Can fm resident pgy1 swtich to pgy2 pediatrics

[mdz3]

hello everyone. I'm a 1st year resident in family medicine in a community based program. Few months into residency I feel like I made a mistake not applying for pediatrics and so I'm wondering if whether I can apply into 2nd year Peds position before the year ends. And how feasible it is. Any thoughts or ideas or do you guys know anyone whose done that in the past and is it possible?
Thanks

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[Rumalum]

doubt it, you'd have to start over as a PGY1.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

This is not possible. What I'm not certain of is whether you could get a month or two credit from the ABP. I doubt it.

 

[mdz3]

Thanks guys for the reply. But i heard something about waiver. If you apply for that then maybe you dont have to do pgy1 again? But again im not sure and would like to know if anyone has actually done that?

 

[oldbearprofessor]

Be cautious about responses you get. Current ABP policy is not necessarily the same as previous policy on this. I recommend you contact the ABP itself.

 

[RuralMedicine]

A waiver might give you credit for any pediatrics training you did while in your FM PGY1. The training would have to meet ABP equivalency requirements and be approved but it might shave a month, or possibly two, off of your repeated internship year. It would definitely not allow you to just slide into a PGY2 spot unless you somehow did a full year of pediatrics training during your FM internship. I can't really imagine any program would or could be set up this way but I am conceding that if such a situation did exist and the training was approved by ABP then it would be possible, just very improbable.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

Keep in mind that even if a waiver of a month or two were possible, which I continue to think is unlikely, that doesn't mean the program itself would agree to it. Why should they in the current era?

 

[mvenus929]

I personally know two people who have switched from FM (or FM-IM) to Peds. Neither was permitted to advance directly to PGY-2, because they didn't have enough experience in pediatrics. At my program, we do 9 inpatient months, including NICU, general wards, subspecialty wards, and nursery, plus a Peds ED rotation and a general outpatient month. The FM residents at our institution MAYBE rotate in nursery, general wards, and general outpatient peds (they usually end up doing two of the three). One of my friends did a NICU rotation as a FM intern, but that was unusual. There's no way you would have the fund of knowledge to lead peds interns if that's all the peds exposure you had as an intern, even if the ABP/ACGME would allow it.

One of the people I know was able to get 2 months of credit that she did as an intern at our program as an FM intern-and thus graduated 2 months early. The other also transferred within his own institution, but chose not to take the credit so as not to worsen the call burden for his co-residents.