Do you lose a year due to internship compared to a civilian school?

[Re3iRtH]

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Hello folks,

I'm sorry if this seems like an obvious question but
I tried reading the residency forums a bit but I'm still
unsure on this. I know regular med students do an
internship but arent there residencies that civilian med
students match into that basically start being a resident
from year one (hmm.. ie. orthopedic surgery just off the top
of my head)...

So does one potentially lose a year due to going to USUHS
and doing the internship as opposed to a civilian school or
is it the same in the end?? Thanks.

 

[colbgw02]

An internship is simply the first year of post-graduate training. Some residency programs have their internship incorporated (e.g. medicine, peds, family, surgery, ob/gyn). Other programs start at the PGY-2 year, meaning you have to do a separate internship (e.g anesthesia, radiology, dermatology)

The length of residency training is the same in the military as compared to civilian residencies. The confusion arises because the military still partially adheres to its old GME whereby everyone did a year of internship before becoming a general medical officer and then going back to finish specialty training.

In the army, most (all except general surgery, I think) residencies have continuous contracts. So, as long as you match, you go straight through specialty training as you might in the civilian world. From what I understand, the air force and the navy still use GMOs to a greater extent, meaning you're more likely to have your GME interrupted.

 

[DrBloodmoney]

In pathology, it's almost exactly the same. For civilian you go straight into residency with no internship. In the Army and Air Force, it is exactly the same, no internship. For the Navy, however, you are required to do an internship before you can do a pathology residency. Yet another reason to never go into the Navy.

 

[Gastrapathy]

Hello folks,

I'm sorry if this seems like an obvious question but
I tried reading the residency forums a bit but I'm still
unsure on this. I know regular med students do an
internship but arent there residencies that civilian med
students match into that basically start being a resident
from year one (hmm.. ie. orthopedic surgery just off the top
of my head)...

So does one potentially lose a year due to going to USUHS
and doing the internship as opposed to a civilian school or
is it the same in the end?? Thanks.

You don't lose a year in the way that you are asking but...if you decide to get out for residency and you were placed in a different categorical internship, there can be funding issues for your residency.