A place for residents to emerge from the dark.

  • What is Rethinking Residency?

    Rethinking Residency is a place for residents, current, former, prospective and their families, to emerge from the darkness that is residency training and come together to share their stories and insights.

    Read more

    About Rethinking Residency
  • Overcoming Addiction In Residency & Fellowship

    Overcoming Addiction In Residency & Fellowship

    Dr. McKeown tells her story of battling, and overcoming, addiction in both residency and fellowship. She tells her story so that others struggling with addiction or substance abuse can know that they are not alone.

  • How I Switched Residency Programs & Specialties

    How I Switched Residency Programs & Specialties

    The Nitty-Gritty – how I switched career paths two-thirds of the way through a residency program and the questions I asked myself as I contemplated doing a second residency.

  • Reducing Distress by Thinking about Thinking

    Reducing Distress by Thinking about Thinking

    Consider this scenario: I am approaching my house, which I believe to be empty. I hear unmistakable noises from inside. If I conclude that I am interrupting a break-in, I will take precautions. If it turns out to be a surprise party, that’s okay. I may have felt frightened for no reason, but I really…

  • Cumulative Trauma in Medicine

    Cumulative Trauma in Medicine

    One of the biggest challenges with setting boundaries may be an unacknowledged internal drive to avoid those boundaries. We talked last time about challenging ideas of work as worth and about accepting that no amount of accomplishment can resolve empty feelings. You could pour a literal ocean into a cup with a hole in it…

  • So You Want To Be a Sports Medicine Doctor?

    So You Want To Be a Sports Medicine Doctor?

    Sports medicine, or more specifically primary care sports medicine (PCSM), is a field that is as rewarding as it is varied. Those in medicine will likely have heard the phrase “no two doctors have the same career.” The job of a general surgeon versus an OBGYN versus an emergency medicine physician are all completely different.…

  • Challenging Ideas of Work as Worth

    Challenging Ideas of Work as Worth

    Much of our suffering comes from efforts to avoid suffering. Or, in the words of Carl Jung: “What we resist, persists.” Overwork can be one of the ways that we resist distressing emotions. Sometimes it can be harder to spot than other maladaptive coping mechanisms because work, and often overwork, tends to be praised and…

  • Intimate Partner Violence in the Medical Community

    Intimate Partner Violence in the Medical Community

    Though this is frequently unacknowledged, physicians experience intimate partner violence (IPV) at a rate consistent with or higher than the national average (Reibling, et al., 2020). Some progress is being made, but there are still a number of significant barriers to reporting this experience. Physicians and other healthcare professionals may be reluctant to seek medical…

  • Healthcare Advocacy in an Age of Turmoil

    Healthcare Advocacy in an Age of Turmoil

    Healthcare workers will tell you that it is their job to, first and foremost, ensure that the health and wellbeing of their patients are at the highest levels possible. The general public, of course, wants to be healthy and have access to quality, affordable healthcare. Even (some) politicians want the same. Benjamin Disraeli, an English…

The Premise

Now Is The Time To Rethink Residency!

Developed over 125 years ago in the US, modern residency training remains largely unchanged from its infancy. This site may not be able to spark a revolution, but helping even one resident is enough to justify the effort.

Join the Community

We’re thrilled to have you here! If you don’t want to miss an article or blog, you can subscribe to our newsletter.