Gap year between internship and residency?

[RawkusMD]

I have a bit of a dilemma and am looking for some advice.

I am currently doing an osteopathic rotating internship and recently matched into an advanced anesthesiology spot for 2014 (no prelim spot), and I am wondering what my options are for next year. I have an offer for a transitional intern year, but I'm wondering if it would be worth waiting until Friday to see if my program has something like a research position available. Has anyone had a similar situation or known someone who has and what they ended up doing?

Thanks.

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[scudrunner]

How about doing some locums or moonlighting work in an urgent care/ER. You'd make a lot more than doing research and keep your knowledge and skills sharp.

 

[kazuma]

I had a colleague from internship who was in your exact same position. This year he has been working in an under served clinic and he'll start his CA-1 year this July. He was fortunate that it was the same clinic we worked in during internship, so all he had to do was pay malpractice insurance and start collecting about double the paycheck he earned during internship.

I'd try to look for something semi-permanent like he did. He probably could have made more per hour working locums urgent care, but it would have been hit or miss, while his current gig is a guaranteed contract at the same site for a year.

 

[Kissmyabjj]

Bump. I just found myself in this position. I matched to a PM&R PGY-2 position that starts in July 2016 and am currently completing an Osteopathic internship year. I would like to continue to do some clinical work as well as research, but I don't really know where to begin to look for positions that would take someone who hasn't completed a residency.

 

[Gaseous Clay]

I had the same situation as you. I actually did a transitional year internship with the intention of picking a field during that year. During my 4th year, I initially dropped anesthesia because quite frankly, I didn't like it at all. I then picked up some radiology electives and published a few papers. Well, sure enough I realized sitting all day in the dark room wasn't for me. Then I thought IM with potential fellowship was the way to go. Needless to say, I asked around for advice and someone mentioned the TY option. I really feel that med school rushes you into a decision. It's hard to make a 30+ year decision on a few months experience as a student. To me, it was the best decision I made. I did a month of PP anesthesia and really enjoyed that. The rest is history.

I thought it'd be super easy finding a cush $80/hour gig, it wasn't. I ended up doing about 15 hours per week in a clinic, though I made around $70/hour if my memory serves me correctly. I would recommend doing that transitional spot if you can. Gain more clinical experience, do some months of anesthesia, SICU, trauma, ED, cardiology, etc. That will make you that much better. Remember, this is for the rest of your life, in 4 years you'll be on your own. "Research" is a joke for one year and won't help you at all during difficult cases. That's my two cents.

 

[Kissmyabjj]

Thank you for responding. I am already an intern. I will eligible for a license in June. Do you mean do another intern year?

 

[skiwhiz85]

I thought it'd be super easy finding a cush $80/hour gig, it wasn't. I ended up doing about 15 hours per week in a clinic, though I made around $70/hour if my memory serves me correctly.

If you don't mind me asking, what type of clinic did you work in and did it necessitate a medical license?

Am looking for clinical work (or paid research) for my gap year and could use any advice- don't know where to start looking!

 

[Gaseous Clay]

Thank you for responding. I am already an intern. I will eligible for a license in June. Do you mean do another intern year?

My fault, I didn't realize the original post was in 2013. The comment was meant for the OP since he/she said there was an offer for a TY.

My TY program did offer to let me stay another year. I should've taken the offer but I wanted to move out of that city.

In terms of your options, get the license and get in touch with recruiters. I doubt an ED wants a post intern as a one year rental with little experience but you never know. A recruiter got me a 1 week gig seeing rehab patients. Was pretty easy, they put me up for a week, and I made decent money. They might be able to fill your calendar with similar jobs. If you can find something more consistent, by all means go for it. I found the clinic job based on talking to other resident friends who knew of that potential opening since they were asked if they were interested in moonlighting there. If you can move somewhere where you know other residents, that would be your best bet. Residents usually have the inside scoop on moonlighting opportunities.

 

[Kissmyabjj]

My fault, I didn't realize the original post was in 2013. The comment was meant for the OP since he/she said there was an offer for a TY.

My TY program did offer to let me stay another year. I should've taken the offer but I wanted to move out of that city.

In terms of your options, get the license and get in touch with recruiters. I doubt an ED wants a post intern as a one year rental with little experience but you never know. A recruiter got me a 1 week gig seeing rehab patients. Was pretty easy, they put me up for a week, and I made decent money. They might be able to fill your calendar with similar jobs. If you can find something more consistent, by all means go for it. I found the clinic job based on talking to other resident friends who knew of that potential opening since they were asked if they were interested in moonlighting there. If you can move somewhere where you know other residents, that would be your best bet. Residents usually have the inside scoop on moonlighting opportunities.

Thank you for responding. Would you mind PMing me the name of the recruiting service that you used that hooked you up with the rehab job? Do you know anyone else I could speak to that has some experience in this position? This is much more difficult than I anticipated haha.