family practice as PGY1

[scottishlass]

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🙄 I live in Alaska and we have one residency program up here - family medicine. My family does not want to move and I will be somewhere alone for anesthesiology residency. Do any of you wise ones out there know if I would put myself at a disadvantage if I did family medicine instead of transition, medicine, etc? My long term goal is to do pediatric anesthesiology.

 

[UTSouthwestern]

🙄 I live in Alaska and we have one residency program up here - family medicine. My family does not want to move and I will be somewhere alone for anesthesiology residency. Do any of you wise ones out there know if I would put myself at a disadvantage if I did family medicine instead of transition, medicine, etc? My long term goal is to do pediatric anesthesiology.

You should be fine. Obviously you put yourself at a slight disadvantage in having to apply only for advanced positions.

 

[scottishlass]

You should be fine. Obviously you put yourself at a slight disadvantage in having to apply only for advanced positions.

Thanks for the reply but now I have another question. What do you mean by advanced positions? The programs that I have looked at require a clinical base year that does not seem to be directly associated with the anesthesiology residency. To be honest, I have not quite figured out how the whole process works yet. Due to family considerations, I am only applying to programs in Washington State and Arizona.

 

[DrDre']

You're definitely going to be at a disadvantage, applying to only three programs!

 

[UTSouthwestern]

Thanks for the reply but now I have another question. What do you mean by advanced positions? The programs that I have looked at require a clinical base year that does not seem to be directly associated with the anesthesiology residency. To be honest, I have not quite figured out how the whole process works yet. Due to family considerations, I am only applying to programs in Washington State and Arizona.

Advanced positions are the positions that programs offer without you having to enroll in the program's categorical internship year. In other words, you are trying to match for a program's PGY-2, 3, & 4 years only. A categorical position is a spot that includes the PGY-1 year in the package. Many programs offer both types of spots. However, most offer the majority of their anesthesiology spots in the categorical division. Limiting yourself to Washington State and Arizona puts you at a severe disadvantage unless you are a highly, highly competitive candidate. Those programs may have a total of hypothetically 50 positions among all of the programs combined, but only 10 may be "advanced" spots so you are reducing your chances of matching by 80%. These are just hypothetical numbers, but you will be at a pretty severe disadvantage applying only for advanced positions and only in two states. Again, this is assuming that you are not a superstar candidate with great letters of rec.

 

[VolatileAgent]

dude, arizona is not close to alaska. if your fam is not going to move from ak, then you should look at progs that are in the northwest (e.g, or, wa, and northern cali). you got about 6 progs total that fit the bill. good luck, dude. you've got some tight criteria. but, fp is fine for a prelim year. see the faq2.

 

[jawicobike]

Advanced positions are the positions that programs offer without you having to enroll in the program's categorical internship year. In other words, you are trying to match for a program's PGY-2, 3, & 4 years only. A categorical position is a spot that includes the PGY-1 year in the package. Many programs offer both types of spots. However, most offer the majority of their anesthesiology spots in the categorical division. Limiting yourself to Washington State and Arizona puts you at a severe disadvantage unless you are a highly, highly competitive candidate. Those programs may have a total of hypothetically 50 positions among all of the programs combined, but only 10 may be "advanced" spots so you are reducing your chances of matching by 80%. These are just hypothetical numbers, but you will be at a pretty severe disadvantage applying only for advanced positions and only in two states. Again, this is assuming that you are not a superstar candidate with great letters of rec.

I'm also a little confused by this process. Do you apply to advanced positions during MS4 or during PGY1? If it is during MS4 at the same time you are applying for your transitional programs what happens if you match to an advanced program but fail to match to a transitional program?

 

[pmichaelmd]

I'm also a little confused by this process. Do you apply to advanced positions during MS4 or during PGY1? If it is during MS4 at the same time you are applying for your transitional programs what happens if you match to an advanced program but fail to match to a transitional program?

Greetings,
I started in FP and ended up switching into anesthesia after several years as a general practitioner. I didn't really have any problem with the transition and our residency director and chair were enthusiastic about my background. I think you'll find that a lot of people start in a discipline other than anesthesia and finally "see the light" at some later point. 🙂

As for applying, there are several ways via the match. I did it non-traditionally, but I believe that most people apply to both PGY-1 and PGY-2 positions simultaneously. Many anesthesia programs start at the PGY-2 (CA1) level and they expect you to make arrangements for your PGY-1 year. Many programs have affiliated transitional year PGY-1 slots at their institution. I think there is also a movement afoot to make the experience more inclusive of anesthesia training in the PGY-1 year and, thus, many programs are building the PGY-1 year into their programs.

Hope this helps and good luck! You're making a wise decision!

R/

PMMD