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prelim. vs. transitional???
Started by gregfoti
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Prelim medicine = 6+ mos ward medicine, less flexibility of elective months
Transitional = 3 mos ward medicine, 3 mos surgery, lots of flexibility with electives
These are just rough differences. There are plenty of exceptions. For example, the transitional program at Memoral Sloan Kettering in NYC has 6 mos of ward medicine mandatory. I'm not sure what is included in prelim surgery. I don't really want to find out!
Me either! I also heard some programs will not accept a prelim surgery year now although in the past this was acceptable. Something about ACGME requirements for anesthesia including a certain amount of medicine. Unfortunately prelim surg is much easier to find than med.
Sup Foti-
My impression is that transitional year as a whole is more stress-free than prelim. Some programs offer anesthesiology electives... so if you're eager to get your feet wet then it might be nice to get into one of those programs. Also, I don't think the hours are as bad (as a whole).
On the other side of the coin... medicine is awsome. There is alot to learn, but I think most of it is really cool stuff (ie, ablation of an accessory pathway after maping of a diseased area of the heart-of course this is done by an electrophysiologist, but nonetheless you can be involved). You will however get called in the middle of the night to fix a K+ of 3.1. Medicine is sweet, and I don't know of any other time where you will have the opportunity to dive deep into it.
That said, next year I will probably be going for a transitional year, although I may change my mind by then. 😕
My impression is that transitional year as a whole is more stress-free than prelim. Some programs offer anesthesiology electives... so if you're eager to get your feet wet then it might be nice to get into one of those programs. Also, I don't think the hours are as bad (as a whole).
On the other side of the coin... medicine is awsome. There is alot to learn, but I think most of it is really cool stuff (ie, ablation of an accessory pathway after maping of a diseased area of the heart-of course this is done by an electrophysiologist, but nonetheless you can be involved). You will however get called in the middle of the night to fix a K+ of 3.1. Medicine is sweet, and I don't know of any other time where you will have the opportunity to dive deep into it.
That said, next year I will probably be going for a transitional year, although I may change my mind by then. 😕
