Do you do an internship before you do a residency?

[jane2]

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Ok, so I know this is probably a very stupid question, but I always thought that in the US you did a residency and then an internship after that if you wanted to sub-specialise. I'm English, so please forgive me for not knowing!

However, I've just been watching Grey's Anatomy(please forgive me for the fact that this motivates my question!) and Grey etc are all interns - straight from med school, they're interns, and Bailey is a resident and is clearly not straight from med school.

I woudl just assume that this was wrong, like some other stuff on the show apparently is, but it seems like they wouldn't get something as basic as this wrong. Can someone help me out - is an internship like your final year of med school, or something?

 

[BKN]

Ok, so I know this is probably a very stupid question, but I always thought that in the US you did a residency and then an internship after that if you wanted to sub-specialise. I'm English, so please forgive me for not knowing!

However, I've just been watching Grey's Anatomy(please forgive me for the fact that this motivates my question!) and Grey etc are all interns - straight from med school, they're interns, and Bailey is a resident and is clearly not straight from med school.

I woudl just assume that this was wrong, like some other stuff on the show apparently is, but it seems like they wouldn't get something as basic as this wrong. Can someone help me out - is an internship like your final year of med school, or something?

Intern is an outdated word. It is used casually by old . . . uhh. . . gentlemen like me to describe the first year of residency. It's left over from a time when most did a single year of postgrad training and then began general practice. Family practice did away with it and GPs. everybody does a reesidency and becomes a specialist.

Subspecialist trainees are called fellows.

 

[DeLaughterDO]

Intern is an outdated word. It is used casually by old . . . uhh. . . gentlemen like me to describe the first year of residency. It's left over from a time when most did a single year of postgrad training and then began general practice. Family practice did away with it and GPs. everybody does a reesidency and becomes a specialist.

Subspecialist trainees are called fellows.

Hey now, BKN - some of us still do an internship.. as mandated by our governing body (whether we really like it or not). We will then begin our "residency" after the internship is complete. But otherwise, you are correct. I defer to your ultimately more massive-er knowledge 🙂

jd

 

[monkey7247]

internship--->residency--->fellowship.

 

[BKN]

Hey now, BKN - some of us still do an internship.. as mandated by our governing body (whether we really like it or not). We will then begin our "residency" after the internship is complete. But otherwise, you are correct. I defer to your ultimately more massive-er knowledge 🙂

jd

oops. . .sorry 😳

Jane2, what he's saying is that osteopathic licensure in a few states requires a "traditional internship". I run an allopathic residency. Most of my residents who are D.O.s do not take one.

 

[docB]

Intern is an outdated word. It is used casually by old . . . uhh. . . gentlemen like me to describe the first year of residency. It's left over from a time when most did a single year of postgrad training and then began general practice. Family practice did away with it and GPs. everybody does a reesidency and becomes a specialist.

Subspecialist trainees are called fellows.

It is painful to explain this to laypeople. You can just say how it works but if you really get into it you wind up talking about how training went in the ninteenth century and how the nomenclature for the whole system is an anachronism.

 

[deleted87716]

It is painful to explain this to laypeople.

To make matters worse, some people think that if you're an internist, you're still in training. 🙄

 

[deleted87716]

Intern is an outdated word.

It's still appropriate, though. One's first year out of med school is truly a unique experience, and worthy of its own designation (if for no other reason than to serve as a warning to others... 😉 )

 

[angel80]

Intern = 1st year Resident = PGY-1 = 1st year House Officer

 

[new_avatar]

Intern = 1st year Resident = PGY-1 = 1st year House Officer

What's confusing is that some places call a PGY2 an R1 but some call a PGY2 an R2 - also by extrapolation a PGY3 an R2 or R3 and a PGY1 as an R1 or I depending on where you are. So in some places an R1PN is an IPN but could be a PGY2PN.

 

[Smurfette]

What's confusing is that some places call a PGY2 an R1 but some call a PGY2 an R2 - also by extrapolation a PGY3 an R2 or R3 and a PGY1 as an R1 or I depending on where you are. So in some places an R1PN is an IPN but could be a PGY2PN.

In my experience, when "R1" is being used for a PGY-2 (and R2 for PGY-3, etc.), that is usually for programs such as neuro or anesthesia in which the resident does a transitional or prelim year as a PGY-1 before becoming a neuro/anesthesia/whatever resident. i.e. it is the first residency year of neurology. In contrast, the term R1 in surgery truly means PGY-1 or intern or first year resident, since there is no transitional year requirement.