Fellowship (medicine)

A fellowship is the period of medical training in the United States and Canada that a physician or dentist may undertake after completing a specialty training program (residency). During this time (usually more than one year), the physician is known as a fellow. Fellows are capable of acting as attending physician or consultant physician in the generalist field in which they were trained, such as internal medicine or pediatrics. After completing a fellowship in the relevant sub-specialty, the physician is permitted to practice without direct supervision by other physicians in that sub-specialty, such as cardiology or oncology.

United States

In the USA, the majority of fellowships are accredited by the ACGME Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. There are a few programs that are not accredited as well, and are actually well received given that it is more important to be board certified for the primary specialty as a physician, and fellowship quality is often more based on research productivity.^[1]

ACGME Fellowships

The following are organized based on specialty required for the fellowship.

Internal Medicine or Pediatrics

Surgery

Over recent years, there has been an increasing number of integrated programs, allowing for faster completion of long residencies (eg thoracic surgery integrated lasts 6 years instead of the 8 it would otherwise take).

ObGyn

Oncology
Maternal Fetal Medicine
Minimally Invasive Gyn Surgery
Pediatric and Adolescent Gyn
Reproductive Endocrinology^[2]

Ophthalmology

Pediatric

Urology

Pediatric

Orthopaedic

Hand
Sports Medicine
Pediatrics
Spine
Foot and Ankle
Joint replacement
Trauma
Oncology^[3]

Other

Combined fellowships

There are a number of programs offering a combined fellowship, training in two or more sub-specialties as part of a single program.

Pulmonary/Critical Care: this type of program is more common than Pulmonary Disease (non-combination) programs. As of 2007, there were 130 ACGME-accredited combined Pulmonary/Critical Care programs while only 25 programs for Pulmonary Disease alone.
Hematology/Oncology: as of 2005, there were 125 ACGME-accredited programs for Hematology-Oncology, while only 12 programs for Hematology alone and 18 for Oncology alone.
Geriatrics/Oncology: the American Board of Internal Medicine approved a 3-year combined fellowship training program in medical oncology and geriatrics. The John A. Hartford Foundation initially funded 10 institutions for this type of training.

References

External links

General Internal Medicine Fellowship Directory from the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM)

[1] ttp://med.stanford.edu/gme/programs/

[2] ttp://www.nrmp.org/fellowships/obstetricsgynecology-match/

[3] ttps://www.facs.org/education/resources/medical-students/faq/specialties

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Medical education in the United States
Stages	Pre-medical Medical school Clerkship Sub-internship Graduate medical education Internship Residency Fellowship Board certification Licensure Continuing medical education
Pathways	Medicine (MD) Osteopathic Medicine (DO) International medical graduate (MBBS)
Degrees	Doctor of Medicine Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine MD–PhD Comparison
Exams	MCAT USMLE Step: 1 2CK 2CS 3 COMLEX Level: 1 2CE 2PE 3
Regulatory bodies	American Medical Association Association of American Medical Colleges American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine National Resident Matching Program Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Liaison Committee on Medical Education Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education American Osteopathic Association Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates
Lists	Medical schools Specialty colleges
Reformers	Abraham Flexner Flexner Report William Osler William Stewart Halsted Andrew Taylor Still
Topics	Issues in higher education inside the U.S. Physician shortage inside the U.S.