Rank List Help... Physician Reserved vs. Categorical?

[BladeMiller]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hey guys,

Im an 3rd year/graduating FM resident going through Match for anesthesiology. When I started the interview process, I was sure I wanted a R (physician-reserved) position as they start the year of match and do not require a repeat of intern year. Some recently recommended that I consider the C (categorial) positions as I have not been in the OR as frequently as a person who may be transferring to anesthesiology from surgery. Can anyone offer insight or advice? Do the people coming into the R positions from other specialities seem to have a harder time compared to their categorial matched colleagues?

Thanks.

 

[MikeMerk-MtS]

Categorical means you will be doing an extra year of Medicine, Surgery or Transitional... which is pretty much useless for someone who is completing residency and planning on switching careers. I would save the year and go directly into the R position. I will guarantee you will be much happier in 3 years from now 🙂

 

[Arch Guillotti]

A categorical position usually has one month of anesthesia during the intern year. Advanced positions don't start until July 1, 2016. Your question is somewhat confusing since unless the nomenclature has changed there are advanced (A) and categorical (C) positions. Some programs hold out spots for folks like yourself but I am unaware of an "R" position.

 

[BladeMiller]

Physician-Reserved spots are for people with previous residency training. They start the year of the match (ie. 2015) as a CA-1/PGY-2. Advanced spots start the year after the match (ie. 2016) as a CA-1/PGY-2. Categorial spots start the year of match (ie 2015) as Clinical Base Year/PGY1.

Im just trying to figure out if given my non-surgical background, if I should consider a categorial spot over a physician reserved spot?

 

[Arch Guillotti]

Physician-Reserved spots are for people with previous residency training. They start the year of the match (ie. 2015) as a CA-1/PGY-2. Advanced spots start the year after the match (ie. 2016) as a CA-1/PGY-2. Categorial spots start the year of match (ie 2015) as Clinical Base Year/PGY1.

Im just trying to figure out if given my non-surgical background, if I should consider a categorial spot over a physician reserved spot?

I wouldn't. You may have some catching up to do and you may have to work harder than others at the outset but I would not do a whole intern year again. Plenty of people do a medicine prelim year or a cush transitional year and come out fine.

 

[p30doc]

I'd go for the 'R' spot if you could get it. Why subject yourself to intern year again? Your not going to begin to learn the ropes of anesthesia until you are a CA1. You already have a solid medicine background having completed an fm residency. The only thing you might miss out on are the finer points of retracting and surgical scut work.

 

[Orin]

The Physician Reserved positions are very competitive. I think they are something like 10% of the total spots at most.

Combined with the match being a crapshoot, I'd get as many chips, tickets, or whatever you can to have the best odds. If it were me, I'd go in for categorical and also for advanced positions starting in 2017. You can probably find an urgent care or hospitalist position near where you match if you land the advanced position to fill the gap year. Doing the categorical year will make your other three years easier because you'll know the people, the system, the culture, and gain some ICU skills, but it isn't necessary.

With that said, the order goes Physician Reserved at the top and then Advanced or Categorical. If you're dead set on a specific institute, then maybe you'd put all three of their programs higher than the others.

 

[cognitus]

Why wouldn't you consider Advanced positions and just take a year off and moonlight or whatever FM graduates can do? Either that or reserved if there are enough of them. I would try to avoid repeating intern year if you can.

 

[Gassed Prowler]

I recently had to make this same decision myself and elected to take an advanced position. I spent three years after internship paying back my Navy obligation as a Flight Surgeon. Now that I'm halfway through my CA1 year, I would have made the same decision again. The learning curve was definitely steep and I may be a bit behind some of my other classmates but I'm catching up fast. It's not worth doing a whole year of additional (repetitive?) training just for a few elective months of anesthesia to prime you for anesthesiology residency. Just my 2.