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.

  • Addressing Bullying in Healthcare

    Addressing Bullying in Healthcare

    Bullying and incivility in healthcare do more than cause pain to the individuals experiencing them (although that pain alone is a significant issue). These disruptive behaviors have been linked to medical error by 71% of physicians and nurses surveyed, and to patient death by 27% of those professionals surveyed (Lewis, 2023). Using effective conflict resolution…

  • Addressing Abuse of Power Dynamics in Medical School

    Addressing Abuse of Power Dynamics in Medical School

    Rethinking Residency spoke with Sierra Norman, a fourth year medical student and now activist working to change the culture of medical school and prevent the abuse of power directed at learners. We could tell immediately that Sierra was poised and confident, but that this was a difficult subject. She shared with us an incredibly personal…

  • Conflict Resolution In Medicine

    Conflict Resolution In Medicine

    Conflicts are an inevitable part of human interaction. Whether the conflicts are addressed or hidden, acknowledged or denied, they are present in both our personal and professional lives.  Although conflicts can be distressing, there is nothing inherently wrong with them.  Conflict is not the same thing as bullying (bullying is bullying). Conflict by itself is…

  • Using Emotional Regulation for Effective De-Escalation

    Using Emotional Regulation for Effective De-Escalation

    For many physicians and other healthcare professionals, the threat of workplace violence is something that they feel underprepared to manage. Statistics consistently show that there is an epidemic of violence in hospital and healthcare settings. In fact, if you use the metric of nonfatal illnesses and injuries, healthcare is the most dangerous profession there is.…

  • 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…

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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