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I had recently been terminated from an osteopathic residency program and need advice as to what steps to take to get into another program.
Since being terminated, I had been trying to contact multiple osteopathic programs via email of which some have gotten back to me. I have already sent out multiple CV's, personal statements that tell why I was terminated, letters of recs from other physicians, and references from them as well.
One of my past attendings who has given me great evaluations and is writing an LOR for me suggested I contact the hospital where she trained at, however it is an allopathic program. What are the requirements for that if I had already completed internship year at an osteopathic hospital?
In the meantime I have been trying to look for a job. I am already DEA and state licensed, however I believe I need to be a resident for most moonlighting positions & all others require I be board certified in IM, FP, etc etc. I have been trying to find a job that would be worth the income considering I have at least 1K a month in school loans alone that are starting to demand payment since being terminated. However most other jobs/ careers not dealing with health care that would pay enough to be worth it considering how much I owe in loans have other professional requirements that I don't have since I dedicated the 1/3 my life (the past 10 years) to getting into and studying medicine. Working at the local Starbucks would make me just enough to pay my loans. To make things worse, our only income now is my wife who is working 7 days a week now to pay our mortgage on our new condo that we just bought (being terminated was unexpected in our plans) while I am unemployed and trying to find another residency where I can finish at.
I am desperate to the point of actually standing on intersections near major hospitals with my white coat and a big cardboard sign saying I am DEA licensed and Certified and will offer medical care for food or money!!!
So what steps should I take? How can I get back into a residency? Know of any programs I should try? I am willing to go anywhere in the country.
First of all, I certainly feel for you. You don't need me to tell you that you are in a tough position.
There are no easy answers to your questions.
What can you do now that you have been terminated?
This begs the question of why you have been terminated. Residents can be terminated for several reasons but usually one of three: 1) Lack of clinical competence -- i.e. inability to perform the necessary duties of being a physician; 2) Professional violation -- sleeping with a patient, getting in a fistfight with security over a parking spot, etc; 3) Drug abuse (usually recurrent). Regardless, the process is the same:
- Contact programs, as many as possible given your personal situation. Given your family moving across the country may not be an option, but you may need to be flexible.
- Use contacts -- this is one of the best ways to find a new program. If possible, your best contact is your previous PD. I realize that in some / many situations this may not be feasible. In that case, having faculty advocates speak for you, make calls for you, etc may make all the difference.
- Be as open and honest about the issue as possible. Most PD's don't want to hear that you were judged unfairly, etc. That's simply because it usually isn't true. Although I certainly admit that there must be some residents who are judged unfairly, some terminated residents who feel so have poor insight into their problems, and that's a HUGE problem for a new PD.
- If you are looking at allopathic programs, then FM and pathology are the least competitive and are worth looking at if you are interested. If you don't know which programs to start with, start looking at last year's match lists posted here.
What credit will I get in an allopathic program for my osteopathic training?
The answer usually depends upon the specific board. However, you should assume that the answer is: none. In IM, zero credit is given unless your home osteopathic program also houses an allopathic IM program or the program is dual accredited.
What else can you do with your training if not continued?
If this is the road you plan to follow, you will need to be creative. Some "walk in clinics" hire docs who are licensable but not necessarily board certified. Most insurance companies only allow board eligible docs to register with them, so this is a big problem. You can't be a PA without going to PA school (there's a whole thread here on SDN about that, you can search for it), same with nursing. It used to be possible to go into industry (pharmaceuticals, etc) but that is now much more difficult without full training. There are threada about this topic also, without any easy answers.
The short advice is to try to finish your training now if possible -- that will open many more doors to you in the future. Use any resources you have. Have faculty make calls for you -- a call from a faculty member means much more to me than a random call/email from a resident.
Good Luck!