Is switching worth it ?

[Sunflower66]

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I'm currently a first year resident in anesthesia and realizing its not a fit for me. I don't really enjoy the or as I thought I would and my program isn't great. And I miss medicine. I want to switch out but it seems so hard to get a hold of any coordinators, even those who post opening for IM. I did a transitional year and not prelim medicine so that doesn't help the situation either. And seems like I will have to apply all over for pgy 1 spots but it's already so late in the season and getting letters of rec is so difficult this time of the year. My fear is losing this spot once I tell my.PD and not matching in anything for next July since I'm so far in the season. Or sticking with a field I might never grow to like....Any advice on is it worth switching ? Or is this interview more competitive than other seasons ?

 

[ThoracicGuy]

I'm currently a first year resident in anesthesia and realizing its not a fit for me. I don't really enjoy the or as I thought I would and my program isn't great. And I miss medicine. I want to switch out but it seems so hard to get a hold of any coordinators, even those who post opening for IM. I did a transitional year and not prelim medicine so that doesn't help the situation either. And seems like I will have to apply all over for pgy 1 spots but it's already so late in the season and getting letters of rec is so difficult this time of the year. My fear is losing this spot once I tell my.PD and not matching in anything for next July since I'm so far in the season. Or sticking with a field I might never grow to like....Any advice on is it worth switching ? Or is this interview more competitive than other seasons ?

It is too late to apply to the match now. You would likely have a difficult time getting interviews and your contract most likely would not be renewed for next year. You could always try looking for spots outside the match, contacting programs discreetly before talking with your PD about it to see your options. The better solution would be to apply for it next year when you can get in at the first of match season. And who knows, by that time maybe you'll like anesthesia again...

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Agreed, if you haven't started you're going to find it very difficult at this point to make much headway. You could plan to reapply next year, but as you mention you will need 3 full years of IM unless your TY was very medicine heavy. Alternatively, you could finish anesthesia and then do a critical care fellowship for 1 year, and practice that. Or a pain fellowship, which gives you a more outpatient focused practice.

 

[Sunflower66]

Yah I have come to the conclusion that applying thought ERAS won't help much since I'm late in the game. I did get a response for a current opening at a program my friend is at and a couple of close friends who are chief residents at their programs want to put in a good word for me which might help get interviews. But I did realize that unless I have a connection to a program, other places won't really take a look at me. The main thing is I do not want to mention anything to my program director unless I have some viable options and sometimes I feel maybe I will get it like Anesthesia if I just stick it out. But I would prefer medicine if I had the option. I was also thinking of speaking to the internal medicine program director at my hospital. I have a couple of friends in that program and I already know the hospital and would be easier to start as a pgy1 in the same place. I wanted to ask the medicine pd if they would consider me for an interview before speaking to my PD and hoping my PD can eventually recommend me for medicine. From a program director's point of view, would that be ok, to speak to the medicine PD before my own? How can I go about doing this discreetly ?

Also I have passed step 3. Will that help my application?
Any advice is much appreciated, thanks.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Step 3 won't matter.

I think it is fine to directly contact other PD's. I would be honest with them that you haven't spoken to your PD about it. My personal opinion is that I'm happy to talk to a potential transfer resident without their PD's knowledge, but that I won't interview someone until I've spoken to their PD. There are no official "rules" about this.