Question regarding residency terminology

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sperry

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I was wondering what was meant by a "transitional year" for residencies. Is it always a negative when looking at match lists? From the little I know, it sounds like it's a last ditch choice when you don't get a residency match in the area you wanted. But then again, I thought that all optho residents had to do one transitional year in medicine first. Are they lumped in the same category? Any insight is greatly appreciated!!

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There are some specialialties (derm, ophtho, radiology, anesthesia, a couple others) that require you to complete and preliminary/intern year (or more rarely a couple of prelim years) before starting your specialty work.

Prelim years come in a couple of flavors:
1) Preliminary Medicine - an intern year in internal medicine
2) Prelimary Surgery - and intern year in surgery
3) Transitional year - usually a mix of other things, some surgery, some medicine, etc.

So, transitional year is not always a negative. People are likely doing it before moving on to another specialty (that they would have also matched to as fourth year med students).

I did not have to apply for prelim/transitional spots, but my understanding is that transitional years are actually highly sought after (vs the med/surg years) by those going on in other specialties, making them fairly competitive. Someone else can correct me if I am wrong in this assessment.
 
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