Training to be a Physiatrist (and Beyond)

I wrote some basic information about Rehabilitation Medicine in the first post for this category. You can read that here to refresh your memory. Specialty training in Rehabilitation Medicine occurs in residency (side note: it’s called “residency” because in the past, graduate medical education required the trainees to live in the hospital – thus they […]

How I Got Here: Choosing a Medical Specialty

The Personal Statement is part of the residency application packet for specialty training in the USA. It complements the curriculum vitae detailing the applicant’s education and previous experience, and the recommendation letters from faculty members or other people that have worked with the applicant. My Personal Statement began with “I was the Orthopedic Disaster of […]

Rehabilitation Medicine (JOINT journal entry)

August 22, 1998 Saturday Dear everyone-on-my-generic-on-line-journal-of-internship mailing list, Hello! This installment of the journal is about my 2-week rotation in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, which happens to be my specialty of choice. Duh? For people who do net know about this young field, Rehabilitation (a.k.a. Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, PM&R or Physiatry) is called […]

What is Rehabilitation Medicine?

Rehabilitation Medicine is also known as Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R), Physical Rehabilitation and Medicine (PRM) or Physiatry (fizz-ee-AHT-ree, or fee-SIGH-ah-tree; from the Greek physio = of nature or physical, iatrea = act of healing or doctor). As you can see, this medical specialty has some sort of an identity crisis… which does not help […]