Family Practice year for intern year?

[HamOnWholeWheat]

I'm interested in Radiology, and am confident I will match somewhere.

With that said, I've heard of people who have done a year of a Family Practice residency to count for their prelim/transitional/intern year or whatever you want to call it. I'm curious how this works. Do people apply to these FP programs with the understanding that it will only be for a year, or what?

Thanks!

HamOn

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[Winged Scapula]

There is no Preliminary FM track. People who transitioned from FM to Rads took an FM position under the guise that they would complete the program and then left when they got a Rads position.

Someone may correct me if I'm wrong, but I do not believe NRMP will allow you to match to two categorical programs at the same time (ie, you cannot match to a categorical FM AND a categorical/advanced Rads spot), even if the second position is an advanced match.

 

[Ludicolo]

Correct. Can't match into both a categorical and an advanced program simultaneously.

The instances where I've seen someone using a FM intern year to count toward an advanced program (rads, PM&R, etc.) is when the resident is unsatisfied with his/her FM program, and transfers into an open PGY-2 slot somewhere after completing the intern year. In that situation the FM year satisfies the criteria for a prelim year.

 

[HamOnWholeWheat]

Oh I see. Thanks Cox and Ludicolo. Good info as always.

HamOn

 

[deleted109597]

I have seen at least 2 people who matched advanced but had to scramble a prelim year do a year of FM before radiology and ophthalmology. On scramble day, some FM programs are pretty desperate, and will take any warm english speaking body, even if only for the year, that do without.

 

[Leukocyte]

On scramble day, some FM programs are pretty desperate, and will take any warm english speaking body, even if only for the year, that do without.

I am in FM, and I never heard of that. There are TONS of desperate applicants out there who would die for a FM position. On scamble day, our office was flooded with applicants. It took us one and a half month to just go through the scramble applicant pile. We do not offer positions on-the-spot. We interview each scramble applicant we are interested in.

How many open FM PGY-1 spots do you see now? Basicly NONE.

Lying to the PD, and entering a FM program with the intention of transfering later can really screw your fellow residents in the program. Your fellow residents will have to pick up the slack, and will:

-Have more calls.
-Have more patients to see in the clinic.
-Have more in-patients assigned to them.

We had one intern from my class who transfered to anesthesiology. Another intern dropped out. Being 2 residents short in our PGY-2 year is putting more strain on us remaining PGY-2s.

Please be honest, if you want a PGY-1 year only, do a transitional year or a prelim IM year. Do not f*ck your fellow residents by entering a FM program with the intention to leave.

 

[lowbudget]

Hmm... Sounds like a bad idea. I've heard it's program-dependent and you'd have to negotiate with the program director to see if they'll give you credit for your 1 year of family medicine. Sounds like you're making it harder than it should/could be.

Just go for the transitional year. If that's too competitive, go for IM prelim. Worse comes to worse, there's Surgery prelim. Can't even give those away.

Why would you want to go to a Family Medicine residency that's so desperate for a warm body that they'll pick you anyways? A tourist (assuming you're honest with them about being a short timer)?

What does that say about that program? And what does that say about the training you're going to get? And how does that put you compared to your Radiology classmates who "got something out of" their R1 year?

Makes no sense.

 

[HamOnWholeWheat]

Hmm... Sounds like a bad idea. I've heard it's program-dependent and you'd have to negotiate with the program director to see if they'll give you credit for your 1 year of family medicine. Sounds like you're making it harder than it should/could be.

Just go for the transitional year. If that's too competitive, go for IM prelim. Worse comes to worse, there's Surgery prelim. Can't even give those away.

Why would you want to go to a Family Medicine residency that's so desperate for a warm body that they'll pick you anyways? A tourist (assuming you're honest with them about being a short timer)?

What does that say about that program? And what does that say about the training you're going to get? And how does that put you compared to your Radiology classmates who "got something out of" their R1 year?

Makes no sense.

Just because a program doesn't fill, doesn't mean its a bad program. Location is a huge factor for most. My reason for wanting to do a FP year over a transitional year is to spend a year in my home town, which is desperately underserved. The only residency program there is a FP program. If there was a prelim year there (even surgery), I would jump on it. The fact that its underserved could mean I would have more opportunities to learn and practice independently than interns at the bigger programs.

HamOn

 

[TOXOSIS]

Is it true that if you apply for TY you're up against the derm, radiology, PMR guys in the Osteopathic residencies? I'm not 100% i want to do FP so I'd love to do a TY first - unless they're super competitive and I'd be killing my chances for an FP spot at the hospitals I'm interested in.