Top Family Med Residencies with Sports Med Fellowships (2024)

Hello all,

I'm an up and coming 4th year student with a plan to apply to FM residencies this coming September. I love family medicine, but I also have the goal of getting the CAQ in sports medicine. I've been told that it is important then to look at programs that have a sports medicine fellowship. Probably more important though is to go to a place that trains you well. Does anyone have an opinion on where some of the top family medicine programs with sports medicine fellowships are? Some off the top of my head are UW, OHSU, and UNC. Any other opinions?

Thank you all,

Jedi

University of Kentucky and University of Louisville
University of Florida Gainesville
St. Joseph Regional in Mishawaka, IN (Fellowship is with Notre Dame)

Check out the AMSSM website and let it be your guide.

Also as someone who just matched Sports Medicine at what I think is a top program, you definitely don't have to go somewhere with a fellowship. It'll make things easier as far as experience goes, but there were some interviews I definitely got because I didn't have an in house fellowship and still had my fair share of experiences. Go wherever you feel comfortable and where you'll get really great at family medicine.

That's a good point Freezeout. Congrats on matching! Residency is tough - you have to go somewhere that you feel like you vibe with everyone while getting good training. Thank you for the response. In family medicine unlike some other fields, it often seems that the "best" programs are not what you classically think of as being the most prestigious. Just how I made my decision with family medicine, I'll follow my heart/gut/whatever you want to call it.

Anyone else have an opinion?

JonMonkey,

That's a really good point. I suppose I really don't care about the name of a place given that I see myself working in the community. Rather, I care about being trained as a PCSM doctor reaching my fullest potential. What does that mean to me? It means being trained not only how to handle all medical aspects of the athlete and being prepared for game coverage but also in the diverse array of procedures I've heard of some PCSM docs using - that's MSK U/S guided joint injections, viscosupplemenation, Tenex, PRP injections, etc... Am I asking too much? Or are there fellowships out there like this?

If you are working as a community sports doc then you likely arent doing a lot of Tenex, PRP/stem cells, etc. It is possible, but much more difficult than if you are working at an academic institution. The same goes with training. You are more likely to get training with more advanced ultrasound procedures, biologics, Tenex, etc at a well established academic program as opposed to a community based program.

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Hi

I also recently completed the fellowship process for Sports this year and agree with everything written above. However I was honestly surprised at the variability of what I saw in regards to what you actually get to do as a fellow based upon the program. Like FCM in generally, do not judge a book by its cover. There are some places that are so specialized that you are competing with ortho, MSK radiology for your experience. Do not let the name of a place fool you. You are there to learn after all.

I went on a lot of interviews and made sure to tease this out on the trail, and I am very glad that I invested the time and money to do this. While my friends are signing contracts for 200 -- 180K, I am signing up for another year of PGY salary, so I want the best possible experience with depth, volume, variety, etc in regards to patients, US diagnostics/procedures, and the other modalities mentioned above. With that said, the program I ranked 1st and matched at was not one that I would have guessed would be number 1, when I put together the list of places I elected to interview at.

I feel I got good PCSM education through my regular residency. Our fellowship seems top notch to me. They acquired ultrasonography last academic year so are now more up to date. I did a month of ortho and a month of PCSM and would say I'm one of the more fluent physicians in my office despite having the least amount of tenure under my belt. Here is our fellowship website:

http://gme.slhn.org/fellowships/primary-care-sports-medicine-fellowship

And the new PCSM facility built in conjunction with Moravian College:

https://ortho.slhn.org/conditions-a...ine/the-sports-medicine-rehabilitation-center

jediwannabe said:

JonMonkey,

That's a really good point. I suppose I really don't care about the name of a place given that I see myself working in the community. Rather, I care about being trained as a PCSM doctor reaching my fullest potential. What does that mean to me? It means being trained not only how to handle all medical aspects of the athlete and being prepared for game coverage but also in the diverse array of procedures I've heard of some PCSM docs using - that's MSK U/S guided joint injections, viscosupplemenation, Tenex, PRP injections, etc... Am I asking too much? Or are there fellowships out there like this?

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I think if you see your self in the community and not working with a big name program or academics then I would figure out where you want to live (broad geography, then look at solid sports med fellowships within that region, then apply to the affiliated residencies...or places within striking distace (same town, nearby, so an away rotation would be easy).

Some places will integrate their fellowships into a 4 year residency and you start working with the fellowship earlier in residency and have a nice longitudinal experience (JPS in Fort Worth is the one I know of)