and passion.

 

In a way this course of action may empower an MD who may feel forced into a backup plan. You never know if it will work unless you plead your case and then allow the program to decide.

 

If it works I’ll definitely post it and hopefully others can benefit from this technique.