00:00:00
hi everybody my name is yesha Gupta I'm
00:00:01
a board certified radiologist and today
00:00:03
we're going to be talking about 10
00:00:04
questions that you should be asking at
00:00:06
your residency
00:00:07
interviews all right you guys I just
00:00:09
recorded this entire video without
00:00:11
hitting the record button and I'm like
00:00:14
in shock so we're going to take a second
00:00:15
we're going to take a
00:00:16
second okay number one I think this is a
00:00:20
great question to ask residents and
00:00:22
faculty members and I would ask multiple
00:00:24
residents and multiple faculty members
00:00:26
that question is what are the greatest
00:00:27
strengths and weaknesses of your program
00:00:29
that's going to give you insight into
00:00:30
how the residents really feel about what
00:00:32
is good and what is bad about their
00:00:34
program and you will hear different
00:00:36
perspectives from different people I
00:00:38
will say that a lot of times the answer
00:00:40
to this question becomes the people the
00:00:42
people I love the people here the people
00:00:44
make this great it's because obviously
00:00:46
we have the best field everyone is
00:00:47
amazing in Radiology but truthfully
00:00:50
it'll give you good insight into how the
00:00:51
residents perceive their program if they
00:00:53
perceive it you know what's positive
00:00:55
about it and what's negative about it
00:00:57
and that usually kind of brings out
00:00:58
really what everyone finds to be a pain
00:01:01
point in their program cuz usually it's
00:01:03
like a common denominator residents get
00:01:05
together complain about you know oh I
00:01:06
can't believe we still have to do blah
00:01:08
blah blah and that's what'll come out
00:01:10
when you ask this question so good
00:01:11
question to ask second question how is
00:01:14
the workload divided by residents and
00:01:16
fellows and this goes and attendings I
00:01:18
should say and this goes for both
00:01:19
procedures complex cases any of the
00:01:22
cases on the work list how does it get
00:01:23
divided do residents also get to do
00:01:26
these you know high level procedures do
00:01:27
they also get to do these complex cases
00:01:29
Advanced Imaging or does it all go to
00:01:31
the fellows or and do the attending read
00:01:34
anything on their own or is everything
00:01:35
kind of read out with a resident or a
00:01:37
fellow because different programs work
00:01:39
differently you might be reading side by
00:01:41
side with a resident a fellow attending
00:01:43
everybody reading you might have an
00:01:45
attendant that's sitting in their office
00:01:48
and they only come in to do readouts
00:01:50
depends what you want depends what you
00:01:52
like um I personally loved having my
00:01:54
attending right next to me because I
00:01:55
could ask some questions on the Fly I
00:01:58
could run something by them if there was
00:02:00
like something crazy that came through I
00:02:02
could just have them look at it right
00:02:03
there and then the best part of it all
00:02:05
was just building relationships with
00:02:07
people right like I got to be their
00:02:08
friend I got to learn about them they
00:02:09
taught me so much about like attending
00:02:11
life that I would never have known
00:02:13
otherwise just by being in the same room
00:02:15
as them for so many hours every day but
00:02:17
every program looks different and I
00:02:19
think everyone ends up loving their
00:02:21
experience in different ways like you
00:02:23
end up liking what you know and so since
00:02:26
that's what I knew that's what I like
00:02:28
but doesn't always have to be that way
00:02:30
and uh yeah so just ask that question
00:02:32
how are things divided up and then
00:02:33
you'll get to know what your actual
00:02:35
workday would look like whether you just
00:02:36
have to do bread and butter cases plain
00:02:38
films or if you actually get to dip your
00:02:40
toes into like body mrr you know these
00:02:43
advanced cases doing LPs doing big IR
00:02:46
cases things like that or if you will be
00:02:48
stuck doing little stuff so that's a
00:02:51
good question to ask the next question
00:02:52
is about how much autonomy do residents
00:02:55
get and how do we learn to be confident
00:02:57
by yourself the reason I specifically
00:02:59
asked this question is because if you
00:03:00
are sitting side by side by a fellow or
00:03:02
an attending in my case um you might not
00:03:05
have that sense of confidence or
00:03:06
autonomy because everything that you
00:03:08
have a question about you can just turn
00:03:10
around and be like would you call that
00:03:11
or should I not call you know you can
00:03:13
just run everything by them and it's
00:03:15
really good like even now as an
00:03:16
attending especially in breast I'm sure
00:03:18
you have experienced this or you will
00:03:20
experience this like we all do consensus
00:03:21
conference where we're like would you
00:03:23
call this back would you pass this would
00:03:25
you follow this would you biopsy this
00:03:26
like we're asking all the time and other
00:03:28
radiology and others Radiologists and
00:03:30
other Specialties are doing the same but
00:03:33
in order to ever work on your own and
00:03:35
have confidence on your own you do need
00:03:36
to be able to make decisions when
00:03:39
there's nobody else around so how do you
00:03:41
learn that I mean residency is the place
00:03:43
to learn that and so you want to ask how
00:03:45
do you get that confidence in your
00:03:47
program and the again the reason why I
00:03:50
specifically ask this question is
00:03:52
because many programs are getting rid of
00:03:54
independent call and independent call
00:03:56
was really where I feel like I learned
00:03:57
how to be a radiologist I have video
00:04:00
about it and whatever and I know that
00:04:01
like everyone is like well programs that
00:04:03
have it say that it's the best thing and
00:04:05
programs that don't have it say that
00:04:06
that's the best thing it doesn't really
00:04:09
matter at the end of the day but even if
00:04:11
you don't have it you have to have a way
00:04:13
of being independent confident learning
00:04:16
how to be a radiologist I will say a lot
00:04:18
of people Bank on learning how to be
00:04:20
confident as a fellow because that's
00:04:21
when you're like on your own and that is
00:04:23
program dependent I think that for me I
00:04:25
actually had more autonomy as a resident
00:04:27
than a fellow just because the
00:04:29
attendings were very Hands-On in my
00:04:31
fellowship which is a good thing it's
00:04:33
not a bad thing but I don't think that
00:04:35
if I hadn't had any confidence building
00:04:37
in as a resident I would have obtained
00:04:39
that as a fellow so don't only Bank on
00:04:41
doing that as a fellow make sure you
00:04:43
have a way to learn how to be a
00:04:44
radiologist in your residency CU that's
00:04:47
really what it's for and on the off CH
00:04:49
that you don't even do a fellowship
00:04:51
which you should do a fellowship but if
00:04:52
you don't do a fellowship then you're
00:04:54
never going to have that confidence so
00:04:56
yes definitely learn definitely ask
00:04:58
about how you learn to be autonomous
00:05:00
independent confident as a resident and
00:05:02
what are the Avenues to do so this part
00:05:04
will definitely depend on what your
00:05:06
interests are but you should ask about
00:05:08
any opportunities that exist outside of
00:05:09
just the Radiology residency to get
00:05:11
involved with the hospital so sometimes
00:05:13
hospitals have like a gme committee
00:05:15
they'll have a quality improvement
00:05:16
committee maybe they're doing projects
00:05:18
at the hospital level that you know
00:05:20
Radiology doesn't often have a seat at
00:05:21
the table but why not we should have a
00:05:23
seat at the table we're such a big part
00:05:24
of patient care so ask about these
00:05:27
things you know you should ask about
00:05:28
getting involved GL Health initiatives
00:05:30
if you're interested in that type of
00:05:32
thing see what opportunities exist and
00:05:34
then also ask if these opportunities
00:05:36
don't exist is there a way to create
00:05:37
them because sometimes you do have a
00:05:39
niche interest and you want to explore
00:05:41
it and maybe programs have not had
00:05:43
somebody that's interested in that
00:05:44
already they didn't have someone that
00:05:46
was so interested in international
00:05:47
Outreach that they had a rage chapter
00:05:49
but maybe you could create that for them
00:05:51
and so learning even just asking these
00:05:53
questions will tell you how receptive
00:05:55
the program is to a resident that wants
00:05:57
to do something and what the Avenues are
00:05:59
to achieve those goals this brings me to
00:06:01
my next point which is how does the
00:06:02
program react to feedback from residents
00:06:06
so if the residents don't like something
00:06:07
about the program and they tell the
00:06:09
program director does the program
00:06:11
actually respond to that or do they just
00:06:12
say like well you know suck it up this
00:06:14
is how it's always been done this is how
00:06:15
it's always going to be done and we've
00:06:16
always been successful and we always
00:06:18
recruit good residents and blah blah
00:06:20
blah the end most of the time I think
00:06:22
most programs are very receptive to
00:06:25
resident feedback however not always and
00:06:27
I would ask again both faculty members
00:06:29
about this and I would also ask
00:06:31
residents because I'm sure that the
00:06:32
residents like I said have their pain
00:06:34
points that they all complain to each
00:06:35
other about and I'm sure I'm sure that
00:06:38
they have brought it to the program
00:06:39
director before and if they have what
00:06:41
has been done about it so you should ask
00:06:44
that question to see what your
00:06:45
experience would be like if you want to
00:06:46
improve the program or if there's
00:06:48
something that everyone is complaining
00:06:49
about and that has not improved over so
00:06:51
many years what does that say about the
00:06:53
program right so again just some insight
00:06:55
into what the program looks like
00:06:57
speaking of changing the program and
00:06:59
really interesting question to ask is
00:07:01
what big changes are on the horizon for
00:07:03
the program and now there are a lot of
00:07:04
changes that could potentially affect
00:07:06
you as a resident big things that I can
00:07:08
think of right off the top of my head
00:07:10
would be chairman change that always
00:07:13
creates some sort of like curfuffle
00:07:15
within the department um program
00:07:17
director change that can also create
00:07:19
some good or bad changes within the
00:07:21
Residency program adding an esir spot
00:07:24
getting rid of an esir spot getting rid
00:07:26
of an IR spot adding an IR spot um
00:07:29
getting rid of their IR residency like
00:07:31
the 2-year residency that has been sort
00:07:33
of a thing that people are talking about
00:07:34
recently because all of these things
00:07:37
will change your experience in the sense
00:07:39
that you might have to take more call
00:07:41
less call more people sharing one work
00:07:43
list less people sharing one work list
00:07:46
um if you are someone interested in IR
00:07:48
any of those changes will probably
00:07:49
affect you in some way oh yeah a big
00:07:52
change that's coming up that will affect
00:07:54
you is the IR not the IR the oral boards
00:07:57
and how our programs going to start
00:08:00
helping you prepare for those because
00:08:02
that's a totally Whole New World there
00:08:05
um you should ask about that in fact if
00:08:07
you haven't asked about it already at
00:08:08
your interviews you should be asking
00:08:10
that from now on because this is a big
00:08:12
thing that used to exist didn't exist
00:08:14
for a while now it's going to be
00:08:15
existing again and it's always
00:08:18
interesting the first go around about
00:08:20
how you know how programs are going to
00:08:22
train their residents to pass these
00:08:23
exams so yes definitely ask about the
00:08:25
oral boards because that's a big change
00:08:27
coming to Radiology um Radiology boards
00:08:30
and so you definitely want to be
00:08:31
prepared for that that leads me very
00:08:33
nicely into my next question which is
00:08:35
not just the oral boards but how does
00:08:37
the program um prepare their residents
00:08:39
for the core exam the core exam is
00:08:42
really hard you guys like I I don't know
00:08:44
how to tell you it's like a really hard
00:08:45
test
00:08:47
and a lot of programs tout a 100% pass
00:08:50
rate and that's incredible like very
00:08:52
amazing but there's you don't know where
00:08:56
you're going to fall into that right
00:08:57
like we you never know if you're going
00:09:00
to be the first person to fail or not
00:09:01
you don't know that I mean when I took
00:09:04
the test I was like this is a really
00:09:06
hard like I studied so much I studied so
00:09:09
much for that test and I still didn't
00:09:11
feel like going into the test like oh
00:09:13
yeah I'm going to ace this exam it's
00:09:14
like a step exam there's just so much
00:09:16
information to know it's incredible and
00:09:19
you have to know physics and you have to
00:09:20
know all of your modality you have know
00:09:22
you have to know everything about
00:09:23
radiology and they will ask you the most
00:09:25
obscure stuff and you still have to know
00:09:27
that and if programs are not going to
00:09:29
give you time to study then that's a big
00:09:31
red flag in my opinion per acgm rules
00:09:35
you're not allowed to have official time
00:09:37
off to study okay but programs will
00:09:40
still generally Place their residents on
00:09:42
lighter rotations this is allowed this
00:09:44
is not like breaking any rules they will
00:09:46
take you out of the call pool because
00:09:48
who wants to be studying after being on
00:09:50
call like it's just not possible and
00:09:52
they will obviously do internal board
00:09:54
reviews they will often I won't say
00:09:55
obviously they will often do internal
00:09:57
board reviews and they should be doing
00:09:58
internal board riew
00:10:00
that the faculty give um to make sure
00:10:03
that you are ready to take the exam so I
00:10:05
think it's very important that you ask
00:10:07
how much time that you get to study and
00:10:10
when I say time to study I mean like you
00:10:12
know how long are you on these lighter
00:10:13
rotations out of the call pole is it
00:10:15
just a month before is it three months
00:10:17
before um things like that because you
00:10:20
really want to make sure that you are
00:10:21
well prepared and you can ask the senior
00:10:22
residents if they felt like they were
00:10:24
prepared for the exam
00:10:26
because I felt like when I took the exam
00:10:29
like I said you're never going to feel
00:10:30
100% prepared but I felt like I was able
00:10:34
to study as much as I wanted to study I
00:10:36
felt like my program prepared me really
00:10:38
well my program had did so many board
00:10:40
reviews all the time like so many board
00:10:42
reviews it was amazing and I'm super
00:10:45
grateful because I think that's the
00:10:46
reason why I passed the test um they
00:10:48
just really prepared us very well so
00:10:52
yeah make sure you ask about the core
00:10:53
exam again officially can't take time
00:10:55
off obviously but there are ways that
00:10:58
programs will still prepare you give you
00:11:01
materials and um just make sure that
00:11:04
you're ready and that similar thing
00:11:05
should really that question should be
00:11:07
applied for the oral boards now the oral
00:11:09
boards will happen after the core exam
00:11:10
so The Residency program may not have
00:11:12
like time obviously for you to study for
00:11:14
that but they should at least start
00:11:15
incorporating ways for you to feel
00:11:17
confident about the oral boards I hope
00:11:20
that they are at least they should be
00:11:22
something that gets overlooked by
00:11:23
residents all the time is learning about
00:11:24
the business of radiology the reason why
00:11:27
this is overlooked is because most
00:11:28
programs are academic places with
00:11:31
academic Radiologists and that's amazing
00:11:33
that's where you're going to see complex
00:11:34
cases that's where you're going to see
00:11:36
all sorts of crazy stuff because
00:11:37
everyone's getting transferred in
00:11:39
however there's a good chance that you
00:11:41
are going to end up in private practice
00:11:43
because more than half of the
00:11:44
Radiologists in the US are in private
00:11:46
practice now it's important to know the
00:11:48
business side of radiology because you
00:11:50
want to know how you're going to get
00:11:52
paid in the future you want to know what
00:11:55
big changes are coming to Radiology as
00:11:57
we face like this crisis of radi ology
00:11:59
shortage and how are people recruiting
00:12:02
and are you getting paid enough for the
00:12:04
work that you're going to do you don't
00:12:06
want to be in a position where you don't
00:12:07
even know if what you're getting paid is
00:12:09
fair or not fair for the work that
00:12:11
you're doing and that's true in
00:12:13
academics too academics in general gets
00:12:15
paid less than private practice and as
00:12:19
the volume in Radiology in general
00:12:21
including academic centers is rising
00:12:23
that pay differential doesn't really
00:12:25
make that much sense because if you're
00:12:26
getting paid the same for each study
00:12:29
then like if the hospital is getting
00:12:31
paid the same is my point then there's
00:12:33
no reason why one person shouldn't be
00:12:35
getting paid the same as the other my
00:12:36
point in all of this is that no one is
00:12:37
going to teach you these things unless
00:12:39
you actually ask unless you find out
00:12:41
about it until you do these things on
00:12:42
your own and you don't want to be stuck
00:12:45
looking at your first contract or
00:12:47
learning about these things for the
00:12:48
first time when you're negotiating your
00:12:50
first contract if you are in academics
00:12:52
or private practice so residency is a
00:12:55
great time to learn about these things
00:12:56
to ask these questions to all the
00:12:58
Radiologists around you that want to
00:12:59
teach you and yeah and you can also see
00:13:02
if there are like committees or things
00:13:04
that you can get involved with in your
00:13:05
hospital that sort of learn about the
00:13:07
economics and business side of radiology
00:13:09
because there's so much that goes into
00:13:10
it that you don't even think about
00:13:11
billing Hospital fees contract like
00:13:14
Hospital negotiations Hospital contracts
00:13:17
there's just so much that goes into that
00:13:19
side of it and clearly I don't even know
00:13:20
that much about it and I wish I knew
00:13:22
more but residency is a great time to
00:13:24
learn because you have all these
00:13:25
resources at your fingertips so I would
00:13:27
do that if I were you last question
00:13:29
question we're finally there and this is
00:13:31
more just like a out of Interest
00:13:33
question also but you know who does the
00:13:35
tumor boards are there interdisciplinary
00:13:36
conferences that residents are expected
00:13:38
to attend or run or go to who runs them
00:13:41
fellows residents attendings who attends
00:13:44
them if you have backup what does your
00:13:46
backup look like if they ask you a hard
00:13:47
question because trust me in tumor board
00:13:50
I feel like is where the surgeons really
00:13:52
come out and they are like asking you
00:13:54
all these questions that you think you
00:13:56
know the cases inside and out and then
00:13:57
they ask you something and oh no now I'm
00:13:59
not so confident tumor board is a great
00:14:01
way to be more confident with these
00:14:04
things um you can ask if there's a tumor
00:14:06
board for like you know for hepatobilary
00:14:10
breast uh chest like who's running all
00:14:13
of these are they all separate do they
00:14:14
have one big one together do Internal
00:14:16
Medicine residents present do you have
00:14:18
conferences with internal medicine
00:14:19
because there's so much overlap like
00:14:21
screening guidelines CT colonography
00:14:24
screening mammograms lung cancer
00:14:26
screening CT these are all things that
00:14:28
medicine people should also learn about
00:14:30
and then they can tell us about their
00:14:32
like oh well do I order it for a patient
00:14:33
that has a 10 pack your smoking history
00:14:36
and then you can like educate each other
00:14:37
right on the indications and what this
00:14:40
scan really means and how much the dose
00:14:42
is because that's a lot of the concerns
00:14:44
from the um ordering providers is about
00:14:47
dose of mamography dose of lung cancer
00:14:49
screening dose of CT colonography and
00:14:51
it's just there's so many ways that you
00:14:53
can collaborate with the people around
00:14:55
you and it's nice to be able to get kind
00:14:57
of get that experience as a resident and
00:15:00
then also you know when you go into
00:15:02
practice you will be collaborating with
00:15:04
your surgeons and the people that are
00:15:06
sending you patients because that's just
00:15:08
how Radiology works we really don't work
00:15:10
in a silo we talk to all these people
00:15:12
and so it's nice to start to do that as
00:15:14
a resident too
00:15:16
so okay we recorded this video we got it
00:15:19
done I hope that this was
00:15:22
helpful I'm still like I can't believe I
00:15:24
did all of that twice but I hope that
00:15:26
this was helpful if nothing else it'll
00:15:27
give you some questions to ask in those
00:15:29
awkward awkward silence moments where
00:15:32
you're like I really don't have any more
00:15:33
questions but all of these things I
00:15:35
can't think not just at face value what
00:15:38
they tell you but you can start to learn
00:15:40
and read between the lines of what
00:15:42
residents are saying at different
00:15:43
programs how they are answering your
00:15:45
questions you'll start to figure out a
00:15:47
little bit about how each program runs
00:15:49
and how it works and if residents are
00:15:51
generally happy so I think this will
00:15:54
officially close out my residency
00:15:56
interview series I hope that this was
00:15:59
helpful I wish you the best of luck
00:16:00
you're going to be fine Radiology is the
00:16:02
best congrats on choosing the best field
00:16:04
I will see you in the next video bye
