Health Care

applicants

As you advance through your medical career, you will belooking for experiences that blend teaching, researchand clinical excellence to best prepare you for unique andchallenging opportunities in medicine. And, there is nobetter way to acquire this kind of experience than throughthe Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs offeredby the U.S. Army Medical Department.The following is a summary of what the Army Health CareTeam has to offer in this important area of education:Largest graduate medical educational programwithin all the military branches, encompassing all themedical specialties.11 training hospitals and three institutes:• Armed Forces Institute of Pathology,Washington, D.C.• Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas• Darnall Army Medical Center, Killeen, Texas• DeWitt Army Community Hospital,Alexandria, Va.• Eisenhower Army Medical Center, Augusta, Ga.• Institute of Surgical Research,Fort Sam Houston, Texas• Keller Army Community Hospital, West Point, N.Y.• Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, Wash.• Martin Army Community Hospital, Columbus, Ga.• Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii• Walter Reed Army Institute of Research,Silver Spring, Md.• Walter Reed Army Medical Center,Washington, D.C.• William Beaumont Army Medical Center,El Paso, Texas• Womack Army Medical Center, Fayetteville, N.C.All Army hospitals are accredited by The JointCommission, the nation’s largest accrediting agencyin healthcare.ResidenciesThe majority of Army physicians train in our 6 transitionalprograms, 68 residencies and 57 fellowships. Armyresidency programs offer training in:• Aerospace Medicine• Anesthesiology• Dermatology• Emergency Medicine• Family Medicine• General Surgery• Internal Medicine• Neurology and Child Neurology• Neurosurgery• Obstetrics/Gynecology• Ophthalmology• Orthopaedics• Otolaryngology• Pathology• Pediatrics• Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation• Preventive Medicine/Occupational Medicine• Psych/IM• Psychiatry• Radiation Oncology• Radiology• UrologyFellowshipsSponsored training in civilian fellowships is available incertain subspecialties. Our fellows are accepted to manyexcellent training institutions including Johns HopkinsUniversity, Stanford, University of California, DukeUniversity, National Institutes of Health, University ofTexas, University of Virginia, University of Pennsylvania,Emory University, Brigham and Women’s Hospital,University of Washington, and Yale University.Nuclear Medicine and Plastic Surgery are offered at thefellowship level.Army Graduate Medical EducationBelow is a sampling of both Army and Army-sponsoredcivilian fellowships that are offered. This list is notinclusive. Some of our programs are integrated with theNavy in the National Capital Area and with the Air Forcein San Antonio.Army Fellowships• Allergy• AnesthesiaPain ManagementRegional Anesthesia• Family Medici neFaculty DevelopmentSports Medicine• Medici neCardiologyEndocrinologyGastroenterologyGeneral Internal Medicine (faculty development)Geriatric MedicineHematology/OncologyInfectious DiseasesNephrologyPulmonary/Critical Care• Nuclear Medici ne• Obstetrics/GynecologyGynecology OncologyMaternal-Fetal MedicineUrogynecology• OrthopaedicsHand SurgerySports Medicine• PediatricsNeonatologyPediatric EndocrinologyPediatric GastroenterologyPediatric Hematology/OncologyPediatric Infectious Disease• PsychiatryAddiction PsychiatryChild and Adolescent PsychiatryForensic PsychiatryGeriatric PsychiatryPreventive PsychiatryCivilian Fellowships• CardiologyInterventional Cardiology• DermatologyImmunodermatologyMOHS/Dermatologic Surgery• General SurgeryPlastic SurgeryColon/Rectal SurgeryAdvanced Laparoscopic Surgery• OphthalmologyCorneal/External DiseaseGlaucomaRetinal Surgery• OrthopaedicsSpine SurgeryChildren’s OrthopaedicsFoot and Ankle Surgery• RadiologyVascular/Interventional Radiology• UrologyPediatric UrologyUrology OncologyAccreditationAll Army residency and fellowship programs areaccredited by the American Council for Graduate MedicalEducation; in addition, the average length of accreditationfor our programs is 4.3 years as compared with theaverage civilian program length of accreditation of 3.7years.Graduates of our programs have an average 95 percentfirst time board pass rate. The first time pass ratehas been 100 percent for the past three years in 14specialties (dermatology, endocrinology, critical care,gastroenterology, nephrology, radiation oncology,thoracic surgery, vascular surgery, neurosurgery,preventive medicine, nuclear medicine, physical medicineand rehabilitation, adolescent medicine and sportsmedicine). All of these measures are well above nationalfirst time pass rates for these specialties (civilian firsttime pass rates for these specialties range from 71 to 92percent).Our faculties are board-certified in their specialty andare dedicated to teaching as they are not distracted bysome of the business aspects of medicine. Many facultiesare involved in research, and their work is presented atannual specialty meetings and published in respectedmedical journals and textbooks.The Emergency Medicine residents at Darnall ArmyMedical Center have achieved the top score on the annualin-service exam out of the 127 programs across thenation for an unprecedented six years in a row. One of theresidents related, “Each individual in our program workshard to represent ourselves, our program and the militaryon this in-service exam.”.OpportunitiesAll Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, Uniformed ServicesUniversity of the Health Sciences and Health ProfessionsScholarship Program (HPSP) medical students choosetheir own specialty goal and must apply to the Army’smatch for the First Year of Graduate Medical Education(FYGME). If selected, they will participate in the Armyprogram. If they do not match to an Army program, inmost cases they will be deferred to match into a civilianprogram in their chosen specialty consistent with theneeds of the Army.The Army Medical Education Directorate publishesinstructions for the FYGME match and the Joint ServicesGraduate Medical Education Selection Board (JSGMESB)in July every year on its Web site,www.mods.army.mil/medicaleducation. The FYGME match application deadline is in October, and the GMEapplication for the second postgraduate year (PGY-2) andabove positions, to include fellowships, is September 15.The JSGMESB is held the last week in November and theresults of the selection board and the FYGME match arereleased around December 15.The Army match is a computerized match similar to theNational Resident Matching Program (NRMP). Historically,about 80 to 90 percent of HPSP students will match toan Army program, and about 77 to 85 percent will matchto their first or second choice program. According tothe NRMP, in this year’s civilian match, 74.3 percent ofstudents matched to their first or second choice.Since 2003, the Army has phased in continuous GMEcontracts for most of our specialties. This means thatonce a student matches to a residency, the student cancomplete the entire residency without having to leaveafter internship to complete a General Medical Officer(GMO) tour of duty. Currently, the only specialties thatrequire reapplication for PGY-2 and above are AerospaceMedicine, Preventive/Occupational Medicine, and GeneralSurgery.ApplyingCivilian physicians who are interested in applying to ourresidency programs must be U.S. citizens, graduates ofan accredited (Liaison Committee for Medical Educationor American Osteopathic Association) school of medicinein the United States or Puerto Rico, be enrolled inor have completed a first postgraduate year in anAccreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education orAOA-accredited program, have passed Steps One throughThree of the licensure exam (passed Steps One and Twoif a student or current intern) and possess a currentunrestricted medical license (exception for students/current interns). The graduate medical educationprovision does not apply to those individuals selected forthe Army’s FYGME program.If applying for a fellowship, the applicant must be boardeligible/certified in their initial specialty. If a graduate ofa foreign medical school, the applicant must possess anEducational Commission for Foreign Medical GraduatesCertificate, have unrestricted licensure to practicemedicine in the United States or U.S. territory, and havesuccessfully completed one year of GME in an accreditedprogram. Please note that a civilian applicant’s bestopportunity for training in an Army program is in one ofour shortage specialties as we are obliged to give priorityto current Army students and physicians.DiscoveryThe Army does not deploy its residents or fellows, butthere are opportunities to participate in humanitarianmissions in a few of our residency programs. Some ofour pediatric and family medicine residents have beenon missions to Mongolia, Kenya, Honduras, and thePhilippines.Graduating residents work with their specialty consultantto determine their first duty assignment. Primary carephysicians (family physicians, internists, pediatriciansand emergency physicians) can be assigned to clinics,hospitals or serve as the battalion surgeon for a lineunit. Physicians whose skills require that they remainin the hospital setting (surgeons, anesthesia, radiology,ophthalmology, etc.) will be assigned to any of the Army’shospitals. Assignments vary in length, with the averagelength being three years.Current deployments for Army medical personnel haveranged from 30 to 365 days, depending on the needs ofthe Army. We are caring for our Soldiers worldwide, aswell as providing humanitarian assistance or disasterrelief for home (New Orleans) and abroad (Pakistan,Indonesia).There are multiple opportunities in the Medical Corpsas your career progresses. Our physicians excel in theclinical, research, operational, academic and healthadministrative arenas. Many have worked in more thanone career track throughout their time in the Army, andhave held leadership positions ahead of their civiliancounterparts. In fact, Army physicians are highlycompetitive for civilian jobs when leaving the Army.Many former Army physicians serve as faculty in medicalschools and residency programs.For further information on Army Graduate MedicalEducation, please write to us atgme@otsg.amedd.army.mil, call 703-681-4804or visit healthcare.goarmy.com.