changing residency program but same specialty

[5osmecans]

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i am doing my intern year in im at a residency program , but came to know that a pgy2 position in im became vacant at another residency program recently about 15 days back. that is a better residency program which has fellowships. i have signed the contract at my program for 2nd yr. is it possible for me to switch now ? can the pd hold me back if i request for the permission to leave becoz its too late? please advise. thanks

 

[RedAnesthesia]

Yes, legally the PD can prevent you from leaving because you signed the contract. It depends on your PD though.

 

[5osmecans]

Yes, legally the PD can prevent you from leaving because you signed the contract. It depends on your PD though.

thanks for the reply. any other information in this regard will be greatly appreciated.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Yes, legally the PD can prevent you from leaving because you signed the contract. It depends on your PD though.

The answer is actually a bit more complicated.

Residency is a job. You can quit anytime you want, contract or no contract.

The contract will state in it what the terms are for termination. Usually it defines a certain amount of notice -- let's say it's 90 days. Thus, in order to "satsify" the contract you would need to give 90 days notice, presumably from the start date of the contract (July 1). So, you could "legally" quit at the end of September.

What happens if you simply quit now and never show up? Theoretically, your program could sue you for damages -- costs of hiring someone new, moonlighting shifts, etc. Whether they could win in court is unclear. The likelihood of this happening is very low.

However, they could consider this unprofessional behavior. As such, they could 1) make your life miserable for the next month, 2) give you an unsatisfactory professional evaluation to your Board for your intern year (in IM, this would make you entire intern year "not count"), 3) You'll need to get a statement of your training from them for every job you get from here on in, and there would likely be some statement about the professionalism issues stated. Whether this would impact your future hiring is unclear.

Also, there's the big problem not mentioned yet. There is a good chance that you'll need to resign youtr current position to even look at the new position. Your current PD will need to start looking for a replacement, and so will likely require that you simply resign so they can, in good conscience, look for a replacement. If you don't get the other spot, you might have nothing.

 

[cartoondoc]

I have to be honest: what you're considering doing really sucks. In the program where I did my internship, someone quit a month before their PGY2 year to go to another medicine program. The entire schedule for the year had to be redone, residents lost elective time, had to take extra call and wards months. They really hated the person who left.

It's one thing if you want to leave to be with your spouse or you're truly unhappy in your current program. But to quit with so little notice just be in a somewhat better program with possibly better fellowship opportunities (which might be balanced out by a record of having quit a program)? I think it's morally the wrong thing to do.

And I say this as someone who did leave a residency program. Although I gave 6 months notice and was replaced.

 

[Pir8DeacDoc]

IM is a three year commitment. You're almost done with one of those years. Why rock the boat and make your life potentially complicated and miserable when you can suck it up for the last two years and move along?? The risk doesn't appear to justify the reward.

 

[buckley]

Can IMGs on an H1B change programs?

 

[smq123]

Shouldn't the poster do what's best for them (i.e more fellowship oppurtunities is that's what they want)? While I understand that can mean throwing some of their colleagues under the bus, as colleagues and I hope friends, one would think that you want what's best for the person. Also, if the poster is that unhappy at their current program maybe a change of scenery is best.

Well, I would argue that there's no way of knowing, for sure, if this truly is what is "best" for the OP. As aPD stated, he may have to resign his current program without having anything set in stone for next year. This other program may be more malignant and have less support than his current program does.

Furthermore, sure, he should do what's best for him, but in this case, it's not like it was one-or-the-other. He could have done what is best for him (i.e. started looking for another program back in, say, December) without necessarily screwing everyone else over.

 

[cartoondoc]

Shouldn't the poster do what's best for them (i.e more fellowship oppurtunities is that's what they want)? While I understand that can mean throwing some of their colleagues under the bus, as colleagues and I hope friends, one would think that you want what's best for the person. Also, if the poster is that unhappy at their current program maybe a change of scenery is best.

I agree, in theory, but the OP didn't say he/she was desperately unhappy. Or if they wanted to switch specialties, that's another story because that's a lifetime career commitment. But all I heard was that the other program seemed slightly better (from the outside... who really knows?). Switching for that reason alone seems very selfish to me.