Andy Baldwin from the Bachelor recently visited the University of Minnesota Medical School in Duluth to recruit for Navy Medicine. His presentation was posted on the university's news release and attached below. Let's take a look at some selected slides:

This slide is misleading since there is very little "choice" as implied in this slide. Interns and medical students have little or no choice as to whether or not they can complete "straight through training". Military internships are best described as preliminary years. Interns must apply for residency training. A large percentage of interns will be turned down for residency positions and will be deployed as GMOs: non-residency trained physicians who practice medicine independently. The needs of the military determine what and how many residency positions are available. The detailer, hopefully with input from the service member, makes an arbitrary decision as to the nature and location of job assignments.

It may be true that HPSP students get to kick back and relax during medical school. However, during internship they will more than make up for it while they anxiously try to figure out their future while they are working hard and sleep deprived. Will they be offered a residency position or assigned a GMO tour? If the latter, where will they be assigned by the detailer?

The last point is misinformation. The nature of the military is such that service members are constantly being told what to do. Service members are told what to wear, where to live and what type of work to do. The same is especially true for military medicine. Physicians follow orders, often issued by non-physicians who use rank to cross professional boundaries. Physicians are told if and when they can begin a residency. They are told how many RVUs they must complete in a day and what type of patients they can see. For example, a pediatrician can be directed to treat adult patients.

This slide has the best selling points for military medicine and should be moved to the front. Serving in military medicine is about giving back to the country and supporting the warfighters and their families. Service offers an opportunity for personal and professional growth that is not offered in the civilian medical system.

Comment: The GMO tour is a tough sell because its an outdated model of medical of graduate medical education that is bad for the MHS. What would happen to recruiting if there were no more GMO tours?