Could any of you guys help me with the basics of some of these acronyms I see used a lot? I'm considering HPSP and have been looking at Army brochures. They say payback begins "following your First Year of Graduate Medical Education (FYGME)"

I understand residency is what you do after you finish med school to complete training in whatever specialty you've chosen.

What is

FYGME
GME
GME-1
PGY-1
internship year

Thanks for any help!

ayj

It seems to me that most of those terms mean the same. When someone speaks of "Graduate Medical Education (GME)" they mean residency.

Another term sometimes used is Post-Graduate Year, so a PGY-1 is a person out of medical school for one year. Your internship year is your PGY-1 or your FYGME.

There are some slight variations for certain residency programs that require internship years prior to PGY-1, etc., but for the most part PGY-1, FYGME, GME-1, and intership year all mean exactly the same thing: the first year of residency.