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.

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    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 Risk of Violence with Situational Awareness

    Reducing Risk of Violence with Situational Awareness

    Back in 2016, the New England Journal of Medicine published an article referring to violence in healthcare settings as “ubiquitous” (Phillips, 2016). In 2018, healthcare workers accounted for 73% of all nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses due to violence, more than prison staff, police officers, and other occupations that may typically be considered more “dangerous”…

  • The Weight of Error

    The Weight of Error

    Suicide risk for physicians is elevated when facing a malpractice case or licensure restriction, or dealing with other career concerns. These are obviously significant stressors, and they deserve attention and intervention. But what about the distress associated with making a mistake, even if that mistake doesn’t lead to external consequences? The weight of error can…

  • Suicidality and Hope for Physicians

    Suicidality and Hope for Physicians

    September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and September 17th is National Physician Suicide Awareness Day. Every suicide is an unspeakable tragedy, a loss that ripples outward in waves of pain and grief. The Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine estimates that up to 400 physicians take their own lives every year. While estimates of…

  • Grief Myths That Impede Healing

    Grief Myths That Impede Healing

    Dealing with grief is a natural, but difficult, part of life. Unfortunately, there are some widespread myths that can make the process even more difficult. We explore a couple of these below: Myth #1: You will progress through stages of grief in a linear fashion. Reality: You may be familiar with the stages of grief…

  • Disenfranchised Grief

    Disenfranchised Grief

    Have you ever felt guilty for feeling grief? We’ve talked before about ways to cope with loss and access appropriate social support in difficult times. But what happens when you don’t think you have the right to feel the way you do?  Disenfranchised grief refers to grief that is unacknowledged or invalidated by others or…

  • The Hidden Curriculum: The Lessons of Microaggressions

    The Hidden Curriculum: The Lessons of Microaggressions

    “He didn’t mean anything by it when he did that.”  “She only said it because she doesn’t know any better.” “Don’t take it personally. They didn’t mean it that way.” Microaggressions refer to everyday, subtle, intentional, or unintentional interactions and behaviors that communicate some sort of bias toward historically marginalized groups. The term is not…

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.

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