Internship Hunts

[ramzax]

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Hi, I'm an ungraduate a little confused about the process of interning. Did you guys simply look up local psychiatrists in the area to shadow/intern, or did you use some other form (school career services?) to land a job?

Thanks

 

[PsychMD2100]

ramzax,

Typically, soon-to-be graduates of US medical schools (4th year med students) apply for internships (first year of residency) via the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). Based on an ERAS application, programs will invite candidates to interview.

After the interviews, each candidate enrolls in a system called the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), which places Rank Order Lists (ROLs) from both programs and candidates into a computer. The computer matches programs and candidates at their highest mutual ranks. Once a match is made, both programs and candidates are contractually obligated to hold and fill the position for which the match was made.

 

[drwatson]

In other words, the "internship" of medicine is done after someone has graduated from a medical school. The internship year is the first year of residency.

In different fields, (business, marketing, etc) an "internship" is a lower-level job position that one might hold for a summer or up to 6 months during their undergraduate training.

And to add some further clarification (ie. confusion) a doctor who specializes in Internal Medicine is sometimes referred to as an "Intern" even though they might not necessarily be in their first year of residency.

 

[PsychMD2100]

drwatson,

I think what you meant to say was that an Internal Medicine specialist is referred to as an "Internist"--not an "Intern". There are a bunch of IM guys who would be pretty upset if a person "in the know" were to call them an "Intern".

To recap:

Intern = MD in their first year out of med school

Internist = MD who has successfully completed 3 years of Internal Medicine residency (including the first year of internship) and is now eligible for the ABIM examinations

 

[drwatson]

Ah yes, I stand corrected. I apologize for the further confusion. And for offending our Internal Medicine collegues.

 

[Hurricane]

drwatson,I think what you meant to say was that an Internal Medicine specialist is referred to as an "Internist"--not an "Intern". There are a bunch of IM guys who would be pretty upset if a person "in the know" were to call them an "Intern".

Yeah, I had this friend in college who - although premed - was a little lacking in knowledge of the medical profession. So when US News and World Report did a profile of the various medical specialties, he picked it up and exclaimed "Wow I had no idea interns made so much - I can't wait for residency!" Heh.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

...
In different fields, (business, marketing, etc) an "internship" is a lower-level job position that one might hold for a summer or up to 6 months during their undergraduate training.
...

I kinda got the sense that the OP was referring to this type of "internship"--which really doesn't exist in psychiatry, per se, although they might find some opportunity for unpaid service in the mental health field somewhere...

 

[solumanculver]

Hi,

Maybe the OP is referring to shadowing a psychiatrist. It seems like an undergraduate who wants to go into psychiatry should consider shadowing a psychiatrist before applying to medical school...