#carms

[medicalschoolinaustralia]

How to Prepare for the CaRMS Match

Are you wondering how you should prepare for the CaRMS match?

Maybe you’re just starting your medical school journey and weighing your options. Knowing what comes after medical school is an important part of your decision-making!

There are various pathway options available for becoming a licensed doctor after graduating from an Australian medical school, and more often than not, returning to Canada to complete a medical residency is one of them.

To give future medical students a better idea of what to expect, we held an online panel discussion with three Australian medical school graduates—and they didn’t disappoint!

In this portion of the discussion, Dr. Balzer explains the importance of staying on top of the latest CaRMS news, as the process is ever-evolving. In fact, that’s his first bit of advice. Yes, it’s a lot of prep work, but you can do it.

Do your homework and be determined Dr. Balzer emphasizes that matching in Canada is competitive but “definitely doable.” His cohort included 50 Canadians, and for those who really wanted to match back in Canada—even in specialties with few places—they did. But they were serious about it and did their homework.

But what makes someone prepared to match, you ask? Dr. Balzer encourages early preparation and studying. Get your timelines set up. Boost your résumé! Are you coming home for holidays? Arrange to do an elective or observership in Canada!

“Every bit of experience you can get in Canada is a huge factor,” he explained. “And if you can arrange a full rotation, even better.”

Consider other places Even if you can’t arrange a rotation in Canada, Dr. Balzer suggests looking at your medical school’s partner universities. “If you can’t go to Canada for a rotation, it’s still good to get experience elsewhere. I did two months in the States—intensive critical care in New Orleans, and built my résumé that way.”

Volunteer This one’s a no brainer. Every bit of experience counts, and that includes volunteering, peer study groups, and mentorship/teaching. If you can focus on your career before your career, do it.

Learn your strengths/passions Basically, you’ll learn to market your strengths. “I marketed myself as a strong clinician with good scores on my exams,” Dr. Balzer explained. He also included his aptitude and passion for teaching as boost to his résumé.

References Try to get your references from Canada or the US. While Australian references are great, it’s good to have some from North America, too. So when you’re volunteering or doing a rotation in Canada or the US, be sure to develop strong relationships.

Upper-year medical students  Who better to help you than those who know exactly what you’re going through?

“The people who are probably the most helpful to you are the people in the years ahead of you at school,” Dr. Balzer said.

Most students are very open to helping first-year students understand the process, and you’ll find some who are determined to match in Canada. “Following their steps is daunting, but very doable… it’s what I did.”

Want more advice about getting prepared for the CaRMS match? You’re invited to watch the full webinar! Just contact the OzTREKK Medicine Admissions Team at [email protected].

What this webinar covered:

How to Prepare for the Canadian Residency Match (33:30 – 38:26)

From Emergency Nurse to Emergency Doc: Dr. Balzer’s Story (39:07 – 40:18)

The Australian Medical School Advantage: Security (45:58 – 46:31)

The Myth of the Australian Internship Crisis (47:58 – 48:34)

The Importance of Flexibility as an IMG: Keep an Open Mind (48:58 – 49:44)

The Value of an Australian Medical Internship (52:58 – 53:28)

Putting the Work in to Become a Doctor (58:07 – 59:47)

Work-Life Balance in Medical School (59:48 – 1:00:43)

Create your goal & be flexible in how to achieve it (1:00:50 – 1:01:58)

About Dr. Nathan Balzer

Emergency Physician at Toronto General and Toronto Western Hospitals

Former OzTREKK student Nathan Balzer began his medical career as an emergency department nurse before moving to Australia to complete his medical degree at the University of Queensland. He then went on to complete the five-year Royal College FRCPC Residency in Emergency Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Balzer currently works as an emergency physician at the Toronto General and Toronto Western Hospitals. He has an interest in healthcare quality improvement and patient safety for which he is currently completing a master’s degree.

[mdrambles]

When we only train in academic medicine, how do you figure out if that's what you want for your career? I'm having a hard time understanding the reality of that type of career when anywhere I go is an academic center and the only type of non-academic care I have received is my FM PCP. I want to go into peds with at least some inpatient (not primary care) though still deciding if/how I want to subspecialize

Hi Anon,

So sorry for the super belated response--to be honest, several of my past months of posts have been queued and so I haven’t actually been actively checking my Tumblr as much as I have in the past.

You bring up an absolutely excellent question, and it’s one that is probably asked by every trainee in a specialty that may include community practice.

Generally speaking, pediatric residency programs in Canada do have a few mandatory blocks of community pediatric exposure; but truly, how would you ever know if this is what you want for your career and your life if you’ve only done maybe 8 weeks of it?

The biggest challenge is if you want to do a subspecialty AND community practice as your future career, because let’s face it, elective/selective (depending on the residency program) time is very limited and if you want to apply for a subspecialty, you’re typically going to dedicate as much of that time as you can to the subspecialty at programs you’re interested in applying to.

What is the bottom line? Your residency program is supposed to provide you with all the tools (skills, knowledge) you need for practice in any setting (e.g. academic, community, etc.), but it doesn’t necessarily provide you with the experience or networking (because it’s just as important that you get to know the site and the team you may eventually be working at/with!). How can you rectify this?

Meet with your program director: often there are some blocks that are a little more flexible in your training. For example, if you’re required to do a developmental pediatrics block, it might be possible to do this block as a mixture of community practice with a focus on developmental pediatrics in a specialized clinic or program. This way, you can fulfill your program requirements, learning objectives for licensing, and also gain more exposure to community sites.

Plan your electives/selectives: sometimes, if you’re really undecided on a subspecialty or unclear what sites you may be interested in exploring, you can plan out more placements of shorter duration rather than fewer placements of longer duration. There are pros and cons to both; with shorter placements, you get less face-time with people you may be networking with, and this may make it more challenging to get a really good impression of a site, their team, and possibly seek a reference letter. On the other hand, a longer placement at a site you realize you have no interest in pursuing can feel daunting.

Talk to a mentor: once you’ve identified some of your career goals and interests, it’s important to chat with someone who can help guide you. Your program director is usually a great resource to connect you with a mentor. A mentor is basically just someone who can coach you through your learning and academic journey, while also connecting you with people that can help you further your career. Maybe you need to ask questions or just have a meet and greet with the head of a community site, or maybe you could use a very short shadowing opportunity to just get a feel for what a “day in the life” in a certain community practice might look like. These are things that a mentor can help guide you through and (sometimes in liaison with your program director) set up for you.

Seek out your seniors: recent grads from your residency program and senior residents are awesome resources for asking about transition to practice, tips, things they wish they had done before starting their independent practice, and things they would’ve done differently in their training. They are a wealth of knowledge and are often very approachable since you have likely worked with them as a junior trainee during residency! Reach out!!

If you do want to do a subspecialty, meet with the subspecialty program director(s) and ask them about mixed practice including community care. This is a very common practice model (at least in Canada) and therefore they often have a lot of information they can share with you. They can also make tons of suggestions and connect you with some of their past/current subspecialty trainees that may be able to provide more tips and tricks on balancing these two priorities during subspecialty training, and it can also be helpful for when you apply to the subspecialty training programs for you to have a well-thought-out discussion about your elective/selective experiences and how they will contribute to your career goals, your abilities as a subspecialist, and why you would be an asset to their program.

Hope that this is helpful! Feel free to message me again if there’s anything I can clarify; if you message me on the Tumblr messenger I am actually usually able to get back to you a bit sooner!

Sincerely,

mdrambles

[loserech0lls]

Question: why do rich/upper middle class students still perform better academically than lower middle class/ poor students in med school???

📷

So I have a quick question. Our school showed us data, no names were released, but its interesting to see that the people at the top of the class, and the ones with the highest Step 1 scores also have parents that have the highest income level. Of course there are exceptions but this is the general trend.

The people at the top of the class also mostly went to private schools and private colleges, I just don't see how that would give them a leg up so late in the game. Of course going to a better HS and having rich parents helps with getting into college and med school, I can see that, but why are the upper middle class students still out competing the lower middle class and poor students when it comes to Step 1? At this point no one is working and we are all taking out loans so the time alotted is equal, we all use the same resources, take the same classes etc. Does getting quality education earlier in life when we have more neuroplastricity give you a higher "baseline" of intelligence or something? Or is it more of a cultural thing? I've noticed that my classmates that have physican parents or that grew up well off tend to be more competitive. I figure a few of you would probably know whats going on.

Answer: Because they’re typically under less stress and have more support. That goes a long way in academic performance. I am extremely blessed in that I have well-off parents who live in the same city as my med school. I don’t have to worry about tuition or food, and can go home whenever I want for support or a nice home cooked meal. Now compare that to someone who doesn’t have the same benefits. They have to worry about loans, food, tuition, etc. For example, last year financial aid came out a week late at my school and people literally couldn’t eat and the administration had to pay out of pocket to buy food gift cards for students until loans came in. That would never happen to someone with richer parents.

Here's the biggest thing: a lot of the richer kids are not REALLY on loans. I have a classmate who constantly complains about her financial situation and being on loans, but her father is a physician. He pays her rent every month and she owns multiple Apple products. I've had other classmates complain about how they need to have a delay on a mandatory charge because they are waiting on loans to come in, but it turns out they have an educational trust fund they can draw money out of as long as they have a receipt for the expense. The impact of the financial cushion cannot be overstated. Multiple studies have shown that living in a poverty mindset can cause an IQ deficit of as much as 10 points!

The poor students are likely to be extremely motivated, and extremely hard workers, but the stress and stakes are even higher for them. If they do poorly, they have no plan B and have $100k's of debt. Wealthier kids will have someone to help. That stress has an impact, even if they are highly intelligent.

[loserech0lls]

Imagine that you had low health literacy. That everyone around you (friends and family) were all overweight or obese. That for every good article that spoke the truth, there were 3 articles you read about fad diets that claimed to speak the truth and 3 articles of HAES propaganda that told you your obesity has nothing to do with anything AND 3 articles that attribute your obesity to random shit like thyroid that are seemingly "outside your control" - again, you have low health literacy so all of these are equally valid to you. That you've been having the exact same diet for your entire life, and every time you try to make a change your partner or children fight against it. And that's just some of the barriers for people that want to change - most people don't even after they can't fit into plane seats, lose a toe or a leg due to T2DM, etc.

FYI, I'm not obese (far from it, if I gained 10kg I would still not be in the overweight category so I don't want to sound like I'm coming from a "learned helplessness" POV) but you are foolish to say it's just plain CICO. We are not a thermometer stuck in a Styrofoam cup. People are complex and our relationship with food is not just physiological, it's social and psychological as well.

[preservationofmoments]

[love-a-la-mode]

[preservationofmoments]

[these-flowing-words]

matchmaker

you call me unique, tell me i have value,

tell me to summarise a lifetime of work into two pages

double-sided

check these boxes, condense everything into categories:

research

awards

committees

degrees

leadership

a lifetime condensed in two dimensions,

devoid of colour

a black-and-white page as i beg them to

like me

love me

hitting refresh on the inbox waiting for their acceptance

(part one)

my…

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