Choosing a Program: What Questions to Ask

Many medical students find the following questions useful to help determine whether a particular residency is right for them. Of course, issues of “quality of life,” workload and ancillary services are important. But when it comes to medical education, one size does not fit all!

• Are educational experiences--attending rounds, conferences--directed specifically to the residents’ needs?
  
• Is the curriculum flexible enough to permit you to pursue your interests, be they in primary care, specialty medicine, research or Hospitalist medicine? Are out-of-hospital electives and research months available to pursue those interests?
  
• Are residents actively involved in planning and evaluating their educational experiences? Are resident suggestions considered and implemented?
  
• Are the program director and faculty actively involved in residents’ education? Do faculty members mentor residents for their career choices and research?
  
• Does the spectrum of medical diagnoses and problems resemble the breadth of diagnoses that would be found in the table of contents of an internal medicine textbook?
  
• Are the residents viewed as trusted professionals who exercise an appropriate amount of autonomy in medical decision-making for their own patients?
  
• Does the program value its residents as individuals?
  
• Are advising and counseling personal?
  
• Do residents who decide to stay in or near the region find good career opportunities in primary care and Hospitalist medicine?
  
• Do those who subspecialize find competitive fellowships?
  
• Do the hospital and the community "feels" right to you? Is there a sense of mission, of “giving-back” to the community?
  
• Is the medical center located in an area that offers you and your family or partner an appealing life style?

Click here for a downloadable PDF file of a questionnaire to take with you when visiting a residency program. To download the latest Adobe Reader, click on the logo below.