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A fellowship is the period of medical training, in the United States and Canada, that a physician, dentist, or veterinarian 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 an attending physician or a consultant physician in the specialist 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 US, the majority of fellowships are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education ("ACGME") or, to a lesser extent, the American Board of Physician Specialties in select states. There are fellowship programs that are not ACGME accredited, yet are well received, given the importance of being a Board-Certified Physician in a primary specialty, where a Fellowship is often more based on demand and research productivity.
Requirements
In general, ACGME accredited programs require completion of ACGME-accredited, RCPSC-accredited or CFPC- accredited residency program, however, exceptions for an ACGME-International- accredited residency programs and non-ACGME-accredited residency programs are possible. International medical graduates must be ECFMG certified. Some fellowship specialties require participation in special matching programs like Specialties Matching Service® (SMS®) or SF Match.
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.
See also
- Medical intern
- Medical specialty
- Physician specialty codes
- Society of General Internal Medicine
- Internship (medicine)
- Residency (medicine)
- Attending physician
References
- "Residencies & Fellowships - Graduate Medical Education - Stanford University School of Medicine". med.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- "Eligibility Requirements – Fellowship Programs".
- "Fellowship before residency in the USA".
External links
- General Internal Medicine Fellowship Directory Archived 2012-07-31 at the Wayback Machine from the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM)