questions

[marikimo]

Hi. I am a 4th yr and am interested in going into primary care Internal Med. I live in Boston and am applying only to programs in this area. There are alot of great programs in the area...both "academic" and more community-based. I was wondering two things:
1. How different really are the P Care IM residency programs as compared to just plain categorical medicine (in general).
2. What are benefits/disadvantages of community vs academic residency programs.
Thanks for any info you can provide!!!!!!!!!!!

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[Castro Viejo]

From my understanding and research, primary care IM programs generally offer more in the way of outpatient experience/clinic time and continuity of care than categorical medicine. This of course doesn't mean you won't be able to do something like cardiology if you do a primary care IM program, or that you can't be a plain vanilla internist doing the categorical track. I would assume, however, that in a categorical program you'll have more time on the wards and for electives.

And as for the relative benefits of academic vs. community, I guess brand names count for about as much as your future patients/employers care. So if you're looking to land a hard-to-get cards fellowship, going to a big name might put you farther ahead of the pack than you ordinarily would having gone through a community program.

Good luck to you in March!