Help! Applying for Pgy-2 position?

[surgwife]

So, long story short, I took the around-the-world approach before seeing the light and realizing that psychiatry is the field for me. Did an intern year in Ob/Gyn, and while I loved the relationships with my patients, hated the incredible stress and being up all night. Switched to internal medicine, and really miss many aspects of ob/gyn. Have given it a lot of thought, and can envision myself doing psychiatry and carving out a niche in women's mental health from all sorts of angles... peripartum and postpartum (meds during these times, breastfeeding, etc) working as a liason with ob/gyn, adolescent psych (eating disorders, sexual trauma, depression, bipolar), and even think I may be interested in child psych (also enjoyed pediatrics tremendously). My strengths in medicine are my empathy, communication skills, and I enjoy listening to patients. Having time to talk to patients is such a luxury in most specialties, and in psychiatry it is much more doable. So I am convinced I want to switch, ahem, again.

The question is, how do I go about finding a pgy-2 position? I looked on clearinghouse on APA, even contacted programs, and nothing. Some programs responded and said the position was no longer available. Can you apply through ERAS for a Pgy-2 position? Should I just start calling programs? Would appreciate advice, especially from people who have switched!

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[sunlioness]

Have you done anything to test your interest in psychiatry? I'm not in any way involved in residency recruitment, but I'm guessing switching fields twice doesn't look the best. Programs are probably want to see that you've done more than just think about it and have actually tested your commitment to psych in some way. I don't think you can apply to PGY-2 spots through ERAS. I believe for those spots you need to contact and work with programs directly.

 

[peppy]

Back when I applied (with the caveat that was a few years ago), some programs did give you the option to apply for their PGY-2 spot on ERAS along with the usual PGY-1 option. I also believe that there are some programs which will accept your application for PGY-1 but consider you for a PGY-2 opening if they happen to have one. Not all PGY-2 openings are publicized, because programs sometimes don't want to get a flood of applications for just one spot.

I do think you should expect some questions about why you're switching again and how you can be sure that psych is what you really want to stick with. You will probably be viewed as high risk for leaving again. However, it's not unprecedented for a resident to switch fields more than once, and I do think that your goal of wanting to be involved in women's mental health will appeal to psych programs that have that emphasis. Good luck!

 

[SmallBird]

Yale is quite a good option for people hoping to join psychiatry as PGY-2's, as the program accepts around four new PGY-2's every year.