Preliminary Surgery Year count towards IM Categorical?

[MoreLife]

This might be a really dumb question but is there any way that a preliminary surgery year can count towards the first year of an IM categorical program, if I was to find a pgy-2 vacancy?

Basically my situation is that I did well in medical school, > 260s step 1/2, AOA, and applied to a competitive specialty this year, did not match and was only able to SOAP into a prelim surg spot. Now I have decided I want to do IM and hopefully pursue cardiology, which I would have done initially hands down if there was a direct path to it, rather than the 3/3/1 IM/cards/interventional model. The only thing is I really don't want to waste a year in this long path, so if I were to find a pgy2 IM spot next year, or in applying for IM programs through the match, a PD was willing to move me to pgy2, can this be done officially according to ACGME criteria or is there some written rule that prevents this? I mean from a pure logical point of view it does not seem that a surgical intern will be missing out on something an IM prelim intern learns that can not be compensated for.

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[Redpancreas]

I’m not positive, I would think most likely not. Surgery prelims consist of handling the numbers and floor work for surgical patients while IM intern year handles internal med issues. Also a lot of interventional programs are 2 years, not one especially if you want to more than just coronary caths. If you wanted IM, why didn’t you apply for prelim IM or categorical programs in the match or SOAP? If there’s still time, talk to your school and see if what they think about reaching out. There’s still 2 unmatched applicants at my school (post-SOAP/Scramble) and the school says they’re doing the best they can for them right now. I’m sure some IM program would love to have you, but keep in mind IM has its own can of worms. Unlike surgery, the board exam isn’t a fellowship selection factor and it’s more based on where you did your residency (critical), letters, and research. If you’re coming from a community program seeking cards, there’s also the chance that you may not match the first time out and may need a chief year. This is really unfortunate and I wish there was some sort of insurance process for people like you who get shafted like this.

At the end of the day though, I’m not positive so we need an actual staff to answer your question.
@IMPD

 

[MoreLife]

I actually applied to a ton of IM prelim and categorical spots (>15) in the soap, but I guess because my letters and research were all tuned towards my surgical specialty, I did not have one IM program contact me during the SOAP. It really annoyed me that was the case. You're right, it sucks that I'm essentially getting punished for being "competitive" enough to attempt a competitive specialty and going for it. In hindsight, I should have applied for IM as a backup, but it's very hard to spread yourself thin and do IM rotations to get letters and such when your specialty needs 3 or 4 aways/ research dedication and tons of interviews.

 

[slurpy15]

I can't believe you didn't match. So sorry. No, prelim surg will not count to IM. Sorry, and good luck. Prelim surg spots are a rough gig. Hope it works out! What does your dean say?