Internship; with an osteopathic twist

[4th year]

Hello all.
First, thanks for the good postings.
I am an osteopathic student that has recently decided to pursue anesthesiology. I am hoping someone can enlighten me on a pretty confusing topic.
I would like to match in an AOA-approved specialty emphasis (anesthesiology) internship program that will be counted as my first post graduate year of training at an allopathic/ACGME residency in anesthesiology. I only know of a few programs that will do this. I need to know what my other options are. Is there a listing of Allopathic/ACGME anesthesia residency programs that accept an AOA-approved specialty emphasis internship as their first year? In answering of this question, I would be of the utmost gratitude!
Sincerely, 4th year

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[lh2004]

4th year,

I just finished osteopathic med school at PCOM in Philly. I am starting my internship at Delaware County Memorial Hospital (AOA-approved transitional program) in Drexel Hill, PA, and matched into Anesthesiology at Univ. of Pennsylvania starting in 2005. All ACGME anesthesia residency programs require both MDs and DOs to do a PGY-1 internship year in either prelim medicine, surgery, or transitional year (this PGY-1 year can be either AOA or ACGME approved). This does not replace any of your subsequent three years of anesthesia training. However, as far as I know, all of the ACGME anesthesia programs will accept an AOA-approved internship to count as your PGY-1 year. Anesthesia and PM&R are two of the few specialties that allow osteopaths to complete a AOA-approved PGY-1 year (which does not need to be ACGME dually approved), and then still matriculate into an allopathic residency. If you are from one of the states that requires AOA internship for licensure in those states (i.e. PA, FL, etc), I would suggest doing your PGY-1 year in an AOA-approved program before heading to an allopathic anesthesia program;that way you're covered in case you ever want to practice in those states. Hope this helps....feel free to write again.

 

[jbp18460]

The important thing to remember is that when you submit your matchlist, you need to make certain that you only rank the advanced programs. If you rank catagorical spots and the internship that the residency offers is not AOA approved, you will have issues if you wanted to practice in one of the states that require an AOA approved internship.

So, if you are going to do an AOA internship, you should participate in the DO match for your internship spot. Then, when you fill out your ranklist for anesthesiology, ONLY RANK THE ADVANCED spots. Then when you are prompted to fill out the supplemental rank list for your internship, just leave it blank. If you choose to scramble into a DO internship after you find out where you matched (this is what I did), you would follow the same process... then after you have learned where you will be doing your residency, you can scramble into an internship near your residency (or whereever you want )

Hopefully this helps and it makes sense. If not, email me and I'll clarify any questions you may have. Good Luck!

 

[sethco]

I agree with jbp18460. Actually, some of the programs I contacted said that they will only accept ACGME approved residencies. In this case, you may want to contact the individual programs that you are thinking of applying to and asking if they will accept the AOA year. As jbp pointed out you can only pick advanced positions, not categorical, but there are a couple of options to fulfill both.

1) Dual approved residencies. These are few and far between, but everybody is happy in the end.

2) There are some MD residencies that match you into a categorical year and recognize that you are a DO, so they send you to a hospital to do your internship year at an Osteopathic hospital (i.e. Wayne St.).

3) If you are applying to an area where there are few, if any, osteopathic programs, you can seek to either get approval from the AOA about approval for the internship or you can seek "hardship", which is basically stating that you went to an area where a osteopathic internship was not available.

As for myself, I don't want to take myself out of the running for Categorical positions, so I am not applying for the Osteopathic match (Not ranking any programs, but still particpating in the match VERY IMPORTANT). I am not very highly pressed to practice in any of the 5 states that require me to do the osteopathic internship year. In addition, if I do match into an advanced year, I can always scramble into an Osteopathic internship. This is what a lot of people end up doing, but you must participate in the Osteopathic match in order to do so, even if you are not ranking any programs.

Hope this helps.

 

[drfeelgood]

Just remember that the ABA only allows 1 month of Anesthesia during your internship year!!!!

The ABA might not aprove your internship or make you do additional rotations as a resident if you go over this limit.

I don't see any benefit in doing a Anesthesia Track Internship. I would just do a rotating internship with an emphasis on SICU, MICU, Gen. Med. and OB. Try to take an FP rotation during the last month so that you'll have time to read Morgan and Mikhail (Clinical Anesthesia).

Have fun!